Convening to coordinate ahead of the meeting of the EU’s Informal EPSCO Council next week, PES ministers held an exchange with European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit and PES Social Europe Network Chair and MEP Agnes Jongerius.
Two vital files were on the meeting agenda: the Directive on adequate minimum wages, and the Directive on improving working conditions in platform work.
Meeting Chair and Portuguese Minister for Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, said:
“Thanks to socialists and social democrats in the Commission, Council and Parliament, the EU is finally focusing on delivering a fairer deal for workers. This has always been important, but with citizens feeling the pressure of rising living costs, it is becoming critical.
“Decent minimum wages and strong collective bargaining is our policy. Now, we are working hard to turning those principles to practice, and deliver tangible improvements for citizens across the EU.
“There is also work to be done to protect workers in the digital economy. Platform workers must have the same rights and working conditions as workers in the traditional economy. This is about guaranteeing that fairness is embedded into new types of work.
“Thanks to the efforts of Commissioner Schmit, Agnes Jongerius MEP and many others, a fairer Europe is getting closer. In Porto and Gothenburg our political family succeeded in putting these issues on the agenda. Now, as socialist and social democratic ministers, we are focused on delivering that fairer deal for workers.”
The PES is pushing for the adoption of both the Directive on adequate minimum wages, and the Directive on improving working conditions in platform work. Turning ambitions to legislation is central to the PES mission of advancing social Europe in practice.
Ministers welcomed two new participants to the ministerial meeting: Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Ivan Krastev, and Luxembourgish Minister of Social Security Claude Haagen.
The meeting was attended by:
- Ana Mendes Godinho, Chair and Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Portugal
- Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, European Commission
- Ivan Krastev, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Bulgaria
- Ville Kopra, State Secretary for Employment, Finland
- Rolf Schmachtenberg, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Germany
- Andrea Orlando, Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Italy
- Claude Haagen, Minister of Social Security, Luxembourg
- Madalin-Cristian Vasilcoiu, State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Romania
- Rasmus Cruce Naeye, State Secretary for Employment, Sweden
- Pedro Marques, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-president of the S&D Group in the EP, PES-S&D Coordinator on the implementation of the progressive Commission work programme
- Esther Lynch, Deputy General Secretary, ETUC
