Event report

Report on the virtual round table “European Pillar of Social Rights — How is it implemented in Germany?” of the Representation of the European Commission in Germany in cooperation with the European Movement Germany Date and Place: 29 April 2021, from 14.00 to 15.30, via Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, keynote speeches: • Nicolas Schmit, EU Commissioner for Social Affairs• Franziska Giffey, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Discussions (stakeholders): • Carolina Trautner, Bavarian Minister of State for Family, Labour and Social Affairs• Kristina Vogt, Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe in Bremen• Markus Lewe, Mayor of the City of Münster and Vice-President of the German Association of Cities• Detlef Scheele, Chairman of the Board of the Federal Employment Agency• Reiner Hofmann, President of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)• Steffen Kampeter, Chief Executive Officer of the German Federation of Employers’ Associations (JD) • Katrin Böttger, Institute for European Politics (IEP) and Member of the Board of the European Movement Germany (EBD) 1) speeches on the Action Plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights: At the beginning of the round table, European Commissioner for Social Affairs Nicolas Schmit recalled the three main objectives of the European Pillar in the fields of employment, skills and social protection to be achieved by 2030. He then explained that in the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the Action Plan provided an important direction to drive social reforms, equal opportunities and economic recovery in Europe. A clear commitment at all levels is therefore needed to achieve its objectives: “The Commission, the Union, Member States, social partners and citizens need to work actively together”, said the Commissioner. The forthcoming EU Social Summit in Porto aims to define a concrete route and to convey confidence to all European citizens not to be forgotten. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Franziska Giffey focused on the situation of families and the social rights of children and young people: “Families are particularly affected by the pandemic”, said Giffey. In her view, it is above all important to increase childcare in KiTa and primary school (both qualitatively and quantitatively) and, in this context, to have a legal right to all-day care, which is currently under preparation. She also stressed the need to tackle child poverty more sustainably in Europe in order to give more children and young people the chance to live independently. 2) Contributions from stakeholders to the discussion: How do the Länder and municipalities rate the Action Plan? Carolina Trautner (Bavarian Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Affairs) began by highlighting the three main issues of labour market participation, training and poverty reduction. She presented successful measures in Bavaria to be continued in the future, including the Pact on Vocational Training and the Fit for Work programme. In addition, day-care services for children will be strengthened. Kristina Vogt (Senator for Economic Affairs, Labour and Europe in Bremen) also welcomes the Action Plan in principle. In order to help reduce youth unemployment to 9 % by 2030, the ESF + programme would continue in Bremen. However, it would like to see a greater financial weight in the budget. Markus Lewe (Mayor of the City of Münster and Vice-President of the German City Council) stressed that German cities want to strengthen their European identity. According to it, a major focus is on preventing social distress and strengthening a common European labour market. Detlef Scheele (Federal Employment Agency) described measures to prevent a sharp rise in unemployment. At present, this includes in particular short-time work as an effective tool that has proved its worth during the crisis. In the future, it was not only about the skills of employees, but also about keeping employees in the labour market. Steffen Kampeter (BDA) stressed that economic success is always linked to social success. Good collective agreements are therefore still the best way to ensure pay transparency and equal pay. Reiner Hoffmann (DGB) also supports in principle the planned measures of the European Pillar, but noted that European company law is being misused to circumvent participation in Germany. For this reason, the action plan needs to be further strengthened. Prof. Dr. Jutta Allmendinger (WZB) noted, among other things, that the objectives of the action plan were easier to achieve for some countries than for others and that Germany was particularly in need of action on the issue of retraining of employees. 3) Final Discussion In a final final discussion, all stakeholders gathered their personal “three wishes” at the forthcoming Social Summit in Porto. They most often voiced a desire for a European minimum wage, guidelines on pay transparency, unemployment insurance and a significant increase in funding for Member States. Commissioner Nicolas Schmit underlined the broad consensus among the participants in the debate. He hoped that all EU Member States would support the points raised at the Social Summit in Porto.