The cost-of-living crisis remains a significant concern for people across Europe. According to Eurobarometer, rising prices and the cost of living were among the main issues that motivated Europeans to vote in the European elections last year. As a key tool for strengthening economic and social coordination in the EU, the European Semester process must play a central role in addressing this challenge.
However, the European Commission’s 2025 Autumn Package places a strong focus on competitiveness, in line with the new European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass (see our reaction & guide to the Compass). Social Platform sees this predominant focus on competitiveness as a concern, as it risks undermining the EU’s social and environmental goals and deprioritising wellbeing for people and planet.
In response to the Autumn Package, Social Platform, together with some of our members, highlighted specific concerns and made recommendations to the Social Protection Committee (SPC) and the Employment Committee (EMCO). Read them below.
Balance focus on competitiveness with a strong social dimension
We voiced the concern that the communication on the Autumn Package – in 2025 seemingly replacing the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey – refers to the Draghi and Letta reports but does not integrate the high-level group report on the future of the welfare state, similarly to the Competitiveness Compass. Europe cannot be competitive if its people are left behind and EU action must serve the wellbeing of people and not the other way around. It is worrying that this approach spelled out by the Compass fails to acknowledge the competitive advantage of investing in our social model, in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) that supports people’s wellbeing, resilience, social inclusion and participation.
Strengthen implementation of EU headline targets on employment, skills and poverty reduction
We outlined several gaps in the Semester Autumn Package that need to be filled to achieve the EU headline targets on employment rates, skills and poverty reduction. While the EU is set to achieve its employment target, there are significant gaps for underrepresented groups. We called for improving their labour market participation through more inclusive labour markets, with better and sustainable working conditions and work-life balance measures as well as adequate wages.
With regards to the skills target, where a lot more progress is needed, we highlighted the importance of not only focusing on adult learning participation and skills for the labour market, but also the inclusivity and quality of education and training generally: from access to quality early childhood education, primary and secondary education, but also lifelong learning opportunities.
Regarding the poverty reduction target that the EU is far from reaching, we called to accelerate efforts through a strong revised EPSR Action Plan that continues implementation of existing initiatives, Action Plans, and Equality Strategies. We also need renewed equality strategies as some will expire soon, as well as new legislative and non-legislative initiatives to fill gaps. We also emphasised the importance of an ambitious EU anti-poverty strategy that takes a comprehensive approach to tackling the root causes of poverty and social exclusion. Finally, we underlined the need to strengthen social protection and inclusion systems, including through ensuring adequate minimum income schemes.
Strengthen the effectiveness of the Social Convergence Framework within the Semester
We welcome the permanent inclusion of the Social Convergence Framework into the Semester. Nevertheless, there is a need to fill remaining gaps in the Social Scoreboard and make improvements to the methodology of the framework to increase its effectiveness in detecting social convergence risks.
A transition towards a more comprehensive analysis
We encouraged that the changes in the 2025 Semester cycle – which has been announced to be a transition year away from the approaches under the Recovery and Resilience Facility – should entail a stronger social dimension. The package promises “an improved analysis to identify the relevant structural challenges and provide guidance on reform and investment priorities in each Member State”, which must increase the presence of socially focused country-specific recommendations in the future.
Strengthen structural involvement of civil society in decision-making
Finally, we welcomed the announcement of increased use of structured dialogues in the Semester. We called on the European Commission and Member States to structurally and meaningfully involve civil society organisations in the process to help gain a complete understanding of existing challenges as well as relevant policy action to take. We also encouraged the European Commission to provide Member States with guidance on how to structurally and meaningfully involve civil society organisations in the process and offered support in this context.
