On Tuesday 12 November, the Romanian Roxana Mînzatu, Vice-President-designate of the European Commission for People, Skills and Preparedness, made a generally positive impression on her colleagues in the European Parliament.
But while her determination to work for quality jobs, gender equality and the fight against poverty was not in doubt, she failed to avoid the pitfall of generalities and vague answers.
The Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Li Andersson (The Left, Finnish), also deplored the fact that the Commissioner’s portfolio still does not include a reference to employment and social rights, which she hopes may still change.
The 44-year-old current MEP was also questioned by the Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, and repeatedly spoken out in favour of young people and improving skills at an early age.
She also showed a strong commitment to people with disabilities, whose lives she wants to improve.
Promising to listen to all citizens and their concerns, she will launch a “political dialogue on Europe in action” as soon as she arrives and will be “on the ground to meet people, social partners, NGOs, young people”. This “inclusive” dialogue should help to identify the respective needs.
The Commissioner-designate also wants to forge close relations with the social partners and will propose a new social dialogue pact in 2025.
On quality jobs, which will be the subject of a roadmap, she will ensure that the directive on adequate minimum wages is fully applied and will launch work on the right to disconnect, a particularly important principle “for women, perhaps even more than for men”.
She also wants to ensure that worker mobility is fair and will work to strengthen the mandate of the European Labour Authority.
She also stressed the need to take account of psychosocial risks in the workplace, linked in particular to the algorithmic management of work, without however being able to say at this stage whether the Commission will put new legislation on the table.
Worker mobility and social security. The Commissioner-designate was briefly questioned by German EPP member Dennis Radtke about worker mobility and the fate of Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, which has been bogged down in the EU Council for eight years (see EUROPE 13512/1).
But she was unable to say how she intends to relaunch work on the most complex chapters, such as prior notification for posted workers or cross-border unemployment rules. While she considered it “important to have a new impetus and a new presidency too (the Polish Presidency of the EU Council, editor’s note)” and promised to “find a solution” for these two controversial chapters, she did not reveal any particular strategy.
In any case, she said she was counting on the results of several pilot digitalisation projects by late 2025, including social security passports.
Algorithmic management of work and burn-out. Questioned by Dutch Greens/EFA MEP, Kim van Sparrentak, French The Left MEP, Leïla Chaibi, and Belgian S&D MEP, Estelle Ceulemans, the Commissioner-designate promised to look at current legislation on the risks of burn-out and see what could be improved.
“I intend to listen to you and find every way and means of ensuring that the rights of online workers” are protected, she said, acknowledging that it was possible to go further than the platform work directive.
“But I don’t know whether it will be through a legislative initiative or not”, she admitted. Work on changes in the world of work will be a focus of work with the social partners, with whom she promises to consider new approaches.
Public procurement. This is one of MEPs’ major expectations and, here again, the Romanian was cautious. She will do her utmost to advocate the inclusion of social criteria in the future directive on public procurement with Stéphane Séjourné, who will be responsible for it.
Social conditionalities “need to be looked at seriously”, but again, with an approach that is “balanced for our businesses”. “I will advocate the inclusion of social criteria, but it remains to be seen whether this will be compulsory or not”.
Skills, education and support for young people. The Commissioner-designate promised a “skills shock” to MEPs and to make the right to training a “social” right. She defended an initiative on the portability of skills, which aims to facilitate the recognition of training and qualifications at EU level, and praised the effects of the EU talent pool, which will bring in young people and workers from third countries on better terms, at a time when Europeans are experiencing labour shortages in key sectors: long-term care, but also sectors linked to new green technologies.
Ms Mînzatu also mentioned the need to improve the quality of training and guarantee skills in key areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It will also be necessary to improve the acquisition of basic skills.
In terms of education, she considered it crucial that Europeans acquire the necessary skills from an early age and throughout their lives. She wants them to master at least two foreign languages in addition to their mother tongue, and highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in helping them acquire these skills in a fun way.
She promised new funding for Erasmus in the next Multiannual Financial Framework and to shut down any cuts to sports education programmes. She also foresees an enhancement of the ‘youth guarantee’ at a time when “a quarter of children in the EU today are on the brink of extreme poverty”. She also promised that Erasmus or the ESF (European Social Fund) would support teachers.
Responding to Chiara Gemma (ECR, Italian), she admitted that Erasmus needed to be both more inclusive for people with disabilities, but also for vulnerable students from disadvantaged families. It is necessary to “consider synergies, supplements and other sources of funding to support the most vulnerable”.
Just transition and quality jobs. Asked by Estonian Jana Toom (Renew Europe) about just transition and job losses, she promised to combine the Just Transition Fund (which is not within her remit) with other measures to deal with restructuring. It is necessary to create synergies with the ESF, emphasise the role of social investment in the Member States and implement the Climate Action Social Facility to limit the impact of transitions on employment, she explained.
The future ‘roadmap for quality jobs’ will also have to launch a project with the social partners to identify the energy-intensive sectors where job losses are expected. She promised a very pragmatic response on this.
Housing plan. Although it is not within her direct remit, the Romanian wants to advocate access to affordable housing for the most vulnerable. “We need to offer solutions in terms of public and private financing, especially for young people”. There will “no doubt be a discussion on the State aid to be modified”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)