THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 30 withstand the deterioration of social and infrastructural living conditions. This, in turn, makes the regions even more unattractive; those industries that are still left then finally relocate, and the exodus of people important for igniting new economic strength continues to increase. Social policy agenda to 2030 European policy activities have recently focused on operationalising the NextGenerationEU fund, worth EUR 750 billion of Community debt, which was agreed in summer 2020. The centrepiece of this package is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which will make grants and loans available to Member States on a pro- ject-related basis. Socioeconomic indicators are crucial in determining the level of funding provided, as is a detailed application by the Member State.The project descriptions, which most countries submitted to the Commission in 2021, include minimum quotas of projects relating to cli- mate neutrality and the digital transition; countries were also mindful of the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, proclaimed in 2017. The Member States were urged by the Commission to revise their Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) before these were approved by the Commission and Council. The first tranches were then disbursed in summer 2021. The European Semester acts as an instrument of coordination and surveillance to guarantee the management and monitoring of the Recovery and Resilience Facility between Member State and supranational level. It is still too early to be able to assess whether the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights have been given sufficient consideration within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plans or how they stand in relation to the priorities governing the green and digital transition. This will be an important task for the future, where the key question will be whether a new balance can be worked out between economic and social targets, or whether the old asymmetry of EU policy coordination will be continued in the innovative crisis instruments.With regard to the Eu- ropean Semester, various social policy actors are already hopeful of a realignment of governance structures. This is based (1) on a reduced role for budget policies in the area of coordination due to the comprehensive infrastructural plans for the green and digital transition and the suspen- sion of the Stability and Growth Package until the end of 2023; and (2) on the Commission’s focus on social targets as announced in theAction Plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights with the declaration at the Social Summit in Porto in May 2021 (Vanhercke and Spasova, 2021). In the Action Plan, which was approved by the Council in June 2021, the Member States undertook to achieve the ambitious targets by 2030. EU-wide, this should mean (1) an employment rate of at least 78 percent among 20- to 64-year-olds; (2) the annual participation of at least 60 percent of all adults in training courses; and (3) a reduction of at least 15 million in the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. At the Council meet- ing of the employment and social policy ministers in June 2022, the Member States presented additional national targets for implementation in the three policy areas. From an aggregate view, these slightly exceeded EU require- ments with regard to employment rate (78.5 percent) and poverty reduction (down by 15.6 million) but fell short of the target for adult learning participation (57.6 percent) (European Commission, 2022d). Thanks to massive joint investment and support programmes during the pandemic, the EU succeeded in rapidly heading off the crisis on the labour market and in household income, thus distinguishing itself as a reason- ably successful crisis manager – the difference with the austerity policies of the euro crisis is notable. In particular, the measures taken by the EU to safeguard employment should serve as a role model for future economic crises. The temporary instrument of short-time work schemes (SURE) could be continued within the broader framework of an EU unemployment reinsurance scheme. Reducing social inequalities and supporting people who are particularly affected by precarious working and living conditions in the challenges that they face is now the responsibility of regulatory and coordinating Europe-