President Juncker at the Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth

ean-Claude Juncker, Stefan Lofven, Donald Tusk

EU Social Summit proclaims European Pillar of Social Rights, first announced by President Juncker.

President Juncker and Swedish Prime Minister Löfven jointly hosted EU leaders for the first EU Social Summit in 20 years.

The Summit which took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, is a key milestone in the broader debate on the future of Europe, kicked off by the European Commission's White Paper and President Juncker's Roadmap for a More United, Stronger and More Democratic Union.

It provided a unique and timely opportunity to advance the social dimension of the European Union and its Member States and particularly to promote fair jobs and growth in the EU.

At the Social Summit, the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights, which was first announced by President Juncker in his 2015 State of the Union Address and presented by the Commission in April 2017.

President Juncker said:" When I took office, one of the ten priorities I presented to the European Parliament was to put in place a foundation of minimum social rights, which we now call the European Pillar of Social Rights. It is a long list of intentions, beliefs and principles. But I would not want the beautiful minds, who are numerous, to consider what we agreed upon is a poem. It is not a poem, it is a programme: a programme of principles first, a programme of action next."

This Commission has taken and continues to take action to modernise Europe’ social market economy and achieve a ‘social triple A’ for Europe. At the Press conference President Juncker underlined that several initiatives are still pending before the EU co-legislators: out of the 19 legal proposals put on the table to advance Social Europe, 12 still need to be adopted.

On the Erasmus+ programme, President Juncker said at the Social Summit: "I would like us to increase the budget for the Erasmus+ programme. No cuts should be accepted when it come to the Erasmus+ programme. I know when we started 30 years ago out of 15 governments 12 were opposed. Now it is their invention. And as it is their invention we have to make sure that the budget we need will be put into place. We need more young people, more apprentices, more professors, more teachers to be part of this programme, which mobilised until today 9 million of young people."

President Juncker stressed that if we want to double the number of young people participating in Erasmus by 2025, we need to be ready to put €30 billion euro on the table for this in the next financing period.

The Social Summit focused on how to make the most of new opportunities and tackle common challenges for the labour markets and welfare models of today and tomorrow. By building on each country's perspective and experience, discussions contributed to shaping a better future for Europeans. These discussions were structured around three parallel working sessions, addressing the following themes: 'access to the labour market', 'fair employment and working conditions' and 'in between jobs: supporting transitions'.

Over a working lunch, leaders also discussed the future of education and culture. On 14 November, the European Commission set out its vision for how we can create a European Education Area by 2025.

President Juncker at the Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth

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