The EU’s Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs ministers are meeting in Brussels on 27 and 28 November to discuss the ‘2024 European Semester’ and collective bargaining policy in the field of the green transition on the 27th, and social investment and fiscal rules on the 28th.
They will adopt a series of conclusions over the two days, for example on the digitalisation of social security systems or democracy at work.
On the 27th, European ministers will also be asked to approve a general approach to the European disability card. Standards for equality bodies are also on the ministers’ agenda.
In addition, the ministers are due to be briefed at the EU Council on progress in the negotiations on the platform workers directive before a new trilogue on 28 November.
The recent ‘exploratory’ trilogue on the coordination of social security schemes will also be the subject of an information item (see EUROPE 13296/22) and a possible exchange of views between ministers, while the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU obtained a ‘green light’ from the European Parliament on Tuesday 21 to try once again to reconcile positions.
The revision of Regulation 883/2004, proposed by the Commission in 2016, has been the subject of 21 trilogues to date, and the Presidency, after a new round of discussions planned by Coreper for its meeting on 24 November, is expected to be working on proposing a new mandate.
With regard to the ‘European Semester' on Monday the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council will ask the ministers “how collective bargaining can support the fight against climate change, increase environmental sustainability and accompany an equitable transition to climate neutrality”, according to a public discussion note.
It will also ask them about recent experiences and best practices in ‘green collective bargaining’ in their Member State.
“While respecting the autonomy of the social partners, what measures could be taken by the Union, the Member States and the social partners themselves to promote green collective bargaining? What role could the European Semester play?”, the Presidency will ask.
“The European Green Deal and action to promote a Social Union must be properly articulated and mutually beneficial at all levels”.
In particular, “consideration should be given to the role of collective bargaining in creating fair working conditions and preventing occupational risks in the face of climate change, such as extreme temperatures or other adverse weather events, given their major impact on workers’ health and safety”.
At lunch on Monday, the ministers will also be discussing job protection and redundancies as part of the energy transition.
Social investment. The following day, the ministers will hold a policy debate on social investment and EU tax rules.
This summer, the Spanish Presidency and the future Belgian Presidency of the EU Council launched an Informal Working Group on Social Investment (IWGSI). The main objective of this working group, which brings together various institutional and national players, is to encourage discussion from an academic perspective on the interaction between social investment and reform, economic growth, macroeconomic stabilisation and upward social convergence; 24 EU countries have joined the group.
On the basis of this work, the Presidency has drawn up a number of questions (“What specific role can social investment and related reforms play in the EU’s economic governance? How can Member States be effectively encouraged to invest in this direction? Furthermore, in this context, what central role can EPSCO [Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, editor’s note] play?) and five key messages (on the life-course perspective for modern welfare states, social investment as a driver of growth, social protection and economic stabilisation, approaches to measuring the return on social investment and the statistical capacity to evaluate social investment).
Links to discussion documents: https://aeur.eu/f/9ov; https://aeur.eu/f/9ow; https://aeur.eu/f/9ox (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)