The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, insisted on the need to adapt the ‘European social rulebook’ during a debate in the European Parliament on the programme of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council on Wednesday 20 January.
Following the words of the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, who insisted during the Portuguese Presidency on the importance of relaunching the European social project and the European summit in Porto (see EUROPE 12616/19), the President brought her social fibre to the fore in front of the parliamentarians.
“I believe it is time to also adapt the social rulebook. A rulebook, which ensures solidarity between the generations. A rulebook that rewards the entrepreneurs who take care of their employees. Which focuses on jobs and opens up opportunities. Which puts skills, innovation and social protection on an equal footing”, she presented before the chamber.
She also mentioned the hundreds of billions tabled in the framework of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan to fight against social disparities, as well as the SURE programme to support national short-time working schemes in the context of the pandemic. Ms von der Leyen stressed in particular the presentation of the action plan for the implementation of the European pillar of social rights, which will be presented in March.
A divided Parliament
The words of the two politicians were welcomed by a large number of liberal and Christian Democrat MEPs, with German Manfred Weber, Chairman of the EPP Group, stressing “jobs, jobs and jobs!” in the context of the recovery. On the other hand, their sincerity has been questioned by other political movements.
The president of the S&D group, Iratxe Garcia Pérez (Spain), wondered why the recovery fund was earmarked for green investments (37% of funding) and the digital transition (20%), but why there was no threshold for social issues.
The Belgian co-president of the Greens/EFA, Philippe Lamberts, attacked the Portuguese Prime Minister and his desire to conclude the trade agreement with Mercosur. “Mr Prime Minister, if you take the principle seriously that none of our policies can worsen the environmental and social situation of the planet, the so-called ‘do no harm principle’, you must relegate the treaty with Mercosur, at least as it is negotiated today, to the dustbin of history.”
For her part, the French co-president of The Left, Manon Aubry, called for the European Union to declare a state of social emergency in the same way as the state of climate emergency recently decreed by the European Parliament.
Slow implementation of stimulus funds
Conservatives and the far right have pointed to the consequences of European solidarity. Peter Lundgren (Sweden), on behalf of the ECR group, explained that he was fed up with Sweden being the “banking machine” for countries in the South and suggested that Italian gold reserves could be used to finance European solidarity. Marco Zanni (Italy), President of Identity and Democracy, pointed out the delay in the implementation of the funding funds, which will arrive more than a year after the outbreak of the crisis.
The implementation of the aid plans was one of the recurring issues during a plenary session debate held in the afternoon in the presence of the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, for whom the recovery must be set in motion quickly in order to be successful. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)