EESC opinion: Social impacts of the new Economic Governance legislation

Key points

• Europe needs to speak with one voice if it is to find a convincing response to the most serious financial and economic crisis, and crisis of confidence, since the EU was established.
• The new structure for European economic governance (EEG) must safeguard the democratic rights of the Member States and their freely elected parliaments, as well as the autonomy of the social partners.

• The EESC recommends a smart, sustainable budgetary consolidation that safeguards vital social investment.

• The austerity measures will have a negative impact on vulnerable groups and on key social infrastructure such as childcare or education. This will seriously impair the quality of life of vulnerable groups.

• The EESC finds that the implementation of the European Semester and the "six-pack" must not undermine the poverty reduction target set out in the Europe 2020 strategy and that all measures must be assessed to determine whether they will increase poverty.

• The EESC stresses that, as a matter of urgency, it is crucial to assess the social impact of the new economic governance rules, and calls in particular for:

1. a "social investment pact" to be developed;
2. the social partners, social organisations and non-governmental organisations to be fully involved at an early stage in all actions;
3. a convention to be set up to work out a strategy for securing social progress in upcoming treaty amendments;
4. a "social safety net" to be provided by means of equivalent "social governance";
5. the freedom of the social partners to undertake collective bargaining to be safeguarded and promoted;
6. new sources of revenue to be opened up to consolidate public finances; and
7. public spending to be made more efficient and better targeted, and action against tax evasion to be stepped up.