On 17-18 November 2005, the Council of Europe’s Directorate General of Social Cohesion will be holding its Forum which will be devoted this year to the theme

Reconciling labour flexibility and social cohesion

Is it possible to reconcile labour flexibility and social cohesion?

The 2005 Forum hosted by the Council of Europe's Directorate General of Social Cohesion aims to highlight the key issues raised by the debate on whether so-called labour flexibility can be reconciled with European social models.

The preparatory work for this forum has shown that this is a difficult, sensitive question, which can be posed from different standpoints, reflecting participants' often diverging interests. It may be a matter of eliminating the "rigidities" inherent in social protection models and labour law in order to balance businesses' need for competitiveness and the unpredictable behaviour of markets. It may also entail adopting new approaches to reconciling employees' need for security and professional assertion with employers' adaptation requirements. Other considerations are achieving a fair distribution of the costs of change and satisfying individual needs for compatibility between work organisation and private life.

This "reconciliation" may be governed by the rules of global market competition or by the principles of social cohesion and the need to ensure equal access to well-being. It accordingly concerns policy choices and power relations that must be rebalanced or brought under control.

Through this event, the Council of Europe would aims to highlight the key issues raised by the debate concerning a possible reconciliation. This "reconciliation" may be governed by the rules of global market competition or by the principles of social cohesion and the need to ensure equal access to well-being. It accordingly concerns policy choices and power relations that must be rebalanced or brought under control.

Programme details and the registration form can be found on our website: http://www.coe.int/socialcohesion/forum2005

Should you be interested in participating to the Forum 2005, please register before 2 November 2005.