CESI trade union priorities for the incoming German Council Presidency

The core priorites include the following:

• The German Council Presidency should strive to raise the transparency of the work of the Council. CESI calls for all European social partners to be credibly involved in the work of the Council Presidency, including independent trade unions.

• The German Council Presidency should drive forward with determination the European Commission’s original work programme for 2020 in the sphere of employment and social policies– in particular the planned initiatives related to minimum wages, an unemployment reinsurance scheme and pay transparency – despite and indeed because of in the Corona crisis, which must not become a social crisis.

• The German Council Presidency should strive to reach a swift agreement among the Member States for an ambitious and solidarity-based EU response to the economic and financial fallout of the Corona crisis in the Member States. The Presidency should take the European Commission’s proposal for a Recovery Plan of May 27 2020 as a useful basis for a compromise and actively support the proposed funding mechanisms and principles.

• The German Council Presidency should coordinate the conclusion of negotiations on a future-oriented Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which prioritises:

(1) social fairness and decent work, coupling EU funding to the implementation of the 20 principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
(2) digitalisation of work and public service provision, which must be developed with the active involvement of trade unions and social partners and which necessitates as a prerequisite reinforced IT networks and infrastructure in cities as well as rural areas and peripheral regions; and
(3) environmental protection and climate neutrality, coupling EU funding to the environmental targets of an ambitious European Green Deal and starting from the assumption that only a socially-friendly green and digital economic agenda can secure the long-term competitiveness of the European continent.

• The German Council Presidency should actively promote investments in the national, regional and local public services of the Member States, based on the assumption that the implementation of the policy priorities under the new MFF will only be possible if processes can be effectively and efficiently managed and overseen by performing and well-resourced public services.

The full position is available here.