Reducing the regulatory gap between open-ended and non-standard contracts can foster transitions towards open-ended contracts and promote the creation of stable employment, incentivising employers and employees to invest in skills and lifelong learning.

35. Calls, in the context of modern work organisation, for the creation of flexible and secure contractual arrangements ensuring equal treatment; is firmly convinced that employment contracts of an indefinite duration must continue to be the main form of employment and considers that, in the context of modern work organisation, provision should be made for contracts that are flexible in terms of working arrangements and secure with regard to job protection and rights; recognises that the definition of the legal framework for employment contracts of an indefinite duration and how they are geared to the concept of flexicurity in national labour law is crucially im ...[+++]portant for their acceptance by businesses and employees;

However, I believe that we should adopt more general systems of social security, which would apply both to open-ended contracts and to part-time employment: in short, the intention is that these forms of employment should also be provided with adequate social security cover, not that open-ended contracts should be weakened.

(20) As stressed by the European-level social partners in the context of Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC and Directive 1999/70/EC, as well as in the Joint Declaration of the sectoral social partners, Euro-CIETT and Uni-Europa, direct employment contracts of an indefinite duration are, and will continue to be, the general form of employment relationship between employers and workers.

As stressed by the European-level social partners in the context of the Directives on part-time and fixed-term contract work, as well as in the Joint Declaration of the sectoral social partners, Euro-CIETT and Uni-Europa, direct employment contracts of an indefinite duration are, and will continue to be, the general form of employment relationship between employers and workers.

It has been said in this Chamber that there is a risk of causing job insecurity, but I believe that precisely the flexibility and substantial use of flexibility tools in the labour market, together with a re-evaluation of the rules governing permanent employment, re-establish a balance between atypical employment, precarious employment and permanent employment. This is necessary because it is the only way to achieve an increasingly balanced labour market.