Is the EU fighting effectively for citizens’ rights? In a report published in March 2024, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) made some rather encouraging observations: “Over the past five years, Social Europe has benefited from a renewed interest that has resulted in important and long-awaited policy initiatives, particularly on minimum wages, work platforms and the vigilance obligations of companies.”Confirmed by ETUC Secretary General Esther Lynch and Bart Vanhercke, Director of the Research Department at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
Changes in social direction
“In the construction of Europe, which has focused primarily on the free movement of goods, services, people and capital, preferring expansion rather than deepening, social objectives have often taken a back seat. Regularly beset by structural difficulties (deindustrialization, ageing, etc.) or cyclical difficulties (unemployment, financial crises, social inequality, etc.), heads of state have sometimes been left to reaffirm the European social contract. Great purpose”, Economist Bruno Coquet writes: world On the forum on May 30, 2024 Social Europe is rarely included in European campaigns..
In particular, the latest Eurobarometer survey found that 88% of EU citizens said that a social Europe is important to them.
The clearest example of this dynamic is the adoption of the European Pillar of Social Rights in 2017, which provides a foundation for legislative and political developments that emphasize the quality of jobs, education and essential services, and the prevention of precarious working conditions.
“In the construction of Europe, which focuses primarily on the free movement of goods, services, people and capital, preferring expansion rather than deepening, social objectives have often taken a back seat.” – Bruno Coquet
The implementation of this directive led to the adoption of the Minimum Wage Directive in October 2022. If the EU does not aim to impose a uniform minimum wage, then all countries will have to raise the minimum wage, and the level will remain determined by the member states.
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In all cases, the aim of the text is to ensure a decent standard of living for those receiving the minimum wage. To this end, the Directive calls on Member States to strengthen collective bargaining on wage determination, strengthen the negotiating capacity of social partners, and protect workers and organizations involved in the discussions. Countries with a collective bargaining coverage rate of less than 80% are asked to draw up action plans to increase this.
“It is a fundamentally different vision from the vision of 10 years ago.” Agnieszka Piasna, researcher at the European Institute for Economic, Employment and Social Policy, says: “Since the 2008 crisis, salaries, job quality and even collective bargaining have been seen as costs and obstacles. This directive therefore reflects a shift in the discourse on the social dimension in the EU, which was previously dominated by neoliberal market concepts that valued professional relationships and social systems. The researcher continues:
And while the directive is due to be changed by Member States in November 2024, its adoption is not merely symbolic. “We have already observed that this bill has had a positive impact on the trend of minimum wage increases in several countries even before it has been formally transposed into national law.”abonde Agnieszka Piasna.
Among other developments, the Work-Life Balance Directive (2019) is the first to give both parents the right to take time off to care for their children.
By 2023, we could make significant legislative progress in promoting equality between women and men in terms of remuneration transparency, requiring corrective action if a difference of more than 5% is revealed in the evaluation, and providing: the right to compensation for workers who are victims of discrimination.
Finally, the proposed guidelines for platform workers are seen as a first step towards regulating working conditions in the digital sector, as they aim to ensure that people working through platforms have a properly defined professional status and to combat “false self-employment”.
Also, you can’t fire employees based on algorithmic decisions.”For a long time, platform work was seen as a technological innovation. This is now being questioned. This is a development that unions fought hard for, and therefore sends a strong message that no type of employment should be exempt from regulation. Analysis Piasna
Post-pandemic recovery plan
The EU’s recent social aspirations, led by the Ursula Von Der Leyen Commission, have become clear in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The recovery policies adopted in the context of the health crisis were not content with a temporary suspension of budgetary rules. They also relied on monetary policy instruments, relaxation of state support regulations, and borrowing to finance ambitious recovery strategies. Bart Vanhercke, PhD in social sciences and head of the ETUI research department, explains:
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Georg Fischer, former director general of the European Commission’s Department for Social Affairs, has learned his lesson since the 2008 financial crisis. “(During the pandemic) The EU has set up an employment support programme. (Support for mitigating unemployment risks in emergencies, SURE) People who provided financial help (100 billion euros) By participating in national job retention programmes, Member States may have limited budgetary capacity to finance the retention of workers in the labour market. According to the evaluation conducted by the Commission, these countries (same for the EU as a whole) “In relation to the contraction in economic activity, we recorded a higher-than-expected employment rate and a much lower unemployment rate,” he said. He writes.
But Piasna also shared his analysis, stressing that it took only two years to return to pre-COVID-19 employment levels, compared to nearly a decade after the 2008 crisis. “Investment is essential for sustainable development in social and environmental dimensions. Gold, many’The document consolidates social policies, but does not legally guarantee that there will be no future changes related to austerity measures or a new European Commission.”
Ecological and social problems of the future
An ecological emergency is at the forefront. “By reforming budget rules, the EU would lose the opportunity to achieve a real balance between budgetary, ecological and social objectives and would risk returning to austerity.” The authors of the annual European Benchmarking Report, published by the European Trade Union Institute and the European Trade Union Confederation, say: In this context, ETUI urges member states to adopt progressive taxation and to establish a sustainable investment mechanism in the EU.To ensure the capacity of Member States to achieve social and ecological objectives;.”
Another area that still needs attention is the issue of precarious jobs, which mainly affect unskilled young people but also migrant workers. “For these people, we have observed an increase in the risk of poverty in recent years. Therefore, we must do more to ensure that migrant workers, whether from the EU or third countries, have access to quality jobs. Check out Piasna.
Above all, the EU’s social obligations do not end here. Efforts to ensure access to representation, especially to reduce the gap between Eastern and Western countries, or to better manage psychosocial risks are still needed.
