Employment 19/10/2015

Members of the Employment Committee to visit for discussions on labour market reforms Delegation of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) will pay a working visit to on Monday and Tuesday (30 November - 1 December), to discuss forthcoming reforms of the Greek labour market and social security system with President Prokopios Pavlopoulos, Minister of Labour George Katrougalos and other high ranking officials of the Hellenic Republic. EMPL delegation will be led by the Chair Thomas Händel.

Visit to Athens is a concrete action of the EMPL Committee, following the invitation of minister Katrougalos to launch mutual cooperation with exchange of views and suggestions on soon to be applied major reforms of the labour market and social security system in Greece.

Committee Chair Thomas Händel expressed optimism before the visit: "We are offering the government of Greece a constructive and conceptual cooperation. Our mission is to stimulate the reflection of MEPs on the progress of the Greek reforms along the European social policy guidelines. The focus will be on employment and social development. The aim of the delegation is to have an exchange of views with experts from many fields of expertise and enabling Members to conduct an in- depth analysis of the challenges and prospects at stake."

Members of the EMPL delegation:

- Thomas Händel (GUE/NGL, DE), Chair and Head of the Monitoring Group - Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (S&D, FI) - Amjad Bashir (ECR, UK) - Laura Agea (EFDD, IT) - Kostadinka Kuneva (GUE/NGL, GR)

Program of the visit

On Monday, members will first meet their host, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity, George Katrougalos and Alternate Minister for Combating , Rania Antonopoulou; Alternate Minister for Social Solidarity, Theano Fotiou, and Deputy Minister for Social Security, Tassos Petropoulos. Later on, they will also held talks with high ranking officials at the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity and with representatives of Greek social partners.

Tuesday's agenda starts with a meeting with the President of Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, followed by a joint meeting with Committee of Social Affairs and Committee of European affairs of the , and concluding by meeting with the Vice President of the Greek Government, Ioannis Dragasakis. Press points Short press points are scheduled on Monday at 16.00, after the meeting with Minister Katrougalos, and on Tuesday at 14.00, after the meeting with Vice-Premier Dragasakis. Details will be provided by EPIO Athens.

Disclaimer: this is an informal message intended to help journalists covering the work of the European Parliament. It is neither an official press release nor a comprehensive record of proceedings.

Constantinos TSOUTSOPLIDES EPIO Athens (+30) 210 327 89 28 (+30) 6973 699 886 [email protected]

Janez VOUK Press Unit (+32) 2 283 10 53 (BXL) (+33) 3 881 74466 (STR) (+32) 475 78 48 56 [email protected] @EPSocialAffairs

______You have received this message because, at your request, your email address is registered on our mailing list. If you no longer wish to receive notifications, please send an e-mail to: [email protected] To subscribe to our mailing list, please send an e-mail to: [email protected] Your data are processed only for the purpose of sending this message and will not be transferred to any other party.