On Friday 30 April, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe published her proposals to improve the implementation of social rights in Europe by strengthening the European Social Charter system.
The pandemic has underlined the importance of social rights, Marija Pejčinović Burić stresses, and the current economic downturn will only put additional pressure on the financial resources for their implementation, which must not be allowed to slow.
The Secretary General’s proposals focus on three main areas: political support for the Council of Europe in its work to implement social rights, improvement of procedures to enhance the effectiveness and impact of the Charter, and “forward-looking substantive and procedural developments”, based on further consideration by Council of Europe member states and the parties to the Charter.
According to Marija Pejčinović Burić, this Charter is “an instrument capable of providing a dynamic response” to current challenges by contributing to the definition of a “new European social contract”.
The celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Charter at the end of this year could be the occasion for a Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on this matter, she says.
Link to the proposals: https://bit.ly/2QCllEe (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)