Social Rights Monitor: presentation at European Conference

SOLIDAR’s Social Rights Monitor provides an insight into the state of social rights in 16 European countries. The Monitor assesses the state of social Europe in terms of equality of opportunities, fair working conditions, social protection, inclusion and civic space based on the observations of Civil Society Organisations working on the ground in combination with statistical data and scientific findings. We found that although European economies are recovering from the impact of the crisis, the social reality paints another picture with rising levels of in-work-poverty, increasing social and regional inequalities and precarious work as some of the most pressing issues. Civic Space is furthermore under pressure from attacks on the work of Civil Society Organisations and restrictions on the freedom of the press.

The Monitor also analyses to what extent these aspects are reflected in the Country Specific Recommendations of the European Semester process. For the successful implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, it is of utmost importance that the policy recommendations of the European Commission to the Member States are in line with and conducive to achieving these social and sustainable goals. It is therefore worrisome that despite the introduction of the Social Scoreboard, the Country Specific Recommendations continue to centre around macroeconomic indicators and fail to put Europe’s social objectives at their core.

The Monitor was presented at the European Conference, in the European Parliament, on 13 November 2019. You can currently download the full version or country-specific versions (in our publications section), highlighting:

• Working conditions
• Equal opportunities
• Social protection and inclusion
• Health care
• Civic space
• Freedom of speech and press
• Comparison to the Country Specific Recommendations