Both the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, and the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, declared that the ecological transition can only be successful if the role of the social partners is strengthened, as stated at a three-day conference organised by theEuropean Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 February.
For both leaders, the green transition, in order to be successful, must be fair and, to be fair, it must take place in the closest possible collaboration at all levels with the social partners. “We can only achieve this [the success of the Green Transition, ed.] if trade unions at all levels are seen as an integral part of the decision-making process and an integral part of policy development and implementation”, Mr Timmermans said on 5 February.
Citing his exchanges with ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini, the Vice-President stressed his full support for the trade unions. “You can count on me to be an advocate for those who say ‘it will be a just transition or it just won't be a transition’”.
For his part, the day before, Commissioner Schmit had insisted on the need to strengthen the role of the social partners and social dialogue, which, in his opinion, plays an “essential” role in European democracy.
In this regard, he recalled the role that the directive on minimum wages (see EUROPE 12638/11) and the budgetary process of the ‘European Semester’, whose revised ‘social scoreboard’ should be presented together with the action plan on the European pillar of social rights (see EUROPE 12588/12), on 3 March next.
For this Social Democrat Commissioner, it is indeed necessary to review the European ‘social rulebook’, as the President of the European Commission put it (see EUROPE 12650/24). For him, it is time to return to a true “social” market economy and to put an end to the “friedmanian model”, named after the famous neo-liberal economist Milton Friedman. For the Commissioner, the state, which has proven its key role during the pandemic crisis, must be restored. Without a state, there can be no massive investment in vaccines, he said.
When questioned by a speaker, the Commissioner acknowledged the need to rethink the notion of power, to rethink the company, to rethink the indicators used. On the other hand, addressing the subject of platform workers, the Commissioner reiterated that he did not wish to open up the issue of worker status at European level, a subject that was too thorny in his opinion. A reluctance that could well prove disappointing to the unions. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)