Social protection schemes in Europe have mostly been designed for the open-ended, full-time contract and have not kept pace with the changes that have taken place in the world of work. In an increasingly diverse world of work, modernising social protection and social safety nets is needed to guarantee social inclusion.
In 2018, the EU proposed new recommendations to improve access to social protection for workers and the self-employed:
The World Employment Confederation-Europe supports the main approach of the EU Recommendation which is in line with the notion of social innovation. The promotion of the concept of transferable and portable rights has been particularly welcomed as it is one of the key policy recommendations in our Europe 2024 Vision. The World Employment Confederation-Europe calls on EU policies to rethink protection schemes to ensure the sustainability of national social models by implementing these policy actions.
Improving EU citizens’ social protection rights is also a key area within the European Pillar of Social Rights. Proclaimed in 2017, it sets out 20 principles and rights to guide European and national policies in building fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems. It says for instance that regardless of the type and duration of their employment relationship, workers, and, under comparable conditions, the self-employed, have the right to adequate social protection.
In response to a public consultation launched by the European Commission in 2020 to obtain the views of social partners and stakeholders on the foreseen action plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the World Employment Confederation-Europe reiterates the importance of the Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and self-employed as the relevant framework to provide social protection for diverse forms of work and encourage to lay focus in its implementation.
In February 2023, the EU High-Level Group on Social Protection and the Welfare State presented its Report including in its recommendations a call for access to social protection for all, irrespective of the contract or form of work, and a focus on skills enhancement and training throughout the working life. These recommendations are welcomed by the World Employment Confederation-Europe.
In a year that proves pivotal for the European instititions, the World Employment Confederation-Europe advocates putting Social Justice at the centre of the next political mandate. Social Justice in Europe needs to be based on a new social contract, which enables an economy and labour market that protects every person, provides skills that empower and set appropriate regulation in times of digitalisation.
The World Employment Confederation-Europe fully supports the strategic priorities adopted at the Granada European Summit in 2023. In its Manifesto for the 2024 European elections “The Europe We Want”, the HR services industry identifies areas of specific interest and importance which the new European Commission and Parliament should take up, and social protection is one of them.
A New Social Contract that Protects All
