The EESC calls for existing credit rating agencies to be stripped of their rights to evaluate the sovereign debt of countries, it was revealed at the latest plenary session of the Committee. Another opinion adopted at the session rejects the European Commission’s plan to close coal mines in order to reach climate change targets. The EESC welcomed Belgium’s Minister for Employment, who gave an account of the measures taken in the area of labour and social affairs by the outgoing Belgian presidency.
The EESC wants the three largest credit rating agencies to be stripped of their rights to rate sovereign debt. “Quite often the judgments of agencies on sovereign debt lead to speculation as the ratings are not objective. We think agencies should not be able to make that judgment,” said Mr Carmelo Cedrone (Workers' Group, Italy), the author of the EESC opinion. Instead, the EESC calls for independent agencies to be set up at European level.
The EESC advocated tougher regulation and supervision of agencies, which are widely blamed for underestimating the credit risk of certain financial products and thus unnerving the financial markets. The EESC opinion pushes for penalties for credit rating agencies which pass unduly harsh judgment on countries.
Turning to heavy industries, the EESC rejected the Commission’s proposal to close down coal mines to reduce CO2 emissions, warning that such a move would have more negative repercussions in the future than benefits.
“Are we to we close down our coal mines just to comply with climate change provisions, and then import coal from somewhere else?” asked the rapporteur, Mr Antonello Pezzini (Employers Group, Italy), at the debate on the opinion. Instead of the Commission's proposal, the EESC calls for state aid to be granted for investment in innovative clean coal technologies.
Representing the Belgian presidency of the Council of Ministers, Ms Joëlle Milquet, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities, listed the conclusions reached at the final Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, held in Brussels on 6th-7th December, emphasising the need for horizontal cooperation among various Council configurations.
“The Council of Finance Ministers should not take all macroeconomic decisions on its own. The Employment Council does not want to be sidelined. We must play a full, key part in the future; otherwise decisions on the macroeconomic scene will be splintered,” said Ms Milquet, emphasising that for successful economic governance the employment and social aspects of economic issues must be taken into consideration.
She expressed her appreciation of the EESC's contribution on green jobs (opinion SOC/385 adopted in September 2010 by rapporteur Mr Edgardo Maria Iozia, Workers' Group, Italy), on which the Council adopted conclusions stating that green employment had the potential to become a key growth segment of the future EU labour market.
Although EESC members were generally appreciative of the work of the Belgian presidency in social affairs, the discussions urged the EU trio presidency to focus on equal rights and equal opportunities as well as on tackling poverty among Europeans.
The session agenda may be accessed here.