L 172/26 Official Journal of the European Communities 12.7.2000 COUNCIL DECISION of 29 June 2000 setting up a Social Protection Committee (2000/436/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 202 thereof, Whereas: (1)  In its communication ‘a concerted strategy for moder- nising social protection’ of 14 July 1999, the Commis- sion made suggestions for the enhancement of coopera- tion in the field of social protection by, among other things, setting up a group of high-level officials. 2)  In its Resolution of 16 February 2000 on the communi- cation from the Commission on a concerted strategy for modernising social protection, the European Parliament welcomed the Commission's communication and the creation of such a group. (3) In its conclusions of 17 December 1999 on the strengthening of cooperation for modernising and improving social protection ('), the Council underlined the need for cooperation in modernising social protec- tion, based on a structural and permanent dialogue, follow-up and exchange of information, experience and good practice between the Member States. (4 The Council, in the same conclusions: — supported the Commission's suggestion to establish a mechanism for enhanced cooperation brought about by the work of the group of high-level officials for the implementation of this action, — underlined that this kind of cooperation should cover all forms of social protection and help the Member States, where necessary, to improve and strengthen their social protection systems in accord- ance with their national priorities, and recalled the competence of the Member States for the organ- isation and financing of social protection, — considered it particularly important that this new cooperation towards improving and modernising social protection should be a coherent action, parallel to, and interactive with, the European employment strategy as well as to the macroeco- nomic dialogue, — endorsed the four broad objectives as identified by the Commission, namely: to make work pay and provide secure income, to make pensions safe and () O] C 8, 12.1.2000, p. 7. pension systems sustainable, to promote social inclu- sion and to ensure high quality and sustainable health care; and recognised that the aspects relating to finance are common to all the objectives, — emphasised that equality between women and men must be mainstreamed in all activities aiming at the four objectives, and — underlined the role of the social partners in the modernisation of the social protection process. (5)  The Council conclusions of the Lisbon European Council on 23 and 24 March 2000 acknowledged the impor- tance of social protection in further developing and modernising an active and dynamic welfare State in Europe, and invited the Council to strengthen coopera- tion between Member States by exchanging experiences and best practice on the basis of improved information networks, which are the basic tools in this field. (6)  To support this cooperation, the Lisbon European Council assigned certain key tasks to the group of high- level officials, in particular, as a first priority: — to prepare a study on the future evolution of social protection from a long-term point of view, giving particular attention to the sustainability of pension systems, and — to be involved in the setting of adequate targets and in establishing indicators to suport the implementa- tion of the efforts of the Member States and the European Union to promote social inclusion. (7) It is appropriate to continue the work already begun by the interim group of high-level officials, established following the aforementioned Council conclusions, by replacing it by an advisory Committee in accordance with this Decision, HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: Article 1 1. An Advisory Social Protection Committee (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’) is hereby established to strengthen cooperation between the Member States on social protection policies, in full compliance with the Treaty and with due regard for the powers of the Community's institutions and organs.