Brussels, 06/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European pillar of social rights, a legislative project that the European Commission hopes to begin in the first half of next year, will try to combine the principles of flexibility and security, on the basis of the treaties as they currently stand.
That was the message the Commission sought to convey after the first discussion on this issue within the College of Commissioners which met in Strasbourg on Tuesday 6 October. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker spoke of this pillar of social rights project in his speech on the state of the Union to the European Parliament in September (see EUROPE 11385).
The pillar will be founded on “the need to pursue a comprehensive approach that encompasses flexibility and security, raises education levels and addresses the problem of skills that do not properly match the jobs available”, said Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, following the College debate. “Building on existing EU legislation, we will present a European pillar of social rights that should serve as a compass leading to convergence of employment and social conditions over time”, he added.
He went on to highlight the need to reduce the differences between member states, something that can be encouraged, he suggested, by better comparative assessment of how well states perform in the European semester budgetary process. Common indicators on employment and social affairs are required, he said. As a general goal, he set the need to tailor European instruments to the changes taking place in the labour market, particularly within the context of globalisation, technical innovation and societal changes.
Dombrovskis spoke briefly about the mobility and employment package which is due to be presented at the end of the year and which was also discussed at the meeting of the College. There has been no change of direction from the one set out the previous day by Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen (see EUROPE 11403). (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)