The Basque Country represents the autonomous communities of the State in the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council of the European Union (EPSCO Council)

• Objectives of the Croatian presidency: Silver economy and senior citizens; employability of migrants with special skills; well-being at work; balance between professional and work life; demographic challenges; children at risk of poverty; people with disabilities and gender equality
• Employment and Social Affairs Working Group

Brussels, 09 01 2020

The working group chaired by the Croatian delegation for the first half of the year 2020 met this morning, in the Council of Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumption of the European Union (EPSCO Council), held in Brussels, the new plan of action presented by the Croatian presidency to the components of the new table indicating that "under its mandate, inclusiveness and transparency will be its motto" and stressed that "the Government of Croatia has endorsed the EU priorities in employment and social policy”.

As detailed by the Croatian Presidency to the representatives of states and countries in which the Basque Country (Euskadi in Basque language) has participated, “social policies will have four fundamental pillars and are aimed at addressing the social and demographic challenges to implement the Pillar European Social Rights. The first of these will focus on the development of skills as an incentive for competitiveness and employment to address the shortage of skilled workers, access to lifelong learning and increase of people's competitiveness and employability unemployed”.

Marko Vidakusic, Croatian ministerial delegate for the Employment and Social Affairs working group, considered that “lack of a legislative framework that accompanies some aspects such as the gray economy and employability in the elderly or the employability of migrants with special skills; the second one has as its main axis to promote well-being at work ”. “We propose to create better working conditions, for example, to achieve a balance between professional and work life; Third objective will emphasize demographic challenges as all member states share some demographic trends. In this section it has emphasized the special importance of a response to the challenges related to children at risk of poverty or social exclusion and people with disabilities”. Likewise, the head of the working group intends to “promote gender equality, promote equality in the labor market through positive discrimination and reduce the economic difference between men and women, in turn increasing the participation of women in the labor market". This priority will be especially important given that the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action is celebrated.

The EPSCO working group will take into special consideration the conclusions of the Council of Europe on demographic matters, which will be explained in the June Council as this debate will begin in March. The Council's conclusions on the subject of well-being at work will be analyzed this quarter.

For its part, the European Commission has indicated that next week it will present its main initiatives in which socio-economic remains will take on greater relevance, especially migratory and demographic flows. It will also reflect on the conclusions about technological and digital changes in the world of work.

The Commission will attempt to cross-link the Green Pact initiatives of its new executive, taking into account aspects such as difference and social cohesion from a global perspective. The Directorate General for Employment has communicated this morning that the new joint development strategy will be presented shortly with the member states in which they will have two broad consultations, one of them addressed to social agents and another to civil society.

The Basque Country, state representative

This morning the first semi-annual meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Council of the European Union (EPSCO) in employment and social policy in which the Basque Country represents all state communities was held in Brussels.

During the first half of 2020, the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country holds the representation of the autonomous communities and cities of the State in the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Council of the European Union (EPSCO Council) in relation to employment and social policy The Basque Country succeeds La Rioja in this task and it will be Aragon who presides over it in July.

The Ministry of Employment and Social Policies of the Basque Government is the body responsible for carrying out the tasks of coordination and contact with the corresponding bodies of Autonomous Communities, ministries and EU.