"Citizens are at the centre of the EPP Group's interests and their well-being is our priority", said David Casa MEP, EPP Group Spokesman in the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee following today's adoption by the Group of its Position Paper on Social Policy. The position paper addresses issues such as job creation, education, skills matching, training, entrepreneurship, income and poverty in Europe. Moreover, in anticipation of the European Commission's publication of the Labour Mobility Package (8 March 2016), in the words of David Casa, the EPP Group demands the following:

"Any proposed measures must be clear, proportionate, non-discriminatory and justified and respect the different wage-setting mechanisms in the Member States. The announced revision should only touch upon the necessary unsolved elements in order to ensure a just treatment of workers and a level playing field for business. A revised Directive must continue to facilitate the freedom to provide services.”

Furthermore, the EPP Group calls on all Member States to quickly implement the Enforcement Directive on the Posting of Workers and to consequently analyse the impact of its implementation. For stricter controls to combat and prevent abuse, the Group calls for improved cross-border cooperation between accountable inspection services and electronic exchange of information and data.

The EPP Group's Social Policy paper tackles a whole range of issues, including entrepreneurship, pensions, poverty, work-life balance and digital jobs.

"Our values, principles and vision are responsibility, respect, solidarity and justice. We believe in the European social model as a foundation of the social market economy and we have to communicate it clearly, not only with words but also through our work. I am therefore particularly proud of the EPP Group's social policy", concluded Casa.