Social Priorities of the Lithuanian EU Presidency
From July 1, Lithuania will take up the Presidency of the EU Council for half a year. The overarching theme for their Presidency will be "credible, growing and open Europe". Last week, Ms Audronė Morkūnienė, Attaché for Social Affairs at the Lithuanian Permanent Representation, joined our Social Policy Working Group meeting, to present the priorities of their work programme in the social and employment field, and had an exchange on this with members.
Their social priorities were said to be: better job opportunities, in particular for young people; better protection of workers; strengthening the social dimension of Europe, and the EMU in particular; and de facto equal rights between men and women and anti-discrimination.
We also had a fruitful exchange on the Social Investment Package, for which the Lithuanian Presidency will focus on how to implement this. We will have the opportunity to discuss this further with the Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment at the informal EPSCO meeting in Vilnius in the beginning of July.
