Statement of EU Social Partners calling for the involvement of Social Partners in the EU Semester and the Economic Governance

On 22 October 2024, SGI Europe, together with ETUC and SMEunited, called upon the EU institutions and Member States to take action to establish social partners' factual and material involvement in economic governance and the EU Semester.

The new EU fiscal rules, adopted in April 2024, aim to ensure sound and sustainable public finances while promoting sustainable and inclusive growth in all member states through reforms and investment.

The organisations express their readiness to secure their members’ involvement in preparing the medium-term fiscal structural plans, ensure sound and sustainable public finances and promote sustainable and inclusive growth in all Member States through reforms and investment. They further identify new avenues at the EU level to express the voices of workers, SGI providers and SMEs in the context of the reinforced coordination of economic, fiscal and social policies.

Such a reinforced involvement will be crucial to securing a well-functioning EU Semester that supports social partners and provides a window in which national social partners can raise their concerns over the economy's future and the performance and effectiveness of social systems. New efforts must also be deployed to ensure that the voices of social partners are heard distinctively from those of civil society organisations.