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On 17 March, we met with Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs. It has become obvious for social non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the last several years that there are significant negative impacts of economic governance on social policies and on the social situation in Europe. As social NGOs we need to address economic policy as a priority as well. Our President, Heather Roy, led our delegation, and we raised three important issues.

The first was with regard to the intervention of the European Union in controlling national budget deficits and national debt levels – also known as macroeconomic imbalance procedures. The Commissioner stated that two of his top economic priorities are stability and growth; we questioned the end goal of these priorities and whether they would impact on social issues. Improving the social situation for citizens in the EU – including the reduction of the number of people at risk of poverty or social inclusion – must remain a priority, as set out by the Europe 2020 Strategy’s headline targets that also include education and employment. We need a better balancing of social and economic policies, possibly by ensuring social indicators in macroeconomic imbalance procedures. Commissioner Moscovici said that the social dimension of his portfolio is important to him and confirmed that the European Commission will review the Europe 2020 strategy in autumn 2015.

The second point we raised was the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union. The Commissioner recognised that it is a very political topic and that the Commission should aim for a “race to the top” regarding social convergence, i.e. ensuring that social standards such as minimum income are brought in line with the best standards across the EU. We support this goal and mentioned our work on EU social standards that could be discussed at a later stage with the Commission (including minimum income, minimum wage, access to services and an EU unemployment benefit scheme). Although the Commission does not consider its European Fund for Strategic Investments as a tool for developing social policy, the Commissioner wants to ensure that any new jobs it creates will be used to improve the social situation in the EU. For example, social housing and schools will be eligible for funding. The European Parliament is discussing a report that may change this: find out more here.

Finally, we called for social investment not to be included in national budget deficits. Unfortunately this has not been included in the Communication on the topic.

It was important for us to be able to raise these issues at the highest level, with the person politically responsible for the macroeconomic imbalance procedures, and we look forward to continuing dialogue with the Commissioner.