Brussels, 06/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament called on Thursday 6 February for the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) to take a new look at the social dimension of economic and monetary union (EMU) with a focus on social dialogue (employers and trade unions) in order to inform the debate about the need to renew social dialogue at the European level.
A conclusions document adopted by the European summit in October 2013 on the social dimension of EMU includes the idea of bringing the social partners into the decision-making process for the European Semester. And it is this idea, initially mooted by the European Commission, that the EP wants the EESC to examine more closely. The call came from the chair of the EP's employment and social affairs committee, Pervenche Berès (S&D, France), who says in a press release that, in the light of the rising power of economic governance, involvement of the social partners in the European Semester needs to be improved and their independence protected. (JK/transl.fl)