The Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs of the EU27 will meet in Namur on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January for the first-ever informal meeting organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Deputy Prime Ministers Pierre-Yves Dermagne and Frank Vandenbroucke will chair this first meeting, which will focus in particular on improving access to social protection and the problem of labour and skills shortages on the labour market.
Social convergence in economic governance and the social dimension in the policies of EU candidate countries will be another working theme addressed on 12 January, with representatives of the candidate countries invited to Namur, along with the International Labour Organization.
On Thursday, the first working session will be devoted to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in the EU’s future strategic agenda. The ministers will then discuss labour market shortages, followed by access to social protection and social services.
In its presentation, the Belgian Presidency explains that “although recent years have seen an unexpectedly robust labour market in the EU, further efforts will be needed to achieve these objectives”.
At the same time, “Europe is facing unprecedented political challenges linked to climate change, digitalisation, demographic change and a deteriorating geopolitical environment. And these developments are also accompanied by a risk of social exclusion, polarisation of employment and deterioration in working conditions”, the Belgian authorities note.
The ministers will therefore discuss “the policies needed to make the EU’s labour markets and social system future-proof and more robust in the face of unforeseen shocks”. The aim will be to consider how social dialogue can play a more important role in this respect.
The right to training, the role of adequate salaries and labour mobility within the EU and from outside will be issues raised at these sessions, the Belgian note states.
In terms of access to social protection, this will be based on the 2019 Council Recommendation on access to social protection for employed or self-employed workers (see EUROPE 12366/33).
Full coverage of social protection is often limited to normal employment relationships and social benefits are not always sufficient to guarantee a decent standard of living, writes the Belgian Presidency.
The transparency and accessibility of social protection is also a problem. “While digitalisation increases efficiency, it can also lead to digital exclusion and exacerbate the problem of unclaimed benefits, i.e. not all people who are entitled to benefits actually claim them”, notes Belgium.
Work has resumed on the coordination of social security rules
With regard to social security, it is possible that the ministers and ministerial representatives will discuss the future of the revision of the regulation (883/2004) on the coordination of social security schemes, which could not be finalised by the end of 2023 despite several attempts by the previous Spanish Presidency (see EUROPE 13317/17).
On Tuesday 9 January, the Belgian Presidency organised a new working group on this issue. According to one source, the working group has begun sounding out the Member States on possible scenarios for splitting the draft regulation, bringing forward the chapters agreed with Parliament in 2019, while two chapters, on unemployment and applicable legislation, remain outstanding. The Belgian Presidency is said to be considering a number of ‘split’ options and will reconvene a working group on 18 January.
According to several sources, a handful of countries, including France, have expressed their opposition to this type of split. Paris would like to keep the section on unemployment benefits for cross-border workers. Parliament’s shadow rapporteurs are due to meet on the evening of Monday 15 January in Strasbourg.
Work on digital platforms resumes
The Belgian Presidency also intends to resume work on the directive on digital workers on Tuesday 16 January in an EU Council working group.
The Member States have been asked to indicate their red lines and the reasons why they were unable to support the provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament on 13 December (see EUROPE 13320/14).
The Belgian Presidency will determine how to proceed on the basis of these discussions. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)