2021
Publisher: 
European Trade Union Institute, ETUI
Language:
English

Podcast: EU Social policy - state of play with Bart Vanhercke

Podcast from the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) that offers new perspectives on ongoing research and education on social Europe, worker participation, health and safety, the wider labour movement and world of work. Despite a spectacular economic reaction to the pandemic crisis, which stands in stark contrast to the austerity-driven response to the 2008 financial and economic crisis, Bart Vanhercke and the co-authors of Bilan Social express concerns about the so-called ‘social affairs players’ being sidelined in the new Recovery and Resilience Facility,

The fuzzy EU commitment to gender issues, the EU response to rising in-work poverty and the setting a new social-ecological contract. The pandemic's longer-term economic consequences are not clear at this stage. No one can exclude that a real social crisis will quickly follow the vaccination campaign in the headlines. For the time being, however, it’s the unprecedented –and unexpected coordinated response by the EU’s and its 27 Members States and the European Commission that stands out. The EU’s response indeed contributed to mitigate the impact on unemployment (compared to the rest of the world) and demonstrated that the EU can react quickly and forcefully.