Yolanda Díaz warns of the deficit in social policies and demands that quality employment be included in the new Social Pillar Action Plan

The Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, at the Porto 2025 Social Forum

At the Porto Social Forum, the Second Vice-President and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, has advocated for including specific proposals and legislative instruments in the next Social Rights Pillar Action Plan, which is being negotiated in Brussels.

This Action Plan, which will set the agenda for the European Commission's social proposals over the next few years, is considering including a new objective: quality employment.

The first Action Plan, adopted in 2021, contained three objectives: employment, training and poverty reduction. According to the minister, employment cannot be created at any price and, as has been demonstrated, job insecurity has consequences for mental health.

At the Porto Social Forum, the vice-president pointed to the decline of legislative initiatives to guarantee rights at work in the light of changes in the labour market. "The need for a social Europe is more pressing than ever. Either we move in this direction or, quite simply, we will become an irrelevant international actor and, what is worse, we will lose any legitimacy in the eyes of European citizens," she warned.

On labour matters, the minister asked for a review of the directives on temporary work, part-time work and temporary employment agencies in order to update them and ensure digital disconnection, worker training, the regulation of artificial intelligence in the workplace and labour protection in the face of climate change. These are initiatives that strengthen quality employment and cannot be missing from the new Social Pillar Action Plan.

In view of the deficit of social policies in the EU, Díaz contrasted the regulations adopted in recent years in Spain to ensure employment stability: priority has been given to permanent employment, work-life balance under equal conditions and special labour protection for vulnerable groups and sectors. It has also recognised workers' climate rights and prevented algorithms from becoming a method of maximising economic performance at the expense of workers.

As a result, the country recorded its lowest unemployment rate in 18 years in July and the temporary employment rate in the private sector was at an all-time low. "International organisations such as the IMF and the OECD agree that our reforms have promoted growth, productivity and social cohesion, and have made us more resilient to external imbalances," she added.

Díaz acknowledged that the same currents that launched the European Social Rights Pillar are not converging today, but the need to move forwards and to do so in a relevant way still prevails. "If Europe does not make progress on social issues, if it does not assume new commitments to protection, if it does not claim to be the place in the world where people work with rights, if it does not claim human rights and the fight against barbarism as a European identity, Europe will simply not be Europe," concluded Díaz.

Non official translation