Commission and social partners sign joint Pact to strengthen social dialogue in Europe

Today, the Commission and the European cross-industry social partners signed a new Pact for European Social Dialogue which will strengthen the role of social partners in shaping labour market, employment, and social policies. In a time of global transformation, the new Pact addresses the key challenges faced by European economies and builds on the 2024 Val Duchesse Social Partner Declaration.

Social dialogue is an integral part of our European social model and plays a crucial role in keeping European enterprises competitive, increasing their productivity, providing quality jobs, and ensuring social fairness. Social dialogue remains an essential tool to ensuring that labour markets adapt to the digital and climate transitions and workers are equipped with the right skills. 

The new Pact establishes a long-term framework with concrete actions to be taken by the Commission and social partners to strengthen, expand the scope of social dialogue, and promote a stronger consultation of social partners.

In particular, the Commission will:

• appoint a European Social Dialogue Envoy, who will promote timely and meaningful consultations of social partners and channel concerns about social dialogue at national level to the EU institutions, hereby improving awareness of social dialogue within the Commission
• work together with social partners on a Quality Jobs Roadmap to be delivered in 2025.
• exchange with social partners on their priorities regarding the Commission’s Work Programme for the following year, ahead of its adoption.
• create a mechanism to receive joint reports from the social partners on social dialogue at EU level. 
• consult social partners also on policy initiatives that do not fall under the scope of article 153 and 154 TFEU but are of particular relevance for social partners

The European cross-industry social partners will regularly prepare a multi-annual work programme to address the key economic and social challenges facing European labour markets and identify the appropriate instruments to tackle these challenges. Social partners will also establish joint procedures to improve their autonomous bipartite social dialogue, including negotiations of social partner agreements, and work together on the different types of social dialogue tools used at EU level.

Background

The launch of a new Pact for Social Dialogue was first announced at the Val Duchesse Social Partners Summit in January 2024 where the European Commission, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, and European social partners signed a ‘Tripartite Declaration for a Thriving European Social Dialogue'. The Declaration pledged to enhance social dialogue at the EU level and continue collaboration with social partners when tackling the key challenges facing European economies and labour markets. The declaration also committed to promoting better working conditions, qualifications recognition, and labour market integration in Europe.

Social dialogue is enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and underlined by Principle 8 of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Pillar Action Plan. Articles 154-155 TFEU lay down the Commission's obligation to consult social partners on legislative proposals in the social policy field and allow them to negotiate agreements, that can be implemented through EU law.