On 26 and 27 May, the Portuguese government will host a ‘Social Forum’ in Porto to take stock of the implementation of the commitments made by European leaders in May 2021 at the Porto Social Summit (see EUROPE 12716/3).
At the summit, the EU27 backed the European Commission’s action plan on the European pillar of social rights, with three major objectives for 2030 relating to the employment rate (at least 78% of the population aged between 20 and 64 in employment), continuing training (at least 60% of adults taking part in training each year) and lifting 15 million people out of poverty, including 5 million children, by 2019.
The Forum will be inaugurated on 27 May by the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa. The meeting will be attended by the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Nicolas Schmit, various European Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs, representatives of trade unions and employers, and MEPs.
The pillar, adopted in 2017 in Gothenburg, sets out 20 principles and 75 initiatives. Some of these have already been implemented, including directives on pay transparency to close the pay gap between men and women, on adequate minimum wages, and on protecting workers’ health and safety at work with new initiatives on asbestos and other dangerous substances, the Commission said in a press release.
The discussions in Porto will also focus on skills in connection with the European Year of Skills and the importance of the European social model on the world stage, particularly in the context of enlargement.
“I very much hope that we will succeed in making this summit a permanent practice, because it will ensure that the idea of a social Europe remains a priority for the European Union’s political decision-makers. Achievements such as the minimum wage directive, the social climate fund, the child guarantee, the care strategy and the first measures to regulate platform working have all been important steps during this mandate towards a more social Europe”, commented German EPP MEP Dennis Radtke in a statement ahead of the meeting. But there is still a long way to go.
“We need to modernise our economy, increase competitiveness and productivity, support research and innovation, enhance professional qualifications and improve our quality of life. For social rights to flourish, we must rely on education, training and innovation”, said José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portuguese).
“And to achieve this, there have never been as many financial resources available in the EU budget as there are today. This is a window of opportunity that EU countries cannot afford to squander.”
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Link to the event: https://aeur.eu/f/73s (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)