Blog Articles

Last week, the European Semester process – the EU’s governance tool that coordinates Member States’ economic and social policies and reforms  – entered in its next stage: the publication of the 2022 Spring Package. Continue reading for the main takeaways from the EU’s solutions to the multiple crises it faces, including energy poverty, rising inflation and the impact of the Ukraine war. 

Energy security and fiscal policy front and centre – what about their social impact? 

The focus of this year’s package is on the need to reduce energy dependency, in line with REPowerEU – the EU’s plan to rapidly reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels and fast forward the transition to climate-neutrality. 

It also provides new tailored fiscal policy guidance for Member States for 2023. The key announcement was that the escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact – which puts on hold the EU’s fiscal rules that limit government borrowing and spending – will be maintained in 2023. Member States are encouraged to continue investing in key priorities like just green & digital transitions, energy security, support to people fleeing Ukraine, and vulnerable groups most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. However, the Spring Package makes clear that this flexible approach to the fiscal rules will end in 2024, leaving in question how social investment will be propped up from that point onwards. 

From a social perspective, the communication states the importance of turning the Social Pillar from words to action. It also highlights the need to aid people fleeing Ukraine and to support national administrations in helping them access healthcare, childcare, housing, social protection, education and training, and employment. We recently released a paper calling for an EU Solidarity Strategy on Ukraine, which you can read here. 

Social Platform leads the charge for a ‘social’ European Semester 

Together with some of our members, we had the chance to give our views on the Package to the Social Protection Committee (SPC) and the Employment Committee (EMCO). We stated our support to prolonging the flexible fiscal rules brought in during the pandemic, and emphasised the need for a strong reform of these rules to avoid a return to damaging austerity in 2024. This would increase inequalities, push more people into poverty and would take away the means for the EU and Member States to deliver socially-just green and digital transitions. We also welcomed recommendations for measures to address the impact of rising energy prices. This must be done together with investment in quality employment, access to affordable and accessible quality public services for all as well as social protection, especially for groups in vulnerable situations. Other recommendations covered strengthening tax justice, especially for low-income earners, and the need to involve civil society organisations in the implementation of reforms in a structured way to make them more evidence-based and thereby successful. 

 Next steps 

The Council will discuss the package and adopt it before the summer before (hopefully) Member States start putting the guidance into practice. On our end, we will be publishing our recommendations for the next Semester cycle in Autumn. Keep your eyes on this space!