This week’s release of the 2025 Spring Package marks the next stage of the European Semester process - the EU’s governance tool that coordinates Member States’ policies. But what does it mean for social Europe?
The day after its publication, Social Platform presented our views on 5 June at the bi-annual meeting of the Social Protection Committee and the Employment Committee on the European Semester, together with EU social partners and a delegation of Social Platform members.
Check out what we had to say in our evaluation below.
Our views in a nutshell
The Spring Package has a strong focus on competitiveness, in line with the Competitiveness Compass (see our reaction & guide to the Compass). We find this concerning, as a narrow focus on competitiveness risks undermining the EU’s social and environmental goals and deprioritising wellbeing for people and planet. Competitiveness gains must not come at the cost of Europe’s social foundations: people’s social rights are not automatic trickle down by-products of a competitive market, but political choices and fundamental investments in our social model and thriving, resilient and competitive societies. Therefore, it is crucial that the social dimension of the European Semester is as strong as its economic one to ensure strong social policy guidance as well as guidance for social investments through the next EU budget.
Positively, the package contains a higher number of country-specific recommendations (CSRs) to Member States, including in the social field, several of which rightly highlight the need to focus on the situation of various groups in vulnerable situations. This comes after several years of very “slimmed down” CSRs. At the same time, some of the recommendations on strengthening fiscal sustainability, including on social expenditure, risks having negative impact on its quality. Furthermore, all Member States received recommendations aimed at strengthening defence capabilities. We believe these must not be balanced out by budget cuts in the social field, now and in the future. Finally, the Commission confirmed that the European Semester will be influencing Member States’ investment priorities under the next EU budget. In this regard, Social Platform emphasised the need to prioritise social investments both in the Semester process and the design of future cohesion policy.
Some thematic aspects of the package
Poverty & Social Exclusion
We highlighted the need to urgently and significantly step up efforts towards the EU headline target that the EU is far away from reaching, including through an ambitious anti-poverty strategy with ambitious measures set in national action plans. Read more about our recommendations for the Anti-Poverty Strategy here.
Housing, Wages & Quality Jobs
Regarding housing, it was positive to see an increase of recommendations in this year’s package, as access to housing, lack of supply of affordable and social housing and increasing homelessness are key challenges. We emphasised that the upcoming European affordable housing plan must outlines ambitious measures to support investments and policy reforms in this field to eradicate homelessness and make housing more affordable for all.
For wages, the package recommends striking a balance between ensuring productivity, competitiveness and cost of living. We highlighted the high level of in-work poverty (over 8%) and persistent issues of job quality and called for the quality jobs roadmap to set measurable quality standards and a quality jobs target. Read more about our recommendations on these and many other initiatives in our contribution to the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan here.
EU simplification agenda
The package recommends simplifying the regulatory environment while ensuring effective implementation. In this context, we underlined that simplification must not lead to deregulation, especially with regards to lowering social and environmental standards which would significantly set us back in achieving Europe’s social and climate goals.
Civil dialogue
Positively, the package calls on Member States to enhance the quality of lawmaking through robust stakeholder consultation, which should include social partners and civil society organisations (CSOs). We highlighted the importance of and gaps in ensuring regular, structured and meaningful civil dialogue in the European Semester that need to be filled.
Next steps
The Council will endorse the Spring Package documents in the coming weeks and Member States will need to start turning the recommendations into reality. Social Platform will continue its engagement with decision-makers, including the European Commission, on the social dimension of the European Semester and the involvement of CSOs in the process.
