On Monday 23 January in Brussels, a conference was held that involved all the different European institutions and organisations, member states, civil society and European and national social partners. This conference effectively meant that the European Commission was marking the end of a public consultation on the future pillar of social rights. This pillar galvanised widespread support in favour of this project, in addition to the wish for improved convergence in the EU, whilst respecting the subsidiarity principle.
The Commission’s presentation of this framework for the European pillar of social rights has been awaited since last March. As pointed out on Monday, the Vice President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, explained that this does not involve “reinventing the wheel”. The EU’s scope in the field of social and employment policies is and will remain limited. Social rights will, above all, be adjusted and “modernised” in response to developments on the labour market and characterised by the emergence of new kinds of employment, such as digital platforms. This approach is being promoted at both the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 11686) and European Parliament (see EUROPE 11707).
At the present time, the Commission has not yet decided what it will put on the table as concrete initiatives, explained the Commissioner for Employment, Marianne Thyssen, during a press conference in a backdrop to the event. The legal basis of the pillar of social rights has not been decided either but will mainly consist of a list of principles that will act as a guide and not as a primary source of laws, she pointed out. The Commissioner concluded that when they decide on the legal instrument for involving the other institutions in the creation of this pillar, they will then begin to develop concrete proposals.
The public consultation led by the Commission was officially concluded at the end of 2016. According to the latter, it has been a success and in this regard, it put forward two different figures: 16,500 online contributions and 200 position papers have been received. The Commission’s Special Adviser on the subject, Allan Larsson, said that this consultation had particularly highlighted the fact that economic and social policies were considered as two sides of the same coin and that the pillar was expected to contribute towards social convergence whilst respecting the subsidiarity principle.
At the same time, however, this consultation highlighted a number of differences on the objectives pursued, particularly among social partners, explained to Mr Larsson. This is effectively demonstrated by the different positions of the Director-General of BusinessEurope, Markus Beyrer and that of the Secretary-General for the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Luca Visentini. The former spoke against a, “Tightening of labour and social security laws” and claimed that, “The persisting social problems in Europe are not due to a lack of social policy measures, but to a lack of global competitiveness”. For the latter, it is the exact opposite.
On behalf of civil society, the President of the European Economic Social Committee” (EESC), Georges Dassis, thanked the European Commission for having put this subject on the political agenda and emphasised that it is its role to “shake up” and “annoy” member states in an effort to build “a Union that is closer to its citizens”. He also pointed out that his organisation was going to adopt its opinion on the pillar on Wednesday, 25 January, following the 28 debates carried out throughout all the different member states and organised by 1800 activists. The Vice President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Karl-Heinz Lambertz, affirmed that all current crises could be summed up as a single one – that of solidarity. In order to meet this challenge, he explained that it was time that the Union became efficient in the social arena.
Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, highlighted the importance of the follow-up to the work and the social summit in Gothenburg in Sweden on 17 November. He explained that this summit will be co-organised by the Commission which “will help us to deliver the momentum and put social priorities where they belong: at the top of Europe's agenda”. In Antonio Tajani’s first public speech as President of the European Parliament, he explained that implementing the pillar of social rights is the main challenge the Union will have to meet in 2017. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)