The European Social Model - a key driver for competitiveness

25 September 2013, Brussels, Belgium

The viability of the European Social Model, a cornerstone of the European project, has been repeatedly questioned in light of the ‘new reality’ of a global economy, and never more so than now. In the context of record unemployment, ‘any job is better than no job’ is intoned against the ambition of better jobs. The commitment to job quality, so the argument goes, must be sacrificed if Europe is to tackle its now-chronic unemployment rates and remain competitive against its global rivals.

Social and competitive Europe

But the argument isn’t borne up by the evidence. Countries with the highest labour market participation – the Nordic countries, Austria and Germany – are also those with those with highest rates of high-quality employment according to Eurofound research. They are also among the top countries in the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness ranking.

Criticisms of strong social protection systems and generous public support for education would also seem to be misplaced. Active labour market policies, including youth guarantees, which have been pioneered by the Nordic countries, have contributed to the resilience of their labour markets in the face of the crisis. Germany’s dual vocational and education system has been fundamental to getting its young people into work and keeping down youth unemployment, while its culture of social dialogue has helped to preserve jobs during the crisis.

Meeting current challenges

The Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) and the European Training Foundation (ETF) organised a joint seminar of the European Parliament and four EU agencies: the European Social Model - a key driver for competitiveness.

The four EU agencies joined forces to examine and highlight how each one is contributing to a strengthened European Social Model – in its own unique way. Assessing how exactly the European Social Model can contribute to increased competitiveness, the agencies provided different perspectives in the context of the current crisis. Considering the challenges for Europe’s businesses, workers and young people, the agencies presented a multidimensional approach to a better and more sustainable future for the Europe of tomorrow.

Ms Pervenche Berès MEP, Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, hosted the event, which included keynote speeches, presentations by the directors of each agency and a panel discussion involving policymakers, social partners, academics and Members of the European Parliament.

Eurofound’s Director Juan Menéndez-Valdéz argued that countries that have successfully combined competitiveness with robust social supports have done so by adapting the social model to the challenges they face. So the question is how to adapt the social model to current needs rather than abandoning it.

EU Commissioner László Andor underlined the need to reconstruct the European Social Model in the context of greater integration of Member States: ‘solidarity within Member States can only be strengthened if solidarity between the Member States is boosted significantly’. While he acknowledged that repairing the European Monetary Union is a priority, he also underlined the need to ‘ensure that the functioning of the monetary union does not contradict the social objectives all EU Member States share’.

26/9/2013 Presentations - Programme - Background note

Photos from the event

Christian Lettmayr, Director of Cedefop (left) and Juan Menéndez-Valdés, Director of Eurofound

Eurofound's Director, Juan Menéndez-Valdés, speaking with Christa Sedlatschek, Director of EU-OSHA, and Madlen Serban, Director of ETF