Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), Europe’s business community has refused to sign up for a new declaration on Europe’s “social model.”
At the initiative of Belgian ministers Frank Vandenbroucke and Pierre-Yves Dermagne, a new inter-institutional declaration on the future of the European social model has been drawn up.
It is all set to be endorsed by the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Belgian Presidency, the European Trade Union Confederation, SME United, and SGI Europe.
It was signed this week at a meeting in La Hulpe, Belgium
BusinessEurope, while it says it is fully committed to helping shape the social dimension of the strategic agenda for the EU in 2024-2029, has refused to endorse the new declaration.
Its DG, Markus Beyrer said, “Unfortunately, despite the intensive dialogue we had with the Belgian presidency, the La Hulpe declaration remains ambiguous on the fact that, in our EU social-market economy, social progress can only be based on economic progress.
“It is too detailed and still hints at a regulatory route that cannot lead to reverse the decline in productive investment in Europe and halt the erosion of our industrial base on which many quality European jobs depend.
This is why BusinessEurope decided not to sign up to this declaration.”
He said it supports “the European Pillar of Social rights through appropriate actions at the appropriate level.”
He adds, “But our pledge comes with the clear message: social progress can only be built on competitiveness and growth.
For BusinessEurope, a successful European social agenda supports growth and employment in our Single Market.
“It is an agenda that focuses on making the cake bigger by tackling the labor and skills shortages that are holding us back.
“It is an agenda that moves away from a predominantly regulatory approach to social policy and focuses on:
• promoting mobility in our Single Market,
• addressing labor shortages and skills mismatches.
He goes on, “It is a social agenda that respects member states competencies as well as social partners competencies, in line with the horizontal and vertical dimension of the subsidiarity principle defined by Jacques Delors.
“It is a social agenda which is part of a master plan to improve competitiveness, stop Europe’s deindustrialization, and address the key factors creating investment leakage, including excessive regulation.”
He adds, “Do not get me wrong.
“I am not calling for wild west deregulation.
“Nor am I questioning Europe’s social model. On the contrary, I am calling for a strategy that defends it by ensuring that the EU social dimension helps to build a productive and prosperous Europe.”
“I also want to say it loud and clear: We are determined to help shape an effective and balanced European social policy that will benefit both companies and workers and support them in their efforts to live up to today’s challenges.
“BusinessEurope and its member federations remain fully committed to working constructively with the European institutions as well as member states and our social partners from the European trade unions in this endeavor.”
