Speeches

Madam President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, today's debate is important as it addresses an important issue that stands at the core of our values. The protection of freedom of religion or belief has remained high on the agenda of the EU's external human rights policy over the last years. In recent years, we have always unequivocally condemned all acts of discrimination, of hatred, of violence or persecution based on religion or belief, including acts committed in the name of religion. We have taken determined action in Nigeria and in the Middle East to promote interfaith dialogue and support populations affected by violence. For instance, we were very reactive after the Yelwata massacre, which took place last June in Nigeria. Fulani herders attacked the Yelwata community, burning many houses, leaving between 100 and 200 mostly Christian victims and displacing another 3 000. Our EU ambassador visited the victims a few days after the attack, together with the Federal Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. We provided rapid support through ECHO humanitarian assistance and our INTPA-funded projects for social protection for durable solutions for internally displaced persons. The EU delegation in Nigeria has been, for instance, partnering with the National Human Rights Commission and the National Peace Committee and, in the next few days, EU-funded events organised by these widely respected Nigerian institutions will take place in Abuja to discuss issues such as indigene-settler conflicts and how to address violence, how to prevent conflicts in northern Nigeria, including the Middle Belt. Nigeria remains a like-minded and fundamental partner of the European Union, suffering from spill-over of insecurity from the Sahel, and we have to step up our support to help fight targeted violence. The EU attaches fundamental importance to freedom of religion or belief. Every individual should be free to practise, to change or to renounce their religion or belief without any fear.

Madam President, honourable Members, freedom of religion or belief is a strategic priority for the European Union. Wherever it is challenged, wherever religious minorities are under attack, we do not look away, we intervene – responding across all affected communities through powerful actions guided by neutrality and impartiality. The security situation, especially in northern Nigeria, is of great concern. The country faces systemic insecurity, affecting, among others, Christian individuals, communities and places of worship. It is important to bear in mind that violence in Nigeria cuts across ethno‑religious boundaries. Numerous well‑documented incidents show Christian communities, churches, schools and clergy being deliberately targeted in the country. Only last week, attacks took place against a church and a Catholic school, with several people killed and dozens abducted. We are relieved that some of the persons abducted last week have now been released, or managed to escape with the support of the authorities. We sympathise with all the victims and their families. We strongly condemn these vile and cruel attacks targeting minors and worshippers. These attacks blatantly violate children's basic rights as well as freedom of religion and belief. I want to express the EU support to the Nigerian Government's efforts to have all hostages safely released without delay and to prevent other similar attacks. Over the last years, we have we have taken action to address this dire situation. The EU and the Member States have funded many projects on prevention of violence, on peacebuilding and support to populations affected by violence. Both the Federal Government of Nigeria and the State Governor expressed deep appreciation to the EU. But this shows that we need to support the authorities even more. Let me stress that our support is of course not selective: the EU helps people in need in Nigeria and victims of violence regardless of their ethnic, religious or political affiliation. Our humanitarian aid in particular strictly observes this principle of neutrality. We also have an ongoing dialogue with religious leaders, including Christians, both in Abuja and in the framework of field visits. The Federal Government of Nigeria is multi‑ethnic and multi‑confessional. We see it as neutral towards the different ethnic and religious communities in the country. It is, of course, its sovereign responsibility to ensure the protection of all its citizens, including those forming part of Christian communities. The Middle East is one of the world's most diverse regions, home to a multiplicity of religious communities whose histories and identities are deeply intertwined. This includes Christian communities in all their traditions, Jewish communities, Yazidis, Copts, Bahá'ís, the Druze, the Zoroastrians and many others, alongside diverse Muslim communities. In this context the EU remains concerned about restrictions on religious practice and pressure on minority communities in the Middle East. The EU continues to support efforts that strengthen inclusive governance, uphold equal rights for all communities and protect those at risk. Egypt is a great example of this rich diversity – a partner with which we engage regularly on the topic, notably on the implementation of Egypt's national and international commitments in human rights and freedom of religion or belief. The EU is also closely following the situation of Christians in Syria. The EU welcomes the commitments and first steps of the new Syrian Government toward a peaceful and inclusive transition. The EU calls for all actors in Syria to uphold the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Syrians in their diversity, based on their equal rights as citizens. The transitional authorities bear the responsibility to ensure the protection of all Syrians without distinction. Another situation that the EU is looking at with great attention is that of the Christians in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory, including in East Jerusalem, and in particular the Old City of Jerusalem. The EU has stressed the importance of de-escalation in the West Bank and called for an end to settler violence, including against Christian communities. The special status and character of Jerusalem and its Old City, sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the inviolability of its sacred spaces and the viability of all its communities must be preserved and respected by all. We have been consistently calling for safe access to the holy sites and for the status quo to be upheld.

Madam President, who are we, women? We are the people that work for one year and are paid for ten months. We are the people that need a 28-hour day, not a 24-hour day, so that we can balance our jobs and our care roles in the family. We are the people that occupy, in most countries, the lowest paid jobs of the available jobs. We are the people that you will not and do not see in parliaments, in ministries, in local councils, in mayor positions. But we are the people that you see that are beaten to death by their spouses, by their partners – and the recent example from Romania is quite relevant. We are those people that receive treatment and medical attention based on treatments that have been tested on men and that have been trialled on men. This is just a bit of the definition of our work. We cannot have democracy, we cannot have freedom if we are not treating those that are part of our societies in the same way – women and men alike need equal treatment, and this is a fight from which we must not take a step back. We cannot leave such a legacy to the next generations. So the Commission stands firm with the next gender equality strategy to not go back, not even a centimetre – not even a step – to work with Member States, with your Parliament towards the best, the most adequate route so that we are able to implement our ambitions. I count on our common efforts, on our joint efforts, because only together we can deliver on gender equality. Thank you.

Madam President, honourable Members, one in three women in Europe have suffered physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Women in the European Union earn 12 % less than men on average. In older age, they face a staggering 29 % gender pension gap. The employment rate for women is still ten percentage points below that of men. Women also spend twice as many hours each week as men caring for children or relatives with disabilities. More women than men still face severe material and social deprivation. Only one in three members of national parliaments and senior ministers across the European Union are women. One in three women in politics feel forced to leave social media because of hate and because of abuse. The Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality shows that at the current pace, it will take another 60 years to reach full gender equality in the EU. Now these figures speak for themselves, and they show that we must continue our fight for a gender-equal European Union. We have come a long way, as shown by the Commission's monitoring tool of the gender equality strategy 2020-2025, but much remains to be done. And I want to thank this House, especially the rapporteur of this own-initiative report, Mr Vešligaj, for his leadership and commitment. Your report is crucial input for shaping the next gender equality strategy, which will be launched around International Women's Day next year. So, what has the Commission done so far? And where do we stand with the next gender equality strategy? At the eve of International Women's Day this year, we presented the roadmap for women's rights, setting out our vision for a truly gender-equal society. This roadmap is built around a declaration of principles for a gender-equal society, and I really want to thank Parliament for endorsing it. The eight principles in it form the foundation for the next gender equality strategy, and we are now working to turn each of them into concrete measures, translating values into action for the next five years. I welcome Parliament's draft report and, of course, today's debate. It shows once again that the fight for gender equality cannot be led by one institution alone. It is a shared vision, one that requires all of us – EU institutions, bodies and agencies and every Member State, all acting together. That is why the broad endorsement of the roadmap is so important. Your support, together with other EU institutions, women's organisations, UN Women and all Member States sends a clear and united message that Europe stands together for women's rights. At a time when many women feel that their rights are under pressure and there is a fear of a backlash against our what our mothers, what our grandmothers fought for, this unity is a sign of hope and of inspiration. Over the past months, we have held extensive consultations to shape our next gender equality strategy. An open public consultation with a call for evidence and a non-public consultation questionnaire received almost 1 000 contributions. We also organised dedicated stakeholder consultations, giving space to voices from across society, social partners, equality bodies, international organisations, civil societies and EU agencies. Now we are analysing your inputs, but of course your report comes at the perfect moment; as we move from consultation to drafting, your ideas, your proposals will directly shape our work. The next strategy will have a strong focus on implementation, turning legislation into real change on the ground. This means delivering on key laws adopted in recent years – I refer to the directive on violence against women, to the directive on pay transparency and to the women on boards directive. But we will also need to go further. The strategy will propose new actions to advance gender equality in the European Union. Your draft report contains a wealth of ideas and proposals that we will closely assess and follow up on. It will strengthen gender mainstreaming across all policy areas, the EU budget and external action, because equality must be built into everything that we do. Honourable Members, our daughters and granddaughters, our sons and grandsons cannot wait 60 years for gender equality. By working together across our institutions, across our Member States, we can make it happen faster. How fast is up to us, to turn equality into reality for everyone in Europe.

Mr President, it is a moment where we really need to recommit, or to commit to a degree and to an intensity that has not been here before – but not just us, the European Commission, European Parliament, and Council. Member States, regions, communities, all stakeholders – fighting poverty is such a complex goal and we must fight like our lives depend on it. And it does depend on it, because every person that is affected by poverty – adult or child alike, whether it is part of our family, of our community or not – it does affect our lives, directly or indirectly. As I've said in my opening statement, I think our internal security is very closely connected with how well we are able to fight and, in the end, to eliminate poverty inside our societies. Now, this is not an easy task, and you've all hinted at that. It's a multi-policy effort, from good jobs, from eliminating in-work poverty, to fighting homelessness – and we can fight, and we can eradicate homelessness, it will be central in the anti-poverty strategy as well – to education, which is so important in our complex effort to eradicate multigenerational or cross-generational poverty, to energy poverty and the housing crisis that affects Europe, just to name some examples. We need to offer responses, to deliver policies, financing, to learn from each other and to commit to put this in the centre of our efforts and of our policymaking. It is important that we also support financially. The Commission has proposed a strong budget for the next multiannual framework, a EUR 2 trillion budget. We have a strong position inside the support that we give to Member States in the national plans, but it is important that we understand that beyond the support of our budgets, we need to look at the national budgets, at the effort of local communities, at international financial institutions – we need to work together. And this centrality of this topic needs to go beyond the debate that we have today, whether we will discuss quality jobs, we will discuss housing, we will discuss education. We need all the time to remember that what we put on the table for Europeans needs to not just offer opportunity, not just increase our strength economically, but to alleviate and to raise out of poverty the almost 100 million Europeans that are affected, or potentially affected, by this social illness. So I am very happy to hear your commitment as well. Together, we will work to deliver a strong anti-poverty strategy and beyond. It has to reverberate in our gender equality strategy, everywhere, in each policy, and this is our task. Here, today, in this Chamber, when we have the ambassadors, the pioneers, the apostles fighting on the realm of our social topics. But we need to get to everybody, so every type of policy that we deliver from this House, from the Commission, needs to have in mind that our goal by 2050 is to eradicate poverty. Thank you so much and looking forward to our work together on this extremely important, if not the most important topic, for Europeans.

Mr President, as the honourable Members of Parliament set into their activities, I would just like to say a deep thank you to you, Mr President, for mentioning Erasmus and paying tribute to Sofia Corradi, whose vision inspired Erasmus. We must keep that dream alive for all our young Europeans. Honourable Members, just days after the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we gather here today to say that the time to act is now. Today, more than 93 million people in Europe – that is one out of five – are still at risk of poverty and at risk of social exclusion. And these are not just numbers. They are families who struggle to pay their bills, they are children growing up without access to the services that they need to develop their full potential. Yes, we have made some progress. Today, we can account some 2.5 million fewer people at risk of poverty compared to 2019, and this is a welcome trend. But the rhythm, the pace, is too slow. The persistence of child poverty is particularly alarming. And it comes at a huge cost to our society. Childhood socio-economic disadvantage translates badly later in the adult labour market and health outcomes. Moreover, one in ten workers in the European Union – approximately 20 million people – are still at risk of poverty, a situation of great concern as well that forces us to think and to act. Failing to make the fight against poverty a true priority for Europe is simply not justifiable. This Commission is committed to stepping up our efforts and building a new momentum. We are, as you know, preparing the first European anti-poverty strategy. Our goal is clear: not just reaching our 2030 target, the Porto target, which is about taking 15 million European people out of poverty, out of social exclusion, including at least 5 million children. But our goal is also to set a clear path to help eradicate poverty by 2050, as was committed by President von der Leyen in the State of the Union speech. Time and time again, this Parliament has reiterated its commitment to this goal and we thank you for that. We also look forward to reading the own-initiative report that you will present on the anti-poverty strategy. Fighting poverty is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. It builds trust in our institutions, it builds bonds in our societies, it makes us collectively more resilient and, I dare say, more secure. It supports our economic growth, bringing more people into the labour market, delivering stronger household incomes and offering, in the end, new and more opportunities for all of us. Our anti-poverty strategy will focus on what matters most: access to essential services and protections; tackling the roots of exclusion; breaking the cycle of poverty from one generation to the other; and, of course, delivering on a stronger European Child Guarantee, which will be, I repeat this, central to our efforts. In the past months, we have also listened, to local and national leaders, to social partners, to NGOs, and most importantly, we have listened to people who know poverty because they experience it. All these voices must be involved in preparing and delivering this tool, our new strategy. We want to look at this from all angles possible because poverty is multidimensional. It is not just about salaries or work, it is not just about money. It is about access to schools, to housing; it is about energy bills; it is about food. It is also about access to key services like healthcare or like childcare. So every policy must serve inclusion. Now, beyond Europe, in two weeks' time, the first Leaders' Meeting of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, as well as the Second World Summit for Social Development, after 30 years, will take place in Doha. The summit will focus on fighting poverty, on creating jobs and on promoting social justice. It is a key opportunity to place the eradication of poverty at the heart of the global agenda, with a strong commitment on the part of the European Union. Poverty, I think we can all understand that, is not destiny. It is not inevitable. It is the result of policy choices that we make. And together we can choose differently and better. I am happy to see that we share a common goal that is one to put Europe on a sustainable path of poverty reduction and over time, help eradicate poverty on our continent.

Mr President, I thank you for your observations and for your points. They were indeed listened to. Of course, I want to give some remarks. I do believe that the oldest of the funds, one of the traditional funds that supports the social fibre of the European Union, the European Social Fund Plus, is able to modernise and to invest in people while responding to the current challenges that we face. So, with this amendment, we are able to create jobs, to invest in skills in sectors that are extremely relevant for our present-day realities – starting from sectors that are strategic. I mentioned some of them: of course, defence is one of them, but it's not only defence; it's cybersecurity, it's cutting-edge technology. We need talent, and we need to create jobs in these sectors for Europe to be able to thrive and for people to be able to thrive. Continuing to the adjustments and amendments that are done to the ERDF Regulation and concern investment in infrastructure, it is important to show that this amendment brings the fund closer to the everyday realities, to the current challenges and problems that are faced by citizens, by communities and by our society. Regarding the concerns that have been re‑expressed here about the way we will apply the rule of law and the respect for our fundamental rights in the reallocation of funds by Member States, I will reaffirm what I have stated during the trilogues: there is a formal declaration that I have made on behalf of the Commission – and I stand by it – that the Conditionality Regulation, the Common Provision Regulation, the rule of law, the respect for the fundamental rights principles will be strictly observed and strictly applied by the Commission, as it is done normally for all the other funds and in all other situations. So, this is my commitment. It is already put in writing, but I can of course reiterate it from this microphone in this Hemicycle to you distinguished Members of Parliament again. We will work closely with Member States in the amendment of their ESF‑based programmes so that they really deliver quickly calls for proposals and projects that are really able to support citizens in concrete jobs and in skills deployment.

Mr President, honourable Members, I want to congratulate the European Parliament for having reached an agreement with the Council on this proposal. This agreement allows Member States and regions to address critical strategic challenges in light of the geopolitical and economic situation, and this is how we aim to show our citizens that Europe delivers. Investing in people is essential for advancing our strategic priorities and forms an integral part of the deal. We see major shortages in skills in crucial sectors like civil preparedness, defence, cybersecurity, new digital and green technologies, just to name a few sectors. Member States and regions should focus investments on the development of skills in these strategic areas for our own competitiveness and sovereignty. This amendment underlines the role of the European Social Fund Plus as the Union's main fund for supporting employment and skills development. It will encourage Member States to use the European Social Fund Plus to reinforce investment in people. It will equip workers with the skills our industries are looking for to support our strategic defence, preparedness and decarbonisation efforts. Member States and regions will benefit from an immediate financial injection to kickstart such investments and, in turn, this also helps to reduce social exclusion and prevents inequalities from growing further. This is how we aim to strengthen our competitiveness while remaining true to our social model. The Commission welcomes the compromise that strengthens the respect for the rule of law to protect the EU budget, where funding between and within programmes is reallocated. The Commission made a formal statement on the respect for rule of law and fundamental rights. The statement reiterates the Commission's firm commitment to ensure that these principles are upheld in the implementation of the funds, in line with the provisions in the Common Provisions Regulation, the Conditionality Regulation and the Mid-Term Review Regulation. This statement has been sent to the Parliament's services for inclusion in the verbatim record of this debate. I thank you, and I am, of course, looking forward to the debate on this topic.

Mr President, many thanks to each and every one of you that intervened tonight. I take the focus that you put on the causes and the solutions to the work that we will do on improving and modernising our legislation, our rules and our guidance on tackling mental health in the workplace. I take note especially of the gender dimension and I want to thank you for pinpointing this. The quality jobs roadmap that we want to present, which is a compass towards how we need to do more in terms of the standards of working conditions, will have a gender dimension. Therefore, the psychosocial risk dimension will have a gender dimension. It is true that we connect this with the work‑life balance, with the legislation, with the directives, with the work that we have there. I think our investments also need to focus a bit more on the gender dimension because this is extremely important. Looking at the needs of our societies, the most untapped talent pool is that of women that are not present in the labour market and whose professional careers cannot advance, partly also because of causes such as this. Of course, I also take note of what you've almost all said: let's tackle the root causes and have an integrated approach, an integrated health approach, not only to look at the symptoms. This is our intention as well. My role also as Executive Vice‑President tackles aspects of social policies, of social rights, of education, of skills, but also an oversight towards some aspects of our health policies. And the Commission helps that we deliver this integrated approach, not only investment, not only legislation, but also in the approach that we take with Member States on the guidance, on the capacity building of our labour inspectorates, on all the issues that are relevant for the way in which we might want to work to improve mental health in the workplace. That being said, I'm looking forward to your initiatives on the topic and to using them in the work that the Commission will put forward in the near future.

Mr President, honourable Members, I thank you for this important debate during the European Mental Health Week. I want to start by being very clear: mental health at work is not a footnote. It's not a side issue. It's one of the most urgent and serious challenges that we face in Europe's workplaces today. Almost 1 in 3 workers across the European Union say that their mental health has been harmed by their job, by their professional activity. That amounts to millions of Europeans that are exhausted by stress, overwhelmed by pressure and unsure how much longer they can keep going and keep working. Still, we must be honest, the stigma remains. Mental health is too often seen as a personal weakness, when in reality it is often the result of poor working conditions. We must change that. We must address that. Psychosocial risks – excessive workloads, this 'always on' culture, job insecurity, lack of support, harassment – these are real and preventable hazards. Just like physical risks, they must be taken seriously and systematically addressed. This is not just a health issue, it is also an economic issue. Mental health problems at work cost us billions of euros each year, if we take account of absenteeism, high turnover and early retirement, to name just a few of the problems. They drain talent. They drain our productivity and the potential from our society. But we are acting to improve these situations, and I would give some examples. First, of course, we are learning with and from our Member States through exercises like the peer review that we carried out last year. In this peer review, Member States agreed that they need to specifically address psychosocial risks at work in their national legislation, that they need to ensure effective enforcement of the rules, together with more support and more guidance, that they need to have tailored training for their inspectors, that they need to introduce guidance and counselling services on psychosocial risk at work, and that they need to have more thematic campaigns to raise awareness. To give another example of what we are doing already, we are bringing together workers, employers and governments, including through the Tripartite Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work, which has just launched a new working group on mental health and psychosocial risks. They will come with concrete suggestions by June of next year. We are also investing, with more than EUR 1.2 billion mobilised in the current EU budget for mental health issues in general. I would mention some examples of investment related to mental health at work. First, we are supporting awareness with the EU-OSHA 'healthy workplaces' campaign on mental health that is starting next year and is focusing on new and overlooked groups of workers and sectors. I would also mention a recent call for proposals from Horizon Europe – a call for proposals from the 2025 Work Programme – that will be dedicated to projects that support improving mental health outcomes in education, in training and at work. Importantly, we are also supporting our labour inspectors through guidelines to more effectively address how employers are managing psychosocial risks during their visits and controls. Yes, our health and safety laws at European level already cover psychosocial risks. They oblige employers to assess and manage such risks in a preventive manner, and to establish health and safety procedures to do so. But some parts, like the Workplace Directive, date back to the 1980s, and work has changed. Our jobs have changed and our laws must change with it. Digitalisation and telework do bring more flexibility and more opportunities, but they can also blur the boundaries between work and life. This 'always on' culture that we are mentioning is accentuating, with increased risks of stress, anxiety and burnout. This is the reason why we are looking at how to modernise our European legislation as part of the 'quality jobs roadmap' that I will present by the end of this year. Honourable Members, the Romans used to say 'mens sana in corpore sano' – a healthy mind in a healthy body. But the other way around is also very true. A healthy body needs a healthy mind. Mental well-being is not a luxury. It is the foundation of good, fair and modern conditions of work. A Europe that protects minds as well as bodies is a stronger, more humane, a truly social and competitive Europe. I want us to work together to building this type of Europe. I thank you and am looking forward to the debate.

Thank you, Madam President, for this important debate. I thank the rapporteur, Estelle Ceulemans, for bringing this topic to our attention, to your attention. I will start with an example in my conclusions, looking at one of the industries that is undergoing transformations: the automotive sector. We looked at what we need to do there to protect quality jobs, because indeed this is a sector where, in the quality of the working conditions of professionals, there have been investments – in their training, and their health and safety. So these are jobs that we really do not want to lose, and we want to protect the expertise and the knowledge of these people. So in the automotive action plan, we proposed several concrete measures. One that I would mention is to really adjust and to improve the power of the Global Adjustment Fund, so that it is a fund that can really support workers before they are laid off, so that we can really intervene with EU funding to support companies, to support those workers before they are exposed to being laid off. But beyond that, I would mention that there are several solutions that we need to look at. First, social dialogue and collective bargaining. We have just signed the pact for social dialogue last Wednesday, and it is an important step, it is an important process that creates trust between employers and trade unions. No transition – and there will be many types of transitions and we have to be prepared for this ever-changing landscape – can be done properly for the benefit of entrepreneurs and the equal benefit of workers without equality and strong social dialogue. Also, I would underline what I mentioned a bit earlier, the Skills Guarantee that we propose to the Union of Skills. We cannot protect workers better than by training, retraining, upskilling, reskilling them so that they are able to find a job in the same company, in the same industry, in similar industries, without losing their expertise, their knowledge, protecting them, giving them a secure access to better work. And third, of course, it's the quality jobs roadmap and the initiatives that will follow. Many of the things that you have mentioned here will be dealt with in this quality jobs roadmap, from working conditions to fair wages, to health and security in the workplace, to fair transition, anticipation and management of change, dealing with third-country nationals, for all industries. And let us not forget, while we are talking about restructuring and job loss, there are still industries where millions of jobs are still unoccupied, from ICT to construction, where we need to still fill the gaps. We need to work to match these deficits with the surplus, wherever this will be possible, and to use EU funding and our policies to do that in coordination with the Member States. I thank the Parliament for having this important conversation. We cannot end now. It is clearly an important part of our mandate, and I'm looking forward to your support in our work.

Madam President, it is not just about skills but equally about quality jobs – always remember my commitment to that. So dear President, honourable Members, I thank you for the opportunity to address you on a matter that lies at the heart of our Union's mission: to protect workers, especially in times of change. Restructuring in our industries is the reality of a dynamic, competitive economy, especially in a time of rapid transformations. It can drive innovation, productivity. It can secure Europe's place as a global leader. Yet we must never forget that in every restructuring there are lives, there are livelihoods at stake – workers, their families, their communities. The European Union was built on a promise – a promise of solidarity, of fairness, of opportunity for all. If restructuring comes at the cost of jobs, of workers' rights or dignity at work, then it can endanger that promise, it can endanger our social model. When workers are supported through transitions, when their skills are upgraded, when their voices are heard, we build resilience, not just for individuals, but for our economies and for our societies as a whole. If restructuring processes are poorly managed, we risk having more inequality, less trust, more discontent that threatens our democracies. Across the Union, we see industries undergoing profound change, in automotive, in steel, in energy, just to name a few. Thousands of manufacturing jobs are being impacted. We cannot simply react; we must anticipate. Allow me to outline a few areas for action. First, that we need stronger social protection mechanisms. Workers in transition should be able to negotiate short-time work arrangements or have access to adequate unemployment benefits. Restructuring processes should be managed and anticipated to guarantee a just transition. Reinforcing collective bargaining and social dialogue, as well as promoting employee involvement and workers' and their representatives' right to information, consultation and participation – these are key for an inclusive adaptation to the upcoming changes in the European labour market. Also, we must invest in skills as the backbone of resilience – it was mentioned before. The green and digital transition are not threats to jobs, they are – can be – opportunities, but only if we keep our workforce to really seize them. This is one of the pillars of the Union of Skills, and one of our proposals is to introduce a Skills Guarantee to support companies hiring or training people that are at risk of being laid off. Every worker facing redundancy should have a clear pathway to a quality and secure job. For all this and beyond, the Commission will engage with social partners to present a quality jobs roadmap by the end of this year. This roadmap will support fair wages, high standards for health and safety at work, good working conditions for men and women, training and fair job transitions for workers and the self-employed, notably by increasing collective bargaining coverage. Honourable Members, we all know it: the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of ambition. If we fail to act, we risk a two-speed Europe, one where some prosper and may change, while others are left to fend for themselves. That is not the Union I believe in, nor the one you have fought to build. This Parliament has a critical role to play. Together, we can turn restructuring from a moment of crisis into an opportunity for renewal. Let us send a clear message: in Europe, progress does not come at the expense of our workers, it comes with our workers and because of them.

Madam President, first of all, I'm so happy that we are joined by so many young people in the audience. Thank you for hearing this debate about skills. It's about your choices, your future. I hope you find it interesting. Thank you, honourable Members, for an important conversation today on the Union of Skills. There is so much I would want to comment on and join you on so many of the topics that you have mentioned here. First of all, I heard each and every one of you. When we say 'choose Europe', for example, what does 'Europe' mean? Does Europe exist outside our own Member States? Choosing Europe means choosing Spain, choosing Italy, choosing Romania, choosing Sweden, choosing the countries where we are born or the countries where we are working. It always means a right to stay, a right to return or a right to choose a different path inside our European Union. The entire strategy of the Union of Skills is about that: about freedom of choice and freedom of opportunity. Second of all, I would want you to know that we are addressing what many of you mentioned in the basic skill set. First of all, it's not just a strategy. We are proposing concrete actions. The Union of Skills was accompanied by the first two action plans, one on basic skills, the other on STEM. We will follow up soon with an action plan on vocational and education training and one that is very important about the career and working condition of teachers – the teachers' agenda. So these will be very concrete actions. Just to answer a few of your concerns, we propose a new set of basic skills. An extended set. The fifth basic skill is citizenship education, critical thinking, media literacy, respect and understanding each other, different values. This is very important for you to know. So beyond maths, reading, beyond digital literacy and science, citizenship education. So, so important. We propose a support scheme for basic skills in those schools where there is systemic underachievement. This is a concrete type of support that we want to offer. We are looking at using a 'skills guarantee' for workers to really empower them in the transformation of their industries. We want to strengthen Erasmus+. But let me tell you, it's not just about Erasmus. We are currently investing EUR 150 billion EU-wide from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, cohesion policy, Erasmus+, InvestEU. More than that. So we are really looking at how we can better spend the current funding and use the Union of Skills to look into the next budget post-2027 for a strong commitment to support our education and skills. Clearly, skills and education are the competence of Member States. Nobody is questioning that. But I ask you: if you need to develop a certain skill to work in an IT company or in the automotive sector or in the steel sector, are the skills so different according to different Member States? Are our challenges not common? Should we not work together to address these needs together so that we have quality training, a good skill set, and so that our young generation is really powerful in the skills that we provide? I think the answer is yes. There is no border to skills. There is no border to the quality that we want to provide. But, of course, decisions remain in the Member States and that is beyond questioning. Finally, I will just invite you to join us in implementing the Union of Skills. This is not just a strategy. It's a vision that empowers Europeans. It's about stronger workers, stronger citizens and it is about making our Europe not just more competitive, but a better place that we choose every day.

Mr President, I'm sorry to have to come so abruptly, but we talked today about a labour of love and the labour of passion for our European Union, the Union of Skills, it is about us, about the people. We talk a lot about competitiveness these days, but we all know that competitiveness starts with people, with giving girls and boys the best education, with giving workers the right skills that they need. Right now, we are not where we would want to be and where we know that we could be. Our European Union is home to a skilled workforce, cutting-edge companies, and great education and training institutions, but our education system and workers are still struggling to keep up with the pace of change. Young Europeans are lagging behind their peers in the United States, in Canada or Japan when it comes to basic skills. Skills gaps and labour shortages are at a record high in our European Union. Too many young Europeans leave to start their future elsewhere. We cannot keep the pace with the rhythm of transformation of our industries, and with the type of skills that they demand. We need to address these failures as a matter of urgency, and that is why we have launched the Union of Skills. It is first and foremost about stronger educational foundations, about better basic skills. And basic skills start with education. We are putting forward, in the Union of Skills, a series of targets to reverse the alarming decline in performance in basic skills like maths, reading or science. Today, 1 in 3 teenagers do not have basic math competencies – 1 in 3. We want to bring the level of underachievers, meaning children that are not able to perform such basic skills, to below 15 %, that is, to half the current rate. We have a separate target for vocational and educational training in scientific and engineering areas, where we want to get to at least 45 % of enrolments, and 1 in 4 to be girls. Equally, for tertiary education, we want to get to 32 % of enrolments in STEM education, 2 out of 5 to be women. We have an ambitious target on that on this dimension and I would emphasise it: we want to train 1 million girls in STEM by 2028. The second pillar of the Union of Skills is about the upskilling and reskilling of workers. Four in 5 businesses struggle to find the workers that they need with the right skill set. There are more than 40 occupations with EU-wide shortages, especially in important sectors like construction, trades, transport and some healthcare professions. Only 40 % of European adults do some form of training – far below the target of 60 % by 2030. We do have ongoing actions such as the Pact for Skills and the EU skills academies, and we will work to strengthen these tools. But we propose, in the Union of Skills, new tools. I will mention just one for this pillar: the Skills Guarantee. It is a Skills Guarantee for workers, and we want to pilot it starting this year. Similar with to Youth Guarantee, the idea is to support companies hiring or training people that are at risk of losing their employment, to support their training and to support their job for a number of months, to ensure that they have job security and good employment perspectives in a transforming industry or company. The pilot will start with a budget of EUR 10 million this year. If it works well, our intention is to scale it up in the next MFF. The third pillar, which is very important: allowing skills to circulate. And it is about our single market inside the European Union. We all know freedom of movement, of people, as being one of the four fundamental freedoms. And yet that freedom hits a wall when skills as such are not recognised across Member States. These are barriers to opportunity and growth that we must bring down. A real Union of Skills is one where skills can circulate freely, and that is why we will put forward a skills portability initiative next year, in 2026. This will be a win-win for workers and businesses alike. For workers, it will open new opportunities to find jobs that match their qualifications, and it will give businesses a much larger talent pool to fill their positions that they are looking for. The fourth pillar of the Union of Skills is indeed about attracting, developing and retaining talent. It is about making the European Union a global magnet for talent. We must encourage our own citizens and the world's brightest minds to choose Europe. 'Choose Europe' is indeed one of our flagship initiatives in this strand of the Union of Skills. We intend to pilot it, with a budget of some EUR 23 million, in order to develop the right tool that can be then scaled and through which we attract to Europe top researchers from all over the world, including countries such as the United States, India – that we visited in recently – and other parts of the world. Later this year, we will also present a visa strategy to support the arrival of top students, researchers and skilled workers. And, once adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, we will set up the EU talent pool. One horizontal aspect about the Union of Skills is extremely important for its success, and it shows that it's not business as usual in this policy field: it's the governance of the Union of Skills. Nothing will work if we don't change the governance, and this is the most innovative part of our Union of Skills. We need policymakers, companies, social partners, civil society and education and training institutions to come together and for their work together to matter. That is why we will set up a European Skills Board that will bring together CEOs, social partners, education providers, so that they look at where the skills gaps lie and how they can be tackled best. They will also rely on their experience on the ground but their work will be supported by the data provided by the Skills Intelligence Observatory, a tool that we intend to launch in order to look at current use of skills and to better anticipate future skills needs across the European Union. We will bring together policy decisions rooted in reality with a swift decision making process, with stronger links between that reality, policy action and investment. This can be a real game changer.

Mr President, thank you for the debate. I will comment on some aspects that were mentioned here, but the main one is that we need to explain clearly that the European Semester has a structure that puts fiscal sustainability and social convergence on an equal footing. This has to be stated again and I will say it again, because it is very important that we now have the social convergence framework in the Semester. It is exactly the kind of tool that is meant to make sure that all the reforms and measures that we are putting forward, all the procedural investments that we are designing, are not at the cost of people and are not bearing social costs. This is very important. Today I speak also on behalf of Commissioner Dombrovskis, but I am in charge with employment, social, and I am very much involved in the work of the European Semester, taking care exactly of the social dimension of the Semester. That is why I mentioned that I am so happy that many Member States – not enough, but some Member States – put forward social reforms and social investments in the fiscal adjustment plans that are meant to support the quality of life of the people. I would also emphasise that the Semester is a coordination tool that is very necessary to tackle challenges that are relevant for the entirety of the European Union. We have seen COVID. We have seen the energy crisis, the aggression war of Russia, we now see the geopolitical tensions that exist. They don't affect countries or regions or cities separately. They affect us as a Union. Of course, Member States have competences and are free to act according to those competences. But the European Union also needs to support and coordinate the efforts of Member States. We are putting forward European money. RRF is just one of the examples – EUR 650 billion still being invested in education, in infrastructure, in healthcare, in digital, in green transition. It is such an important tool, where we have shown that together we can support the quality of lives and the growth and the recovery of our economies. This is an important signal that should be well understood. I thank you for the debate. Of course, it is important that we continue to have a dialogue together on how we set our priorities. My message to you as again, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of social rights, employment and preparedness, is that what we put in our policies is always meant to protect, empower, benefit every European citizen, no matter the age, no matter the country, gender and so on.

Mr President, honourable Members, I will first thank you for this report. It highlights the importance of new fiscal rules, the need to boost investment and the urgency of addressing critical issues such as housing. The European Semester has proven to be an essential tool for policy coordination, allowing the European Union to respond effectively to economic shocks while ensuring social fairness, fiscal sustainability and resilience. By boosting evidence-based guidance. It helps Member States develop policies that foster investment, stability and inclusive and sustainable growth. Today, supporting Europe's competitiveness is our key priority, with productivity growth stagnating for two decades now and falling behind global counterparts, the Semester will remain instrumental in incentivising structural reforms in Member States and mobilising both public and private investment to meet these competitiveness challenges. The autumn package introduced the new economic governance framework, fully integrating economic, social and fiscal policy coordination under the European Semester umbrella. Overall, the medium-term plans submitted by Member States are delivering on the objectives of strengthening debt sustainability and fostering sustainable and inclusive growth through ambitious reforms and investments. This Semester cycle marks also the first implementation of the new EU economic governance framework, featuring a strengthened social dimension and full integration of the social convergence framework. This is also thanks to the strong engagement of this House for a more integrated approach to policy coordination that creates stronger incentives for social reforms and social investments. Although we are still in the early stages, we can already say that the implementation of the new framework is progressing steadily. So far, the Council has adopted the Commission's recommendation regarding all medium-term plans for the 22 Member States. I am particularly pleased to note that five Member States that requested a more gradual fiscal adjustment path have included commitments to a number of social investments and reforms that are expected to benefit directly to economic growth and to fiscal sustainability. Beyond the content of the plans, I welcome that most Member States have provided information on the consultations that were organised prior to the submission of the plans, with social partners, with civil society or stakeholders and other relevant organisations. The macro-economic context surrounding the 2025 surveillance cycle is – we see that – one of high uncertainty and exceptional challenges. In particular, the geopolitical situation requires a fast and sharp increase in spending on defence in Europe. We will shortly come out with a proposal for Member States to activate the national escape clause under the new economic governance framework. Overall, the European economy has remained remarkably resilient and the outlook is for a gradual pickup in growth. Imbalances are generally receding as the recent period was characterised by the fading of the inflationary shock. Newly emerging concerns are mainly related to competitiveness, but the high risks and uncertainties and the multiple challenges require us to collectively implement the right policies if we want to preserve our prosperity. Greater emphasis will be placed on making it easier to do business, unlocking investment and advancing our Clean Industrial Deal. Also, tackling effectively skills, housing and demographic challenges will be adequately reflected in the semester framework. This approach will ensure that the European Union objectives are addressed in a comprehensive manner. To that effect, the Commission will set up the competitiveness coordination tool, which will work in conjunction with the streamlined European Semester. Both will form part of a coherent and lean steering mechanism to inform decisions for investments and reforms at EU and national level. This new steering mechanism will also link European Union priorities and the European Union budget. In conclusion, our challenges are clear, they are massive and need to be tackled urgently. We have the tools in place to address them. Together, we can take the actions necessary to improve our economic strength and boost our future prosperity.

Mr President, thank you for a very meaningful conversation. Women's rights are human rights and fighting for women's rights means being a democrat and then a feminist, and however we may call it. We fight for our democracies when we fight for the rights of women in employment, in health, on the job market, in public positions, in research, in what concerns their safety, in their homes, on the streets, online, that I think should unite us. And this roadmap ‑ and I am also a woman of action and not necessarily just of words ‑ is an invitation in these somewhat disruptive times, where we see some pullback. It's an invitation to all of us, to you Members of the European Parliament, to Member States in the Council, to all the stakeholders, social partners, all that are watching us, all that have seen this roadmap, to reaffirm, to recommit to all values for nothing can be taken for granted. And yes, once we reaffirm and recommit - action. And we have such an important package of EU legislation that has been recently adopted, the directives that need to be transposed and implemented, and we will come with a gender equality strategy for 2026-2030, the next generation with new measures, new actions, and we need to think about how we mainstream the gender dimension in our funding policies, in the MFF, in every policy. And I would give just my own example because I recently adopted my first initiative, the Union of Skills, where it's not just about a general discussion, but for example, in STEM education I committed and I invite all to train 1 million girls and women in STEM education by 2028. And many said it's too much. What are you talking about? It's that kind of ambition. In the end, I would address the elephant in the room. I come from Romania. I was born in 1980, in Romania, from 1966 until the communist regime was overthrown, overthrown, abortion rights were prohibited. Thousands of women died because of illegal interruptions of the pregnancies. Many remain traumatised physically and mentally. Many children were abandoned in state facilities that were absolutely horrendous. When I speak and when I fought with Commissioner Lahbib and the Commission to have a reaffirmation of a clear principle stating that women should have access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, I do not speak from the books. I speak from reality. I come from a family where stories of women dying and suffering were told at coffee every morning, every neighbour, every aunt, it was normality. Please think twice how much we need to commit to women's health and try to connect with the reality of transposing these rights. Our action starts from committing to principles and values. Our common action is the one that can deliver the rights and protections that women need. And I would say this roadmap is important in 2025. And I invite you to join to support it, to sign it, to implement it and to work together. We need to be together in this fight every day, every year, no matter where our position is in Commission, in Parliament, in national politics or any other place. Thank you and I'm looking forward to working with you on these topics.

Mr President, minister, honourable Members, every year on International Women's Day, we celebrate women's achievements and contributions across the world. But despite progress, full gender equality is decades – if not centuries – away. At the current rate, it will take until 2158, another 134 years, to reach full gender parity at global level, according to data provided by the World Economic Forum. Within the European Union, it will take us more than 60 years. That is why the theme for this year's International Women's Day is 'accelerate action'. We need to take swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. We need to address the barriers and biases women face in every aspect of their lives. Equality between women and men is one of the foundational values of our Union and a strategic interest in all our policies. In the European Union, we have made historic progress with rules on pay transparency, work-life balance, gender balance on company boards and combating violence against women. But we know there is still lots and lots more to do. This is a special year. We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. Commissioner Lahbib is now in New York leading the EU's delegation to the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. She will pass on a clear message: enabling women's full and equal participation in all parts of society is key to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. On this International Women's Day, we show that we are serious about accelerating action with a new roadmap for women's rights. The roadmap sets out a long-term political vision to advance women's rights. Our priorities are strategic. We have to think that 1 in 3 women has suffered violence in their lifetime and that is why we aim to eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls, including femicide, domestic violence, including coercive control, cyber violence, sexual harassment or exploitation. Every girl, every woman in Europe has the right and should feel safe. Women's health. It has been under researched and under prioritised. That is why we propose a dedicated focus on women's health in full respect of Member States' competences in this field. That includes promoting gender-sensitive medical research, clinical trials, diagnostics and treatments, and it includes ensuring women's access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Employment and pay gaps. There is still much work to do there as well. We need to eliminate gender pay and pension gaps to promote equal employment and financial opportunities for women. Women in Europe should be economically independent and enjoy the same opportunities men do. Our education should be free from discrimination, from sexism, from stereotypes and violence to encourage both girls and boys to seek the future that they want, because women should be at every table where decisions are made. This is another objective of the roadmap: equal political participation and representation at all levels of political power. Gender balance at all levels of management, so that women's voices can be heard across the public and private sectors and shape the policies of tomorrow. And we aim at better safety of women in public life, as they are more likely to be victims of hate speech than their male counterparts. We also need strong institutional mechanisms that deliver on women's rights. This, among others, includes an effective gender mainstreaming approach. The gender mainstreaming principle that was adopted 30 years ago in the Beijing Platform for Action means that all policy areas should apply a gender perspective. Striving for gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do. Gender equality is essential for building strong competitive economies, but also for building sustainable, democratic and inclusive societies. I invite the European Parliament, the Council and other institutions and stakeholders to unite around this roadmap to put forward actions under their remit and make it so that we turn these principles into an enduring reality for every girl and every woman across our European Union.

Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for keeping education and skills high on the European Parliament's agenda. It is a priority that this European Commission shares 100 %. Me personally as well, of course. The Draghi Report is clear. One of the reasons why our competitiveness is lagging is that Europe is underperforming in skills. The PISA tests show that our students are falling behind, and most adults do not improve their skills through training. Closing the skills gap is a basic condition to boost competitiveness. This was also recognised in the Competitiveness Compass. But we need bold and ambitious initiatives in this respect. On 5 March, the Commission is planning to adopt a communication on a Union of Skills. The communication will present a vision for the establishment of the Union of Skills: what it is, what it should deliver, how and by when. These will be organised around the areas where we see the biggest need for urgent action, which would which would be four pillars. First, building skills through stronger educational foundations and vocational training systems. Second, upskilling and reskilling an agile workforce with an inclusive, lifelong learning approach. Third, allowing skills to circulate with the free movement of learners and workers across the European Union, unlocking the single market's full potential. And fourth, attracting, developing and retaining talent in Europe. We are not starting from scratch. The Union of Skills will build on ongoing initiatives that have proved successful and bring them forward, such as the pact for skills, which has helped upskill more than 4 million workers, and the European Education Area Strategic Framework to equip learners with the competencies they need to thrive in society. The Union of Skills will frame the work of the Commission for this entire mandate, and an important work strand will be to step up the support for basic literacy, for maths, for science and for digital skills enhancement. This will happen via our Basic Skills Action Plan. Union of Skills will provide support also through a STEM Education Strategic Plan to reverse the trend of declining performance in STEM skills at school and to attract more students in STEM careers, including in vocational education and training. Attracting more women in STEM will be a key objective and I will again emphasise that today we celebrate the International Day of Women in STEM. I also want to increase the attractiveness, excellence and inclusiveness of vocational education and training with the European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training. Also very important: developing a skills portability initiative. It will be part of the Union of Skills. It will open up more opportunities for workers and businesses to fully capture the potential of our internal market. We will have time to consult widely with this House, with Member States and with all stakeholders. But I would like to stress the importance of these initiatives already now. We want to give vocational education and training the pre-eminence, the prestige it deserves and boost the number of people with a secondary VET degree. But success is not just about numbers, about quantity. We need to empower them through better recognition of vocational qualifications. We face huge labour and skills shortages all over Europe and many are related with vocational areas. As mentioned earlier, we need health care workers, but we also need plumbers, electricians, IT specialists – such a critical area – specialists in construction, workers in the construction area. The new job opportunities created by the green and digital transition are often linked to very technical profiles, to vocational programmes. Think about the specialists who install solar panels on our roofs, for instance. We therefore have to ensure that vocational and educational training programmes become a more attractive educational and career choice. We will also explore the possibility to develop and pilot a European VET degree, a diploma that is complementary to the European Degree in Higher Education. With the Skills Portability Initiative, we want to make sure that skills and qualifications acquired in one EU country are understood, are accepted and, where required, are recognised more easily in another Member State. Honourable Members, the Union of Skills, as Rome, will not be built in one day, but it is important to start. It is even more important to set the bar high and to hit the ground running. I count on this House – on you – for your continued support.

First of all, thank you for the topic. Thank you for putting this topic under debate in the plenary of this Parliament. I am sure that for every one of you – and it is also my case – as you entered the area of politics, of policymaking, one of your reasons was healthcare. One of your reasons was for sure to make policies, to design policies that help the healthcare system and the health of our citizens. And even in the last European Parliament elections, in many Member States, as shown by the Eurobarometer, one of the main topics or concerns on the minds of people as they voted – whatever choice that they had – was the situation of the healthcare system and the desire to see policymakers delivering more for their health. Of course, as many of you have mentioned, this is a prerogative of the Member States. We as a Union, however, are stronger together and there is EU added value in acting together in supporting Member States and supporting working conditions and investing in the healthcare sector. I have heard all your concerns and your truths and many have repeated the shortages, the working conditions, the stress, the harassment, the rural areas which are of course deprived of sufficient staffing, the cases in which, in some communities, near some hospitals, patients are not attended as they should be. Deaths that have happened. What can we do? What did we do? First of all, I think as Europe, we do need to take some pride in what we have already done inside the European social model. We do invest, as I've mentioned. Through the European Social Fund Plus we invest in the working conditions, in the training and skilling of some of our healthcare workers, in the bonuses or scholarships of some of the students in the medical schools, in the screening and preventive measures for some of the diseases. We do invest through the Recovery and Resilience Facility in infrastructure, hospitals, equipment. We do invest in research. But is it enough? Clearly not, as the labour shortages show and as the data shows, we need to do more to do better. The European Union and the Member States, we also need to align our policies. We have the European Semester, the social convergence framework to take care that as we align our fiscal objectives, we also take care of social convergence. And I promised here, and I will deliver, that on the two key initiatives in the near future for which I'm responsible, and this new Commission is responsible – the Union of Skills and the quality jobs roadmap – the critical role of healthcare sector workers will be recognised and addressed through key and flagship initiatives. Now, I know this cannot say that the salary in the Region of Murcia is going to be this for a doctor or for a nurse. You know that it cannot be about that. But we can work together to improve every aspect of the working conditions. Finally, I want to acknowledge that in the measures that we as the Commission plan, we will look at the gender elements, because these are, of course, professions where women are very present. But we also need to look at different aspects of the nurses, carers compared with doctors. There are differences and there are common challenges, and we need to address them, as well as addressing a fair mobility – one does that does not lead to brain drain, but also empowers every region and country of this European Union. So thank you again for this debate. Let's work together to make better European policies to support our critical healthcare workers.

Mr President, labour and skills shortages are a major challenge across the European Union, with the healthcare sector hit especially hard. We have a shortage of 1.2 million doctors, nurses and midwives across the European Union. High job strain affects 61 % of nurses and 43 % of doctors – well above the EU overall average of 30 %. It is a vicious cycle, with shortages leading to increased job strain, which causes interest in these careers to decline, worsening the shortages. At the same time, there are gaps in the skills pipeline and a growing demand for healthcare due to an ageing population. Needless to say, our health systems are nothing without our health workers. If we want to maintain our cherished healthcare and be prepared for a possible future health crisis, then retaining the existing health workers and inspiring younger generations to enter and remain in the sector is crucial. Doing so will require work on different strands. First, we should aim to increase the participation of under‑represented groups in the labour market, especially women. The roadmap for women's rights and the new gender equality strategy will support women in achieving equality in employment and careers, and in combating stereotypes. And I take this opportunity to mention that today we are celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in STEM. Second, upskilling and reskilling is a must also for the care sector. In less than one month, we will present our Union of Skills. Third, we need to improve working conditions if we want to make the healthcare profession more attractive. The Adequate Minimum Wage Directive, the European care strategy, and the health and safety strategy are steering policy efforts towards improving working conditions in healthcare, with a particular focus on care workers with lower qualifications. The EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027, for instance, dedicates special attention to the healthcare sector. Many of the initiatives put forward by the Commission, for instance, to protect workers against exposures from chemicals or carcinogens, are certainly contributing to protect healthcare workers and to improve their working conditions. Moreover, the upcoming quality jobs roadmap will promote fair wages, good working conditions, training and fair job transitions, notably by increasing collective bargaining coverage. Fourth, the shortages of doctors and nurses are more acute in some Member States and less so in others. Exploiting the full potential of fair labour mobility within the single market would help alleviate the problem. On that, a new skills portability initiative under the Union of Skills that we will launch very soon will facilitate the mobility of health sector workers within the European Union, along with further measures to support the recognition of professional qualifications. Fifth, investing in data collection and forecasting, for example through the EU4Health co-funded joint action known as 'Heroes', will allow us to better plan ahead. And finally, we should support talent attraction from outside the European Union, building on the existing talent partnerships and the upcoming EU talent pool, in line with the Competitiveness Compass. Continued efforts to support the recognition of qualifications gained outside the EU will be a key part of this. Let me recall that the European Union is providing significant financial support to Member States and social partners to address shortages, including EUR 43.3 billion allocated to skills under the European Social Fund Plus and more than EUR 40 billion for investments in the healthcare sector under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. As part of our preparedness efforts, we need to invest in training for healthcare professionals. This includes areas like cybersecurity, where we need both qualified cybersecurity professionals for the sector, and better cyber awareness of frontline health professionals. The new action plan on the cybersecurity of hospitals and healthcare providers addresses both these elements. Honourable Members, our healthcare systems are an integral part of the European social model. It is what makes us proud as Europeans. But labour and skills shortages put the sustainability of this model at risk. Together with Commissioner Várhelyi and Executive Vice‑President Ribera, we are determined to tackle this fundamental challenge. I look forward to today's exchange to inform this work.

Mr President, thank you for the contributions, for the exchanges, for the proposals. There are two lines on which we need to work. First is enforcement, enforcement, enforcement of the legislation that we have. And second, of course, looking ahead in the future on new initiatives. We have already acknowledged that we have some tools in the area of posting of workers. We have the tools also with the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. But indeed, the biggest challenges are where the subcontracting chains are very long and very complex. And indeed – you named the sector – the construction sector, which is most exposed, which is also a sector which we need and where we have a lot of labour shortages as well. A sector for which we need quality jobs more than in any other sector, I would say. This Commission will be then, through my work and through the work of our colleagues, committed to two directions. First, strengthen the mandate, the work of the European Labour Authority. As I have mentioned, this is extremely important enforcement of all legal tools that exist. And second – and I invite you and the social partners as well to contribute – inside the Quality Jobs Roadmap is where we can design the best tools so that we can limit and eliminate abusive practices while also supporting, obviously our sectors, our industries to thrive. So, inside the quality jobs initiative, I think that working together, we can design the best policy solutions so that we tackle this problem that affects human lives, quality of jobs, and the dynamics of our economy and our society. Thank you so much for your contribution and I'm looking forward to working closely with you on this topic. Your presence here means a lot. It means that you really want to tackle the most complicated of challenges that our social Europe is facing and will be facing in the future.

Mr President, honourable Members, ensuring fair working conditions, adequate wages, information about employment conditions and protection in the case of dismissals, social dialogue and involvement of workers, as well as healthy and safe work environments, are key rights for every worker in our European Union. These principles are at the core of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which defines the social model which we stand for. In the European Union, we do not start from scratch. The EU labour acquis applies to all workers, including where several undertakings share a workplace. For instance, in the domain of health and safety, employers in subcontracting chains 'shall coordinate their actions in matters of the protection and prevention of occupational risks', and they shall inform their workers of these risks. Secondly, the new Directive on improving working conditions in platform work contains a provision on intermediaries designed to ensure the effectiveness of the Directive by preventing circumvention through third parties. Thirdly, the recent Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive requires large companies operating in the European Union to identify and address adverse human and labour rights and environmental impacts within their operations and within their value chains. These due diligence obligations extend to the companies' subsidiaries and business partners. EU legislation exists, but we need to make sure that it works and, where relevant, see what more needs to be done. Effective enforcement on the ground is paramount when we are talking about EU legislation. Under this Commission, we want to actively engage with Member States, with our social partners, to secure workers' rights and supply chains. Transparency, equal treatment, decent work and effective enforcement should be enhanced throughout the chains. The preparation of the quality roadmap, which I have mentioned before, will provide an opportunity to foster this very important discussion. In doing this, we must pay particular attention to the most challenging contexts, such as the long and complex subcontracting chains. This is the case, for instance, of posted workers in subcontracting chains, which have been addressed in the Posting of Workers Enforcement Directive with the establishment of a liability mechanism in case of non-payment of remuneration. Still, some concerns remain when it comes to the actual implementation. The Commission will, with the European Labour Authority, support and map the current situation in Member States. Peer-learning dialogues will be organised in order to allow for the exchange of best practices between Member States. Workers posted by labour market intermediaries are also at risk of unfair treatment and exploitation, when the intermediary is not properly registered or, in some cases, is even a letterbox company. As many of the problematic cases involve cross-border situations, we will work together with the European Labour Authority to facilitate targeted inspections and to contribute to better cooperation between national authorities, and to close the remaining loopholes. Now, based on the findings of the evaluation of the European Labour Authority and the resolution of the European Parliament, I will also work to strengthen ELA, including by looking at the area of joint and concerted inspections. Finally, on posting of third-country nationals, which is a growing phenomenon of labour mobility in the European Union, we have to acknowledge that this is a phenomenon that is even more obvious, even more evident, in subcontracting chains. Third-country nationals are a vulnerable group. They run a higher risk of unfair, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions. Legal clarity in this respect is needed. Honourable Members, I count on your support to work towards effective actions to tackle abusive subcontracting in Europe and guaranteeing fair rights to all workers.

Mr President, colleagues, thank you for so much passion, as I've mentioned, on this topic in the House of the peoples of Europe, and I applaud you for that. And I will say that the right to strike is the right that has shaped our way of living, that has shaped the ages of our modern society. Many of the things that we take for granted nowadays have been shaped by strikes, by workers defending their own rights. So let me underline that it is my personal conviction that the right to strike, the right of association, is a right that should be upheld beyond our discussions here about the separation of competences between national and European level. This is important, and I want you to know that in this spirit I will work on our policies, and in this spirit I will have our social partners on board while designing the measures that should support our workers and that should support our Europeans. I would like to once again thank you for the contributions which reflect your views and realities from different Member States. Social dialogue indeed is different in terms of the geography and history of our Member States. Nevertheless, it is my intention to work very diligently with our European-level social partners. And we have those tools there. We have the work of the cross-industry and the sectoral social dialogue committees – 44 of them. We have the 88 recognised EU social partners which are involved in EU policy-making. It is also important to mention again that we are offering financial support to European and national social partners. This capacity-building is important for quality social dialogue throughout Europe. We will also support Member States and social partners in boosting collective bargaining – you have expressed also some worries on this topic – through the enforcement and implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive. This is a strong tool. It is an innovative tool in a way, which we have to enforce. And this will be my role: to make sure that we have big coverage, that we have results, especially in parts of Europe where collective bargaining needs strengthening. We also have to use – and I will make sure that we will do our best to implement – our Council Recommendation on social dialogue. I will work with social partners to deliver next year a quality jobs roadmap, which is essential. We will work closely with the incoming Polish Presidency, with you, with Parliament, to successfully conclude the negotiations on the revision of the European Works Council Directive – another important tool. We all understand, I think, here in this House that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to social dialogue. What works in one Member State may be not so easy to apply in another Member State. But one thing is clear: for strong, resourceful and independent workers' and employers' organisations, on the one hand we need an enabling environment for tripartite and bipartite social dialogue, and on the other hand we need to continue to support our social partners in ways that, of course, are compatible with their autonomy. With this spirit, I would like you to count on my commitment to work towards strengthening European social dialogue throughout the European Union.

Mr President, honourable members, social dialogue is a cornerstone of our European social model, with the unique role of social partners recognised in our founding Treaties. It is also one of the key principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Supporting it is therefore a priority for our Commission and for me, personally. Strong social dialogue and collective bargaining benefit us all – be it workers, employers, governments and societies – and are also powerful tools to promote equality. By joining forces, we can better find solutions to the key challenges our economies and societies face. This is why in my first days in office, I met with the European-level social partners, the trade unions and the employers alike. It was crucial for me to establish a strong and effective partnership from the outset. We should be proud of our European social dialogue model and defend it passionately, but we should not take it for granted. Social dialogue faces challenges, even in Europe: from the decrease in the coverage of collective bargaining to the lack of proper involvement of social partners in policy-making. As you know, the right to strike is specifically mentioned in the Treaty in Article 153 as a field that does not fall under the competence of the Union. At the same time, the right of collective bargaining and action is enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. These provisions are applicable to the Member States when they are implementing EU legislation. Our Union acquis on employees' involvement in companies sets out EU-wide standards across very diverse national industrial systems. We have a comprehensive set of directives on information and consultation of workers, which aim to ensure workers' involvement and to protect their rights, notably in restructuring. It is of the essence that this legal framework is properly implemented and enforced across all Member States. Still, with the labour market adapting to new forms of work, and labour and skills shortages threatening to disrupt our businesses and our livelihoods, we need to make sure that social dialogue thrives at all levels. And I will start by building on the initiatives of the previous Commission and ensuring that the existing instruments lead to concrete progress on the ground. First, the Directive on adequate minimum wages, which promotes collective bargaining across Member States. The deadline for the transposition of the directive was 15 November, and most Member States have already notified their transposition, which we will now assess. As the next step, Member States with collective bargaining coverage below 80 % must establish by the end of next year, 2025, an action plan to promote collective bargaining with the close involvement of social partners. You can count on me to promote and monitor the implementation of this important European law. Secondly, we have the 2023 Council Recommendation on strengthening EU social dialogue, which calls on Member States to ensure an enabling environment for social dialogue, including for collective bargaining. Member States will also have to submit by November next year a list of measures prepared in consultation with social partners to implement this recommendation. Together with the Member States, we need to ensure that both of these instruments will lead to increased coverage of collective bargaining across Europe. Third, to make social dialogue in transnational companies more effective, I will do the utmost to help the negotiations conclude – successfully, I hope – on the revision of the European Works Council Directive. To strengthen social dialogue at EU level – as announced in the political guidelines of this Commission – we will also develop a new pact for European social dialogue. Our ambition is to have it by early 2025, maybe by the end of January, with European trade unions and employers signed. I am confident that this pact will boost social dialogue in the European Union and enable social partners to play an even stronger role in the future. It is very important that social partners play a central role in our policy-making. This is why we will also develop the quality jobs roadmap together with the involvement of our social partners. It will support good working conditions. I aim to include training and fair job transitions, and obviously to include the increase in collective bargaining coverage. Quality jobs should be the trademark of a competitive Europe. We need to put people and their jobs at the centre stage, while we strive for a more competitive Europe and move forward with a just transition. And I am certain that by working closely with social partners, we will achieve just that.