“The welfare state is a fundamental aspect of Europe’s identity. The continuous adjustment of social protection policies to the emerging realities is of paramount importance for tackling inequalities and achieving growth. It is imperative that for the digital and green transitions, as well as reforms in energy and competition policy, to be successful, parallel reforms in EU members’ welfare states are needed”.
Anna Diamantopoulou
Former EU Commissioner for employment and social affairs, Chair of the High-level group of experts on the future of social protection and welfare state in the EU
The report by the High-level Group on the Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State in the EU, published in February 2023, is a very positive step towards the concretisation of the Action Plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. It is a roadmap, aiming to serve as an orienting policy tool for national governments and the European Commission.
- a set of evidence-based Recommendations in 21 areas for policy interventions
- clear directions for comprehensive public policy reforms enhancing our welfare systems ensuring their social and fiscal sustainability while facing the megatrends – i.e., demographic transition, changes in the world of work, digitalisation and technological change, climate change and the green transition
- a holistic, life-course, rights-based approach, based on public investment, closely intertwined with the economic dimension and conditional to the sustainability of the fabric of the EU social market economy facing the current challenges.
The ETUC aims at promoting the Recommendations of the Report on the future of welfare across the EU member states in the context of a European strategy that must be composite and people-centred, according to the European Pillar of Social Rights, especially vis-à-vis the challenges of managing transitions, fighting inequality, and generating sustainable growth.
The Report’s recommendations are thus relevant for Member States – but what are the opportunities and the challenges that Member States would face in implementing the recommendations and achieving resilient, inclusive, effective welfare states?
To answer this question, ETUC SociAll has organised a series of hybrid, national-level events to anchor the policy proposals of the HLG Report in the national contexts, focussing on how to satisfy the demand for social protection and how to tailor the national policies coherently with the EU landscape, currently characterised by transitional trends and the European economic governance review.
These events gather together the high-level expert authors of the Report, General and Confederal Secretaries of national trade unions, representatives of national governments as well as of the European Commission.
Series of national events:
The Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State in the EU
May 2024
The Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State in the EU: A focus on France
21 March 2024
The Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State in the EU: A focus on Italy
18 January 2024