Unequal Europe: Recommendations for a more caring EU | 2015 | Executive Summary
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UNEQUAL EUROPE
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A MORE CARING EU
Final report of the High-Level Group on ‘Social Union’
Spring 2015
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
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This report has been drafted on the basis of a series of meetings,
discussions and written contributions from the members of the
High-Level Group, under the sole responsibility of Friends of Europe
and the Chairman of the High-Level Group, Frank Vandenbroucke.
Members have agreed to co-sign this report as they have judged
it to be a fair and balanced exercise. The views expressed in this
report are opinions of the individuals in the High-Level Group, and
not necessarily the views of the organisations they represent, nor
of Friends of Europe’s Board of Trustees, its members or partners.
Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted, provided that full credit
is given to Friends of Europe and that any such reproduction, whether
in whole or in part, is not sold unless incorporated in other works.
Friends of Europe would like to thank the King Baudouin Foundation,
the European Social Observatory and Thomas Fischer of DGB.
Publisher: Geert Cami
Director: Nathalie Furrer
Programme Managers: Lindsay Digneffe & Jean-Yves Stenuick
Design: Marina Garcia Serra
© Friends of Europe - Spring 2015
This report is printed on responsibly produced paper
Unequal Europe: Recommendations for a more caring EU | 2015 | Executive Summary
MEMBERS OF THE HIGH-LEVEL
GROUP
Frank Vandenbroucke
Professor, University of Leuven, former Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Social Affairs, Belgium, Trustee of Friends of
Europe, and Chairman of the High-Level Group
Etienne Davignon
President, Friends of Europe
László Andor
Former EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and
Inclusion, and Trustee of Friends of Europe
Tony Atkinson
Honorary Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford
Fabrizio Barca
Director General, Ministry of Economy and Finance, and former
Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Italy
Pervenche Berès
Member of the European Parliament Committee on Economic
and Monetary Affairs, and former Chair of the Committee on
Employment and Social Affairs
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Geert Cami
Co-Founder & Director, Friends of Europe
Philippe de Buck
Member of the European Economic and Social Committee, and
former Director General, BusinessEurope
Aart Jan De Geus
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Bertelsmann Stiftung, former
Deputy Secretary General, OECD, and former Minister of Social
Affairs and Employment, The Netherlands
Anna Diamantopoulou
President, Diktio Network, former Minister of Development and
Competitiveness, Greece, former EU Commissioner for
Employment and Social Affairs, and Trustee of Friends of Europe
Nathalie Furrer
Director, Friends of Europe
Reiner Hoffmann
President, Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB)
Danuta Jazłowiecka
Vice Chair of the European Parliament Committee on
Employment and Social Affairs
Unequal Europe: Recommendations for a more caring EU | 2015 | Executive Summary
Sony Kapoor
Managing Director, Re-Define, and Trustee of Friends of Europe
Pascal Lamy
Former Director General, World Trade Organization, former EU
Commissioner for Trade, and Trustee of Friends of Europe
Roger Liddle
Chair, Policy Network
Giles Merritt
Secretary General, Friends of Europe
Rhodri Morgan
Chancellor, Swansea University, and former First Minister of
Wales
John Morley
Senior Policy Advisor, Applica, and former European
Commission Head of Employment Policy
Riccardo Perissich
Former European Commission Director General for Industry
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Christopher Pissarides
Regius Professor of Economics, London School of Economics
and Political Science (LSE), and 2010 Nobel Laureate in
Economic Sciences
Conny Reuter
Secretary General, Solidar
Vladimír Špidla
President, Masaryk Democratic Academy, former EU
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal
Opportunities, and former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Freek Spinnewijn
Director, European Federation of National Organisations working
with the Homeless (FEANTSA)
Dimitris Tsigos
President, European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs
(YES), and European Young Leader "40 under 40"
Bart Vanhercke
Director, European Social Observatory (OSE)
Fabian Zuleeg
Chief Executive, European Policy Centre (EPC)
Unequal Europe: Recommendations for a more caring EU | 2015 | Executive Summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It is an unwelcome truth that ‘Social Europe’ has been slipping down the
European Union’s policy agenda. Yet investment in people remains crucial
to help generate the long-term, sustainable growth needed by Europe as it
seeks to overcome the effects of its prolonged economic crisis.
The time is right for urgent action from policymakers at EU and national
levels to recover lost ground in social policy areas ranging from education to
employment, pensions, labour rights and migration.
Last year, Friends of Europe convened a high-level group of experts to assess
the strengths and weaknesses of social policies that have been fundamental
to the creation of the EU.
The team was headed by former Belgian deputy prime minister and social
affairs minister Frank Vandenbroucke. It encompassed an unusually wide
range of opinions, bringing together trade union leaders like Reiner Hoffmann,
head of Germany’s DGB; Philippe de Buck, who for many years ran the
BusinessEurope employers’ confederation; Anna Diamantopoulou, a former
Greek minister for competitiveness and EU employment commissioner; exWTO head Pascal Lamy; and the then EU social affairs commissioner László
Andor.
Despite the range of backgrounds and opinions, the experts managed to
reach consensus on all the recommendations in this report as they shared a
fundamental belief in the importance of restoring Europeans’ self-confidence
in their unique social model.
The thrust of their report is clear: human investment must be given equal
priority with investment in infrastructure, innovation and all other areas viewed
as vital to boosting Europe’s competitiveness.
Europe’s future is threatened by under-investment in people – in their workoriented education and in their early family life, health, social development
and schooling. In response, Europe needs to face up to the challenge of
raising education levels, bridging the widening skills and education divide
between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. A broad social investment agenda is
required.
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Credible unemployment measures must be associated with this effort,
especially those designed to tackle the scourge of youth unemployment.
Labour market and pension reforms should be enacted to meet the challenge
of Europe’s ageing population. Migration and labour mobility policies must be
improved and better explained to sceptical publics.
The report sets out a range of concrete recommendations for EU institutions to
reaffirm Europe’s social principles and address competitiveness goals. It calls
on Jean-Claude Juncker’s new European Commission to take a far broader
approach to social investment, which is essential, the authors argue, to avoiding
long-term burdens on economic growth.
It sees a need for greater investment in caring arrangements for the deprived and
under-privileged, and in education and training to ensure equal opportunities for all.
The report debunks claims that social policy is a drag on the economy. Instead
it emphasises the importance of social policy in maintaining living standards,
creating opportunities and boosting competitiveness.
That argument is borne by facts and figures: EU member states that invest
more in social policies like health, education and labour market support perform
better overall than those that spend less. Among OECD countries, there is no
correlation between low levels of social spending and a high competitiveness
score. In Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (which also
has an important share of private spending) social spending is high, at around
30% of GDP, but they are all in the Global Competitiveness Index’s top ten.
Swedish social spending is higher still, but that does not prevent it from coming
sixth in the ranking.
Rather than calling the essence of Europe’s welfare states into question, the
report urges a wide-ranging review of the balance of demand and supply for
different social programmes and social services, and their costs. This should be
backed by an EU-wide effort to improve the performance of all member states’
social systems. Although responsibilities for social policy lie primarily at national
level, an over-arching EU policy framework agenda could make a valuable
contribution.
Member state authorities and the EU need to more clearly define their social
policy competences and better clarify Brussels’ role in linking the two so that all
can work better together.
Unequal Europe: Recommendations for a more caring EU | 2015 | Executive Summary
Among its recommendations, the report says European authorities need to:
• raise public awareness of the economic benefits of social policy;
• establish strong reciprocal links between social, education, employment,
budgetary and economic policies;
• mainstream social policy targets for member states, putting them on a par
with macroeconomic goals assessed by the European Commission;
• hold more "jumbo councils" that bring together ministers for employment
and economic affairs to create a stronger link between policies;
• enhance the role of trade unions, business groups and other social
partners in economic governance, including though more tripartite summits;
• organise a high-level employment and social policy conference to launch
a thorough debate on future orientation;
• put forward new proposals to reinforce EU action on youth employment,
for example through better mobilisation of the European Social Fund, or a new
financial package to replace the €6 bn ‘Youth Employment Initiative’ that will
not be in place until the end of 2015;
• address the issue of citizens’ participation to create a new public arena
that can complement the decision-making process;
• put public investment in education higher on the agenda to reverse
diverging trends across Europe;
• reform education systems with a view to helping countries most under
pressure to deliver basic education; develop key and transversal skills;
promote entrepreneurial skills and financial literacy; and improve the transition
from education to work by providing a better match between skills and labour
market demands;
• reaffirm the unquestionable right of labour mobility within the EU, while
addressing problematic issues such as illegal work and exploitation linked to
poor enforcement of regulations;
• resist protectionism and give tangible support to member states confronted
with the greatest need to house and integrate migrants;
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• consider a new fund attached to the ESF to support the integration of
EU migrants and additional finance for help desks, information and legal
assistance for mobile workers;
• where possible, define minimum standards of European labour conditions
and social protection, taking into account all new forms of labour like parttime workers, and carefully monitor the implementation of the enforcement
directive on the posting of workers;
• improve the social context of mobility by enhancing the portability of
supplementary pensions, and strengthening the enforcement of social and
employment rights of mobile and migrant workers;
• complement the economic arguments for migration with a strong social
case for minimum standards and against discrimination based on origin or
ethnicity;
• place discussion of external migration to the EU into a longer-term
demographic context, given that a shrinking European population means
migration should be seen as a positive contribution;
• recognise the enormous waste of immigrants’ skills when they are not
adequately integrated into the labour market, or not allowed to develop their
entrepreneurial potential;
• strengthen support for social policy development programmes in migrants’
countries of origin to reduce pressure on the EU and contain brain drains from
those countries;
• consider a European policy on the overall quality of minimum income
protection, with minimum wages playing a key role together with social
benefits;
• give real bite to the Youth Guarantee by embedding it in social dialogue,
increasing its funding and scope, and ensuring its rapid implementation with
transparent monitoring;
• ensure a guaranteed right to shelter for all EU citizens who become
destitute whatever their status, develop a European Action Plan against
homelessness, and provide a Care Guarantee for vulnerable young people.
Unequal Europe: Recommendations for a more caring EU | 2015 | Executive Summary
Securing the well-being of future generations of Europeans is the EU’s most
relevant common purpose. Children should grow up in a world that offers them
the skills and education they need for the future; as they reach adulthood and
enter the labour market they need opportunities and protection for their social
rights; when they retire, they deserve security. That requires clear priorities, tough
choices and effective common action.
Well-conceived social policy can contribute to the attainment of those goals, not
only building a more equitable, secure and harmonious society but also boosting
Europe’s growth and competitiveness.
The members of the Working Group hold different opinions on many questions,
but they share a mission statement on what the European Union now needs. They
oppose an unequal and unbalanced Europe because Europe should stand for
fairness and social cohesion, openness and social mobility, and hope for a better
future – not just in solemn declarations, but also in practical day-to-day policies.
Read the full report at
www.friendsofeurope.org/quality-europe/
unequal-europe-recommendations-caring-eu/
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