Spain and Belgium submitted a proposal to the other Member States at the EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO), on Friday 15 October, to introduce a social imbalance alert mechanism in the context of the ‘European Semester’ budget process.
The Spanish Minister of Labour and Economy, Yolanda Díaz Pérez, opened the round table by presenting their joint document. It is a system designed to identify and respond to imbalances in social rights quickly and effectively, in the same spirit as the existing ‘Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure’ or MIP. The new scheme would not create any new instruments or introduce any corrective mechanisms, said the Belgian Minister of Economy and Labour, Pierre-Yves Dermagne.
The proposal found strong support among some Member States, which immediately approved the idea, such as Estonia - particularly enthusiastic - as well as Portugal, Italy, France and Cyprus.
On the other hand, other Member States, such as Bulgaria and Germany, have indicated that they want to analyse the proposal before taking a position. However, the German position will only be clarified when the federal government is formed, the minister said.
Several Member States, such as Finland and the Netherlands, have stressed the importance of not adding an additional administrative burden to the budgetary process. The Belgian-Spanish proposal will now be analysed by the Employment Committee (EMCO) and the Social Protection Committee (SPC). Latvia said it hopes that technical progress will be made by the time of the next EPSCO meeting, which will be held in December.
For his part, the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, welcomed the proposal, believing that it could contribute to achieving common objectives in order to meet social and employment challenges. In addition, it could strengthen the monitoring of social progress among Member States in relation to the Action Plan for the implementation of the European pillar of social rights (see EUROPE 12671/2) as well as strengthen the role of EPSCO in the monitoring and implementation of the ‘European Semester’.
Overall, the majority of ministers called for a return to the normal format of the ‘European Semester’, with annual and multiannual country-specific recommendations. They also called for a stronger role for EPSCO vis-à-vis the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin). Several Member States recalled the principle of subsidiarity in the social field, notably Sweden, which was particularly insistent on this point, certainly with reference to the framework to establish a directive on adequate minimum wages. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)