New position paper on the Social Pillar

The position paper, which complements CESI’s formal contribution to the ongoing public consultation, focuses on five key action points that should, according to CESI, be an integral part of the Pillar:

• Gaps in fields in which the EU has legislative competences must be closed via binding standards based on the highest level of job quality and protection for workers and citizens. This relates especially to directives and regulations concerning: new, flexible forms of employment; consequences of mobile and digital work models on employment relationships and worker rights; and adequate work-life balance based on a notion of gender equality according to which responsibilities in households should be equally shared.

• It is crucial that EU law and rules in employment and social affairs are implemented and enforced more rigorously and without exception.

• In areas in which the EU has no clear legislative competences (large parts of social affairs), a step towards more social cohesion in Europe could be the development of a set of commonly accepted and meaningful indicators which can measure social change timely, effectively and to the most objective extent possible. Once established, such social indicators should be monitored regularly by means of analogous benchmarks in the Member States which measures relative improvements.

• Implementing the Pillar will require more public investments in Member States in areas such as early childhood care, health, education and training. Investment possibilities under the current EU’s macroeconomic and fiscal surveillance framework remain very restrictive; in this context more flexibility and incentives for increased public social investments should be enabled and encouraged by the EU – A new Golden rule for public social investments is needed.

• Developing and implementing the Pillar should involve all recognised social partners at all levels of the process. Inclusive sectoral and interprofessional social dialogues are fundamental, based on the criteria established in the European Commission’ SEC(2010) 9064 final (p.5) to be recognised as a sectoral social partner in European sectoral social dialogue.

The full position paper can be accessed here.