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NOT FOUND !Marianne Thyssen

Hearing

 

Marianne Thyssen

Portfolio: Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility
 
Day 3 , Wednesday 1 October 2014 - 09:00 , Brussels  
 
Questions / Answers
 
1. General competence, European commitment and personal independence

What aspects of your personal qualifications and experience are particularly relevant for becoming Commissioner and promoting the European general interest, particularly in the area you would be responsible for? What motivates you? How will you contribute to putting forward the strategic agenda of the Commission?


What guarantees of independence are you able to give the European Parliament, and how would you make sure that any past, current or future activities you carry out could not cast doubt on the performance of your duties within the Commission?


Throughout my whole life, I have been a convinced European with a strong belief in the added value of the European integration process, the respect of the values on which the Union is based and the achievement of the objectives as formulated in the TEU.


The European Union has helped to accomplish peace and political stability on our continent, increased prosperity and is our best guarantee to have influence on the world stage and to cope with globalisation.


My European ideal should be seen in conjunction with another belief, that of the importance and value of the social market economy. Every economy, every society, including the European, can only function when people are taken as the starting point.


I note that the financial and economic crisis has revealed a number of weaknesses in the European system. Emergency measures and recent reforms (Banking Union, Europe 2020, European Semester...) have formulated an answer in this regard. Therewith the confidence of the citizens is not yet repaired. The challenge of the coming period is to develop the EU in such a way that it meets the needs and concerns of the citizens. Europe is not only about the market and means, Europe is above all about people.


Looking after the European general interest has been the overarching theme during my membership of the European Parliament for nearly 23 years, as many colleagues can confirm. I have always strived for Europe's progress, step by step and with very concrete results, and based on agreements with broad political support in the European Parliament, for example as rapporteur on the establishment of a European Single Supervisory Mechanism and the future of the Economic and Monetary Union. Also the fundamental changes to the services directive that I co-negotiated as vice-president and coordinator of my political group are an example of this political attitude.


Socio-economic challenges have always been the focus of my work as MEP. This is illustrated by the choice of the parliamentary committees in which I was active (ECON, EMPL, IMCO, ENVI, Temporary committee on employment). As Vice-President of my political group, I was responsible for the coordination of the socio-economic files. But also before, I could gain relevant experience for the portfolio that will be assigned to me, as a member of the Socio-economic Council of Flanders (SERV), the Belgian Central Economic Council (Conseil central de l'économie Belge), the Flemish Consultation committee for Women (VOV), and the Board of the Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).


My motivation will remain the same for the next five years: devoting myself to the welfare and well-being of all Europeans, and promoting the social market economy as envisaged by Article 3 of the Treaty. Employment is the first priority of all Europeans, and it will also be mine as a member of the Commission. Having a job, and being able to exercise it in safe conditions, is the best guarantee for prosperity and human dignity. Moreover, it is a source of self-esteem, self-development and a prerequisite for a happy life. The social market economy should also include an adequate safety net with a strong social protection for people who cannot work (anymore) due to illness, disability, age, temporary or permanent care responsibilities, At the same time, a healthy society encourages people to take responsibility if they can, but cares for those who risk falling behind and cannot cope, especially people threatened by exclusion and/or poverty. That will be my double motivation.


Of the ten objectives outlined by President-elect Juncker in his "Agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change" the first six are explicitly focused on new economic growth and more jobs. I am strongly committed to these objectives.. Social equity will also be a particular ambition of mine. The crisis has taken a heavy toll. The next five years our policy will have to take into account the social consequences of each possible action in all areas. That is a conditio sine qua non for the needed restoration of people's confidence in the European project.


With regard to my independence, I pledge to abide by the treaty obligations of independence and integrity as described in Article17 TEU and Article 245 and 339 TFEU. I also declare that I will respect the ethical standards in the mentioned Treaty Articles and the Code of Conduct for Commissioners.


In accordance with the Code of Conduct for Commissioners I have drafted my declaration of interests and made it publicly available, and I promise to update it in the future where necessary. In the same way, I promise to avoid any situation which could question my independence or availability to the Commission. As Commissioner I will refrain from exercising any other public post or any other paid or unpaid professional activity.


I promise to immediately inform the President of the Commission if a situation should arise in which there would be a potential conflict of interest in the performance of my official duties.

 
 
2. Management of the portfolio and cooperation with the European Parliament

How would you assess your role as a Member of the College of Commissioners? In what respect would you consider yourself responsible and accountable to the Parliament for your actions and for those of your departments?


What specific commitments are you prepared to make in terms of enhanced transparency, increased cooperation and effective follow-up to Parliament's positions and requests for legislative initiatives? In relation to planned initiatives or ongoing procedures, are you ready to provide Parliament with information and documents on an equal footing with the Council?


As member of the College of Commissioners I will fully respect the principle of collegiality. I have always considered politics to be team work, rather than a sum of individual ambitions and aspirations. The new structure of the Commission gives the Commissioners maximal opportunities in this regard.


I will endeavour within my areas of responsibility to work closely with the relevant Vice-Presidents and fellow Commissioners to ensure that the objectives of the Agenda for Jobs, Growth, fairness and Democratic Change defined by the President-elect are achieved.


Having been a Member of the European Parliament for more than four legislatures, it will come as no surprise that I have a great respect for the Parliament and what it stands for. Accountability to Parliament is accountability to the persons directly elected by the citizens, which stands for accountability to the citizens themselves. This starts with the hearing and I solemnly promise to ensure in the coming five years that the Parliament will be respected in its role and rights both by me and my services. I consider the Parliament in general, and the parliamentary Committee on Employment and Social Affairs in particular, as a crucial ally in the pursuit of the common European interest and as an assurance that decisions taken at European level match the needs of the European citizen.


As member of the College of Commissioners, I commit to an equal treatment of the European Parliament and the Council in my relations with both institutions, where they possess the same powers according to the Treaties.


Concerning the follow-up to European Parliament's positions and requests, I will apply the provisions of the Framework Agreement and, in my areas of responsibility, make sure that the Commission responds to parliamentary resolutions or requests made on the basis of Article 225 TFEU, within 3 months after their adoption. In this context, I support and fully endorse the commitment made by President-elect Juncker that the future Commission will be particularly attentive to legislative initiative reports


I look forward to working with the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the other committees that are relevant to my portfolio in a constructive spirit of mutual trust.

 
 
Questions from the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

3. Priorities:


How do you see the role of the Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner developing over the next mandate? What are your ambitions and how do you think the EU can add value to the lives of our citizens in the areas of Employment and Social Affairs? What are the main priorities you intend to pursue as part of your portfolio, taking into account the impact of the financial, economic and social crisis and the commitment to sustainable development? How will you improve the involvement of the European Parliament in the preparation of Delegated Acts, in particular as regards information on and access to experts meetings? Do you commit to improving the transmission of secondary legislation and 'comitology' documents?


(Role in the Commission and vis-à-vis the Parliament)


The incoming Commission’s challenge will be to boost jobs and growth in the European Union. The crisis is not over and will not be as long as 26 million men and women are jobless. My role is to help creating the conditions for everybody to be back to work in our still unachieved single market. In the meantime I also see that during the crisis the number of Europeans living in poverty has sharply increased and inequalities have been on the rise, calling into question the fairness and effectiveness of our social market economy.


At the same time, the impact of the crisis is particularly severe because it comes on top of structural problems which have not been properly addressed: our population is ageing, with a deep impact on our workforce. There is clear evidence of skills mismatches across Member States. In spite of massive unemployment, there are shortages of skilled workers in some sectors. A lot of jobs have been destroyed during the crisis, which can only be replaced if we invest in the opportunities created by technological change, resource and energy efficiency. This will only work out in a positive way when we urgently create better opportunities for the workforce to adapt to the changes.


I have the opportunity of a fresh start. My top priority is to work with my colleagues to achieve practical results on the Agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change set by Jean-Claude Juncker. I will work with two Vice-Presidents and other Commissioners to ensure that employment and social considerations are fully taken on board in the Commission’s activities. This underscores the policy orientation of the new Commission relying on a genuine collegiality and the key importance job creation has got among its objectives.


More specifically, it is particularly important for me to ensure that the jobs’ creation dimension and more generally the social dimension of the EU and EMU is better taken into consideration in the European Semester, the review of Europe 2020, and in future work to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union.


If confirmed as Commissioner, I will ensure that the framework agreement which provides for equal treatment in the Commission's relations with Council and Parliament under the ordinary legislative procedure is fully implemented. But beyond this, I am keen to establish a close working relationship in particular with the Parliamentary Committees on Employment and Social Affairs and on Economic and Monetary Affairs. This I will endeavour by establishing a regular dialogue with the Committee’s members and attend committee meetings on a regular basis. I will also make sure that the members of the EMPL Committee are regularly informed of the state of play regarding the dossiers I will be in charge of. When necessary, I will seek your political input even your support to make these files progress and ensure shift delivery in benefice of EU citizens you are representing.


(Ambitions and adding value)


My ambition is to contribute, with my colleagues, with the social partners, with you and with Member States as co-legislators to do everything to deliver growth across the EU. A sustainable growth translated into more jobs and reducing poverty as a key factor of prosperity. To attain this the EU has added value and can and should be an engine to stimulate the creation of a society where every individual has a chance and responsibility for themselves but also for the well-functioning of the society as a whole.


It is the EU that should propose and survey the development of a dynamic and integrated EU labour market, instead of 28 diverging ones, where enterprises, in a business-friendly environment, can benefit from skills available in the single market and meet workers’ will to develop their careers, improve their skills while enjoying their rights.


The EU will help to better coordinate public and private efforts to improve labour market participation and facilitate the interface between enterprises and jobseekers, in particular for SMEs on the one hand and young people and the long term unemployed on the other hand. Finally, the EU should support structural reforms in the Member States to assure that social protection is available for those citizens who need our support.


I believe that the crisis has resulted in reform fatigue across Member States. There is a need for a new momentum and more ownership of reforms by the main actors: enterprises and workers or jobseekers and their representatives.


The social dialogue at EU level should be re-launched. The objective for the EU is to increase impact and effectiveness of the reform process by improving involvement of all key actors in the EU governance, in order to agree on the priority actions delivering jobs and growth on the ground, using the full potential of the single market, to build a society where everyone feels good and bears responsibility.


(Main priorities)


My policy action will be focused on four priorities: boosting jobs, fairness, skills and mobility, as results from my portfolio. I will seek to pursue concrete actions that deliver for citizens in those outstanding areas.


(Investment for jobs and growth)


To contribute to mobilising the 300 billion euros in additional public and private investment to stimulate the economy over the next three years, I shall ensure full use of all our funding instruments and make them more effective. My approach is to work with Member States to accelerate and broaden the deployment of the Youth Guarantee Scheme and ensure that significant funding goes to projects aiming at reducing youth unemployment. As part of the overall package to be presented by the Commission within the first three months of its mandate, I shall also encourage the use of innovative financial instruments, at both national and European level, to use loans or guarantees to foster job creation in new businesses. The potential of the current EU-level microfinance instrument can also be tapped further.


As those resources are limited, I will ensure that only actions contributing to measurable priority objectives will be funded while their implementation will be closely monitored on progress on which I will report to you in a transparent and regular manner. If it appears that an action is not delivering effectively the expected results, I will endeavour that the necessary adjustments are made or the action itself is stopped to redirect the resources to more effective measures. Today, more than ever, we have no time nor money to waste.


(Europe 2020 Strategy)


We have failed so far to deliver a number of objectives set by the Europe 2020 strategy. Labour market participation has decreased, instead of increasing, while poverty has increased instead of decreasing. A particular concern is the growing population of elderly in vulnerable circumstances. This is the result of the financial-economic crisis and its consequences, but it also shows that not all European pension systems give an adequate answer to a changing population.


The Europe 2020 Strategy is now under review. This review should provide us with the means to catch up and redirect our actions to deliver effectively and timely the objectives set in 2010 that remain fully valid today.


The European Semester (Annual Growth Survey, Joint Employment Report and the Country specific recommendations) has proven an effective tool to tackle the impact of the crisis at European level and to coordinate economic policies across Member States. The Employment and the Youth Employment packages launched by the Commission have been developed in this context. I am convinced that the European Semester is the proper vehicle for pursuing the modernisation of labour markets and social protection systems making them more efficient and more equitable using best experiences and respecting the national and regional specificities and needs.


(Youth employment)


The EU has taken a number of measures to help young people become integrated into the labour market, in particular the Youth Guarantee, financially supported by the Youth Employment Initiative. These also include the European Alliance for Apprenticeships and the Quality Framework for Traineeships. My priority will be to accelerate their implementation, extend their scope, and propose new action if appropriate. Financial instruments will provide a substantial amount of resources to the best projects that can help get younger generation back to work in quality jobs. The mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework, scheduled for the end of 2016, should be used to strengthen the focus of the EU budget towards actions and measures best suited to improve our enterprises business environment and competitiveness leading to growth and jobs creation for young people.


(Mobility)


We have a wealth of skilled and specialised workforce, but it is underused across the Single market. The EU labour market remains fragmented mainly due to rising divergences in labour demand among EU countries, discrepancies in wage levels and social standards and increasing levels of social exclusion. I will promote the free movement of workers as one of the key factors for success for the internal market. With Member States and social partners we have to enforce existing rules and fight all possible abuses. There I need Member States, who are now often complaining but lack of a proper enforcement.


(Skills)


Massive unemployment co-exists with an unbalanced access to education systems, ageing workforce, shortages of skilled workers, and skills mismatches. We should not only discuss the need for permanent education but come up with real programs. The crisis has intensified the barriers to enter the labour markets in Member States, thus increasing the risk of social exclusion and lost generations. My objective is to improve labour market participation through a balanced coordination of public and business efforts, in particular for the long term unemployed.


(Social fairness)


Giving people confidence in the future and encouraging them to grow using the full potential of the EU labour market will be the focus of my efforts. Therefore, social protection is a key investment in our prosperity. Social protection systems in the EU have to deliver. At the same time, demographic ageing is putting elderly and social protection systems under high pressure. Member States with the most effective social systems are among the most successful and competitive economies. Promoting policies to support vulnerable groups and fight against social exclusion and poverty will also be high up my agenda. As this is an area where subsidiarity is an important factor, I plan to work closely with Social Partners and Member States to coordinate action and combine our efforts to promote social fairness in the European Union.


I cannot deliver these priorities alone. This will be a team effort both inside the Commission with my fellow commissioners and outside, involving the Member States, the social partners both at European and national level, civil society and all other stakeholders. The European Parliament of course, which is the source of our democratic legitimacy, will be a key partner.


(Transparency and involvement of EP in comitology)


I will strive to ensure that all relevant Committees are fully informed at the same time as the Council about any major developments. In the areas under my responsibility, I will ensure that the Commission's existing commitments in line with the Common Understanding on delegated acts and the Framework Agreement are fully respected.  This concerns in particular the commitment to carry out appropriate and transparent consultations at expert level in the preparation of delegated acts and to ensure that the Parliament and the Member States receive all the relevant information. It also means full respect of the provisions in relation to the participation of Parliament in expert groups meetings, which should facilitate the scrutiny, in particular of delegated acts, where the Parliament has ex-post control rights.


4. Legislative and non-legislative initiatives


What are the specific legislative and non-legislative initiatives you intend to put forward, and according to what timetable?


I intend to contribute significantly to the review on the Europe 2020 Strategy. We need to move from crisis management back to a real long–term strategy to support sustainable growth. While 26 million people are unemployed, some Member States enjoy very low levels of unemployment, start to see shortages of worker caused by ageing, and even in Member States with high unemployment, some sectors have difficulties to recruit. This suggests that the EU labour markets are not functioning well. One of my main objectives will be to use all our policy, legal and financial instruments within my portfolio to give fresh impetus to meeting the objectives set back in 2010 in the Europe 2020 Strategy, which I believe are very relevant to efforts to come out of the crisis.


I will contribute actively in the project to re-balance, streamline and reinforce the European Semester, in particular to ensure that employment and social policies are duly taken into account. I will pay particular attention on the need to improve the engagement of stakeholders in the economic governance too.


I believe that a smooth functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union requires more convergence of labour market policies among the members of the euro area. This also includes developing social impact assessments for any future conditional stability support programme for Euro area countries in difficulty.


As pointed out by President-elect Juncker, free movement of workers has always been one of the key pillars of the internal market and holds great opportunities for the economy. Studies underline its positive contribution to filling labour shortages, reducing unemployment, and making a positive contribution to GDP. The current mobility flows and mobility intentions measured in surveys shows that there is a significant untapped mobility potential in the European Union. I will therefore pursue proposals to the modernisation and reform of the EURES platform to support employment and job matching through mobility.


I will work with stakeholders to develop effective tools for the recognition of skills and qualifications, and for the anticipation of skills needs, in particular in sectors with a strong job creation potential (green economy, ICT, health sector). I also intend to mobilise all our policy, legal and financial instruments within my portfolio to give a fresh impetus to the Commission action in the field of vocational training and adult education, building on dual learning practices on the first results of the Alliance for Apprenticeship.


Obviously, as Commissioner responsible for labour mobility, I will work together with national authorities to ensure that existing rules are well understood and implemented, and also to help them fight abuses or fraudulent claims. I shall therefore support the quality transposition process and the application of the Enforcement Directive on the posting of workers and I shall set in motion a targeted review to make sure social dumping has no place in the EU.


I also intend to pursue the Commission's policy of helping to improve workers’ health and safety in the EU and to reduce work-related health problems. A comprehensive ex-post evaluation of 24 Directives is in progress and the result should be known by the end of 2015. I will then decide the next steps on the basis of the results of the evaluation.


Following two unsuccessful attempts by the co-legislators to review the Working Time Directive, the Commission is carrying out a detailed impact assessment, which should be finalised in the first half of 2015. Building on lessons learned during the failed negotiations, I will seek a consensus among the co-legislators but also the active involvement of the social partners, to adjust the EU rules to new work patterns and needs.


Lastly, with a view to restarting the EU social dialogue, I plan to propose a review involving the EU social partners and all national leaders of the employers' organisations and trade unions. It will offer the chance to improve the use of existing social-dialogue instruments and see how to involve social partners more closely in the European Semester process on European and national level.


As Commissioner, I am determined to link the policy priorities and notably the country-specific recommendations more closely with the financial resources available for investing in people at national level and at European level, such as the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative, the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived, the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation, and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. I will work to maximise the performance of these programmes and their synergy with national financial instruments, including through public private partnerships, in order to support social innovation, promote vocational training and lifelong learning and reinforce synergies with other EU programmes.


In order to achieve concrete results, I will also support initiatives from my colleagues that boost job creation by companies, such as those related to the right legal framework for firms to regain confidence and invest, taxation systems, high quality public administrations as well as the Digital single market.


5. Views in detail


What are your views on the following issues?


I. Employment policy


- unemployment in the EU, with a special focus on youth unemployment as well as taking into account the challenges of an aging population and the significant employment gap between people with and without disabilities;


- matching skills and labour;


As already stated unemployment is one of the foremost challenges of the new Commission and mine in particular. We need to find the right balance between supply-side and demand-side labour market policies. Labour demand tends to be subdued during a recession, as an effect of uncertainty, low confidence and weak aggregate demand. Policy efforts should therefore be primarily focused on creating favourable conditions for hiring. The efforts already undertaken with the Youth Guarantee should be accelerated, and its scope should be progressively broadened. My first priority will be the implementation of this initiative but of course, I will propose further actions to support young's people transition from education to work for example as regards youth entrepreneurship or cross border apprenticeships.


Structural bottlenecks in national labour markets should be tackled. Reforms should aim at making labour markets more dynamic and inclusive. This means tackling labour market segmentation - in particular in terms of different labour contracts, modernising social security schemes by offering adequate coverage while providing right incentives to job-search, fostering investment in active labour market policies and lifelong learning, as well as facilitating the inclusion of older workers.


In 2011, the Commission committed to ratify the convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities. Actions to fulfil this commitment are set in the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020. I will work to review progress and consider the way forward to create a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities.


Europe is confronted with major drivers of change - globalisation, climate change, digital innovation, which accelerate the competition for talent and skills. At the same time, the sharp increase of structural unemployment in the EU shows the existence of the skills mismatch. The skills' shortages which exist for certain occupations in many Member States, such as ICT, health or engineers, should be tackled in priority. Likewise, the geographic mismatch shown by the differences between job offers and unemployment rates across Member States should be addressed, in particular by improving labour mobility across the Single Market.


II. Social policy and governance


- social inclusion of the most vulnerable groups and the increase in poverty in the EU;


- the gender pay gap;


- the social dimension and the role of the European Parliament in relation to the economic governance process;


- the autonomy of the social partners in relation to economic governance and the work of the troika;


During the crisis unprecedented measures have been taken which were necessary but had important social consequences. We have now to look more closely at this social impact in the context of the European semester and the review of the Europe 2020 strategy. I will contribute to the project to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union having always the social dimension in mind.


Making better use of women’s talents and skills on the labour market is central to closing the gender pay gap. It is also important with a view to women's future pension entitlements. Employment policy shall be attentive to this, in particular as regards increasing women’s participation in the economy. I will enhance the monitoring of Member States’ performance in enabling both men and women to participate on the labour market through the European Semester and where needed, propose recommendations. I will also work to monitor the steps taken by Member States to improve wage transparency.


As President-elect Juncker has mentioned, the dialogue with the Parliament has to be political and not technocratic. Therefore I can ensure you that the views expressed by the Parliament in the course of the European Semester, during the Parliamentary week and in general on economic governance matters will be duly taken into account. If confirmed as Commissioner, I will contribute to the work of the Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, in the work to streamline and reinforce the European Semester of economic policy coordination. The European Semester should be the vehicle for pursuing the modernisation of labour markets and social protection systems.


Mr. Juncker said he wants to be the president of the social dialogue. I fully subscribe to this. Major reforms with a view to increase the performance of the labour market and to promote job creation may only be successful and sustainable if broadly understood and supported by the population. I strongly believe that social dialogue in programme countries is essential to broaden the ownership of the adjustment and reform strategy. Therefore, I am committed to push for a further engagement of social partners in designing an effective response to the programme countries' challenges. As President-elect Juncker has set out, the preparation of social impact assessments should in future become part of any future conditional stability support programme for euro area countries, in addition to fiscal sustainability assessments. This is to ensure that a strong emphasis is given to assessing the likely economic but also social impact of proposed programme measures in an integrated way.


III Working Conditions


- improving workers' rights and working conditions and protecting workers against unfair practices;


- false self-employment;


- a hospitable environment for enterprises to create jobs, including entrepreneurship;


- the revision of the Working Time Directive, taking into account, inter alia, the health aspects of working time;


- the European Parliament resolution of 15 January 2013 with recommendations to the Commission on information and consultation of workers, anticipation and management of restructuring (2012/2061(INL));


In the current context, protecting and improving the quality of work and creating sustainable jobs appears even more critical to achieve inclusive growth while meeting the objective of high participation in employment. There is already a large body of EU legislation providing protection to workers. These laws may be reviewed both to ensure that they are effective and at the same time not too burdensome or impacting negatively the competitiveness of our economy. This is why sometimes EU legislation is needed and in other cases soft law can be more suitable. The respect of the proportionality principle and the well-functioning of the internal market will be key to ensure that only measures that are necessary to achieve these objectives will be implemented.


More generally, I intend to discuss with Member States atypical forms of work and quality of work, to identify whether possible cases of abuse have emerged. I will also seek to remove legal obstacles to job creation by creating a more conducive environment towards entrepreneurship and the development of SMEs which form the backbone of job creation in the EU. In this context, the Commission will pay particular attention to the views of the social partners, notably to the outcome of the current negotiations of EU social partners on a joint analysis of labour market challenges.


I believe that cooperation among Member States is also instrumental to fight abuses more effectively. This is why in particular I strongly support – as, I hope, the Parliament will do as well - the recent proposal of the Commission to create an EU platform to fight undeclared work thanks to improved cooperation between Member States' different enforcement authorities. This collective work should cover forms of falsely declared work such as bogus self-employment.


As to the anticipation and the management of restructuring, it is critical to follow closely the implementation of the quality framework proposed by the Commission. It will have to be reviewed in 2016. A possible consolidation of the three existing directives on the consultation and information of workers will have to be examined too.


IV Freedom of movement


- freedom of movement and social security rights;


- social dumping;


- the relationship between fundamental workers' rights and economic freedoms on the internal market;


The Treaty prohibition of any discrimination on the basis of nationality obviously applies fully to the free movement of workers. The current EU social security rules require that mobile EU citizens do not lose their social security protection when moving to another Member State. Therefore any potential change to these rules has to be carefully assessed in light of this Treaty requirement on the basis of robust facts and figures and its consequences for all stakeholders involved. I am open to discuss with Member States any concerns they might have in this field. I will support them in taking and coordinating appropriate actions to fight fraud and abuse. However, the freedom of movement remains a key pillar of the internal market.


Regarding the fight against social dumping, the first step for the new Commission will be to actively support a quality transposition process and the application of the new Enforcement directive on the posting of workers. It is essential that this new instrument brings concrete results in the coming years. I will launch in parallel a targeted review, taking into account the specificities of posting, its role in the context of the Single Market and the progress reached in fighting abuse and fraud effectively on the basis of the provisions of the new Enforcement Directive.


V. Implementation of the legislation


- the implementation of EU legislation in EMPL areas of competence, by: secondary EU legislation (implementing and delegated acts); Member States.


I shall pay close attention to the proper implementation of the body of EU legislation in the employment and social areas. This means monitoring the transposition and implementation of existing Directives, providing support and guidance for their proper implementation, and taking legal action vis-à-vis Member States where the need arises. I remain open to provide the European Parliament with timely information as necessary.