Pending approval by the European Parliament, employment and social affairs would be handled by Roxana Mînzatu as one of six Executive Vice-Presidents of the European Commission. She would also be in charge of skills and education, which are policy fields with important employment-related intersections. A substantial and comprehensive portfolio combining education and employment handled by a Commissioner at a prominent position could, hopefully, be a strong political sign that during the next years the social will feature on equal ranks with corporate industrial policy, which would be likewise handled by a dedicated Vice-President. For us as unions, it is of central importance to ensure a balance between economic competitiveness and social rights. While fostering competitiveness is important for Europe’s long-term growth, it should not come at the expense of fair wages, job security, or social safeguards.

It remains however to be seen how cooperation would likely evolve with Spanish Commissioner-designate Teresa Ribera, who would, amongst other fields, be in charge of fair transitions. We also regret that there will be no Commissioner designated for gender equality and women’s rights in particular, but that it will be annexed – seemingly in a rather random matter – to the Belgian designated Commissioner Hadja Lahbib’s portfolio of ‘Preparedness and crisis management’.

In relation to CESI’s priorities and expectations in the field of employment and social affairs, we appreciate Ms von der Leyen’s sustained commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights, as laid out in her political guidelines for the new term. We also appreciate planned initiatives on a right to disconnect and AI at work. We hope that the planned Quality Jobs Roadmap will be concrete and substantial and stand ready for social partner consultations on this.

Our EU elections manifesto is very clear, and our priorities will feature high again in our main motion for our upcoming CESI Congress in December. We expect the new European Commission to deliver on transparent and inclusive social dialogue and on decent work and fair green-digital transitions for all. We also expect further support for public services and their staff, which are at the forefront as new crises keep emerge. We need to invest in them in order to make them resilient and performing. We will continue to flag this.