Companion to European Pillar of Social Rights

Under the fifth of the Juncker Commission’s ten priorities, A deeper and fairer economic and monetary union -  #deepeningEMU - we find the policy area a European Pillar of Social Rights - #SocialRights on Twitter.

With the Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth on 17 November 2017 approaching, #SocialSummit17 on Twitter, we already looked at the Consultation Report on European Pillar of Social Rights and Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights, where I promised to look at the accompanying detailed Commission staff working document.

The companion SWD(2017) 201

Although I wondered why the Commission made so little hay out of the guiding principles, namely the social aims of Article 3(3) TEU and Article 9 TFEU, the communication COM(2017) 250 is a lucid summary of the Social Pillar. However, for detail people with a professional interest can turn to the accompanying staff working document SWD(2017) 201.  

Even if we have to limit our comments to a few remarks, in this blog post we are going to look at the detailed staff working document, but let us begin by recalling the almost full coordinates of the official document:

SWD accompanying the communication Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights; Brussels, 26.4.2017 SWD(2017) 201 final (77 pages)

Twenty principles

The SWD(2017) 201 is the companion publication to the communication COM(2017) 250, best read in parallel as a detailed commentary, or used as a reference tool for each of the twenty principles and rights, which constitute the core of the Social Pillar (page 2):

This document follows the structure of the three chapters of the European Pillar of Social Rights detailing the contents of each principle or right. Each one of these is presented in three main sections, covering the existing social acquis, an explanation of its content and scope, and suggestions with regard to its implementation.  

Here are the principles and rights, and at the same time the main structure of the staff working document, with a few pages dedicated to each principle in a systematic manner:

Chapter I Equal opportunities and access to the labour market  

1. Education, training and life-long learning
2. Gender equality
3. Equal opportunities
4. Active support to employment  

Chapter II Fair working conditions

5. Secure and adaptable employment

6. Wages

7. Information about employment conditions and protection in case of dismissals

8. Social dialogue and involvement of workers

9. Work-life balance

10. Healthy, safe and well-adapted work environment and data protection

Chapter III Social protection and inclusion

11. Childcare and support to children

12. Social protection

13. Unemployment benefits

14. Minimum income

15. Old age income and pensions

16. Health care

17. Inclusion of people with disabilities

18. Long-term care

19. Housing and assistance for the homeless

20. Access to essential services   

Comment  

In this document the European Commission provides a useful full house of detailed provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), acts and recommendations, plus recent and promised initiatives at an operational level.

Where new forms of employment, including self-employment, or groups outside the scope of current provisions appear, the Commission wants to upgrade the EU acquis. The principles also indicate what national authorities and social partners can do, in processes where the member states can learn from each other.

The systematic character of the staff working document invites use as a reference by people in (national) administrations or teaching EU social policy.

However, as in the other Social Pillar documents, the Commission hardly mentions  the strategic level main guiding aims and principles - the North Star of the EU Treaties - namely Article 3(3) TEU (EU objectives) and Article 9 TFEU (horizontal social clause).

Social Pillar progress

Readers interested in Social Pillar progress can turn to the Commission staff working document on the Social Scoreboard SWD(2017) 200 monitoring tool, benchmarking performances of EU member states in twelve areas of societal progress. The Social Scoreboard web page offers a first harvest of findings.

An update on concrete proposals is offered by the flyer Social dimension of Europe - overview of initiatives, which lists proposals from November 2014 to October 2017, offering links and current status.

Ralf Grahn

Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights

Under the fifth priority of the European Commission, to deepen the economic and monetary union (EMU) - #deepeningEMU on Twitter - it is creating a social pillar #SocialRights, ahead of the Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth #SocialSummit17 in Gothenburg 17 November 2017.

Social Pillar documents   

In April the European Commission published a communication, accompanied by two  staff working documents in 23 official EU languages:

Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights; Brussels, 26.4.2017 COM(2017) 250 final (10 pages)

Social Scoreboard; Brussels, 26.4.2017 SWD(2017) 200 final (6 pages)

SWD accompanying the communication Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights; Brussels, 26.4.2017 SWD(2017) 201 final (77 pages)

The eminently readable third staff working document, bridging the transition from the test version to the final proposal, and presented in the blog post Consultation report on European Pillar of Social Rights, was published only in English:

Report of the public consultation; Brussels, 26.4.2017 SWD(2017) 206 final (53 pages)

Social pillar communication

The short communication about establishing the Social Pillar COM(2017) 250 contains the Commission’s final proposal for the Pillar.  The Pillar is primarily conceived for the euro area but open to all EU Member States (page 2).

Page 3 offers a summary of the communication (including references to the official documents mentioned above):

This Communication presents the European Pillar of Social Rights and outlines a way forward for its implementation. The Communication is accompanied by a number of legislative and non-legislative initiatives related to work-life balance, information for workers, access to social protection and working time. In the logic of the Pillar, these proposals, once adopted, will update and complement the EU acquis. The text of the Pillar itself is supported by a staff working document which provides more detailed explanations on each of the principles and rights. Moreover, a social scoreboard has been established to monitor progress on the ground. This will serve to track trends and performances across countries and to inform policy guidance in the context of the European Semester of economic policy coordination. For the EU as a whole, the scoreboard will also serve to assess progress towards its ̔social triple Aʼ.

Euro area convergence

Even if the Social Pillar is open for willing member states, why does the Commission stress its design for the euro area? After discussing the rapid economic and social changes in our societies, the communication explains (page 5):

These challenges take a specific meaning for the completion of Europe's Economic and Monetary Union, as stressed in the Five Presidents' Report of June 2015. This is not just a social necessity, it is also an economic imperative. Employment and social conditions vary widely across the euro area, partly as a result of the crisis but also partly resulting from the imbalances built up in the years before the crisis. As the Report points out, efficient and resilient labour markets that promote a high level of employment and are able to absorb shocks without generating unemployment are essential for the smooth functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union. Over time, they contribute to the convergence of performances between Member States and to more inclusive societies. Beyond labour markets, it is also important to ensure that every citizen has access to adequate education and that an effective social protection system is in place to protect the most vulnerable in society, including a "social protection floor". Finally, the Report highlights the need to go a step further and push for a deeper integration of national labour markets by facilitating geographic and professional mobility. This calls for a fair and enforceable level-playing field for public authorities, workers and business alike.

 

For the EMU rationale, here is a link to the Five Presidents’ Report, officially Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union, and for good measure the strategic note from the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) The Social Dimension of Economic and Monetary Union. Both were published in June 2015 (and both were designed by people in love with pale pastel colours failing the first accessibility test, readable text for ordinary readers).

The EPSC strategy note started by sounding the clarion call for dynamic and inclusive labour markets:

The social dimension of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has too often been neglected, due to the implicit assumption that making EMU more “social” would somehow hamper the economic performance of the euro area. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not coincidentally, the recent financial crisis proved that countries with more dynamic and inclusive labour markets – as well as a better skilled labour force and interventionist social systems – are more resilient: they better withstand shocks and recover more quickly.  

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Upward convergence must be seen as the unifying common goal and leitmotif of Economic and Monetary Union.

Investment in skills and a revamped flexicurity are key to resilience and productivity growth. Squeezing the tax wedge, enhancing labour mobility and retargeting the European Semester priorities offer potential gains (often without cost to the public purse), according to the inspirational strategy note, which concluded:

In modern, advanced economies, social and economic goals are two sides of the same coin. It is time for Economic and Monetary Union to embrace this logic and put human capital investment, social benchmarks, well-functioning labour markets and mobility at the heart of its focus. This is the only way to rekindle the upward convergence which inspired European integration in the past, and must now guide its future.   

Recommendation and proclamation

On 26 April 2017, together with the communication (see page 8), the Commission published a Reflection paper on the social dimension of Europe COM(2017) 206  (as part of the Future of Europe discussion), the Pillar as a temporary Commission recommendation (EU) 2017/761 while waiting for the Proposal for a Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights COM(2017) 251 to become a solemn proclamation by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission (at the upcoming Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth in Gothenburg 17 November 2017, at the latest - #SocialSummit17 on Twitter).    

Social Scoreboard

Even if EU powers are limited in the social area, the communication presents the role of the union and how it coordinates and supports actions within the Social Pillar (from page 7). The new scoreboard and its relation to the Joint Employment Report as part of the European Semester are sketched on page 9:

Social considerations have been mainstreamed and reinforced in the European Semester for economic policy coordination since the start of the mandate of this Commision. The analysis and recommendations will reflect and promote the principles enshrined in the Pillar by assessing, monitoring and comparing the progress made towards their implementation. Benchmarking and exchange of best practices will be conducted for a number of areas, such as employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits, minimum wages, minimum income and skills. Monitoring of progress will be supported by the new social scoreboard, which consists of a limited number of existing indicators of importance to assess employment and social trends. The scoreboard will be dicussed with the relevant Council committees, with a view to its incoporation in the annual Joint Employment Report published each autumn in the framework of the European Semester. It could also become a reference point for the efforts made on the social dimension of the euro area and of Europe more generally.  

For more information, you can go to the Social Scoreboard SWD(2017) 200 and its key indicators, while the Commission’s web page The European Semester offers you access to the annual process of economic governance.

Lucid summary

The communication Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights COM(2017) 250 is a lucid summary, although I wonder why the Commission mentions the treaty aims only in passing and rarely uses them in its argumentation, namely “a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress” in Article 3(3) TEU and the horizontal social clause (having general application) Article 9 TFEU.  

For detail people with a professional interest can turn to the accompanying staff working document SWD(2017) 201 we are going to look at in a coming blog post.

Ralf Grahn

Consultation report on European Pillar of Social Rights

In February and March I wrote a number of blog posts compiled in the entry EU social market economy and social pillar. It is time to register the progress of the social dimension and the social pillar of the European Union, but let us first return to the public consultation after a reminder of one of the aims of the EU, as laid down in Article 3(3) TEU: a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress.

While we are at it, why not recall the horizontal clause (provision having general application) Article 9 TFEU? Like this:

Article 9

In defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health.

Consultation on European Pillar of Social Rights

In March 2016 the European Commission launched a public consultation on a European Pillar of Social Rights, presenting four documents for orientation. There was a test version of the Social Pillar  in the annex to the communication:

Launching a consultation on a European Pillar of Social Rights; Strasbourg, 8.3.2016 COM(2016) 127 final (11 pages; available in 23 official EU languages)

First preliminary outline of a European Pillar of Social Rights; Strasbourg, 8.3.2016 COM(2016) 127 final ANNEX 1 (18 pages; available in 23 official EU languages)

The communication was accompanied by two commission staff working documents (SWDs):

The EU social acquis; Strasbourg, 8.3.2016 SWD(2016) 50 final (17 pages; only in English)

Key economic, employment and social trends behind a European Pillar of Social Rights; Strasbourg, 8.3.2016 SWD(2016) 51 final  (37 pages; only in English)  

Consultation report

This time I am not going to return to the documents which launched the public consultation lasting until the end of 2016, but head for the summary of the contributions during the consultation process.

The Commission staff working document (available only in English) accompanying the Communication Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights COM(2017) 250 “presents the consultation process and summarises its main findings”:

Report of the public consultation; Brussels, 26.4.2017 SWD(2017) 206 final (53 pages)

The consultation report, which was published on the same day as the Reflection paper on the social dimension of Europe COM(2017) 206  and the launch of the social pillar (link above), reveals how active and organised the consultation process was.

The role of the member states and the EU Council is crucial regarding the establishment of and the Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights COM(2017) 251, the upcoming Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth 17 November 2017 i Gothenburg - #SocialSummit17 on Twitter - and the chances for practical progress, given the social policy powers vested in the member states.

Therefore, it is interesting to see how active the member states were during the public consultation (page 6):

Member States engaged actively in the consultation. The Commission received contributions from 21 national governments or their responsible ministries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK. Moreover, five national parliaments (the German Bundesrat, the French Assemblée Nationale, Italy's Camera dei Deputati, the Czech Senate and Romania's Camera Deputaților) and a number of regional governments and authorities handed in their replies.

For the general reader the trends and challenges are valuable. Thus, it is worth quoting (page 7):

During consultation events and work streams discussions, four key priority trends emerged which the Pillar should address:  

• The social consequences of the financial crisis, with increasing poverty, social exclusion, inequalities and unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment and among young people, and the long period of economic stagnation, with low growth and competitiveness;  
• Technological progress and automation; the future of work, the emerging digital labour market, education and reskilling;  
• Demographic developments, with the ageing of Europe's population; the modernisation of social protection and welfare systems; and  
• Economic divergence across Member States.

Citizens first

Not only do we have the aims of the treaties, we also have the interests of the citizens of the European Union to guide action (page 9):

For experts, the debate should not be about ‘more or less Europe’, but about putting ‘citizens-first’ to provide security, opportunity and resilience in times of change. The consultation highlighted that the challenges of societies and the world of work are often similar across Member States. Therefore, the Pillar was seen as a means to set the conditions for sustainable convergence towards better employment and social outcomes, by creating a common consensus on social goals against which reforms can be pursued.

How can this be made to contribute to competitiveness and fiscal sustainability? These questions were important for many respondents (page 9).

Euro area or beyond?

Is the European Social Pillar for the euro area, or for the EU27 as a whole? The European Parliament had contributed with its views (page 11):

In the consultation, it was recognised that more in-depth action to stimulate convergence towards better employment and social outcomes in the euro area would be key to make its single monetary policy suitable for all its members, to improve its functioning, and to reinforce the EMU's economic, social and political resilience. The European Parliament for instance considered that the constraints of euro area membership call for additional specific social targets and standards to be established and relevant financial support to be considered at the euro area level, while remaining open to non-euro area Member States on a voluntary basis [European Parliament resolution P8_TA(2017)0010 of 19 January 2017 on a European Pillar of Social Rights (2016/2095(INI))]

The reference to the European Parliament resolution reminds us of the keynote call, paragraph 1:

1. Calls on the Commission to build on the review of the social acquis and of EU employment and social policies as well as on the outcomes of the 2016 public consultation by making proposals for a solid European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) that is not limited to a declaration of principles or good intentions but reinforces social rights through concrete and specific tools (legislation, policy-making mechanisms and financial instruments), delivering a positive impact on people’s lives in the short and medium term and enabling support for European construction in the 21st century by effectively upholding the Treaties’ social objectives, supporting national welfare states, strengthening cohesion, solidarity and upward convergence in economic and social outcomes, ensuring adequate social protection, reducing inequality, achieving long overdue progress in reducing poverty and social exclusion, facilitating national reform efforts through benchmarking and helping to improve the functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and of the EU’s single market;

After an introductory part, the consultation report discusses the role and the nature of the Social Pillar, with the second half dedicated to the principles (under the headlines equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions and adequate and sustainable social protection).

I am impressed by the process, as well as the presentation. Complex issues are presented clearly as a valuable background for EU #SocialRights and the upcoming #SocialSummit17, as well as the Commission’s priority to deepen the economic and monetary union (EMU) - #deepeningEMU on Twitter.  

Ralf Grahn