In a meeting with the College of the European Commissioners today discussing the social dimension of EMU including the role of social dialogue, Hans-Joachim Reck, President of CEEP underlined the importance of strengthening the role of social partners in European policy-making, specifically in governance reforms as well as economic and social reforms. Mr Reck stated: “This is a question of the democratic accountability and legitimacy of the European Union which is needed now more than ever.”

While addressing measures to integrate a social dimension into the EMU, Mr Reck highlighted that the current problems haunting Europe and in particular the EMU cannot only be solved with austerity measures. Mr Reck said: “Actions to tackle unemployment and financial shortcomings must be connected with investments in enabling sectors such as infrastructure or digital services”.

In his intervention Mr Reck also called for stronger solidarity between Member States and the need for further harmonisation in policy areas to solve current distortions. In order to achieve this CEEP could support several proposed measures such as a social scoreboard of key employment and social indicators to detect social imbalances and the further elaboration of bilateral contracts between Member States and the EU Commission, similar to what is currently discussed under the heading “Convergence and Competiveness Instrument”. “This would complement and rebalance the current system of macro-economic benchmarking as well as ensure continued investment in physical and social infrastructures in Member States experiencing difficulties”, concluded Mr Reck.

For further information, please contact:
Priya Klinkenberg- tel. +32 (0) 2 229 21 40

CEEP gathers enterprises and organisations from across Europe, both public and private, at national, regional and local
level, which are public employers or providers of services of general interest. CEEP members contribute to more than 26%
of EU GDP and employ 30% of the EU workforce; CEEP is one of the three general corss-industry European Social Partners.