No European social one-size-fits-all approach

The European Commission has put forward its plans for the development of a European Pillar of Social Rights. “We support the desire to achieve a more social Europe,” MEP Helga Stevens says. “But the European Commission must understand that the economic situation and the labour market are different in every Member State.” Helga Stevens therefore advocates more tailor-made solutions. Imposing the same policy on all Member States simply doesn’t work.

Among other things, the European Commission wants fathers to be entitled to ten days of paternity leave and that both mothers and fathers can take parental leave of at least four months in every Member State of the EU.

More tailor-made solutions

Helga Stevens emphasises the importance of a balance between work and home life and is open to every constructive proposal. “But just when the head of the VDAB The Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding (VDAB, Flemish Public Employment and Professional Training Service) is a Flemish public service that coordinates supply and demand in the employment market, with its main task consisting of serving as an intermediary for job seekers and providing them with support in getting back to work. Since the State reform in 1989, job placement has been a competence of the Regions and job training a competence of the Communities. The VDAB’s counterpart in Wallonia is Forem, and Actiris in Brussels. VDAB emphasises that Flanders needs more autonomy to determine its own labour market policy, the Commission wants to force the Member States into a straitjacket. And that doesn’t work,” Helga Stevens says. “Just look at Spain: a country with a dizzyingly high level of unemployment. What is the point of imposing a system for leave when people don’t even have a job?”