MEPs have broadly welcomed the new action plan for the implementation of the European pillar of social rights during a plenary debate on Wednesday 10 March, which was held ahead of the Porto social summit in May. However, many have insisted on the introduction of binding targets for 2030 and to strengthen the ambition in terms of poverty reduction.
The EPP have again welcomed the proposal through the coordinator of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Dennis Radtke (Germany), who spoke on behalf of his group, but said he wanted to move forward on the issue of ‘clickworkers’ and ‘crowdworkers’.
The President of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament, Spain’s Iratxe García Pérez, also warmly welcomed the general level of ambition regarding the Action Plan (see EUROPE 12671/2), but wanted to focus on quality jobs. She stressed the importance of having clear objectives that have easily quantifiable indicators in order that effective monitoring can be guaranteed.
Dragoș Pîslaru (Renew Europe, Romania), was also satisfied with the action plan, but insisted on the need to review the EU’s working method to so that the fight against poverty could be improved. He also insisted on the need for investments and to develop digital tools to help achieve the 2030 objectives.
Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), the co-rapporteur for the Greens/EFA group, was more critical. He pointed out the European Commission’s lack of ambition in terms of improving incomes (the Commission wants to put forward recommendations and not a directive) and in terms of reducing poverty, the objectives of which are weaker than the EUROPE 2020 strategy. Referring to the Conference on the Future of the EU (which has just been launched – see other news), Mr Lamberts stressed the importance of making progress in terms of the tax union so that there could be an end to competition between Member States.
On an individual basis, Agnes Jongerius (S&D, the Netherlands), who is co-rapporteur with Mr Radtke on the minimum wage directive (see EUROPE 12673/21), insisted that the action plan should introduce binding targets and be more ambitious regarding the fight against poverty and social exclusion, where she called for a halving of current poverty levels by 2030. Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA, the Netherlands) argued for the introduction of a secondary objective to combat homelessness. For his part, Jordi Cañas (Renew Europe, Spain) called on the European Commission to present a legislative act to regulate remote working, instead of leaving it to social partners.
Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA, Portugal) called for the introduction of a universal minimum income, while Gabriel Bischoff (S&D, Germany) said that companies should become more democratic so that workers have a greater say.
Of course, several MEPs have, on the contrary, denounced the European Commission’s use of the European pillar of social rights to attribute to itself various competences in the social field, something that was hitherto the preserve of Member States. Unsurprisingly, this discourse has found its way into the ECR and ID groups, but also, more unexpectedly, into Renew Europe, through the voice of Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)