Editorial

Dear Reader,

Today you are receiving the very first edition of our “ED Special Focus Bulletin”. “ED” will be published four times a year with in-depth coverage of important socio-political issues, while also providing you with an insight into our policy work in Europe.  

 

Our first special focus is on the initiative launched by the EU Commission to strengthen the social dimension in Europe. This is to be helped by a “European Pillar of Social Rights”. The aim of emphasising social aspects is to encourage the citizens of the European Union to once again be taken with the European idea. The European integration crisis, as demonstrated by Brexit, will now be tackled by the EU through stronger measures to improve people’s living and working conditions. Given the changing world of work and the question of how the “European social model” can be future-proofed, the EU Commission launched a broad consultation open to the public in order to gather their views on the first outline for a social pillar. Based on the responses that it received, the EU Commission wants to present a consolidated concept for a European Pillar of Social Rights in 2017. The EU Parliament has also entered into the debate with its own initiative report.  

 

At the moment, it is difficult to foresee how the Commission will pursue the “European Pillar of Social Rights” in the individual areas of social policy. Therefore, it is all the more important that all members of the European Representation of the German Social Insurance get involved early on in the European discussion so that they can highlight important issues and conditions.  

 

The aim of our first issue of “ED” is to provide our readers with a more detailed overview of the initiative, its background and its possible effects on social policy and social insurance.  

 

We hope you will enjoy reading our very first “ED”!  

 

Ilka Wölfle 

Director