Tribune. Let us say it straight away, Europe was at the rendezvous of the economic and social crisis. Despite the criticisms leveled at her, she has shown her ability to mobilize quickly and strongly. Fiscal rules have been relaxed. To protect jobs and employees, a European instrument for refinancing partial unemployment has been created. Above all, the member states have agreed on an unprecedented recovery plan. Forty billion euros will directly benefit France, including seven billion to finance support for employment, training and learning. In other words, Europe protects.
In this area, the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in Göteborg (Sweden) in 2017 was an important turning point. It has enabled Europe to reaffirm its social ambition and to tackle essential issues such as equal opportunities, access to employment and social protection. And, for three and a half years, we have made progress: protection of precarious workers, creation of a ten-day paternity leave for all Europeans, directive on posted work with application of the principle “for equal work, equal pay for the same workplace “. In all these areas, Europe has acted, at the instigation of France and the President of the Republic.
Our Union is not only a Europe of markets and capital, but also – and first of all – a Europe at the service of its citizens, which places protection and solidarity at the heart of its values. While the crisis will leave deep traces in our societies, it is more than ever our responsibility to show Europeans that Europe is a space which protects them and helps them to project themselves towards the future. The time has come to concretely strengthen social Europe.
A salary to live with dignity
The action plan proposed by the Commission to implement the Pillar of Social Rights and the Porto Social Summit will be decisive. While France will take over the presidency of the European Union in January 2022, a certain number of projects seem essential to us in the construction of the social Europe of tomorrow.
Fight against distortions of competition, by working for upward social convergence
First of all, we need to provide a base of protection for all workers. By ensuring, on the one hand, that each European employee benefits from a salary that allows him or her to live with dignity. This is the whole point of the draft directive on minimum wages in Europe that we are defending, and which will enable us to fight against distortions of competition by working for upward social convergence. On the other hand, by ensuring that Europe protects all its workers, without exception. This means better protecting workers on digital platforms by guaranteeing them individual and collective rights, real autonomy and social protection adapted to the specificity of their activity. France is showing the way: in application of the mobility orientation law, we have structured a social dialogue between platforms and self-employed workers to create a more just and reassuring framework for these workers.
You have 41.2% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.