Commission Report 2002 (Hungary)

• Progress since the last Regular Report
• Overall assessment
• Conclusion

Chapter 13: Social policy and employment

Progress since the last Regular Report

Considerable progress has been made in this area since the last Regular Report.

After the entry into force of the amendments to the Labour Law in July 2001, legal approximation continued with the transposition of the Insolvency Directive in the second half of 2001. New staffing and training courses have been provided in the course of 2001 and 2002. A one-year training programme for labour law judges, aimed at facilitating effective enforcement of labour rules, is also under implementation.

In the field of equal treatment of men and women, Hungary has transposed a large part of the acquis. EC legislation on equal treatment in agriculture and self-employment and on equal access to employment and vocational training was transposed in the second half of 2001. Hungary has also been undertaking efforts to promote mainstreaming, to train the legal professions, to raise awareness and to tackle inequalities, in particular on the labour market.

In the area of health and safety at work, substantial progress was made with the transposition of the EC legislation regarding work on board fishing vessels, safety and health for workers at the workplace, personal equipment, screen equipment, temporary or mobile construction sites and safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work. Also, the institutional framework has been strengthened. Following the change of Government in May 2002, related competencies are now shared between the new combined Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs and the Ministry of Labour and Employment Affairs.

The National Labour Inspectorate was designated as the national focal point for the European Agency for Health and Safety. Stricter rules on labour protection supervision have been introduced. The Inspectorate will be boosted by 80 new officials in 2002. Training activities will continue throughout 2002.

In the area of social dialogue, the new Government has started to restore confidence and trust between the social partners and to create a more favourable climate. Improvement of the social dialogue is now a priority, and one of the Government`s first resolutions expresses its commitment to restructure and improve the system of social dialogue and the effective involvement of the social partners in the decision-making process. The declared aim of the Government is, therefore, not only to consult the social partners but also to reach agreements in the negotiations. To that end, the social partners and the Prime Minister signed the Agreement on Restructuring the Social Dialogue System. The National Interest-reconciliation Council (NIRC) was established in July 2002 as the legal successor of the National Labour Council. The work of the Council will be supported by a number of special fora such as the National ILO Council, the Council for European Integration and the new Sectoral Council, as well as by several technical committees.

Hungary continued to take steps in respect of public health policies, strategies and programmes. The 10-year ``For a Healthy Nation'' public health action programme approved in June 2001 is currently under implementation. Steps have been taken to improve the administrative capacity through the reorganisation of existing structures. Progress has also been made on health information and monitoring. In June 2002, the Parliament adopted a decision on certain long-term tasks in relation to the national public health situation. It invited the government to update and extend the 10-year action programme by 15 December 2002. The tobacco legislation has been partially transposed during the reporting period. The relevant enforcement agencies made essential efforts to ensure implementation of tobacco legislation. As regards the implementation of measures on surveillance and the control of communicable diseases, the National Centre of Epidemiology at the National Public Health and Medical Officers` Service has been designated as a counterpart for epidemiological surveillance and for the control of communicable diseases. The Centre is preparing for full participation in the activities of the Community network.

As regards Employment Policy, the Joint Assessment on Employment Policy Priorities for Hungary (JAP) was signed in November 2001. As part of the monitoring process of the Employment Policy Review, the Hungarian Government submitted a progress report on implementation of the priorities identified in the JAP to the Commission in May 2002. This report represents an important step in assessing the extent to which Hungary is progressing towards its objectives of labour market reform and adaptation of its employment system in order to prepare for full participation in the European Employment Strategy upon accession. The situation in the labour market remained substantially stable with an unemployment rate of 5.7% at the end of 2001. 45% of all unemployed are long-term unemployed; long-term unemployment is thus still around 2.5%. The newly established Ministry of Employment and Labour will assume responsibility as the Managing Authority for the Human Resource Development Operational Programme.

As concerns the European Social Fund (ESF), the establishment of the ESF Interministerial Task Force and the role of the National Development Plan Thematic Working Groups on Human Resources Development and Regional Development further improved the co-ordination of ESF-related policies and activities.

As a follow-up to the Gothenburg European Council, where the EU invited the candidate countries to translate the EU objectives into their national policies, the Commission and Hungary have initiated a joint co-operation exercise to prepare for future participation in the EU social inclusion process after accession. This exercise consists in joint identification of the social exclusion challenges and relevant policy responses. In this context, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office co-operates with Eurostat to produce data on poverty and social exclusion. Preliminary figures suggest that overall income disparities seem to be relatively moderate, with a poverty rate after social transfers of 9%. However, for members of the Roma community, the poverty risk is very high. A political state secretary has been appointed with specific responsibility to deal with social inclusion under the competence of the newly created Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs.

As regards other areas of social protection, implementation of the National Programme for People with Disabilities has produced initial results in the areas of work environment, communications, transportation, health care, education and training, employment, sports and leisure time, and social welfare.

In the field of anti-discrimination, additional financial resources have been allocated to Roma programmes, and the staff of the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities has been increased. An Inter-Ministerial Codification Committee on anti-Discrimination recommended the adoption of a new comprehensive anti-discrimination law to ensure the full enforcement of the anti-discrimination provisions contained in the EC Treaty. In June 2002, the Government announced the creation of a new anti-discrimination bureau to combat labour discrimination against women, disabled people, Roma and other minority groups.

Overall assessment

In the area of labour law, the overall level of legal approximation is rather high. However, further efforts are needed and related changes would require modifications to the Labour Law, which were promised by the new Government when coming into power in May 2002. The preparatory work accomplished so far provides a firm basis for completing the entire labour law approximation by the end of 2002. The Directives on part-time work and transfers of undertakings, which were scheduled for transposition in 2001, have not yet been transposed. The approximation of the labour law should be completed by the end of 2002 with the transposition of the fixed-term work Directive, the European Works Council Directive, the new working time Directive and the sectoral working time Directive. Hungary will also need to transpose the Directives on information and consultation of workers and on workers' involvement in the European Company.

With respect to equal treatment for women and men, Hungary is well advanced regarding transposition and implementation. However, further efforts are needed for awareness-raising campaigns, the training of judges and lawyers and the setting-up of a body for the promotion of equal treatment.

Regarding health and safety at work, through the important progress made in the transposition of the acquis in 2002, legal alignment is almost complete. However, the new provisions on safety and health for workers at the workplace and on the use of work equipment by workers at work will only enter into force at the time of accession. The remaining acquis will be transposed and implemented by the time of accession. Work remains to be done with respect to the effective implementation of the acquis in this area.

In this respect, attention should continue to be paid to small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the area of social dialogue, with the new Government a substantial improvement and climate of confidence could be noted, and the goodwill to actively promote sound developments in social dialogue seems to be restored. Autonomous bipartite social dialogue needs to be reinforced at sectoral and enterprise level, and its coverage extended, both in terms of enterprises and of percentage of the labour force covered by collective agreements.

In public health, the ten-year public health programme sets the necessary framework for developing the sector, but should be more focused on structural adjustments and ways to increase efficiency. Efforts to reinforce administrative capacity should be pursued. Furthermore, Hungary will have to align its tobacco legislation with the requirements of the Tobacco Directive. With regard to communicable disease surveillance and control, Hungary has the necessary capacity to undertake the measures needed to fulfil and implement EC requirements. These include the modernisation of training for epidemiologists, continuous professional training, the strengthening of the county public health institutes and close integration of parallel surveillance programmes for specific diseases. Work to develop a health monitoring system to obtain health data and indicators comparable to the EU system, which started in 1998, should be continued. Efforts to improve the health status of the population need to be pursued.

Regarding employment, the signature of the Joint Assessment of the Employment Policy Priorities of Hungary (JAP) by the European Commission and Hungary represents an important step in the preparations for accession. Progress in the implementation of these policies is assessed regularly. It will be important to ensure effective monitoring of the phasing-in of the priorities and commitments contained in the JAP. Hungary`s policy response to meeting the challenges of labour market transformation and human resource development needs to be accelerated. Employment policies should aim at increasing the overall employment rate, in particular for women, addressing regional mobility and reviewing the tax and benefit systems to increase incentives for inactive people to seek and accept job offers. The Public Employment Service needs to be further strengthened, in particular its role as a provider of placement, guidance and counselling for the supply and demand sides of the labour market. The continued modernisation of IT systems is an important part of this strategy. The effectiveness of inter-ministerial co-operation should continue to be strengthened through the newly established Ministry of Employment and Labour, which will assume responsibility as the Managing Authority for the Human Resource Development Operational Programme.

The role of the ESF National Implementing Agency, in operation since June 2001, still remains to be clarified in the framework of the future intermediate body and implementation arrangements being established.

A national integrated strategy on promoting social inclusion, taking into account the EU objectives, needs to be developed. As poverty and social exclusion are multidimensional by nature, it is important to promote an integrated approach mobilising various governmental bodies and all relevant stakeholders in the process. It is also crucial to improve and develop social statistics systems on poverty and social exclusion in line with the EU commonly agreed indicators on social inclusion.

As regards other areas of social protection, sustained efforts are required to implement the reforms that have been introduced, including the health care reform, which will help further improve the level and efficiency of social protection. The strategic aims of the National Programme for People with Disabilities should be pursued further, in particular the goals of facilitating their social integration and fighting all forms of discrimination. Although the Government has taken steps to tackle the problem of access to public buildings, the implementation of related measures is slow.

Further efforts are also needed to ensure alignment and enforcement of the acquis on anti-discrimination. Even if anti-discrimination rules and principles already exist in Hungary, there is currently no institutional system to enforce the anti-discrimination legislation. Also, as to the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Codification Committee on anti-Discrimination to adopt a new comprehensive anti-discrimination law, the Government still needs to present its draft law to the Parliament. Discrimination in the field of employment is still widespread, in spite of the relatively extensive system of anti-discrimination sanctions under the new Labour Code. An adequate system of sanctions needs to be developed.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that Hungary was likely to be able to take on the acquis in the social area in the medium term, provided that it pursued work in terms of adoption and application of the EC acquis. Issues requiring attention included the health system, tobacco legislation, long-term unemployment and social security and welfare.

Since the Opinion, Hungary has made good overall progress, especially in the last two years, in aligning with the acquis in all areas. In particular, good progress has been made in the spheres of labour law, equal treatment between men and women, health and safety and the adoption of a public health programme. The main part of Hungary`s legislation in this area is now in line with the acquis.

Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed. Hungary has been granted a transitional arrangement for the implementation of EC legislation on tobacco, in particular the maximum tar yield of cigarettes, until 31 December 2005. Hungary is generally meeting the commitments it has made in the accession negotiations in this field.

In order to complete preparations for membership, Hungary`s efforts should now focus on completing transposition (on part-time work, transfers of undertakings, and anti-discrimination) and effectively implementing the acquis in the areas of public health, health and safety at work and anti-discrimination, on developing social dialogue in line with the EC practice, and on further strengthening the National Labour Inspectorate, in terms of both staffing and technical facilities.

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