PES EPSCO meeting chair and Luxembourg Minister Nicolas Schmit said:
“Europe is facing deep social challenges. There are many fundamental issues that we should have been discussing in the Council today. Even though European economies recover steadily, the growth and the prosperity is not shared by all citizens. As PES ministers pointed out in the past, digitalisation is changing drastically the way we work and live. We are working on solutions to fight atypical and precarious work, to strengthen good employment and to adapt our social security systems to the 21st century. We need minimum wages above the poverty line in all member states. At a time when more than one child out of four is at risk of poverty and social exclusion in Europe, the topic of child poverty would have deserved to be addressed in Council.
European Workers and European citizens as a whole deserve to be taken seriously. The Austrian presidency sends a very wrong message with this cancellation. European citizens deserve to know that we are fighting to help those in need, to protect our welfare states, to ensure a good standard of living for everyone. PES ministers remain ready and united to find solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow. ”
