Social welfare will be key to Europe’s competitiveness, says Parliament’s new employment committee chief

The Left Group prioritised securing the chairmanship of the European Parliament’s labour affairs committee to prevent any rollback of environmental and workers’ protections over the next five-year mandate, the new committee’s leftist chief told Euractiv in an interview.

Li Andersson said that heading the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) was a “top priority” for the group, in view of the Parliament’s rightward turn in June’s EU elections – with many newly elected MEPs having specifically campaigned on the need to cut environmental regulations.

“After the European elections, I think many are worried that the whole social dimension and investment in the social side is going to drop down on the agenda,” said the Finnish MEP.

Andersson said one of her main goals as committee chair will be to ensure that social issues remain at the forefront of the parliamentary agenda – by striving to “link” social issues to other key EU policy objectives, including competitiveness and the green and digital transitions.

“Investing in workers’ protection, education, all of this – I think that this, together with sticking to an ambitious environmental agenda, is really what competitiveness should be built on,” she said.

“I think that really is what Europe should be doing during the coming years.”

Her comments come amid deepening fears about the weakness of the European economy as well as a growing consensus among business groups and politicians on the importance of reducing companies’ regulatory burden to boost output and investment.

Andersson, a first-term EU lawmaker who won more votes than any other MEP in Finland’s history last month, will be the only Left Group member to chair a full parliamentary committee.

She said Europe’s shift to the right also underlines the importance of “progressive” political parties working together to strengthen the bloc’s social model.

“In my opinion, it makes it even more important that different political groups, different political forces [that] agree on the importance of these [social] issues, work together to form majorities and coalitions and work together to push the agenda.”

‘There have to be some concrete proposals’

Andersson highlighted that several pieces of pro-worker legislation were passed in the previous mandate, including the platform work directive, which improves employment conditions for those earning money through ride-sharing and delivery apps, and the minimum wage directive, which sets an 80% target for collective bargaining coverage across member states.

The MEP also welcomed the fact that re-elected Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned both the right to disconnect and the need to “make better use of” public procurement (which accounts for 14% of the bloc’s annual GDP) in her recently published political guidelines for the next five-year term.

However, she said the EU executive could place even greater emphasis on labour issues, especially when it comes to ensuring that subcontracting and public procurement respect citizens’ right to collective bargaining.

“Collective agreements [are] a way to ensure a level playing field for companies [by] making sure that nobody gets an unfair advantage in terms of competition by not treating workers well,” Andersson explained.

She also expressed support for von der Leyen’s proposal to appoint a commissioner with “direct responsibility” for addressing Europe’s growing housing crisis but stressed the need for “concrete proposals” in this area as well.

“It’s not enough just to say that you have a designated policy area.”

Waiting for Draghi

Andersson’s remarks come ahead of a much-anticipated report on the EU’s competitiveness by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, which is expected to heavily shape EU policy over the next few years.

In recent months, Draghi – whose report is due out in September – has struck a fine line between calling for deregulation and highlighting the need to protect Europe’s welfare model.

Draghi has previously said that “successive layers of regulation have created a burden on long-term investment” in the EU and called for a “streamlining” of the EU’s regulatory framework.

However, he has also emphasised that “maintaining high levels of social protection” across Europe is “non-negotiable”.

European Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Esther Lynch has also noted that Draghi “pointed to the Nordic social model as an example for the rest of Europe to follow” when they met earlier this year.

“It will be very interesting to see how [the report] is balanced and how strong the social agenda is present there,” Andersson said.

Andersson, who served as Finland’s minister of education from 2019 to 2023, agreed that the Nordic countries can offer important lessons about the relationship between social welfare and productivity.

“I think one lesson that the Nordics, at least traditionally, had learned was that investing in equality and social innovation, in making sure that we have economies where workers are treated well, that we have a level playing field when it comes to workers and companies, that we have high-quality education that’s open for all – that this is actually really good for competitiveness,” she said.

[Edited by Anna Brunetti/Zoran Radosavljevic]