Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to discuss the EU 2020 strategy particularly in relation to job creation at the next EU Council meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34345/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My colleague the Minister for Social Protection, Ms Joan Burton TD, will represent Ireland at the forthcoming formal meeting of the Employment and Social Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Luxembourg on the 4 of October. She was recently invited by the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection to outline the business of the forthcoming EPSCO and to brief the Committee on her priorities for the forthcoming EU Presidency in the first half of 2013.

The main topic of political discussion at Employment and Social Affairs Council on 4 October will be the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and the need to strengthen attention to employment issues within economic governance. The focus will be on lessons learned from the second European Semester cycle in 2012.

Discussion at the EPSCO Council this week will be on the basis of a paper prepared by the Cypriot Presidency as well as the input provided by the Council’s preparatory bodies – the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee. The Commission has also made proposals for more regular and structured contacts with Member States to take place following its presentation in November of the 2013 Annual Growth Survey.

A strong EU employment agenda represents a pathway towards economic recovery and a way out of the current social crisis. The EU institutions, governments, trade unions, employers, and civil society interests need to work together to build this pathway. This calls for stepping up coordination, surveillance and peer pressure to deliver on National Job Plans. Whilst labour market, skills issues, and social policies are a Member State competence within the EU, other Member States in the Union have an interest in ensuring that deficiencies are tackled, and reforms implemented.

The discussion on the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy at the EPSCO Council on 4 October will be complemented by a parallel discussion at the ECOFIN on 9 October. It is anticipated that refreshed arrangements for the conduct of the third European Semester cycle will then be reflected in a Presidency Roadmap which is likely to be adopted by the General Affairs Council in December.