This year again Juncker forgot to outline his plans on equality, inclusive growth, social protection for citizens, equal opportunities and investment in sustainable jobs, in his State of the Union Speech today, if he has any.
PES president Sergei Stanishev said: “Obviously Juncker didn’t learn the most important lesson: that the Europe Union needs to provide social protection, to reach out to the people, to protect workers, to invest in better jobs and more opportunities. This is how Europe can gain back citizens’ trust. Failure to address this, is one of the root causes of the current wave of populism and nationalism. It is hard for me to grasp how the summer time change is could be more important to the president than the fate of millions of European workers.”
“We urge the European Commission to make good use of the final stretch of its mandate to meet with deeds Juncker’s words from today or last year that “Social Europe should be treated more seriously”, or his line from 2014, when he promised a “Social Triple A” for the European Union, a promise on which he has delivered very little so far”.
Sergei Stanishev said: “I expect Juncker to think about the legacy of this European Commission and their five years in power, so that he lives up to his promise of writing in EU law the outline agreed at the Gothenburg Social Summit. The remaining few months should be sufficient for that. The PES is constantly pushing for the full development of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the Gothenburg Social Summit is a milestone in that process.”