German Council Presidency
BMAS publishes a companion volume on social policy areas of focus.
Dr. S-W – 08/2020
This July, the Federal Ministry for Labour and
Social Affairs (BMAS) published a voluminous (350 pages) companion volume for Germany's Council Presidency. It is based on the areas of
focus of the presidency on the road to a social Europe. These are, in
particular:
- a European legal framework for appropriate
national minimum wages and agreement on basic social security in Europe,
- the future of work, including the new
digital forms of work and the platform economy,
- a regulatory framework for artificial
intelligence that takes into account security, liability and data
protection aspects, and
- decent work within global supply chains.
The volume is not so much a presentation of
government thinking. Rather, it allows a number of representatives of the
Member States, European and international institutions, NGOs, social partners,
academia and experts from the field to express their views.
Essentially, European minimum standards for
wages and basic security (particularly in the form of minimum income) will
initially be given a wide scope. The contributions on the 'Social Platform' and
the 'European Minimum Income Network' highlight some of the problems that arise
in connection with a European definition of an 'adequate minimum income': base
on average (median) income or on an average shopping bill? mandatory
participation in activation measures? a requirement not to fall below the
national poverty line? relationship to the minimum wage? Professor Miriam
Hartlapp examines the options of (probably permanent) solidarity-based
financial transfers in favour of poorer Member States to finance the
development of the minimum income - on the legal basis of Art. 175 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and in the multi-year
financial framework of the European Union (EU) via the ESF+. In this way, some
of the previously hesitant Eastern European countries could be convinced.
Sharon Baute (Universities of Amsterdam and
Leuven) addresses the delicate question of what citizens think of an increased
role for Europe in the social field, specifically: do they think that the level
of social benefits and services in their country would tend to increase or
decrease if decisions in this area were taken more at EU level? Not
surprisingly: few people in Northern and Western Europe assume that things will
improve for them but more than two to three times as many assume that things
will get worse. In Southern and Eastern Europe it is quite the opposite.
Nevertheless, according to another study, the majority of citizens, including
those in wealthier countries, would be in favour of the introduction of a
European minimum income scheme for unemployed single people – even if this
would involve redistribution across national borders.
Representatives of global social and corporate
responsibility for global supply chains express their views at length – this is
the second major topic of focus. However, it has also became clear that it is
in fact not possible for a company to assume responsibility for the entire
supply chain. Concerns have been expressed, especially by the business
community but good examples have also been presented.
The third subject area concerns the 'new world
of work' and here, in particular, the 'digital' working world with the core
topics of artificial intelligence, platform economy and further education. In
his introductory speech, State Secretary Björn Böhning advocates 'good work in
a strong platform economy' among other things. It needs good regulations and
sometimes new ones. For example, the question of how to make platforms that
work with (solo) self-employed people more accountable is also an issue.
According to Böhning, it is precisely these new forms of work for the
self-employed that bring gaps in their social security to the forefront of the
international debate. This applies not least against the background of the
often cross-border dimension of platform work, which raises classic issues such
as: which law is applicable and how can the platform worker enforce their
rights?
The topic of 'platform' and 'platform work' is
the common thread running through a number of contributions. The BMAS' 'Digital
Work Society Think Tank' picks up the thread and raises the question of whether
specific legal regulations should be created for this group of people because
of the need for protection of (usually self-employed) platform workers, which
is comparable to that of employees.
Finally, a fourth area deals with the use of
artificial intelligence, both in business practice and in administration. The
latter is done using the example of the Austrian Public Employment Service with
its employment service (AMS) algorithm. It classifies the unemployed and makes
suggestions as to who should be supported with further training measures in
specific cases. The algorithm certainly learns from previous cases, which, in
the view of Professor Katharina Zweig (TU Kaiserslautern), involves both risks
and opportunities: The risk that discrimination of the past will continue but
also the chance that it will be detected and countered with targeted
measures.