The EPSR Action Plan and related EU initiatives
The European Commission has developed an Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights, which sets out the concrete actions to be taken to implement the principles of the Pillar. The actions propsed are in full respect of Member States' competences and take into account the diversity of situations across Member States. The development of the Action Plan started with a large-scale consultation launched in 2020 which gathered more than 1000 contributions from citizens, EU institutions, Member States, social partners, civil society organisations and local authorities.
The EPSR Action Plan also provides three 2030 headline targets to which Member States and partners committed in May 2021 during the Social Summit in Porto. The three social targets are in line with the Un Sustainable Development Goals and address key challenges related to employment, skills development and poverty reduction:
Source: European Commission
The first target requires actions to reduce the gender employment gap, decrease the rate of young people neither in employment, nor in education or training (NEETs) aged 15-29 and increase the provision of formal early childhood education and care (ECEC).
The second target includes as objectives the increase of people aged 16-74 who have basic digital skills (at least 80%) and the reduction of early school leaving. These targets are in line with the goals set out in the European Skills Agenda.
The EPSR AP and related initiatives
The Action Plan and the Social Pillar itself are the key framework for EU social policy. Many Commission's initiatives in this field are linked to the Pillar and support the implementation of the Action Plan.
The EU Disability Strategy is part of the Action Plan. In its text it is mentioned that the Pillar is a "compass for employment and social policies" and stresses that Principle 17 underlines that "persons with disabilities have the right to income support that ensures their living in dignity, services that enable them to participate in the labour market and in society and a work environment adapted to their needs". The Strategy also makes a reference to the 2030 headline employment target of the Action Plan, as the Commission calls on Member states to develop by 2024 targets to increase the employment rate of persons with disabilities and reduce employment rate gaps between persons with and without disabilities.
The EU Care Strategy builds on the Green Paper on Ageing and strongly supports the implementation of the Pillar. In particular, it contributes to Principle 9 on the right of parents and people with caring responsibilities to work-life balance; Principle 11 on children’s right to affordable early childhood education and care; and Principle 18 on the right to access quality and affordable long-term care, especially community-based services and homecare. It also contributes to the Action Plan's 2030 headline targets, particularly related to the provision of formal early childhood education and care to increase the percentage of people in employment. The Proposal for a Council recommendation on the revision of the Barcelona targets on early childhood education contained in the Strategy will make these targets more ambitious: by 2030 at least 50% of children below age 3 and at least 96% of children between 3 and mandatory school age should be in early childhood education and care.
The Action Plan for the Social Economy supports the Action Plan by improving the visibility of the social economy and the recognition of its work and potential, enhancing social investment and supporting social economy actors and social enterprises to innovate and create jobs. The Pillar recognises the opportunities provided by the social economy to create jobs while addressing key societal challenges, often through social innovation.
Other examples of initiatives linked to the Pillar are the EU Gender Equality Strategy, the European Skills Agenda and the European Child Guarantee.