Dalli questions whether the EU has 'lost its social soul'

Social dialogue minister Helena Dalli today said that the flexibility being discussed ought to be much greater and that people were beginning to question whether the EU was losing its social soul.

Speaking at a joint Malta Council of Economic and Social Development and MEUSAC core group meeting on the public consultation on the European Pillar of Social Rights, Dalli said that the EU ought to learn from the recent Brexit vote.

“Even the results of the Brexit vote demonstrate that the people are upset at the EU not being relevant to their social needs any more,” she said, adding that more focus ought to be placed on creating further employment opportunities and securing better work conditions among others.

“Are we looking at changing measures to reflect current conditions and needs?”

She went on to question whether the EU was looking at the reasons behind these votes and whether it could avoid these feelings developing in other member states.

Antonella Gatt, representing Malta's permanent representation of the EU, explained that the pillar was mentioned by Jean Claude Juncker in the state of the union speech this year, with the aim to further protect employees and give social partners a more central role.

“The consultation is a way to bring more importance to social issues,” she said, adding that the aim is to create a reference framework for member states to monitor performance of various member states in their reforms in the employment sector and encourage convergence in the euro area.

She added that it would serve the purpose that the EBU or the EMU does for banking in the social and employment sectors, with an aim to have a healthy job market and social welfare system throughout the EU.

“The pillar will build on and make more concrete the EU social acquis,” she said, adding that it would encourage the exchange of those practices.

The public consultation on the pillar will be open until the end of December this year with the aim of the measures being enacted by Spring of 2017.

Reacting to the presentation describing the pillar, education minister Evarist Bartolo expressed his hope that the pillar would lead to reflections about the future of the European project.

“The EU often creates plans without making clear how these proposals will be paid for or whether they would be viable,” he said, adding that many had already questioned how these improvements would be enacted without the necessary economic growth and employment creation.

Bartolo explained that Maastricht criteria limited the amount of money to be invested by governments regardless of the economic growth the area might be going through.

“We have to start from providing better investment in various sectors,” he said adding that the EU could often be draconian in its regulation of how funds were used.

Finance minister Edward Scicluna added that the EU was currently in a rut, with projects not being given clearance by the EU.

“The initiatives in the pillar are not enough unless the growth and expansion model changes,” he said.

Gatt explained that the legal form of the pillar was still to be established but that it would apply to all Euro countries, while other countries would have the option to follow it in their own right.

“Consultation will end at the end of December 2016, and it will be used to gather data about the social environment in the EU as well as changing working patterns and the impact of the digitalisation of the labour market.”

She added that the feedback from the consultation will reflect the three main aims; stocktaking if EU social acquis, the future of work and welfare systems, and the role of the pillar as a part of the EMU.

She added that the European commission was carrying out various information sessions throughout member states.

“The commission is recommending that 20 areas are involved in the sector to improve the current EU social setting but they were subject to various changes according the public consultation,” she said adding that The sectors vary from disability, health and safety, housing, the elderly among others.