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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 4.3.2021 SWD(2021) 46 Final EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 4.3.2021 SWD(2021) 46 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan {COM(2021) 102 final} EN EN Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. REPORT ON THE CONSULTATION 3 I. The consultation process 3 Have your Say web page 4 Dedicated events 5 Inter-institutional process 6 II. Main findings from the consultation 7 On the European Pillar of Social Rights and its Action Plan in general 7 A shared political commitment and responsibility 7 Towards an Action Plan for a fair recovery and just transitions 9 The need for a strategic approach 10 Ensuring consistency with other policies 11 Setting targets 13 On policy priorities and concrete proposals 15 Education, training and skills 15 Equal opportunities 18 Quality jobs, fair working conditions and social dialogue 24 Social protection, health and long-term care 32 Poverty and social inclusion 37 Fair labour mobility 42 On instruments and cross-cutting engagement for implementation 44 Type of instruments 44 Implementation, enforcement and awareness of EU social/employment law 45 The role of the European Semester, monitoring and indicators 45 EU funding 48 3. ONGOING ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE EUROPEAN PILLAR OF SOCIAL RIGHTS 51 I. Equal opportunities and access to the labour market 51 Principle 1: Education, training and life-long learning 51 Principle 2: Gender equality 57 Principle 3: Equal opportunities 60 Principle 4: Active support to employment 64 II. Fair working conditions 68 Principle 5: Secure and adaptable employment 68 Principle 6: Wages 72 Principle 7: Information about employment conditions and protection in case of dismissals 73 Principle 8: Social dialogue and involvement of workers 74 Principle 9: Work-life balance 76 Principle 10: Healthy, safe and well-adapted work environment and data protection 77 III. Social protection and inclusion 80 Principle 11: Childcare and support to children 80 Principle 12: Social protection 82 Principle 13: Unemployment benefits 83 Principle 14: Minimum income 85 Principle 15: Old age income and pensions 87 Principle 16: Access to healthcare 88 Principle 17: Inclusion of people with disabilities 91 Principle 18: Long-term care 95 Principle 19: Housing and assistance for the homeless 97 Principle 20: Essential services 100 4. MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PILLAR 103 I. Targets 103 Employment rate 104 Adult participation in learning in the last 12 months 108 At-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (AROPE) 113 II. The Social Scoreboard 117 III. Benchmarking 120 2 1. INTRODUCTION This staff working document complements the Communication on the Action Plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights1 by additional information. It provides a summary of the broad consultation process carried out from 14 January to 30 November 2020 (section 2). It then provides information on action taken to implement the Pillar since its proclamation by the European Parliament, Council and Commission in November 2017 at EU level, and with examples of national, regional and local action, including by social partners and relevant stakeholders (in section 3). Finally, it gives background information on actions proposed to monitor progress in implementing the Action Plan, notably the targets for 2030 and the revised Social Scoreboard as set out in the Action Plan, and ongoing benchmarking exercises run by the Commission with the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee. 2. REPORT ON THE CONSULTATION I. The consultation process In its Communication on a Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions of 14 January 2020 the Commission committed to come forward in early 2021 with an Action Plan to turn the rights and principles enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights into reality. Given the shared responsibility and competence for implementing the Pillar, the Commission invited all EU institutions and bodies, Member States, regions, municipalities, social partners, civil society organisations and think tanks at EU, national, regional and local level to present their views by November 2020 on further action needed and to pledge their own concrete commitments to implementing the Pillar. The Commission collected written input via a web page2 and organised dedicated consultation events in the Member States and with key stakeholders at EU level. The consultation was complemented by the strategic resolution of the European Parliament3 and the opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)4 and the Committee of the Regions (CoR5). In addition, the Commission ran a social media campaign and a Google ads campaign in October and November 2020 to drive submissions and pledges on the implementation of the Pillar and on its forthcoming Action Plan. The ads, covering all EU Member States, 1 COM(2021) 102. 2 http://ec.europa.eu/social/yoursay-socialeurope 3 European Parliament (2020), Resolution on a Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions, P9_TA(2020)0371, Brussels, 17 December 2020 (hereinafter the ‘European Parliament Resolution’). 4 European Economic and Social Committee (2020), Opinion on Industrial Transition Towards a Green and Digital European Economy: Regulatory Requirements and the Role of Social Partners and Civil Society, EESC-2020-03642, Brussels, 2 December 2020 (hereinafter the ‘EESC Opinion’). 5 European Committee of the Regions (2020), Opinion on a Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions, COR 2020/02167, Brussels, 14 October 2020 (hereinafter the ‘CoR Opinion’). 3 featured statistical data from Member States with a call to action entitled ‘You can change the statistic’. Overall, both campaigns generated over 202 million impressions and almost 1.8 million clicks on the campaign webpage. Have your Say web page Via a dedicated web page, stakeholders and citizens were invited to submit written contributions (without pre-set questions). The Commission received 1 041 unique written contributions. 67.5% of submissions came from individual citizens. Some concrete proposals of citizens are reflected in this report. Many citizens took the opportunity to describe their personal situation, notably persons with disabilities, people experiencing poverty and women with care responsibilities. 338 organisations (32.5% of total submissions) participated in the online consultation. Especially civil society groups (38.4% of organisations) and social partners (19% of organisations) took the opportunity to express their views. The majority of the participating organisations operate at EU level (41.7%) or national level (43.2%) and the rest at regional or local level. In addition, the Commission received several pledges to take concrete actions to implement the Pillar, including from individual citizens, cities associated with the Eurocities network, the European Workplace Innovation Network (EUWIN) and the European Lean Managers Society (and its Italian affiliate). Some of these are reflected in Chapter 3 of this Staff Working Document. Contributions: Country of Origin (N=1041) Distribution of contributions from citizens and organisations (N=1041) 4 Type of contributing Organisation (n=339) Policy Level of Contributing Organisations (n=339) Dedicated events Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the engagement process, which originally envisaged physical meetings at public events in various Member States, had to be adjusted. Virtual events became the standard practice. 5 The Commission organised 23 high-level webinars in EU Member States, in cooperation with Commission Representations in these countries. The webinars were targeted at leading representatives of national, regional and local authorities, social partners, civil society organisations and think-tanks/academia. From the Commission side, these events involved Commissioner Schmit and senior staff from the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. On 8 June 2020, the Commission organised a high-level hearing of EU social partners with Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis and Commissioner Schmit. Existing regular meetings with EU social partners allowed for further exchanges. This concerns notably the Tripartite Social Summit (TSS), the Social Dialogue Committee (with EU and national cross-industry social partners), the Liaison Forum (with EU cross-industry and sectoral social partners) and the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committees. On 21 October 2020, the Commission held a dedicated strategic dialogue meeting with representatives of EU civil society organisations. An exchange with relevant EU agencies took place on 15 October 2020. Inter-institutional process In its resolution of 17 December 2020, the European Parliament “[c]onsiders that the Porto agenda should take a double approach, i.e. it should focus on the social sustainability part of the EU’s Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda, while at the same time paving the way for the materialisation of the [Pillar] principles through adopting an Action Plan as well as serving as a follow-up to the Lisbon strategy, setting ambitious and mandatory targets and instruments defining the road to social progress and sustainability; believes that this agenda could contain the strategic framework for a sustainable, fair and inclusive social Europe for 20306”. In addition, on 22 October 2020, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on employment and social policies of the euro area 2020.
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