Last year, the EU adopted the Corona Recovery and Resilience Facility, almost 700 billion Euros heavy, in order to provide Member States for the years 2021 to 2026 with loans and grants to face the economic and social fallout of the pandemic, while shaping the green and digital transitions.

During the summer, the European Commission has evaluated and assessed the proposals of the Member States for their national plans on how they would like to spend available grants and loans. The first monetary disbursements to the Member States are now underway.

Do the programmes under the national plans reflect a fair and sustainable balance between the economic, the environmental and the social? Are they compatible with EU environmental (Green Deal), social (European Pillar of Social Rights) and digital transition targets? Which priorities are foreseen in the area of employment and social affairs? And, above all, to what extent have social actors been involved or sidelined in the drafting of the national plans? How can trade unions intervene and ensure that the individual initiatives in the programmes will be planned and executed in close consultation with national trade unions, worker representatives and social partners?

The debate will be facilitated by:

–      Maria Teresa Fabregas Fernandez, Director of the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Task Force

–      Roberto Di Maulo, Secretary General of the Italian Confsal-Fismic trade union and Vice-President of CESI

–      Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of CESI

The event will take place in English but simultaneous translation from/to Italian will also be provided.