This year 2024 is crucial for Europeans, who will vote in June to elect MEPs and renew all institutions at the end of the year. In the meantime, citizens are demanding attention to their concrete, daily problems. We are discussing it with the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Labor in Luxembourg and member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party, of social democratic persuasion.
“What Europe do we want? Do we want a Europe that is first and foremost democratic, a Europe of solidarity, a Europe that respects our values?” In view of the European elections, Nicolas Schmit poses the elements of the debate: “Do we want to continue working on the social dimension of Europe? And at the same time strengthen its economic dimension? I believe that that is the challenge It is the opposite of a Europe that is withdrawing, of a Europe of nationalisms.”
His name is circulating as a possible head of the list for European socialists. Although he confirms that he “can imagine accepting it”, Nicolas Schmit affirms that he has not embarked on an electoral campaign and remains firm in his convictions, “independently of any campaign”.
Work
Several important directives were adopted during the mandate of the commissioner. But a question remains about the directive on platform workers. Some 5.5 million European workers were to obtain a requalification of their professional status, accompanied by a minimum wage, paid leave, social protection for those who depend on Uber and Deliveroo, for example, or any other another company in the sector having reached 4.5 billion euros per year.
But a minority of States are opposed to this progress, including France. Nicolas Schmit finds this position “regrettable”. “There are a number of details or questions of principle that seem to bother a number of states that could not approve the compromise that was negotiated between the Spanish Presidency, representing the Council, and the European Parliament. ” But he does not lose hope: “There is always a possibility of resuming this negotiation and I have complete confidence in the Belgian presidency to get to work.”
As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, 4.5 million people, “mostly women and children”, benefited from temporary protection in the European Union. In Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, many people want to work. This status has enabled “nearly two million people” to find work and integrate children into school, recalls the European Commissioner. “I would say that there are certainly things that can still be improved, both in terms of work and the integration of children. But overall, I can conclude that it was a successful operation, thanks also to the solidarity of the Member States, but also thanks to the solidarity of citizens.”
Enlargement
In the meantime, left-wing parties and nationalist groups alike consider that Ukraine poses problems of social dumping. The Poles, for example, blocked their border, refusing cheap competition from drivers from Ukraine, where the minimum wage is €168 per month.
Nicolas Schmit assures that “the social dimension is a central element of our enlargement policy (…), we must take strong measures so that this social dumping does not take place.” But we must also “resolve these problems” with Poland “to show that enlargement is not another way to promote social dumping.” He considers this enlargement “absolutely necessary, essential, essential for Ukraine, for the stability of this country which has made extremely courageous choices, but also for the European Union.”
Its commission has set up an “Employment Tinder”, a platform to connect the needs of the economy and the qualifications of the workforce from third countries. He estimates that there will be a need for seven million additional workers in Europe by the end of the century, due to our aging demographics. “Firstly, there is the integration of all those who are not in the job market, young people called NEETs (“Neither in employment, nor in studies, nor in training”, Editor’s note). There is people with disabilities. There are many women who cannot work because the childcare infrastructure is not sufficient.”
Despite the virulence of the debate on immigration, Nicolas Schmit maintains that we must “proceed with organized legal immigration”. If Europe lacks labor, “we can try to correct and make up for these deficits through organized immigration and de-emotionalize the migration debate, because immigration is also an opportunity for Europe.”
Climate
Work, and particularly the tourism sector, is changing as a result of global warming. No more skiing, no more snow? For the Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights “climate change is a reality. It is not an invention as some people want us to believe. So it is a reality to which we must indeed adapt, but against which also must be fought for.”
He proposes to offer “to the regions and to the people who make a living from certain sectors, alternatives (…), economic, social and financial support becomes an emergency to find a new economic model, but also to keep jobs which until now have been created in the tourism sector, particularly linked to snow, but which can also find other activities.”
Hungary and support for Ukraine
A dramatic turn of events within the European institutions since Charles Michel, the Belgian liberal who chaired the European Council, presents himself as head of his party’s list in Belgium and abandons his post in July. The interim could be provided by the Hungarian eurosceptic Viktor Orban, also hostile to Ukraine.
Nicolas Schmit questions how the interim or the appointment of a new president could be carried out in the event that the Hungarian presidency assumes all responsibilities, “which is not certain and which is not certain .” He wants to be reassuring and states that “the presidency does not have all the powers, and I believe that the need to continue our support for Ukraine goes beyond the powers of a (single) Member State (…), which “He, whether president or not, could block a fundamental strategic issue for the security and future of Europe.”
Tribute to Jacques Delors
The year 2023 ended with the death of Jacques Delors. A great European who believed in the community method, head of the Commission from 1985 to 1995. Nicolas Schmit remembers: “I personally feel very influenced by Delors’ thinking, approach and action. So I was a diplomat when he was President of the Commission. I believe that Delors’ legacy remains extremely precious, and I would invite all those who like to claim this legacy to also show it in practice, notably everything that concerns social Europe. Because Delors could not conceive of Europe without a strong social dimension, without protecting the weakest, those who, precisely, encounter the greatest difficulties in their daily life.”
Program prepared by Isabelle Romero, Juliette Laurain, Sophie Samaille and Perrine Desplats