The European Pillar of Social Rights at the core of the EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029

Social protection and inclusion are critical determinants of health, equity and wellbeing, addressing the multifaceted needs of individuals and promoting inclusive societies where everyone has the opportunity to lead healthy, fulfilling lives. By investing in comprehensive social protection systems and fostering social inclusion initiatives, societies can create enabling environments that prioritise the wellbeing and social fairness. EuroHealthNet recommends:

• Stronger commitment to upholding robust social security systems, providing a decent standard of living for people encountering social risks and situations of vulnerability (old age, sickness, disability, unemployment) should be placed at heart of a future of Social Europe and the European social welfare state.
• A new EU-wide poverty reduction and social inclusion strategy, similar to the Europe2020 strategy, in order to achieve agreed goals and reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030 compared to 2019, of which at least 5 million should be children. The strategy should notably address income inequalities, access to education and training, and include affordable housing and health care as pathways for building societal resilience.
• Initiatives to support people’s right to timely and quality health promotion and preventive measures, in the context of primary health care and community-based care. The pandemic and ongoing crises of rising NCDs and climate change emergency have demonstrated how essential access to affordable quality health and social care is to ensure social resilience and wellbeing economy. Critical labour and skills shortages and condition of workforce in this field, as well as people’s ability to afford care should urgently be taken up.
• A European Year for Mental Health to keep the awareness high and constant. In addition, we recommend periodic reviews of the implementation of the EU’s comprehensive approach to Mental Health, ideally supported by an EU Mental Health strategy and budget for action.
• Strong commitment to taking forward the European Care Strategy, notably its Long-Term Care (LTC) initiative, with new proposals focused on access to affordable adequate quality care, policies on healthy and active ageing through the life course, and embedded in health-promoting community-based approaches. These should form an integral part of National Action Plans on LTC, supported with dedicated funding, targets and measuring frameworks.
• Encouraging and supporting Member States to further implement and evaluate the EU Child Guarantee Council Recommendation to make further progress in the fight against child poverty and social exclusion. Depending on progress, a need for an EU Directive for a Child Guarantee could be explored, as a legally binding directive could ensure a more effective and consistent implementation of child welfare and protection policies across the European Union.
  • Moreover, children’s right to clean, safe and health-promoting environments and green spaces must be included in the scope of the Child Guarantee, in line with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No.26 on children’s rights and the environment, which focuses particularly on climate change.
• Taking forward the Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income, to address gaps and ensure an adequate  level of income support for a healthy living, and responsive to changing economic outlooks likely to affect the cost of living
• Taking forward the Council Recommendation on a ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality, to mitigate for the social impacts of climate change, applying a proportionate universalisms approach, in order to develop further policy recommendations. It could be considered to add the objective of a socially-just, green and sustainable transition to be part of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
  • Both the Social Climate Fund and the Just Transition Fund, which aim to facilitate a just transition and address social and distributional challenges of it, should get boosted in terms of budgets, as well as shared, proactive and participatory governance, while accounting for populations both in- and out-of work.