EU Employment and Social Policy, 1999-2001: Jobs, Cohesion, Productivity.

This document examines employment and social policy in the European Union in 1999-2001. The document begins with an interview with Anna Diamantopoulou, the European Union's commissioner for employment and social affairs and the paper "Balancing Jobs, Cohesion, and Productivity" by Odile Quintin, the European Union's director-general for employment and social affairs. The following are among the topics discussed in the document's nine sections: (1) the European employment strategy (full-employment policies based on the pillars of employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability, and equal opportunities); (2) the relationship between economic, employment, and social policy and strategies for meeting the employment and social goals set by European Union member country leaders in Lisbon in 2000; (3) improving labor market access for disadvantaged sections of the community, including women, the long-term unemployed, and the elderly; (4) mobility and the new European labor markets (access to information on job vacancies, mobility, and learning opportunities; transferability of pensions); (5) jobs in the information society; (6) moving forward on social dialogue and working arrangements (modernization of labor relations; sectoral social dialogue; corporate restructuring and social responsibility; anticipation of change); (7) achieving a productive and inclusive society; (8) modern and sustainable social protection as a productive factor; and (9) preparing for enlargement of the European Union. (Contains 23 tables/figures/boxes.) (MN)