Shortly after the vote on the seat of the future European Labour Agency (see EUROPE 12269/16), the competent ministers will be invited by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, at the Employment and Social Policy Council (EPSCO) on Thursday 13 June, to give their views on the horizontal aspects of the 'European Semester' dedicated to social and employment issues.
The 'European Semester' budget process has undergone a certain social change with the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in November 2017 (see EUROPE 11907/1), including the strengthening of the 'Social Scoreboard'. This ‘soft law’ approach has been promoted repeatedly by Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen without fully convincing trade unions and some left-wing MEPs.
The Presidency will thus seek to determine, as a first step, whether the budgetary process of the 'European Semester' is an 'effective' tool for improving social and employment performance and also for achieving the objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy. It will then survey ministers to identify ways to strengthen the social dimension of the 'European Semester' and to ensure that Member States take greater ownership of the process to better implement the recommendations.
Due to the European elections, the European Commission presented its specific recommendations late, country by country (see EUROPE 12269/2), so that Member States did not have time to analyse them and approve them. That is why this will only be an introductory debate. The approval was scheduled for 8 July, at an EPSCO Council meeting added in May to the calendar of Finland's Presidency of the Council of the EU.
On the same day, ministers will adopt no fewer than ten pieces of legislation, including three key texts in the social field: the Directive on work-life balance, the Regulation establishing the European Labour Agency and the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions.
In addition, the Presidency will report on the progress of work on the Directive on equal treatment irrespective of religion, belief, disability, age or sexual orientation - a legislative proposal that has been in limbo for about ten years (see EUROPE 11217/7).
The Presidency will also take stock of the Regulation on the coordination of social security systems, a matter pending since the rejection by national delegations of the provisional agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 12225/15) and the rejection of the vote at first reading in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12239/2). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)