Annexes to COM(2020)14 - Strong social Europe for just transitions - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2020)14 - Strong social Europe for just transitions. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2020)14  |
| date | January 14, 2020 |
Work is about more than making a living. A job gives you social relations and a place in society as well as opportunities for personal and professional development. This however is only true as long as you benefit from fair and dignified working conditions. New forms of work are developing fast, spurred mainly by digital technology. They contribute to growth and jobs, and drive innovative services, providing flexibility and opportunities for workers, self-employed, customers and businesses. Yet, they can also lead to new forms of precariousness. To build trust in the digital transformation and fully realise its potential, new business models need clearer rules that prevent abuses, maintain high standards for health and safety and ensure better social protection coverage. Technological innovation needs to go hand in hand with social innovation. The European way is a human way, an ethical way, and this must continue to shape our future.
In particular, the sustainable growth of the platform economy requires improved working conditions of platform workers. A new Digital Services Act, to be presented during the second semester of 2020, will upgrade our liability and safety rules for digital platforms, services and products, and complete our Digital Single Market. At the same time, the Commission will also organise a Platform Work Summit to discuss priority issues and possible solutions, including for example employment status, working conditions and access to social protection of platform workers, access to collective representation and bargaining, as well as cross-border aspects of platform work.
Digitalisation and new technologies are also changing the workplace. Workers in the EU enjoy high health and safety standards. Robots as well as digital tools can take over dangerous and monotonous tasks from humans. Still, change can also generate new concerns. New work patterns - constant connectivity, increased online and mobile work, human-machine interfaces, workers’ monitoring, recruitment and management by algorithms to mention just a few – can bring increased productivity that is vital to overall improvements in living standards, but should develop in ways that avoid new patterns of discrimination or exclusion or new risks to workers’ physical and mental health. In order to maintain its high standards, the Commission will review the occupational safety and health strategy and address these new risks alongside the more traditional ones, such as exposure to dangerous substances and risk of accidents at work.
Fair working conditions are also about strong social dialogue: workers and employers can find joint solutions that best fit their needs. Strong, representative organisations and their timely involvement in policymaking both at national and European level are extremely important. The Commission will explore ways to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining and increase the capacity of unions and employer organisations at EU and national level. An effective dialogue at company level is also crucial, especially when companies are restructuring or undergoing significant change. As companies increasingly work across borders, we should make full use of existing instruments on workers involvement such as the European Works Councils to promote the culture of information and consultation of workers.
For European citizens currently living or working in another EU country, fair working conditions means fair mobility. Compared to a decade ago, twice as many citizens live or work in another EU country today. Millions of businesses, notably SMEs, operate across borders. They benefit from the Single Market, a vital engine of growth and jobs. EU rules need to be fit for purpose to guarantee that all of this happens in a fair and transparent way and ensure fair competition among businesses, protect workers’ rights, and avoid double contributions and social dumping. The newly created European Labour Authority (ELA) will be a key tool to facilitate the application and enforcement of EU rules in this area, improving the functioning of the Single Market. It will provide to individuals and employers easy access to information on working or operating in another EU country, and support cooperation between national authorities, including on strengthening inspections, tackling undeclared work and fighting fraud.
4. Social Protection and Inclusion
Securing high social protection
To be resilient, the social contract needs to be rooted in strong solidarity. We need to do more to support those that lose their jobs because of external events that affect our economy, promoting their re-skilling and re-integration in the labour market. The Commission will propose a European Unemployment Benefit Reinsurance Scheme to protect our citizens and reduce the pressure on public finances during external shocks.
Our social protection standards need also to be adjusted to the new realities of the world of work, new vulnerabilities and new expectations from citizens. In several Member States, some self-employed and persons in non-standard employment, do not have access to adequate social protection. Implementing the Recommendation on access to social protection will ensure that everyone is protected during unemployment, illness, old age, invalidity or in case of accidents at work, regardless of their employment status.
Not leaving anyone behind also means access to affordable healthcare. Poorer people tend to live 6 years less than wealthier people. Promoting healthy lifestyles, better preventive measures and patient-centred healthcare can bring affordable healthcare of good quality to everyone. Designing social protection systems anchored to EU values and principles of universality, solidarity and fairness will require developing new and integrated models of health and social care. It will also allow taking the best of cost effective innovations and that address the actual public health needs. A patient-centred approach would help to achieve better results, such as not having to wait too long for treatment and being able to access care easily. An important ambition in this area is to make sure that Europe fights cancer, one of the biggest health concerns of this century and that endangers the lives of millions of Europeans. Europe is committed to take the lead in the fight against cancer. In February 2020 the Commission will launch a European-wide debate with a view to present, in the fourth quarter of the year, an ambitious Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to help to reduce the suffering caused by this disease.
Ageing challenges the adequacy of our social protection systems. Pensions could become the main source of income for a majority of Europeans. Improved longevity should coincide with allowing people to work for longer. Improved health and more attention to the needs of older workers in the workplace would make this possible. This would also contribute to maintaining the sustainability of pension systems, as would to the strengthening of occupational and third pillar pensions. Nonetheless, among those that grow older, some will need specific care. Securing access to affordable and quality long term care will be essential to support dignified lives in old age, while grasping the opportunities job creation offered by the care economy.
Ageing is not the only demographic challenge. New household patterns such as higher number of single-person households, mobility to the cities leading to depopulation of rural areas, brain-drain or even migration flows all contribute to a changing demographic landscape in the EU. To map the current situation, the Commission will present a Report on the impact of demographic change in the first quarter of 2020. The report will then be followed by a Green Paper on ageing in the fourth quarter of 2020 to launch a debate on long-term impacts of ageing, notably on care and pensions, and on how to foster active ageing. Acknowledging that the green, digital and demographic transitions affect different people in different ways, the demography report will also be followed by a long-term vision for rural areas in 2021. This long term vision will aim at supporting rural areas to address their own unique set of issues, from ageing and depopulation to connectivity, the risk of poverty and limited access to services, social protection and healthcare.
Fighting poverty and exclusion
Leaving no one behind in an age of change means fighting poverty. Millions of people have been lifted out of poverty across the EU over the last decade, but despite our collective EU target to lift 20 million out of poverty by 2020, more than one in five Europeans still remain at risk. Living a life in dignity means getting the support needed to look for a job, being able to access affordable and quality health care, decent opportunities for education and training, affordable housing and affordable access to essential goods and services, including water, energy, transport and digital communications. For those out of the labour market, minimum income schemes, accompanied by enabling services, offer a last resort which should ensure a life in dignity. Real estate prices have increased across the Union making housing and housing costs less affordable for the majority of people. Homelessness, the worst effect of rising housing costs, is increasing in most Member States. Energy poverty and the difficulty to invest in modern cost saving solutions point to the need to be vigilant on new distributional challenges brought by the transition to a carbon neutral economy 2 . For all these reasons, a wide reflection needs to take place to consider the multiple and interconnected causes of poverty, to reflect on the impact of different policy instruments and to rethink the way forward.
Poverty affects everyone in a family, parents and children alike. Children in poor families have an unfair start in life. They face increased risks of health problems and lower educational achievement later in life, eventually leading back to poverty. Investing in quality and inclusive early childhood education and care and schools, access to healthcare, nutrition and decent housing can break this negative cycle. In 2021, the Commission will present a Child Guarantee to make sure that children have access to the services they need and are supported until they reach adulthood.
Many Roma in the EU are victims of prejudice and social exclusion, despite the fact that EU countries have banned discrimination. Roma exclusion requires long-term commitments at all levels. The EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020 has shown some positive results. A follow-up initiative on Roma equality and inclusion will be presented in the fourth quarter of 2020, building on the findings of the evaluation of the framework.
5. Promoting European values in the world
Europe should use its political and economic influence to foster social fairness in the rest of the world. Our international cooperation, development and trade policies create growth, jobs and prosperity – both in Europe, and with our partners. Trade is more than simply the exchange of goods and services. It is also a strategic asset for Europe. It allows us to build partnerships, protect our market from unfair practices and ensure respect for internationally agreed standards. The Commission will work on a strong, open, and fair trade agenda. Every new comprehensive bilateral agreement will have a sustainable development chapter and the highest standards of climate, environmental and labour protection, with a zero tolerance policy on child labour, in order to ensure the appropriate level playing field with our trading partners. The Commission will also strengthen the dialogue specifically with the Western Balkans to foster the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in this region.
Europe should also take a tough stance on the enforcement of existing agreements or trade arrangements to promote and protect internationally agreed standards on labour rights. The Commission will appoint a Chief Trade Enforcement Officer to monitor and improve the compliance of our trade agreements and will work with its trading partners to ensure the effective implementation of the commitments. The EU will closely monitor the implementation of climate, environmental and labour protections enshrined in our trade agreements, with a zero-tolerance approach to child labour.
6. Working Together
This Communication launches a broad discussion with all EU countries, and regions, and with all our partners. In doing so, it sets out a number of initiatives to be taken at EU level in the coming months, contributing to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
But action at EU level alone is not enough. As the impacts of new technologies become clearer, the results of climate action reach our daily lives, and the demographic pressures grow, we need to continuously adapt and strengthen our response at all levels. The key to success often lies in the hands of national, regional and local authorities, as well as social partners and relevant stakeholders at all levels, working together with the EU level to make it work.
The Commission therefore invites all EU, national, regional, local authorities and partners to present their views by November 2020 on further action needed and pledge their own concrete commitments to implement the Pillar. Throughout 2020, the Commission will seek the active engagement and participation of all our partners: European Parliament, Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, social partners and civil society organisations. Views and commitments can be submitted via the webpage “yoursay-socialeurope” 3 .
The objective is to jointly build an Action Plan that reflects all contributions and that is proposed for endorsement at the highest political level.
(1)
European Council conclusions – New Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 [reference], June 2019.
(2)
As announced in the European Green Deal, the Commission will present guidance on energy poverty in 2020.
(3)
https://ec.europa.eu/social/yoursay-socialeurope