Birth of a new EU agency

SOC I A L AG E NDA / J U LY 2 0 1 7 / 2 7 © European Union In July 2019, your department published the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review on “Sustainable growth for all” (see page 8). Climate change is at the crossroads of the two areas you have been working in, first economics and now social affairs… Before joining DG EMPL two years ago, I was dealing mainly with economic, fiscal, and financial and international economic issues. When I came to DG EMPL, I realised that the economy was about people. Over the last few years, there has been an evolution, including within the Economic and Financial affairs (ECFIN) DG of the European Commission and in the International Monetary Fund: they are increasingly delving into the topic of inequality, in which interest rose sharply after the 2008 financial and economic crisis. We should do everything we can to include everybody, not just for the sake of statistics but also for that of citizens at large: the more people participate in the labour market, the more job-rich economic growth there is and the more people across the board benefit from this growth. Two years ago, the ESDE review focused on intergenerational fairness. When presenting it, I highlighted a graph, which showed that the active part of the population would be declining in the coming years, depending on the country: all else being equal, growth would decline too, unless we drastically increase productivity, which is itself conditional upon many factors. Does this also apply to climate change? It is a good example: we need to adjust to this new context in a way that is fair and leaves no one behind. The transition to environmental sustainability will not be socially fair automatically: it’s up to us to make it social! Fairness is the recipe for success, especially in the face of climate change, and we need to work on this transition to make sure it is a just one. Is the climate change challenge giving new meaning to your work? A few years ago, when I was working in the financial markets in London, or when I worked on economic and financial issues in DG ECFIN, I found it difficult to explain my work to my children. Now it is much easier, as these issues are less technical and more related to broader societal matters: climate change concerns everybody! I tell them a lot about what I am doing, and the questions that we are analysing. The coming generation is more sensitive to climate change than we imagine. Some of my colleagues have children younger than mine, who are taking part in the pupils’ marches against political inertia in the face of climate change! Loukas Stemitsiotis, European Commission: Fairness is the recipe for success, especially in the face of climate change. Loukas Stemitsiotis heads the Thematic Analysis unit of the European Commission’s Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Directorate General (DG EMPL) Taking on climate change INTERVIEW SOC I A L AG E NDA / NOV E MB E R 9