Future of Europe: Leaders’ Agenda for Gothenburg

Our discussion about the European Council (EUCO) and the new Leaders’ Agenda for thematic meetings continued with a look at the briefings from the  European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) and the EUCO conclusions of 19 October and EU27 conclusions 20 October 2017 (Article 50 TEU), in EPRS: keeping tabs on the European Council.

The Leaders’ Agenda timetable was described by president Tusk as a living document, apt to change over time, but let us take a look at the near future. Less than four weeks from now, the heads of state or government are going to convene in Gothenburg (Sweden).          

Gothenburg Social Summit

Sweden’s prime minister Stefan Löfven and the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker have invited the leaders to a Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth in Gothenburg, 17 November 2017. The Social Summit website already offers some information and  the #SocialSummit17 hashtag on Twitter provides occasional updates ahead of the gathering.

As a background, most of my spring and autumn 2017 blog posts about the social market economy, the social pillar and the reflection paper on the social dimension of the European Union can be found through the blog post Future of Europe: social dimension, except three later ones in Swedish, which look at the Nordic EU-members in the discussion about the future of Europe: the general orientation in Norden i EU-utkanten?, then the introductory entry about the Commission’s White Paper  Vitboken om EU:s framtid i Norden and the article about the reflection paper on the social dimension  Diskussionsunderlaget om EU:s sociala dimension i Norden.

Ahead of the Social Summit, readers interested in the labour markets in the EU and related social pillar and dimension matters, can find a handy compilation on the EPRS Blog about what think tanks have produced lately.

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The other issue on the Leaders’ Agenda for this meeting is described as Education and Culture (30th anniversary of Erasmus).

The European Parliament and the European Commission already celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Erasmus Programme in Strasbourg, 13 June 2017. The Council of the European Union provides an overview of ongoing issues in the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council configuration (EYCS) during the Estonian Council presidency, as well as the main results of the previous EYCS Council meeting 22-23 May 2017. The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council configuration (EPSCO) is another potential source of issues for the European Council in Gothenburg under the headline Education and Culture (30th anniversary of Erasmus).

In the context of the Social Summit, perhaps the European Council wants to deal with the Youth Employment Initiative (EYI), supporting the Youth Guarantee efforts in distressed regions with high youth unemployment, or show interest in matters rarely seen on its agenda, but let us leave guessing and look at possible EUCO value added later, when there is something more concrete to work with.

Ralf Grahn

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