Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,5 (A), Hamburg University of Ecomomy and Policy (European Studies), course: European Employment Policy, language: English, abstract: The European Employment Strategy (EES) is a co-ordinated European approach to employment policy. Moreover it is the framework and the initiator for the annual National Action Plans (NAPs) issued by the Member States of the European Union (EU). The origins of the EES lie in the former EU Commission´s President Delors´”White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment” from 1993 and mark a turning point in the field of employment policy, that had before always been a national task, supported solely by elements of intergovernmental cooperation, mainly promoted by the European Commission. Yet in the light of preparing a European Monetary Union, the Member States had to realize that traditional employment creation policies as the adjustment of national interest rates had become obsolete and the common market needed a coordination at Community level. [...]