For a stronger social Europe by 2030: The European Commission proposes concrete EU-level targets for better employment, skills and social protection.
On 4 March 2021, the European Commission (EC) presented the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan as an incentive to update the EU’s social rulebook and to further advance the implementation of the 20 key principles set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights. Aiming to build a fairer and more inclusive Europe, the EU leaders proclaimed the Pillar at the Social Summit 2017 in Gothenburg. With initiatives such as the Just Transition Mechanism, the Youth Employment Support package or the European Skills Agenda, the current EC has already set forward a range of actions to support a strong social Europe. Drawing on a public consultation conducted in 2020, the Action Plan proposes concrete actions and objectives to create quality, future-proof jobs for a just digital and green transition and to ensure an inclusive and fair recovery from the present COVID-19 crisis.
In line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Action Plan features three headline targets for the EU to be achieved by 2030. They should not only aim to improve employment and training opportunities, but also counter poverty and social exclusion. The first target foresees that a minimum of 78% of adults between 20 and 64 should be employed, which implicates addressing the gender employment gap and young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). Secondly, adult participation in training and learning activities every year should be increased to at least 60%. To achieve this goal, the digital skills gap and early school leaving in particular should be tackled. The third target aims at decreasing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million, thereof at least 5 million children. On the one hand, the targets should serve as an incentive for social reforms and targeted investment on Member States level. On the other hand, the targets will facilitate monitoring the progress under the European Semester along with a revised social scoreboard, which will include new significant indicators, such as adult learning, child poverty or disability employment gap. Lastly, setting up national targets and a coordination mechanism at national level to ensure stakeholder engagement should complement these efforts to implement the Pillar.
Together with the Action Plan, the EC presented its ‘Recommendation on Effective Active Support to Employment following the COVID-19 crisis’ (EASE) as one targeted action under principle 4 of the Pillar. The recommendation provides guidance to the Member States for establishing policy measures to ‘ease’ the labour market transitions from declining to expanding sectors, such as in particular the green and digital economy, and away from emergency policies towards a ‘job-rich recovery’. These measures should include hiring and transition incentives and entrepreneurship support, up- and reskilling opportunities, and enhanced employment services support. Moreover, the EC calls on the Member States to use the Recovery and Resilience Facility as well as other funding opportunities such as the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Just Transition Fund to support these measures.
In the same context, EU employment and social policy Ministers met for an informal video conference on 15 March 2021. The Ministers agreed that employment and social protection should be included in the Member States’ national recovery and resilience plans (RRPs, see SwissCore article), in order to address the labour market and social challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to fulfil the principles under the Pillar in the European Semester 2021. They further highlighted the need to up- and reskill the EU’s workforce and to address youth unemployment. Welcoming the Action Plan and the European Semester together with an updated social scoreboard as most suitable instruments for monitoring progress towards the ambitious targets, the Ministers stated their commitment to building a more resilient, social and inclusive Europe, for instance through strong active labour market policies as part of their national RRPs.
These discussions will, together with the EC’s Action Plan, feed into the Porto Social Summit taking place in May under the Portuguese Council Presidency. The Summit will bring together all relevant stakeholders and actors, from EU leaders to social partners to civil society, to strengthen the social dimension of the EU along the digital and green transitions and to renew the common commitment to the principles under the Pillar. While initiatives such as EASE or the new Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 have already been presented, further key actions of the EC in 2021 to deliver on the Pillar will include, among others, the upcoming proposal for a European Child Guarantee and an Action Plan for the Social Economy.