My mission

I believe that to maintain the European social model we have to preserve our core values of social justice, equality, respect for rights and dignity for every individual. At the same time, we need to carry out a major reform of our labour markets and social protection systems. Personally speaking, this is the best way for Europe to cope with today’s realities of globalisation and the ageing of our populations. Meeting these two challenges will help us to achieve our goal of creating more and better jobs in Europe. For me, this is a "Social Imperative" - it is my number one priority.

I am determined to do my utmost so that the European Commission can contribute to this goal by using its tools such as legislation and resources like European Social Fund. Strong leadership and the co-ordination and promotion of good practices is equally important. European social policies like social protection, health and safety at work, equality between men and women and the inclusion of disadvantaged groups are our best long-term investment. Because for me, people are not an economic means to an end afterall. Our ultimate goal is a good quality of life for all.