On Thursday March 05, all the European social partners gathered together in Brussels for a high-level conference hosted by the EU Commission called ‘A New Start for Social Dialogue’. Speaking to some 400 attendees, President Jean-Claude Juncker underlined the key role social dialogue had to play in the European economy and made it clear that that employers and union representatives were integral to implementing the 315 billion euro investment plan and the European Semester both at European and at national level and that this would require renewing relationships so as to build solutions that would get Europe out of the current crisis.
Thirty years after the birth of the Val Duchesse European social dialogue process, initiated by the then President Jacques Delors, The Commission organized a full day dedicated to reviving a flagging process that is, in the current President Jean-Claude Juncker’s words, an “aspect that has been neglected these past few years in Europe.” He continued by explaining that the Commission was committed to respecting a ‘virtuous triangle’ that focused on fiscal responsibility, structural reforms targeting European growth, and an investment plan to get Europe back on a growth track. He insisted that “There is no contradiction between an economic and monetary union and social dialogue, they go hand in hand.”
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