Brussels, 01/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - With the debate on the social chapter of the future Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) gradually gaining in substance (see EUROPE 10796), Social Democrat ministers for labour and social affairs supported a statement made the day before the Employment Council meeting, on Thursday 28 February, which sets out the pillars that a “fully fledged” social Union should have. This is, therefore, a project that takes up a number of ideas currently negotiated for the EMU, but which is broader. It was developed by the Party of European Socialists (PES) and proposes “to complement the Economic Union, the Banking Union, the Monetary Union and the Political Union”.
A pact for social progress. After the fashion of the stability and growth pact, the first pillar of this new social Union should comprise a social progress pact. Similarity of principle between the two pacts extends to the possibility of sanctions, it being written: “Member states will agree on binding social progress targets and non-compliance will be sanctioned”. These objectives would concern four priority areas: - guaranteeing a 75% rate of employment with unemployment not exceeding 5%; - allocating at least 6% of GDP to investment in education; - fostering innovation with 3% of national budgets dedicated to research and development; - and, given that the EUROPE 2020 strategy “remains too vague”, determining an objective to reduce the number of people affected by social exclusion and by the risk of poverty to 20% in 2020 and to 15% in 2030.
Social protocol. “The next treaty revision process must be used to introduce a clear clause on social rights being treated equally to economic freedoms”, the statement reads. This is a sensitive matter on which the European Commission has already stumbled in the past, having had to withdraw its proposal for a regulation (“Monti II”) which sought to clarify the matter (see EUROPE 10579).
Employment and social investment programme. The statement takes up the broad lines of the package on social investment, that the Commission recently presented (see EUROPE 10790). Nonetheless, a social Union should place greater emphasis on implementing measures that are recommended: “Existing EU rules must be revised to ensure that the implementation of the European deficit rules must not result in disproportional cuts of social and employment policies and programmes”. Furthermore, the budgetary envelope intended to support the setting in place of a Youth Guarantee mechanism, for which the Council has recently given its go-ahead (see EUROPE 10796), should be reviewed upward, from €6 to €10 billion. The proposal was already on the negotiating table during the last European Summit, but did not receive sufficient support, French Labour Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday 28 February.
Common social norms. New European legislation must be proposed in order to ensure better social cohesion. According to the statement, it is quite possible, in such a social Union, to guarantee a minimum level of social protection without affecting the existing treaties. In a similar manner, over a dozen “standards” are cited by way of example: Youth Guarantee; decent working conditions; a common framework for actions aimed at long term unemployment; revision of the directive on posted workers; strengthening of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund; standardised rules for active labour market policies (ALMP); a common objective for reducing by 2% per year the gap in salaries between men and women; a European framework for dual education; and a European framework for equal right of access to lodging and “a minimum standard in pension”.
A strengthened European social dialogue. The main proposals on this issue are: including European social partners in the development of an annual growth survey and its follow-up, strengthening their autonomy and the framework of the tripartite summits. (JK/trans/jl)