Bustinduy calls for strengthening social policies at the European Council in the face of austerity policies

The Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, during his speech at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO)

The meeting discussed, among other points, the EU's new Strategic Agenda for 2024-2029, which the European Council will approve next week as a roadmap for progress towards several objectives: increasing employment levels, improving living and working conditions, and ensuring greater protection of human health and consumers. This strategy has been developed with input from a report by the Jacques Delors Institute (chaired by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta), and was commissioned by the European Commission with the aim of updating the Single Market and strengthening Europe's economy and competitiveness.

In this context, Minister Bustinduy emphasised the importance of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which was reinforced last April with an inter-institutional declaration in the Belgian city of La Hulpe. This declaration pointed to priorities such as the need to allocate public funds only to projects that respect social and labour rights, to guarantee a humane and fair use of artificial intelligence at work, to ensure a socially just ecological and digital transition, and to strengthen the European Labour Authority to provide better protection for workers. "European labour and social policies must serve to establish a collective horizon of certainty, well-being and security", declared Pablo Bustinduy during his speech at the Council, where he also pointed out that the Government of Spain's position is to consolidate a new social and economic paradigm, and that "this involves fighting against inequality".

In his speech, the minister proposed "reinventing the welfare model", calling for the expansion of labour rights and the development of social policies, as well as the strengthening of solidarity between member states. "This is the best response to those who respond with authoritarianism and isolationism to the challenges of our time," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister Bustinduy expressed his support for the text of the directive that implements article 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to put an end to discrimination between people on the grounds of age, religion, disability or sexual orientation. "In a context where hate speech is rampant, adopting this directive is urgent and fills a gap in EU anti-discrimination law," he said. Pablo Bustinduy also wanted to point out that Spain is firmly committed to progress on this path and, as an example, he mentioned the approval in 2022 of the Comprehensive Law for Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination.

Last, the minister referred to the creation of a European Job-Friendly Technology Instrument, a measure that he said would serve to encourage the development of technologies that improve the skills of workers, particularly those with intermediate skills and education, and fund research and development projects.

The EPSCO Council brings together the ministers responsible for employment, social rights, health and consumer protection of the EU member states, and was attended, as representatives of Spain, by Borja Suárez, Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions, and Amparo Merino, Secretary of State for Social Economy.

Non official translation