The Finnish Presidency of the EU Council is expected to present conclusions on the economy of wellbeing to the relevant ministers at the Employment and Social Policy Council (EPSCO) on Thursday 24 October. In particular, it calls for a new post-2020 European strategy that would be cross-sectoral and entirely based on the concept of the economy of wellbeing that is so dear to the Finnish Presidency.
Considering that this is one of its key priorities (see EUROPE 12283/2), Finland has been working on this concept since the first day of its Presidency. As early as the EPSCO Council in July (see EUROPE 12291/12), Member States were invited to establish a framework in order to provide ideas for and give direction to the new European Commission. Since then, the Finnish document has reportedly been “massively” reworked, although most of the Finnish proposals have remained intact.
Thus, as the cornerstone of the document, the conclusions ask the Commission to propose a new post-2020 strategy (points 24 and 47 of the document). This strategy must be long-term and make the EU “the most competitive, socially inclusive and climate-neutral economy in the world”, in line with the priorities of the European pillar of social rights on the one hand and sustainable development goals on the other. It should be noted that no deadline for achieving climate neutrality is given. Therefore, the horizon of 2050 is over.
Going beyond GDP
This strategy will have to build on the ‘European Semester’ to make recommendations that focus increasingly on social aspects (more than half of the recommendations are already focused on social aspects, according to the Presidency's document). The conclusions therefore call on the Member States and the European Commission to carry out a “horizontal analysis” in order to adopt an increasingly social and long-term approach (point 38). In addition, if they adopt its conclusions as they stand, Member States will be asking to go beyond GDP, because it “does not give a complete picture of the wellbeing of the population”. The findings suggest that an inter-sectoral approach is increasingly necessary.
Qualified majority in the social field and the fight against discrimination
In general, the EU Council will address issues of concern, in particular the Commission's proposals to extend qualified majority voting to the social field (see EUROPE 12237/3) and the fight against discrimination.
On the first point, the European Commission will present its April proposal to Ministers to extend qualified majority voting in the EU Council in order to facilitate the adoption of European anti-discrimination legislation and recommendations on social security and social protection for workers (see EUROPE 12237/3). This will be followed by a working discussion on this topic during lunch, which is expected to be lively.
According to several sources, the Commission's proposal is not inspiring enthusiasm among Member States. All Member States are in fact reportedly against a move towards qualified majority voting in the field of social security systems, we are told, because of the importance of the subject at the national level and the great diversity of systems in Europe. They are potentially slightly more flexible on the issue of combating discrimination, even if, again, this is reportedly “superficial” flexibility, we are told.
The Finnish Presidency also intends to organise a public debate to address the issue of anti-discrimination in the EU. In particular, it will seek to find out what needs to be done in this area, in light of the stalled negotiations on the Equal Treatment Directive, which has been in limbo for 11 years and which it hopes to revive (see EUROPE 12286/11). The opinion of the Visegrad group is reportedly highly anticipated. This particular subject resonates with the agenda of the European Parliament's plenary session, which will discuss the future of the directive during a debate on Tuesday 22 October at the end of the day.
For the conclusions on the economy of wellbeing: http://bit.ly/31x7a2G (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)