EU summit in Porto, the text of the final declaration

2021-05-10T13:20:38.436Z

The informal European Council in Porto, Portugal ended, at the end of which the heads of state and government adopted the declaration that emerged from yesterday's Social Summit. The full text of the declaration follows: 1. We underline the importance of European unity and solidarity in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. These values ​​have defined the response of European citizens to this crisis and are also at the heart of our common project and our distinctive social model. Europe must be more than ever the continent of social cohesion and prosperity. We reaffirm our commitment to work for a social Europe. 2. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, swift, decisive and global action at EU and national level has protected millions of lives,jobs and businesses. 3. The same spirit of unity and solidarity inspired our historic agreement in July 2020 on the Multiannual Financial Framework and the specific recovery effort within the New Generation Eu. As we accelerate green and digital transitions, this massive European investment and associated reforms will lead the Union and its Member States firmly on the reform path towards a just, sustainable and resilient recovery. A collective, inclusive, timely and cohesive recovery will strengthen Europe's competitiveness, resilience, social dimension and role on the world stage. 4. "We welcome the new EU headline targets on employment, skills and poverty reduction and the revised social scoreboard proposed in the plan ofaction that will help monitor progress towards the implementation of the Social Pillar principles, taking into account different national circumstances and part of the policy coordination framework in the context of the European Semester. 5. As established by the EU strategic agenda 2019-2024, we are determined to continue to deepen the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights at EU and national level, in compliance with the respective competences and the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality . The action plan presented by the Commission on 4 March 2021 provides useful guidelines for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, including in the areas of employment, skills, health and social protection. 6. We welcome the new main objectives of theEU on Employment, Skills and Poverty Reduction and the revised Social Scoreboard proposed in the Action Plan which will help monitor progress towards the implementation of the Social Pillar principles, taking into account different national circumstances and part of the framework coordination of policies in the context of the European Semester 7. As Europe gradually recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, the priority will be to move from protection to job creation and improving the quality of work, where small and medium-sized enterprises (including social ones) play a key role. Implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights will be essential to ensure the creation of more and better jobs for all as part of an inclusive recovery.In this respect, legislative and non-relevant work should be carried out at EU and Member State level. 8. We will put education and skills at the heart of our political action. Green and digital transitions will bring enormous opportunities for European citizens but also many challenges, which will require greater investment in education, vocational training, lifelong learning, retraining and retraining, in order to stimulate employment transitions towards sectors where there is a growing demand. of work. At the same time, changes related to digitalization, artificial intelligence, smart working and the platform economy will require special attention in order to strengthen workers' rights,social security systems and occupational health and safety. 9. We are committed to reducing inequalities, defending fair wages, combating social exclusion and tackling poverty, taking on the goal of fighting child poverty and addressing the risks of exclusion for particularly vulnerable social groups such as the long-term unemployed, the elderly, people with disabilities and the homeless. 10. We will intensify efforts to combat discrimination and actively work to close gender gaps in employment, pay and pensions and to promote equality and equity for everyone in our society, in line with the fundamental principles of European Union and the European Pillar of Social Rights. 11.We will prioritize actions to support young people, who have been hit very hard by the Covid-19 crisis, which has profoundly disrupted their participation in the labor market, as well as their education and training plans. Young people are an indispensable source of dynamism, talent and creativity for Europe. We need to make sure they become the driving force behind green and inclusive digital recovery to help build the Europe of the future, including using the full potential of Erasmus + to promote mobility across Europe for all students and apprentices. 12. We underline the importance of closely monitoring, including at the highest level, the progress made towards the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the EU headline targets for 2030. 13.We welcome, as another success of the European social dialogue, that the European social partners have put forward a joint proposal for an alternative set of indicators to measure economic, social and environmental progress, integrating GDP as a measure of well-being for inclusive growth and sustainable.