Social Agenda Issue 54

SOC I A L AG E NDA / J U LY 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 2014 -2019 Taking ownership: the President of the European Parliament, A.Tajani (left) and Estonia's Prime Minister J.Ratas, the then President of the EU Council of Ministers, join European Commission President J.-C. Juncker (center) to proclaim the European pillar of social rights during the European social summit in Gothenburg, on November 17, 2017. © Belga Image Social policy at heart Since the beginning of its mandate, the present European Commission has placed employment and social policy at the heart of EU policy making “I would like the EU to equip itself with a social triple-A rating”, Jean-Claude Juncker said in his first address to the European Parliament as President-elect of the European Commission, on 22 October 2014. “That’s just as important as an economic and financial triple-A”. In April 2017, the European Commission adopted a framework to enable the EU and its Member States to do just that: the European Pillar of Social Rights. Annexed to it was a new social scoreboard, with more indicators to assess Member States’ social policy performance than was previously the case - for instance as part of the yearly European Semester process of economic, social and fiscal governance. In November 2017, the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers took ownership of the European Pillar of Social Rights: Together with the Commission, they signed a solemn declaration proclaiming the Pillar. They did so during the first Renewed social and civil dialogues In March 2015, the European Commission launched a “New Start for Social Dialogue” to strengthen the role of social partners at all levels, including in the annual “European Semester” economic governance process. In June 2016, the EU employer organisations, trade unions, the EU Council of Ministers and the Commission signed an agreement reaffirming the fundamental role of European social dialogue in the EU policy-making process. The Commission also strengthened the dialogue with civil society organisations, making it more focused and operational. SOC I A L AG E NDA / MA R C H 9