The Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Mr Kyriakos Kousios, participated in the work of the EU Employment and Social Policy Council, which took place yesterday, 8 December 2022, in Brussels.
During the Council's work, two important orientation debates were held in relation to the European Semester 2023 and the European Care Strategy.
The European Semester is an instrument for coordinating economic, fiscal and social policy and employment policy, both at EU and Member State level. In his intervention during the debate on this topic, the Minister of Labour said that ensuring adequate minimum wages, policies for skills acquisition and the adequacy of minimum income are factors that can contribute substantially to achieving the EU's overarching 2030 employment and poverty reduction targets.
In this context, Mr Koussios pointed out that, recognising the need to protect the low paid, in Cyprus we have recently introduced a national minimum wage. He went on to support the strengthening of policies for the acquisition of skills by professionals who have, and will be in demand, and welcomed the European Commission's initiative to designate 2023 as the "European Year of Skills". With regard to poverty reduction, the Minister of Labour, after referring to the contribution of adopting measures to improve the coverage and adequacy of the minimum income, welcomed the adoption of a Recommendation by the Council. Kousios stressed that the State has long supported the efforts of Non-Governmental Organisations and Local Authorities to provide programmes through the State Aid Scheme, as well as programmes that contribute to the improvement of care for the elderly, people with disabilities and children. In this context, the Minister of Labour informed his counterparts that the Government will proceed with the announcement, within 2023, of a new Plan for the creation of new or expansion of existing childcare facilities, as well as specialized care and accommodation facilities for children and adults with long-term care needs. The state's priority is the revision and modernisation of the existing legislative framework concerning adult as well as child care facilities, he underlined.
The Council adopted a General Approach for the revision of the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. The '27' also adopted Recommendations in relation to adequate minimum income, pre-school education and care, and long-term care. Finally, Conclusions on gender equality in the economic crisis and on the participation of people with disabilities in the labour market were adopted.
(MF/MG/EXP)
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