The former Federal President of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Andrea Nahles, has been appointed as special advisor to the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, according to an announcement made by the latter on his Twitter account on Friday 10 July.
According to the Commissioner, the German will be there to help strengthen the social dialogue in Europe, as well as the role of the social partners. “Her vast experience will help us shape a fairer, more social Europe”, Mr Schmit said.
Ms Nahles served as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2013 to 2017. In June 2019, she had resigned from all her posts - including from her mandate in the Bundestag - due to the SPD’s poor results in the European elections in May 2019.
According to the German national press, as from 1 August, Ms Nahles will also take up her duties as the new President of the German Federal Post and Telecommunications Agency, which has around 1,400 employees and is responsible for the pensions of civil servants working for the former state-owned Deutsche Bundespost.
The announcement was welcomed by Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). “Andrea Nahles is an experienced minister in labour and social affairs and I hope her appointment helps Commissioner Schmit to achieve his goal – which we share - of a fairer, more social Europe”, he told EUROPE.
Other recruit. The Commissioner also announced the recruitment of Nicolas Hazard, the founder of INCO, an organisation specialising in the promotion of social entrepreneurship. His role will be to contribute to the European Commission’s discussions with a view to drawing up the Action Plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights at the beginning of 2021 (see EUROPE 12403/6). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)