The Commission proposal for the pillar of social rights to be published this spring

Minister of Social Affairs and Health Pirkko Mattila will attend a conference in Brussels on Monday 23 January where the European Pillar of Social Rights will be discussed. The conference will be organised by the European Commission.

Through the pillar of social rights, the Commission aims at improving employment, terms of employment, social security and social protection as well as the health and safety of employees in the European Union. Income disparities and inequality both between and within the countries have grown in Europe.

“This is why Finland is very pleased that the Commission has now put social rights in focus in the restructuring of our economies and working life. It would be highly desirable if the future pillar of social rights covered all EU countries and not only the euro zone”, says Minister Mattila.

There are social challenges in all EU countries and therefore the pilot study on basic income that Finland introduced has attracted wide interest in the EU. Minister Mattila will give a presentation on the pilot study at the conference.  

The Commission gave a Communication on the pillar in March 2016, laying down the key EU principles for employment and social policy in support of functioning and fair labour markets and social welfare in the euro zone.

After being adopted, the pillar would function as a framework when the member states’ employment and the capacity to perform social obligations are assessed on the EU level.  One of the aims of the pillar is to support national governments to implement reforms on the national level while it would also bring them closer together.

The public hearings regarding the draft for the pillar ended at the end of last year. Based on the draft, the Commission will draw up a final version for the pillar. The proposal will be published in March 2017 as part of the EU’s social package.

Follow the conference on social media with #SocialRights

Inquiries:

Senior Officer Pirjo Pietilä-Kainulainen, tel. +358 295 1636 77