The EU must reinvent itself to offer a better, social and sustainable Europe for all, the Party of European Socialists argues in an open letter to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

The detailed letter from senior PES representatives outlines our party’s expectations for the first two landmarks in the Commission’s white paper on the future of Europe: the European Pillar of Social  Rights and the future of the Economic and Monetary Union.

The Commission’s proposals on the European Pillar of Social Rights will be presented on 26 April.

The letter lays out the PES vision for the planned pillar, including consolidating social standards, strengthening workers’ protections, and incorporating into primary law the objective of upward social convergence.

It also highlights the urgent need for economic and social reform, with detailed proposals on governance of the eurozone and how to reduce economic imbalances by promoting investment and actively supporting the creation of growth and jobs.

The letter is signed by:

• Sergei Stanishev, PES president
• Nicolas Schmit, chair of the PES ministers’ EPSCO network, minister for labour, employment and social economy in Luxembourg
• Pier Carlo Padoan, chair of the PES ministers’ Ecofin network, minister for economy and finance in Italy
• Mario João Rodrigues MEP, chair of the PES financial and economic network, vice president of the S&D group in the European Parliament
• Pervenche Berès MEP, chair of the PES social Europe network, coordinator on the European Parliament ECON committee for the S&D group

Read the full letter in detail: Open letter from PES to European Commission

For more information, please contact Toby Wardman toby.wardman@pes.eu, +32 491 86 97 48