Building Social Europe 2/4 – Balancing the Social Pillar through good governance

It’s nearly twelve months since the European Commission released its first concrete proposals for a European Pillar of Social Rights, which aims to deliver new and improve existing social rights for people in the EU. As Social Platform we welcome the Pillar; it’s the right tool to bring about the necessary policy changes to address key trends, such as poverty and social exclusion, job precariousness and in-work poverty, and barriers to accessing social protection. However, its success hinges on the use of a comprehensive implementation approach encompassing policy, governance, funding and civil dialogue. In this series of four ‘Build Social Europe’ blogs I’ll take a look at each of these areas in turn, and layout Social Platform’s recommendations on how the EU institutions and Member States can turn the Pillar from words into action.

European governance is one of the main vehicles to create a socially and economically strong and sustainable European Union. The EU’s main social governance tool is the European Semester, which coordinates Member States’ economic and social policies and reforms. Following years of pressure by civil society, politicians, social partners and other stakeholders, the most recent European Semester cycles have moved in an increasingly social direction, beginning to undo the damage done by years of stringent economic policies in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Now it is vital to effectively mainstream the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights in the European Semester in order to rebalance social and economic priorities.

The 20 principles of the Social Pillar have already been more prominently featured in the European Semester’s country-reports. For example, more focus has been given to gaps in social protection and access to quality services, which are minimum social standards at the foundation of a social, sustainable and inclusive Europe. The Semester also presents the EU with the opportunity to put forward proposals on areas central to the ambitions of the Social Pillar that are more of a Member State responsibility, such as minimum wages. For more information on the most recent Semester cycle, read this blog post.

To achieve real progress on the social policies and reforms put forward by the European Semester, it’s vital that the right social challenges and solutions are identified and the correct measures to address them are promoted. For this, the Semester’s indicators and monitoring tools must be aligned with the Social Pillar’s priorities, and the proposed ‘social scoreboard’ – which tracks trends and performances in EU Member States related to delivering the goals of the Social Pillar – must take into account key trends, including the persistence and depth of poverty and social exclusion, rising precariousness in employment, in-work poverty, and housing affordability.

In order to ensure that European governance mechanisms like the Semester and social scoreboard truly promote social progress, the EU must continue to engage civil society in these processes. European civil society networks bring together local, regional and national members working with, and representing the interests of, people who are traditionally underrepresented in decision-making. Importantly, civil society helps people take back control of their lives and involves them in decision-making. We are a partner in service delivery, often contributing to innovation and finding better ways to reach out to the most vulnerable – including in areas identified by the European Semester. We also play a positive role by providing up-to-date data and on-the-ground experiences to complement statistics-gathering conducted by the EU. Partnership with civil society in this regard has already led to positive results, as seen with the latest Semester. Social Platform and our members stand ready to continue this cooperation to bring about the best social and economic situation for people in Europe, and realise a fully functional Social Pillar.

Read more in Social Platform’s position, ‘Building Social Europe: A comprehensive implementation plan for an effective European Pillar of Social Rights’.