Towards a meaningful EU social dialogue initiative

The upcoming social dialogue initiative of the European Commission is an important opportunity to take stock of the progress made and initiate new actions to further develop social dialogue at EU and national levels. Building upon the 2016 quadri-partite statement on “a new start for social dialogue”, this initiative should strengthen tripartism at EU and national level to improve the performance of labour markets and social systems. One clear area where progress is needed is to ensure that all Member States create an appropriate space for social dialogue and collective bargaining, respecting the fact that there is no EU blueprint for social dialogue, while making good use of the mutual learning potential of regular EU exchanges for different Member States. The Commission and the Member States should also step up their actions to support the capacity of social partners in the more than ten EU Member States where this is needed. These were the key messages by BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer during an exchange of views on the EU social dialogue initiative with Commissioner Schmit and the other EU cross-industry social partners, which was held in Brussels on 24 June 2022.