“Job Days” to find work abroadOver 200 European cities are participating in the Job Days annually promoted by EURES, the European service for employment, to facilitate the matching between demand and supply of work. In practice, the initiative takes the form of “job fairs”, in which businesses and young people in search of employment converge. Another essential characteristic is the promotion of mobility, by indicating to those in search of work the opportunities of a labour market at the European rather than national level. “Job fairs” are held from mid-September to mid-October each year; the central event will be the one held in Brussels on 3 October. “The fairs – explains EURES – are an occasion to promote the advantages of working in an EU country other than one’s own. Last year some 150,000 people participated in the initiative, and some of them succeeded in obtaining directly a job interview that led to their being hired”. “This year the influx should be even greater, in view of rising unemployment rates” as a result of the economic crisis. “Citizens of the Union have the right to work in an EU country other than the one from which they come”, says EURES, “even if there are some restrictions for citizens of those countries that only recently joined the EU”. Nonetheless “the countries that avail themselves of this right are fairly few” (approximately 2% of the total workforce). “Despite the great opportunities offered by the opening up of the labour market, Europeans tend to conduct their own professional career in a single country, in general their own”. Among the reasons for the reluctance to move abroad, “Europeans cite the impact on family life or the difficulty of learning a new language”. Access to social services and the recognition of their professional qualifications abroad are added to these concerns. “The EU has adopted a series of measures to make national labour markets more transparent and defend the rights of citizens who move to another European country. In spite of the integration of labour markets, the fact is than many legal obstacles still remain to hamper the mobility of workers in the Union”.Cooperation between Committee of the Regions and European Parliament”The Committee of the Regions and the European Parliament are the two EU institutions that have a direct link with citizens”, the former because it consists of representatives elected by the territorial and municipal authorities of member states, the latter because it is elected directly by universal suffrage. For this reason, the two institutions must cooperate “more closely” to “build a Europe that is close to citizens”, to their interests and hopes, said Luc Van den Brande, chairman of the COR, describing the results of the meeting he had with the newly elected President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, in Brussels this week. The two politicians agreed on the fact that it was possible to strengthen cooperation on many questions: in the first place on regional policies, then on the environment, climate change, territorial and social resources and development. Van den Brande presented to Buzek the programme of work of the Committee (which is a consultative organ of the European Union), defined on the basis of a “white paper on multi-level governance”; the President of the EP, in turn, will set out his priorities at the plenary session of the COR on 7 October. Council of Europe: climate, Caucasus and cultureThe Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is due to be held from 28 September to 2 October. In this autumn session it will tackle various questions that are high on the agenda at the present time, including the “challenges posed by climate change”, the “situation concerning the conflict between Georgia and Russia a year later” and the election of the new General Secretary of the Council of Europe. Danilo Türk, President of Slovenia and current President of the COE, will give a speech in the Council’s chamber in Strasbourg, while Pierre Lellouche, French Secretary of State for European Affairs, will participate in the debate on the future of the COE “in the light of 60 years of experience” of the organization of which 47 European States are members. “Among other questions to be debated – says a PACE statement – we may point out the drafting of an additional protocol to the European Convention of Human Rights on the right to a healthy environment”. Also on the order of the day are “some reports relating to accusations of abuse of the penal judicial system for political ends and the protection of informers, as well as a report on rape committed on women, including marital rape”. A debate on the vulnerable situation of human rights activists in the Northern Caucasus region has also been requested. The distinguished German orchestral conductor Kurt Masur “will make his own contribution to a debate on cultural education”.
