Dear Clara Martinez Gallegos, On Thursday, 12 January, EAPN (European Anti-Poverty Network) and Sergio Gutiérrez Prieto (MEP, S&D) jointly hosted a seminar in the European Parliament: Can the Semester help build a better Social Europe?
The seminar aimed to review how well the European Semester is working in terms of its delivery on social rights, poverty and participation and to debate what changes are needed to ensure progress towards a more Social Europe.
The event came at a timely moment with the adoption of the 2017 Annual Growth Survey and the European Commission’s upcoming proposal following the public consultation on the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Sergio Gutiérrez Prieto opened the Seminar by stating that ‘a more social European Semester is not only possible, it is absolutely necessary, because what distinguishes Europe from the rest of the world, is our social model.’
The first discussion concentrated on stakeholders’ views and proposals from the national and EU level, including EAPN’s 2016 Assessment of the National Reform Programmes: What progress on Social Europe.
The first panel featured Paul Ginnell (Chair of EAPN’s EU Inclusion Strategies Group), Carlos Susías Rodado, (President EAPN ES / Vice President EAPN) Jana Hainsworth, (General Secretary of Eurochild / Semester Alliance) Richard Pond, (European Public Service Union).
After the first panel discussion, and lively debate with the audience Maria João Rodrigues, (MEP, S&D, Rapporteur of own initiative report on the European Pillar of Social Rights) testified that ‘the European Semester has been turned into a machinery to impose austerity,’ but she stated that ‘now we are starting to turn the tide’. Ms Rodrigues called on the seminar to strongly support the upcoming votes in the plenary on the EP report on the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The question on how to turn the tide and therefore how to mainstream Social Rights in the Semester was further explored by a second panel with Yana Toom (MEP ALDE, Rapporteur of EMPL Opinion on the Annual Growth Survey 2017) Sofia Ribeiro (MEP EPP, Shadow Rapporteur) Jean Lambert (MEP Greens/EFA, Shadow Rapporteur) Maria Arena (MEP S&D, Shadow Rapporteur) Raquel Lucas (European Commission, cabinet of Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis)
Sian Jones (EAPN Policy Coordinator), formulated the main conclusions of the seminar:
1) The Semester must be an instrument to champion social rights and social progress through all economic and other policies. The Semester is only an instrument and is only as good as the vision and objectives it serves. The question is, what kind of EU do we want? This is not just a question of putting economic and social objectives on a par; economic policies should contribute to social rights… Transforming the economic model and the Semester to focus on social progress through economic policies is essential to rebuild trust in the EU; to convince people that the EU is working for their interests and not just for markets and growth.
2) More priority should be given to social and public investment. Although the new focus on investment in the Semester was welcomed, it was primarily seen as prioritizing private investment through the European Strategic investment Fund (EFSI). New steps must be taken to boost public investment in quality jobs, services and social protection systems, financed through fairer and more effective distributive mechanisms.
3) There’s an urgent need to rebalance engagement in decision-making on the Semester between economic and social actors. We need this balance not only on institutional level (e.g. within the Commission, the Parliament and the Council formations including EPSCO); we also need to put civil society actors on an equal basis with social partners in this dialogue process at national and EU level.
EAPN continues to promote a transformation of the European Semester into a strong, democratic and participative instrument that can help to make a better Social Europe based on social rights and a European Union that is worth fighting for.
