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On 4-5 May 2021, Social Platform hosted our annual ‘Building Social Europe’ Flagship Conference, which this year took place virtually.

This year’s conference focused on the Action Plan implementing the European Pilar of Social Rights announced by the European Commission earlier this year. In its Work Programme the European Commission said that the “European Pillar of Social Rights will be the compass of Europe’s recovery and our best tool to ensuring no one is left behind.”

This year we worked in close cooperation with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which gave social issues high prominence in its programme and hosted the EU Social Summit just days after our Flagship Conference. Our conference was an official side event of the Portuguese Presidency.

One of the Flagship Conference’s goals was to develop civil society organisations’ recommendations to EU institutions and Member States on the implementation of the Social Pilar Action Plan. On day one, our members gathered in four thematic workshops (quality employment, skills and life-learning, social protection, and social economy) to discuss and develop recommendations that shaped our input to the EU Social Summit in Porto on 7 May.

On day two, Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights addressed the conference in a video message and strongly encouraged the European Council to endorse the Social Pillar Action Plan targets, and called on Member States to be ambitious when they define ways to achieve them. He also said that civil society actors, together with social partners, should play an important role.

The Commissioner’s address was followed by a high-level panel discussion – ‘Time to deliver on social Europe: Maximising the Porto Social Summit to ensure a sustainable and fair recovery and build a Europe that leaves no one behind’  – that brought together representatives of the European Commission, the Portuguese EU Presidency, the upcoming Slovenian EU Presidency, social partners, and civil society. Participants of the panel stressed the importance of an ambitious implementation of the Social Pillar Action Plan and delivering a recovery that puts the EU social dimension front and centre, and agreed that civil dialogue must be part of this process. Piotr Sadowski, President of Social Platform, said:

“The involvement of civil society organisations, with crucial expertise and knowledge of lived realities of people, including those in the most vulnerable situations, as key stakeholders, is vital to ensure the full and ambitious implementation of the Social Pillar and its Action Plan.”

Our Flagship Conference is the annual forum of civil society organisations advocating for social justice and participatory democracy, together with representatives of EU institutions, EU Member States, and other stakeholders. During the conference, participants identified the challenges of the EU’s socio-economic governance models, advocating for better coordination between economic and social policies, and for structured and meaningful civil dialogue. Additionally, they discussed alternative models and solutions, which are more democratic, people-centred and leave no-one behind. The conference is the basis for building synergies and developing strategies between governmental and non-governmental actors to achieve an EU based on social justice and participatory democracy.