*** modified Wednesday 27 January 14h00 ***
The Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, insisted on the importance of the Porto Summit next May to renew the European “social contract” in connection with the action plan on the European pillar of social rights, during an exchange organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on Tuesday 26 January.
“The Porto Summit will be an important meeting to launch the work for a new social contract to rebuild our system and respond to the current challenges”, he said, insisting on avoiding an approach based only on legislation and opting for a balanced approach between “soft and hard power”.
For him, the European project is being played out on many fronts. First of all, the distribution of wealth must be improved, including the fight against wage stagnation. “Stock markets are exploding and wages are stagnating”, he said. Strengthening wages can only be achieved by strengthening collective bargaining, he said.
In addition, investment in social services must be revived, he said, denouncing past austerity measures. “We have impoverished our social services”, he lamented, noting the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic showed the shortages in the under-resourced national health sectors. The other front that needs to be opened is that of equal opportunities in Europe, he said. The Child Guarantee should play an important role in this respect. He also stressed the need to democratise the decision-making process by opening it up even more to social dialogue. “We must move from an economy of shareholders to an economy of actors”.
Platform workers and right to disconnection
During the exchanges, the Commissioner suggested that there could be a “legal instrument” for platform workers (see EUROPE 12615/3). In addition, it slipped that there would “perhaps” be a need for a regulatory framework on the right to disconnection, called for by the European Parliament in a legislative initiative report (see EUROPE 12641/4).
Book of grievances
During the discussions, Oliver Röpke, member of the EESC’s Workers’ Group, stressed the need to provide the Union with minimum standards in the field of unemployment benefits. The president of the S&D group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez from Spain, insisted on the importance of reviewing budgetary rules and state aid. In the eyes of the Social Democrats, we must not return to the status quobefore the crisis. Finally, the other battle to be fought, according to her, is that of housing.
No Gothenburg II
Miguel Cabrita, Portuguese Deputy Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, speaking on behalf of the Presidency of the EU Council, assured that the Porto Summit will not be a second Gothenburg. “We are not going to be satisfied with a discussion on principles; our idea is that there is a concrete link between the implementation plan and the social pillar in order to have the social part of the recovery”.
In the opinion of all speakers, unlike the financial crisis 10 years ago, this time the European Union and the Member States have significant financial resources at their disposal in the framework of the Recovery Plan for Europe, Next Generation EU. It remains to be seen to what objectives these funds will be allocated. Here, García Pérez regretted that there are no quantified social objectives to signpost the funds, where they exist for digital or climate investments. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)