2013-03-23

DAHR MEP Csaba Sógor held a presentation entitled The situation of the labor force in the European Union during the economic crisis on Friday, 22nd of March 2013 at the headquarters of the Democratic German Forum of Sibiu. The event was organized by the Sibiu county territorial organization of the DAHR and the Hungarian Civic Cultural Association.

The discussion was opened by Ferenc Szombatfalvi Török, president of the association and director of the Sibiu County Work Inspectorate, who presented statistical data on the situation of the work force in the county. Csaba Sógor, member of the Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee of the European Parliament, presented the present and future challenges of the EU labor market. As in the case of national minority issues, employment and labor affairs are the competence of member states. The Union can only issue guidelines for the member states, but the competence and responsibility in this matter rests with the national parliaments.

Speaking about the lessons learned during the economic crisis, MEP Sógor said: “Excessive spending has to be avoided, and the budget deficit should not exceed 3%. We also need to lower unemployment levels in order to restore economic balance, so we need university graduates as well as skilled workers. The labor market should be open not just for young graduates but also for the elderly and for the people living with disabilities. They can all play a useful role in society if we create the right circumstances.” – explained Sógor, also stating that one of the biggest challenges of our time is to restore the value of of work.

The DAHR MEP also pointed out, that the role of small and medium sized enterprises play in the economy has increased with the crisis. He related how the Scandinavian states have learned from the example of Nokia (which made up 4% of Finland’s economy) that a sustainable, balanced economy is based on SME’s.

“There are 23 million small and medium sized enterprises in the EU, which means 87 million jobs, even if on average a company only employs 10 people or less. Besides investing in health and education, we should strongly support SMEs, help them be sustainable and encourage entrepreneurship. Business management should be taught as early on as high school, this is also one of the main ideas of the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan issued recently by the European Commission” – summed up the MEP.

For more than ten years Csaba Sógor has been a prominent supporter of the Calasanctius Foundation’s annual event, The Youth Business Programme, promoting business planning and entrepreneurial thinking among the youth.