For the first time, on Friday 7 May, social partners, civil society, representatives of international organisations, representatives of European institutions, and Heads of State or Government met to discuss the topic of social Europe at the Porto Social Summit. The objective is to speed up the implementation of the European pillar of social rights in the wake of the pandemic.
“If Gothenburg was all about principle, Porto is all about action”, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, tried to summarise in her opening address to an audience of EU leaders (except for three, including the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel), insisting on the three main objectives of the Action Plan of the European pillar of social rights (see EUROPE 12671/2).
Thus, one of the watchwords of the day among the presidents of the European institutions was the importance of moving to “concrete” actions, as hammered home by the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, on behalf of the Presidency of the EU Council. The second theme was the cardinal role to be played by the social partners, who were present at the Summit and were able to exchange views with the European leaders both bilaterally and during the thematic workshops organised for the occasion (see EUROPE 12714/1).
In their concluding speeches, the social partners showed their convergence on the declaration adopted today, the objectives of the action plan of the European pillar of social rights, but also the usual divergences on the means to achieve them.
Pierre Gattaz, the president of BusinessEurope, admitted that he was not fully in line with the recent proposals of the European Commission (in particular the minimum wage directive). According to him, it is necessary to cut red tape in order to achieve economic recovery. Alban Maggiar, from SMEunited, also highlighted the burdens on SMEs.
On the contrary, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Luca Visentini, stressed the importance of an “ambitious” minimum wage directive. He also expressed his enthusiasm for the future directive on workers’ platforms. He also called for national recovery and resilience plans to include a strong social component.
The issue of skills acquisition seemed to be the subject of consensus among the social partners, with Pascal Bolo, President of SGI Europe, focusing almost all of his speech on this theme.
The highlight of the Social Summit will be the adoption of the Porto Summit Declaration by EU leaders on Saturday 8 May, which is expected to reaffirm social Europe and gender equality, despite the reluctance of several Member States and difficult negotiations (see EUROPE 12714/1).
To consult the joint declaration adopted between the social partners, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council: https://bit.ly/33p52NJ (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)