Building a fairer and
more inclusive Union

©Getty Images | Thierry Monasse

©Getty Images | Thierry Monasse

The Social Market Economy is the hallmark of our European project. An economy that functions in the interest of the worker and the community. It is what makes Europe stand out from other economies in the world.

We promote private initiative and individual creativity; we enable individuals to excel and create opportunities for businesses and for workers, and we work to keep our economy growing.

The best social policy is a strong growth policy. At the same time, we also act to protect people in moments of distress.

And as global challenges such as the pandemic, climate change, and the digital transition have put our Social Market Economy to the test in the last years, the Commission has doubled-down in its work to protect and empower people and communities.

Protecting lives and livelihoods during the pandemic

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with people confined at home, one of the main challenges was to protect the employment of European citizens.

With SURE we supported millions of employees and self-employed people to keep their income, and we enabled millions of businesses to retain the workers and the talent they would need to restart their recovery.

We also gave Member States flexibility under Cohesion Policy and budgetary rules to invest in protecting lives and livelihoods.

31.5 million

employees and self-employed people
supported by SURE in 2020

2.5 million

businesses supported
by SURE in 2020

€98.4 billion

of financial assistance was disbursed to
19 Member States under SURE

Achieving the clean transition together and leaving no one behind

We have put in place mechanisms to make sure that the clean transition leaves no one behind. We strive to make the transition socially fair.

The Commission’s Just Transition Fund, with €19.7 billion, is investing to support affected workers reskill and find new jobs in the green economy, and it is helping regions that were previously depending on high-polluting industries to diversify economic activities towards cleaner sectors.

Nikola has been working for over 12 years in the Maritsa Iztok coal mining complex in Bulgaria, one of the largest of its kind in South-East Europe.

He decided to acquire new skills for the future. As part of the European Year of Skills, he has joined the RES-SKILL project, which is retraining coal workers for the renewable energy sector.

With the new qualifications, he will be ready for the modern, clean economy.

Reaping the benefits and facing the challenges of the demographic change in Europe

Europe is undergoing a major demographic transformation. People across Europe live longer, healthier lives thanks to our social and economic progress over the past decades, including improved living standards, access to education and training, and advances in healthcare and medicine.

This demographic change is having a profound impact on everyday life. That is why in October 2023, the Commission put forward the Demography Toolbox, to support Member States in addressing demographic challenges and their impact on Europe's competitive edge.

Helping the next generation of Europeans thrive

We have come up with initiatives such as the European Child Guarantee, which gives children a good starting point in life while also helping parents not having to choose between working and having a family.

And we also reinforced the successful European Youth Guarantee, which supports young people under 30 in getting a job.

An ambitious action plan to make the European Pillar of Social Rights a reality

During this mandate, we also put in motion an Action Plan to operationalise the European Pillar of Social Rights. We set out specific EU-level goals to be reached by 2030 on employment, training, and poverty reduction and we called on Member States to define similar targets at national level.

We are making sure that workers can stay competitive while enjoying their rights. We are supporting workers to develop new skills for the modern job market, because our workers’ skills underpin our competitiveness.

Securing fair work conditions for people in platform work

Over 500 digital platforms are active in the EU offering work to over 28 million people and creating opportunities for businesses, workers, self-employed and consumers. But new ways of work also come with challenges: we introduced common rules to improve the working conditions in platform work.

Ensuring adequate minimum wages across the EU

We introduced rules on adequate minimum wages to ensure that work pays Adequate minimum wages have a positive social and economic impact. They ensure fair competition for employers that pay decent wages and can also contribute to reducing the gender pay gap.

Improving health and safety at work

The Commission set out an EU strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027, which sets out key actions to improve workers' health and safety over the coming years. This includes managing the changes brought by the clean, digital and demographic transitions, improving prevention of workplace accidents and illnesses, and increasing preparedness for any potential future crises.

©Getty Images | Arterra

©Getty Images | Arterra

EU social targets by 2030

At least 78%

of the population aged 20 to 64 should be in employment

At least 60%

of all adults should participate in training every year

At least 15 million

fewer people at risks of poverty or social exclusion

Empowering women
to have their rightful place in society

In our Union, people are meant to enjoy the broadest range of fundamental rights anywhere, and we have worked to ensure that everyone in fact enjoys those rights.

Our Gender Equality Strategy is designed to cultivate a society and economy where every individual, irrespective of gender, can flourish.

This Commission finally brought to life rules to ensure women get their fair opportunity to demonstrate their talent in corporate boards - a huge step towards breaking the glass ceiling - , and thanks to new pay transparency rules we are closer to the basic principle that equal work deserves equal pay. We have also worked to ensure that women can live free from violence thanks to the new rules on the criminalisation of physical, psychological, economic, and sexual violence against women.

Empowering people to be who they are

During this mandate, the Commission also put forward novel initiatives against racism and antisemitism, but also for LGBTIQ people, individuals with disabilities, and Roma. We worked for a better Union, where Europeans of all colours, faiths, ages, genders, and sexual orientations can thrive.

We also aim at mainstreaming equality and putting it at the centre of all EU policy areas.

We are promoting equality for Roma communities, and we have also developed robust policies to counteract antisemitism and hatred in society.

We introduced the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card that will grant persons with disabilities equal rights when traveling across European borders.

Keeping our promise to Europe