SGI Europe addresses the Val Duchesse Social Partners Summit

On 31 January 2024, Pascal Bolo, President, and Valeria Ronzitti, General Secretary, represented SGI Europe at the Val Duchesse Social Partners Summit. Co-organised by the European Commission and the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU, this Summit gathered EU cross-industry social partners to reflect on the importance of social dialogue in tackling pressing challenges in the world of work.

On this occasion, Pascal Bolo, SGI Europe President, said:

"I am proud of the role played by SGI Europe – formerly CEEP – in creating the EU social dialogue. From 1985, our association played a central and decisive role in creating the tools and instruments that we still use today.”

“We now face immense challenges with the digitalisation, the ecological transition, and demographic ageing, which are disrupting our social models. We also experience a profound loss of meaning and confidence in the social partners’ ability to achieve results through collective bargaining at EU cross-sectoral level.”

“We call for this Val Duchesse Summit to avoid becoming a one-off event with no future. It must initiate a process to review and update our tools and instruments for bipartite and tripartite social dialogue. SGI Europe is fully committed to further negotiating with our counterparts to make a difference for EU enterprises and workers."

Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, continued:

“SGI employers will not stay idle during the Val Duchesse process. We want social dialogue to address the concrete challenges faced by our members and their workers, with a strong focus on the need to better anticipate change on issues such as the implementation of the EU Green Deal, housing policy and well-being at work.”

“Social partners and institutions need to act together to respond to these challenges. We want to explore how we can provide answers for our members through collective bargaining, and give a wake-up call to social dialogue after today’s Val Duchesse Summit.”

(Photo: European Union, 2024; Source: EC - Audiovisual Service)