You are here

Z. Emilianides: Sub 7% unemployment level reduction in Cyprus

14/06/2019 10:53

Minister of Labor, Welfare Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Zetta Emilianides informed her counterparts of the sub 7% unemployment level reduction in Cyprus and the progress on the fight against poverty and social exclusion, during her intervention to the works of the EPSCO Council, held today in Luxembourg.

The main topic of the Ministers` discussion was the effectiveness of the European Semester as a tool for coordinating and monitoring employment and social policy reforms in the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the ways to effectively implement Country-Specific Recommendations.

In her intervention, the Minister for Labor said that people at risk of poverty or social exclusion are constantly decreasing and this is largely due to the introduction of the Minimum Guaranteed Income from 2014 and to the reform of the social welfare system with a human-centered approach and policy . She also noted that the European Pillar of Social Rights would further contribute in this direction.

The Minister called for the social impact of all future planned policies to be taken into account in order to strengthen the social dimension of policy making, also referring to the important role of the social partners and their involvement at all stages of the planning and implementation of reforms and the implementation of Country Recommendations, as well as their appropriate funding, as a prerequisite for their success.

Finally, the Minister stressed that the exchange of good practices between Member States also contributes to the successful implementation of the Country Recommendations.