Socle européen des droits sociaux

On March 8, 2016, the European Commission launched a public debate on the European social rights package, to which the European Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly decided to reply, so as to express its opinion on this important issue concerning the future of all the Union and in particular of the Eurozone. This report thus sets down twenty-four precise and pragmatic proposals which the European Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly would like to see examined in depth at a European level. They deal with three main subjects: a) The improvement of the conditions governing access to the labour market; b) The implementation of conditions concerning equity and equality on the labour market; c) The fight against poverty and inequalities. There is a triple objective: to enable better economic coordination which is essential for the Eurozone in particular but also for the entire Union, to adapt labour law and social protection to the new forms of employment linked to the digitization of the economy and to the development of the diversification of activities (especially by encouraging the notion of the linking of rights to the individual and not to contracts), and thirdly, to fight against poverty, which is growing on our continent. In addition, the report underlines the need to strengthen existing social rights and allow their development, as well as that of future social rights. This can only occur if we provide a central role to social dialogue in Europe and if we give greater clarity to the European discussions in the social field. It is thus necessary to have an integrated approach to economic and social issues which ensures the idea of upward social convergence. In order to fulfil this wish, the report proposes, on the one hand, reflection on the implementation of a code of social convergence based on the social objectives aimed at, and, on the other hand, the application, in accordance with the European semester, of the package. This would be accompanied by a reorientation of the existing European social funds in order to ensure true social convergence.