The event, titled ‘How to advocate for well-funded public services? The European Semester and Economic Governance and how to engage as trade unions‘, featured expert speakers including Reinhard Felke, Director for Policy Coordination, Economic Forecasts and Communication at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, and Giacomo Loi, Policy Analyst at the European Parliament’s Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit. The event was moderated by CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger.

The speakers explored the structure and significance of the EU’s economic governance system and the European Semester process. In particular, they presented the main structure and elements of the EU economic governance system and the annual European Semester cycle, addressing how they do or could accommodate necessary public investments under mechanisms like the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Towards with members and affiliates of CESI, they underscored the pivotal nature especially of the European Semester process for trade unions, as they provide opportunities to advocate for workers’ rights and sustainable public investments, even in contexts of constrained fiscal policies.

In an exchange, the speakers and affiliates of CESI together shed light on key issues, such as:

• how trade unions can effectively engage in the European Semester process to advocate for adequate public investments.
• the balance between reforms, investments, and budgetary consolidation under the revised economic governance rules.
• the integration of health, education, and other critical sectors into expenditure exemptions under the new framework.

Participants and speakers discussed practical avenues for union advocacy and CESI’s longstanding call for a ‘Golden Rule’ to exclude certain public spending that promise positive returns in education and healthcare from public budget deficit calculations under EU economic governance rules.