EUROPEAN UNION SOCIAL AND EMPLOYMENT POLICY, A COMPONENT AND A MEANS OF ACHIEVING SOCIAL COHESION

Creating more and better jobs is one of the main goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The European Employment Strategy is designed to contribute to growth and jobs, labour mobility and social progress. But, European Union countries are developing in economic, social and political different environments, influenced by historical traditions, natural conditions, provision of inputs, the degree of implementation of technical progress and the quality of education of human factor. Therefore, each country, based on the level of their economic development, has developed a social and employment policy, in accordance with its concrete conditions of development. This is why we can state that social and employment policy is and will be, firstly, the individual issue of EU members. The promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions, proper social protection, dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources are the common objectives of the EU and its Member States in the social and employment field. This paper seeks to underline the relation between social and employment policy, on one hand, and social cohesion, on the other hand, using a historical analysis of social and employment policy progress in time within the European Union.