Integrating the European Pillar of social rights into the roadmap for deepening Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (CESE II)

The aim of this study for the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee is twofold: a) to analyse concrete proposals aimed at integrating the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) into EU policies; and b) to provide policy-makers and stakeholders with specific recommendations to achieve such an objective. The study builds on an earlier report for the EESC on ‘Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights’. It uses qualitative research methods and discusses three policy initiatives: a) the possibility of ‘socialising’ the EU budget and creating a (social) budget for the Eurozone; b) setting up a macro-economic stabilization instrument for the EMU in the form of an equivalent European Unemployment Benefit Scheme (EUBS); and c) the possibility of striking a new balance between the economic and social dimensions of the EU by setting up a ‘Social Imbalances Procedure’ (SImP). The report was published in 2019 and presented at the EESC. OSE researchers involved in this project: Francesco Corti (visiting PhD researcher), Sebastiano Sabato (lead researcher), Slavina Spasova and Bart Vanhercke.