Following the adoption of the EU Corona Recovery and Resilience Facility, Member States have started to submit to the European Commission their proposals for national plans on how they intend to invest the grants and loans to re-build their social, economic and environmental infrastructures. The national plans are now assessed by the European Commission regarding their compatibility in particular with EU environmental and digital transition targets and will, thereafter, be submitted to the Council for adoption.

To evaluate the possible impact of these plans in the field of employment and social affairs, CESI organised a timely debate with experts from think tanks and representatives from trade unions. As the main speakers of the event, Marta Pilati, Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC) and author of a recent study on ‘National recovery and resilience plans: Empowering the green and digital transitions?’ and Roberto Di Maulo, Secretary General of the Italian Confsal-Fismic trade union and Vice-President of CESI, presented their views on the national recovery strategies and answered to questions relating to the socio-economic-environmental balance of the plans, their priorities in the field of employment and capacities to bring socially just recoveries, and the role of trade unions and social partners in their implementation.

Marta Pilati underlined the risk of new inequalities in the labour markets as a result of green and digital transitions and presented facts showing that vulnerable groups such as youth, women and low-skilled workers are most at risk. Furthermore, she highlighted the significance of creating proper interlinkages among recovery policies to ensure cohesive strategies that will have a positive long-term impact on our societies.

Roberto Di Maulo commented on the Italian plan proposal and the related structural reforms that the Italian government aims to implement in the judiciary, the fiscal system, the social safety net and in education. He also stressed the importance of potential secondary effects of digitalisation and green transitions on employment and jobs and called for an active role of trade unions in guiding green and digital recovery policies to sustainable solutions that will be effectively protecting the world of work as well.

The discussion was facilitated by Hendrik Meerkamp, staff member in the CESI General Secretariat, on behalf of CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger.

CESI plans to hold a further CESI@home on the national recovery and resilience plans in September/October to assess in greater detail how trade unions and social partners can work hand-in-hand with governments and authorities to ensure socially just digital and green transitions under the national Corona recovery and resilience facility.