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“Last but not least, [people are concerned] about their economic and social future,” remarked European Council President Donald Tusk following the informal Bratislava summit last Friday. “Europe is not social enough,” ad-libbed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in his State of the European Union address last Wednesday. True though these word may be, they will not bring any comfort to people living with the daily impact of the EU’s social emergency. Neither president laid out a concrete strategy for how to improve and advance social policy in the EU. So far, all they have done is pay lip service to social Europe. We need action – not just words.

When it comes to setting up a fair playing field for people working in the EU, President Juncker did not propose anything new for the year to come; the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive which lays down the principle of same pay for the same work in the same place was put forward last May, and has met opposition from some Member States. It will be interesting to see if this Directive can be pushed forward, or if it will suffer the same fate as Directives such as those on maternity leave and equal treatment that remain blocked in the Council.

Proposals on social issues were few and far between in President Juncker’s State of the European Union, but it was practically a Magna Carta 2.0 when compared to the measly social outcomes of the European Council’s meeting. The best our European leaders could come up with was reducing youth unemployment and supporting EU programmes dedicated to young people. This is really important and should be supported, but it certainly does not represent a social agenda for all.

On words, we agree with Presidents Tusk and Juncker – people are concerned about their social future, and the EU isn’t social enough. But where we differ is on action. The Brexit vote should have been a wake-up call to all that, in the eyes of many people in the EU, the current set-up is not responding to their needs. I fear a blocked Posting of Worker Directive or an as-yet unimplemented roadmap on youth employment will not do much to alter that. In the absence of action from our leaders, Social Platform has joined a broad coalition of civil society organisations to develop our vision for a strong social Europe. We hope to bring to the table actions, not words.

Let’s engage,

Pierre Baussand, Director