4.2 Towards a social progress protocol
W
e cannot ignore that the efficiency of the European Semester – originally a tool for austerity – is based on the mandatory rules of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), which all Member States have to comply with. The Excessive Imbalance Procedure was put in place as the ‘sword of Damocles’, hanging over member states in the form of sanctions against non-compliant countries. Obviously, such efficiency will never be the same in the social component if the objectives of the Social Pillar and of the Sustainable Development Goals are not mandatory. Therefore, social and ecological objectives must be given the same legal enforceability as that of fiscal consolidation and financial stability. In order to do so, the EU should adopt a sustainable development and social progress pact.
treaties. It is the way to ensure that workers’ rights will not remain second class rights in the EU. We therefore call for such a social progress protocol to be integrated as a fundamental principle in the EU treaties at the occasion of the next treaty change. The joint Proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights by the European Parliament, Council and Commission is the first step in this direction and it must mark Europe’s long-awaited social turn. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights was integrated in the treaties after its proclamation in 2000. Now that the European Pillar of Social Rights has been proclaimed, we want it to follow the same path194. It has to be integrated in the treaty framework. This will be one of our key demands in the opening debate and the Conference on the Future of the European Union.
We have a social project for Europe. We need to make sure that in the EU neither economic freedoms nor competition rules take precedence over fundamental social rights. Building on the European Pillar of Social Rights, a social progress protocol should be added to the treaties. During the last institutional mandate, we supported the idea of a social progress protocol put forward by trade unions on several occasions193. Because they are enshrined in the treaties, the freedom to provide cross-border services and the freedom of establishment have too often taken precedence over workers’ rights, as the famous European Court of Justice’s Laval and Viking cases have shown. With a social progress protocol, we can make sure that workers’ and social rights are as protected as economic freedom is in the
193 CF for example PES Presidency Declaration On the European Pillar of Social Rights Adopted by the PES Presidency on 16 June 2017 194 A Progressive Vision for the Future of Europe – Conclusions of the High Level Working Group on the Future of Europe, December 2018
