THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Towards a new legislative term

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 80 and administration of the European Regional Devel- opment Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the Cohesion Fund and the Just Transition Fund (JTF). For the funding period 2021 to 2027, ‘a more so- cial and inclusive Europe through the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights’ was identified as the fourth of five policy objectives. Member states are required to follow this when preparing programmes; the EU provides detailed areas of intervention and criteria to be considered. These refer to EPSR intentions on ac- tive labour market policies, gender equality, education and training, social inclusion and poverty reduction, or health and long-term care, for example. Accordingly, the Member states’ partnership agreements concluded with the Commission refer to their contribution to the fulfilment of the social objectives, and progress in im- plementing the EPSR is to be evaluated in the 2025 mid- term review. With the European Semester, a well-established process for soft policy governance already existed that could be extended in the coordination of social policies. In order to operationalise the EPSR in the annual policy coordination cycle, it was equipped with an accompa- nying Social Scoreboard in 2017. This establishes 17 headline indicators (originally 14), which are supple- mented by further sub-indicators, and forms the refer- ence framework for the Commission to measure social progress. The indicators in the Social Scoreboard are structured according to the three chapters of the EPSR. Following a revision in 2021, 18 of the 20 principles are now covered by indicators. While the Commission im- mediately incorporated references to the EPSR into the 2017/18 European Semester cycle, using it in all reports and recommendations for which it was responsible, the Member states reacted cautiously. In the National Re- form Plans (NRP) they submitted to Brussels in spring 2018, 16 of them refrained from mentioning the new instrument at all, while only four governments dealt with individual principles and indicators in more detail and related them to social development in their own countries (Hacker 2019). Using the EPSR in the pandemic The first challenge for the ESSR came with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. To contain this, it was necessary to coordinate health care policies at the Eu- ropean level. Above all, however, the EU had to react to the economic consequences of lockdowns. Unthinkable in previous crises, the Council suspended the Stabil- ity and Growth Pact with the escape clause in March 2020 to allow Member states the necessary budgetary Table 1. The European Pillar of Social Rights: Themes of the 20 Principles Chapter 1 Equal opportunities and Labour market access Chapter 2 Fair working conditions Chapter 3 Social protection and social inclusion 1.Education, training and lifelong learning 2.Gender equality 3.Equal opportunities 4.Active support for employment  5. Secure and adaptable employment  6. Wages and salaries  7. Information on employment conditions and protection against dismissal  8. Social dialogue and employee involvement  9. Reconciliation of professional and private life 10. Healthy, safe and suitable working environment and data protection 11. Care and support for children 12. Social protection 13. Unemployment benefits 14. Minimum income 15. Retirement income and pensions 16. Health care 17. Inclusion of people with disabilities 18. Long-term care 19. Housing and assistance for homeless people 20. Access to essential services Source : European Commission (2017): European Pillar of Social Rights . Available at: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2792/506887