A future instrument - legislative or otherwise - on activating people removed from the labour market, focused in particular on women, a High-Level Experts Group on AI’s impact on the labour market in the medium and long term and the confirmation of a European deal on long-term care in 2027: these were the initiatives presented on Wednesday 22 July by Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu in the context of the ‘Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights’, intended to assess the nine years existence of this tool championed by former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
This ‘pillar’ of social rights, structured around twenty major principles and set in motion with the Porto Action Plan in 2021 and the identification of three major social objectives (employment, training, poverty), has served as the EU’s “social compass” for “almost ten years”, the vice-president summed up.
And its objectives at the time - fighting poverty, promoting women’s access to the labour market with strengthened childcare services, and guaranteeing equal opportunities and access to long-term care - remain just as relevant today, perhaps even more so.
While progress has been made on employment since 2021 (a rate of 76.1% in 2025 with a target of 78% in 2030), but less so on training or the fight against poverty, the Commission proposed three further areas for improvement to the 2021 action plan on Wednesday.
It is considering additional action to tackle the cost of living, AI’s potentially harmful effects on the labour market and, more generally, inequalities.
“One of the most concrete and important initiatives”, according to the vice-president, is the activation of people removed from the labour market. Announced on 6 July (see EUROPE 13903/9), this initiative - which also saw the launch on that same day of a first phase of consultations with European social partners - will assess the potential for EU action to develop the work of employment services and strengthen childcare and support services for dependent individuals.
In 2025, nearly 50 million people of working age were inactive, alongside 12 million unemployed people and 6.5 million underemployed workers who wanted to work full time but could not find the opportunity.
Women account for the largest share of inactivity, with 32 million women of working age outside the labour market.
The second area of focus is the analysis of AI’s effects on the labour market. While the Commission has already launched a consultation on the future Quality Jobs Act to determine whether binding standards are needed to regulate AI in the workplace, it has announced a High Level Group on the subject.
This group, whose composition and launch date are yet to be decided, will be tasked with developing scenarios for the potential long-term evolution of employment in the EU, depending on the deployment of AI in workplaces, examining how best to anticipate and manage the impacts of AI on employment, and exploring ways to adjust labour market policies.
Finally, on the topic of ‘inequalities’, the Commission will also present actions to help SMEs implement the Pay Transparency Directive.
8 August. The vice-president also announced that 8 August will henceforth be the European Day in Remembrance of the Victims of Accidents Work, under a proposal adopted by the Commission on 22 July. This proposal addresses the European Parliament’s request and could not be more relevant, Roxana Mînzatu stressed, referring to the recent tragedy in Brussels in which six workers died on a building site.
Mixed reactions. “Europe must urgently change course to stand any chance of meeting its social goals. The emergence of new challenges like AI since these goals were first set makes new resources and EU legislation for rights at work more important”, was the reaction of ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch.
The communication is moving in the right direction, but it “is not enough. Now it must be transformed into a strong Quality Jobs Act with binding rules on AI in the workplace, the right to disconnect, psychosocial and extreme weather risks, a just transition and subcontracting”, stated Gaby Bischoff (S&D, German).
Link to the communication: https://aeur.eu/f/mz8 (SP)