News

Following today’s [13 May] presentation of the 2015 Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs), SOLIDAR urges the European Commission to fulfill its promise to place greater emphasis on employment and social cohesion within the European Semester. Instead of delivering a new approach, the new Juncker Commission today presented old wine in a new bottle. SOLIDAR is developing an alternative approach through its Social Progress Watch Initiative and its newly established Social Progress Lab, in order to help shift the Semester’s focus from fiscal consolidation to social cohesion.

Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis (Euro and Social Dialogue) and Commissioner Marianne Thyssen (Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility) were quick to point out that the new Commission has started to shift the European Semester’s focus to employment and social cohesion. However, SOLIDAR at present does not see a real shift in the Semester’s focus, especially after Commissioner Pierre Moscovici’s (Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs) statement that the Commission’s approach to economic governance remains unchanged.

Welcoming Commissioner Thyssen’s comment that shifting the European Semester’s focus is an ongoing process, SOLIDAR highlights its Social Progress Watch Initiative as a valuable tool in this regard. This initiative monitors and evaluates how the Semester’s current focus on fiscal consolidation erodes social cohesion and equality within and between EU member states. The findings of the Social Progress Watch Initiative clearly highlight the need to recalibrate the European Semester’s focus in order to make real progress towards a more social and cohesive Europe.

Moving forward, SOLIDAR will use the Social Progress Watch Initiative as a jumping-off point to establish a Social Progress Lab. Together with scholars and independent thinkers, SOLIDAR will develop an alternative approach which places social cohesion on an equal footing alongside fiscal consolidation.

Full article.