At the Hulpe Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights
Yolanda Díaz: "Let us for the first time give the EU's new strategic agenda a real social dimension"
News - 2024.4.16
The Second Vice-President and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, during her speech at the Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights
The Second Vice-President and Minister for Work and Social Economy called on her counterparts, the social partners and representatives of civil society to do more to ensure that the social dimension of European policies gains prominence in the next European legislature.
Extending workers' rights
"Let us for the first time ensure that the EU's new strategic agenda has a real social dimension", urged the vice-president, who in her speech gave substance to this boost in the socio-labour area in three specific measures.
First, she defended the right to the use of time, including concrete initiatives to reduce working hours. "In Spain we are already doing it. In this legislature, we are going to reduce by law the 40-hour working week to 37 and a half hours, without any reduction in salary", explained Díaz.
Second, she proposed the recognition of new labour rights linked to the digital and green transitions, as has already started to be done with the new directive on work on digital platforms, which recognises human control of algorithms and automated decision-making.
She insisted on the intention to incorporate the climate approach into the world of work, and specifically to incorporate green collective bargaining to promote and facilitate a just ecological transition that also considers the impact of climate change and extreme temperatures on health and safety at work.
New labour rights linked to a general improvement in working conditions have also been proposed. "We must place the fight against job insecurity at the centre of our debates", insisted the vice-president, who stressed the need to understand this fight also as a way of taking care of mental health.
"We stand for a Europe where working people enjoy their time, live and work in dignity, and are at the forefront of a fair green and digital transformation. But also for a Europe that once and for all brings democracy to the world of work", stressed the vice-president, who has demanded that, for the first time, the EU's new Strategic Agenda for the 2024-2029 period should pay preferential attention to social Europe and social policies.
La Hulpe Declaration
The Second Vice-President and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, during the Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights
In this vein, the vice-president called for a clear and unequivocal commitment of the 27 member states to the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights to be developed at national and European levels.
At the end of the conference, hosted by the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council of the EU will sign a declaration with social partners and representatives of civil society aimed at preparing the social agenda of the future European legislature, which will emerge after the elections in June.
At Spain's initiative, this declaration reinforces the references to the role of social dialogue, mental health at work, aspects of democracy at work such as information and consultation of algorithms, the need to address working conditions in the digital transition and to bear in mind the lessons of the SURE mechanism, the employment protection scheme used in pandemics, to be able to activate it in similar future scenarios.
Meetings with Enrico Letta and Esther Lynch
In the margins of the conference, the vice-president will be meeting with former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta who, at the request of the European authorities, has prepared a report on the single market on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the European common market.
They will discuss the need to consider social protection, so as to raise the social dimension to the same level as the economic dimension in the single market guidelines, with the aim of mitigating social imbalances.
Together with the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Esther Lynch, Díaz will discuss possible improvements in living and working conditions in the EU through the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and new initiatives to anchor these principles in the next European legislature.
Non official translation