Visit by Luxembourg’s Minister of Labour and Employment to the Employment Service of Slovenia

16 October 2002: The Luxembourg Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr François Biltgen, yesterday visited the ESS. He is on an official visit to Slovenia at the invitation of the Slovenian Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, Dr Vlado Dimovski. Mr Biltgen was accompanied on his visit to the ESS by a ministerial advisor and the director of the Luxembourg employment service. The state secretary for employment Mrs Staša Baloh Plahutnik attended as the representative of the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.

The delegation was received by the ESS Managing Director, Mr Jože Glazer. He described the activities and organisation of the ESS, unemployment trends and conditions on the labour market in Slovenia and gave special emphasis to programmes aimed at reducing unemployment. Mr Biltgen spoke about conditions on the labour market in Luxembourg and their experiences in conducting unemployment programmes. A comparison between the two countries revealed considerable similarities, especially in the field of public works.

Even though at 2.8% Luxembourg’s unemployment rate (according to the internationally comparable ILO method of calculating unemployment) is one of the lowest in the EU (in Slovenia the rate is 5.9%), when it comes to employment the two countries are faced by some of the same issues and challenges such as how to effectively encourage employers to take on older jobseekers or how to ensure a qualified enough workforce for specific areas suffering chronic shortages, such as the computer industry, construction industry and healthcare.

This visit to the ESS by the Luxembourg delegation was also an opportunity for talks on strengthening future cooperation on employment between the two countries and the forms that might take. The talks also covered Slovenia’s accession to the EU. Mr Biltgen emphasised that his country had no intention of demanding a transitional period for the free movement of labour.

The Luxembourg delegation during the reception at the ESS