[PIO] Intervention of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance Mr Andreas Kaukalias in the context of the

The European Parliament Week, co-organised by the European Parliament (EP) and the current Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), started today in Brussels on 12 and 13 February 2024.

The work of the EP's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) examined ways to promote social investment in the context of the revised EU economic governance framework. The President of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Welfare and Social Security, Mr Andreas Kaukalias, made the following intervention.

The current EU economic governance framework, which over time has evolved into a complex structure of complex rules and exceptions, is in urgent need of deep reform to address current inequalities. Inevitably, the subordination of social objectives to the imperatives of fiscal discipline and economic competitiveness leads to inequalities that have a negative impact on social and employment policies.

It is therefore clear that promoting social investment within the revised economic governance framework requires the integration of the European Pillar of Social Rights into EU economic governance and into Member States' fiscal policies and reforms, through the integration of the European Pillar of Social Rights into the EU's economic governance and into Member States' fiscal policies and reforms.