Brussels, 18/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Following a meeting with European social partners on Monday 17 November, Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Marianne Thyssen proposed organising a “high-level” event in spring 2015 for relaunching the European social dialogue, thirty years after the famous “Val Duchesse discussions”.
The meeting with social partners finished in the evening and sought to attain two goals: consulting social partners before the launch of the “European Semester” 2015 process and assessing what could be done to implement the concrete initiatives contained within one of the two prerogatives of Commissioner Dombrovskis, in charge of the Euro and the Social Dialogue. In this respect, judging by the joint statement made by Dombrovskis and Thyssen (Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility), published at the end of the two meetings - one with workers' representatives and the other with those of the employers - this Commission does not appear to lack ambition. It has decided to organise a “high-level” event and has explicitly referred in this connection to the launch by former Commission President, Jacques Delors, “of co-operation with the social partners, similarly to the 1985 Val Duchesse discussions initiative”.
What do they hope to achieve? Above all, this involves, “marking the beginning of a new way of working”… by relaunching and strengthening the dialogue with our social partners”, explained two members of the Commission. The two Commission members explained that the Spring 2015 event is therefore expected to help, “increase their role (that of the social partners) in the structural reforms, in addition to their official role in the EU's legislative process and in full respect of their autonomy”.
This public relations exercise appears to have paid off, at least in part, given the reaction from the social partners because although quite succinct, it was also positive and contained the suggestion of hope for real change in the social dialogue. Therefore, BusinessEurope sees it as an opportunity to reform the Europe that is currently taking shape. At the end of the meeting, its director-general, Markus Beyrer, stated, “We need to transform the social dialogue to a reform partnership to bring Europe back on track”. The European Centre of Employers and Enterprises Providing Public Services (CEEP) was more enthusiastic and was quick to describe President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, as the “president of the social dialogue” and said that he had got off to a “good start”. On the other hand, “caution” appears to be the watchword of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). It said that it was “ready to engage” and hoped for a change in policies and progress in the social dialogue, which it believed had not made much progress up until now. (JK)