16 Mar

On 15 March 2018 the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council met in Brussels. The head of the Hungarian delegation was Mr Károly Czibere, Minister of State for Social Affairs and Social Inclusion. The meeting was chaired by Mr Biser Petkov Minister of Labour and Social Policy of Bulgaria. The European Commission was represented by Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioners Ms Marianne Thyssen and Ms Vera Jourová.


The ministers held a policy debate on the future of social Europe post 2020 regarding the prospects of future employment and social policies, their financing possibilities and the social and economic convergence.

On behalf of Hungary Minister of State Czibere recalled the Rome Declaration, in which the leaders of the Member States agreed on a social Europe based on sustainable growth that promotes economic and social progress, cohesion and convergence while upholding the integrity of the internal market. He stressed the need for a strong Europe where economic, employment, social and competitiveness aspects mutually reinforce. The Hungarian government is following this approach. In our opinion, economic prosperity is the basis for social well-being, while the sustainable social model is an investment in human capital, which is also the basis of competitiveness. With regard to the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework, he highlighted that we support the core objectives of cohesion policy and we believe that the allocation of resources should continue to be based on the GDP per capita. Taking into consideration of the diversity of Member States' systems and political priorities, we believe that it is vital to provide as large room for manoeuver for the Member States to use EU Funds, as it is possible, and we do not support the idea of creating a so-called ‘umbrella fund’. Minister of State also highlighted that it would be important to maintain the autonomy of some specific programs, such as the EU Health Program.

The Council also held a policy debate on the possibilities of closing the gender pay gap, contributing thus to the achievement of the goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights. As reconciliation of work and family life and the promotion of women’s labour market participation has always been important for the Government of Hungary, we reported the recent measures introduced, in order to emphasize the positive changes on the labour market, including the growth in female employment and the decrease in gender pay gap.

In the framework of the 2018 European Semester the Council adopted conclusions on the annual growth survey and the joint employment report, adopted the JER itself and also took note of the Commission’s presentation of the 2018 country reports.

Furthermore, the Council endorsed the Employment Committee's key messages regarding the implementation of the youth guarantee and also adopted a recommendation setting a European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships, which aims to promote a highly skilled and qualified workforce responsive to labour market.

The Bulgarian Presidency and the European Commission informed the Council about the preparations of the Tripartite Social Summit of 21 March 2018. Commissioner Thyssen also informed the Council about the Social Fairness Package adopted on 13 March 2018, including a Commission communication on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, a proposal for a regulation on the establishment of the European Labour Authority and a Council recommendation on the social protection for self-employed people.

Ms Ilze Zvidrina, chair of Employment Committee (EMCO) and Ms Ulrika Hall, chair of Social Protection Committee (SPC) briefly presented the annual work programme’s of the committees.

The Bulgarian Presidency also gave a brief outline of the state-of-play concerning the revision of the 96/71/EC posting of workers directive.

The ministerial lunch served to discuss the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights regarding the promotion of equal labour market participation for women and men.