European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities – annual report 2026

Tabled by Séverine Werbrouck

B. whereas the European Removed: Semester remains a central instrument for coordinating economic, fiscal, employment and social policy across the EU, and should aim to embed social justice, environmental sustainability and intergenerational fairness more systematically into macroeconomic governance, putting the EPSR at its core and respecting Added: Pillar of Social Rights has no binding legal force and must not serve as a basis for extending the EU’s competences into areas reserved to the Member States under the Treaties; whereas social policy, wage-setting mechanisms and the organisation of social protection systems remain primarily national competences; whereas the European Semester must not evolve into a mechanism of centralised social surveillance or indirect social harmonisation; whereas full respect for the principle of Removed: subsidiarity; whereas efforts have been made to better balance the monitoring of economic and social objectives in the European Semester process with the development of the Social Scoreboard and the recent integration of the social convergence framework into the process; whereas the 2026 Autumn Package was presented without an Annual Sustainable Growth Survey setting out a holistic and balanced strategy for the EU’s economic, social and employment, and environmental objectives and anchoring the European Semester in a broad vision of sustainable growth for the Union; whereas the EU must remain committed to competitiveness, sustainability and social justice, without allowing one objective to be pursued at the expense of the others; Added: subsidiarity and national diversity of social models must remain a cornerstone of economic governance within the EU;

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE782.984v01-00