Romania’s Roxana Mînzatu, appointed Vice-President of the Commission responsible for People, Skills and Preparation, will continue to implement the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights with a new Action Plan on the subject.
She will also commit to preparing a new Pact for European Social Dialogue by early 2025, and will pursue a ‘Quality’ jobs roadmap.
She will work as well on creating a ‘Union of Skills’ and seek to develop an initiative on algorithmic work management. But the Romanian will not have a new title for her position, even though the MEPS would have like to see the terms employment and social rights included.
Nor will she launch any major ‘social’ projects such as a directive on minimum incomes, stating that she wants to concentrate on implementing the Commission recommendation on the subject presented by outgoing Commissioner Nicolas Schmit.
These are just some of the answers given on 22 October to the MEPs before her hearing on 12 November. Eight committees will be invited to attend, in addition to the Committees on ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ and ‘Culture’.
On the new Action Plan for implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the candidate wants to “amplify our dynamics to at least reach our 2030 EU headline targets on employment (78% employment rate, at least halving the gender employment gap), skills (at least 60% of Europeans participating annually in training and promoting access to basic digital skills for at least 80% of people aged 16-74), and on poverty reduction (reduce the number of people living in poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million compared to 2019 figures, including 5 million children)”.
The Action Plan will announce “legislative and non-legislative measures”, she promises, without further details.
“I want a Quality jobs roadmap to be our new paradigm that will allow us to fully exploit the opportunities that new technologies and digital ecosystems bring for innovation, increased productivity and competitiveness”, she adds.
New initiative on algorithmic management in the workplace. “We will also continue collecting evidence for a new initiative on algorithmic management, incorporating the ‘human in control’ principle in the world of work”, she writes.
Union and Skills Portability. To tackle the shortages, the candidate promises to create a ‘Union of Skills’, in particular to address “long-term care workforce challenges”.
Skills “are a social right; a right that everyone should continue to benefit from childhood to old age. The goal will be that everyone gets the education and training they need at every stage of the working life, to be agile in today’s constantly evolving world”.
She will present “an ambitious Skills Portability Initiative to ensure that skills travel and are recognized with mobility in the labour market”.
And she will look at ways of strengthening Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs).
Mobility and social security. “Quality jobs mean also fair labour mobility. We need to complete work still on the table: I will work intensively with Parliament and Council to help finding an agreement on the revision of the social security coordination regulations”, while the revision of Regulation 883/2004 is blocked and work has not resumed between the Parliament and the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council.
“I am aware of the complexity of this file and stand ready to propose innovative approaches building on the progress made so far”. With regard to the European Labour Authority, based on the findings of a Commission evaluation she will focus on how to strengthen its work, although the Romanian does not mention a new mandate at this stage.
She will present as well “a comprehensive vision on digitalisation of services, including to facilitate posted workers declarations”.
Anti-Poverty Strategy. “Around half of the Member States experienced a noticeable rise in the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, making the 2030 target more challenging to meet”, admits the Romanian. The future strategy should “be comprehensive, going beyond employment and social policies to include education and training, healthcare, housing, taxation, transport, energy, food and climate policies”.
On housing, she will support the work of the Commissioner for Housing and will argue for a “strong social component that meets the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly the homeless, for whom the ‘housing first’ principle is the optimal approach”.
Link to her answers: https://aeur.eu/f/dzu (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)