Social protection systems and the crisis. The opportunities given by the European Semester Public hearing at the EESC Brussels, 22 June 2015 Franz Terwey, European Social Insurance Platform (ESIP)
ESIP s mission A platform for trans-national dialogue between national social security institutions in Europe A strategic network for developing common positions to influence the European decision-making process A consultation forum for the EU Institutions and other multinational bodies active in the field of social security
ESIP s objectives Preserving high-level social security for European citizens (universal and equal access to affordable quality services) Reinforcing solidarity-based social insurance systems (social benefits generated with a non-profit-making-orientation`) Shaping a sustainable European Social Protection Model (diversity, efficiency and adaptability in a world of dramatic change and growing interdependence / globalisation)
EU impact on the development of social protection systems Supranational legislation (erosion of the principle of subsidiarity) 1. Public finances including social security budgets (Euro zone): 100 % 2. Health and safety at work: 90 % 3. Single Market, economic and competition law: 80 % 4. Social protection, healthcare: 20 % (e.g. regulation no. 883/2004) European Semester, OMC (benchmarking and peer pressure) Implementing a process-driven convergence of policies on the basis of commonly agreed strategic goals and guidelines/ outcome measurement on the basis of European indicators (increasingly applied where legislation competences are missing) Jurisdiction (legal interpretation and creative development of law) Examining the legal compatibility of systems with the EU treaties (competition law, free movement and free services in the Internal Market) European Citizenship (erosion of the principle of national solidarity) Widening the scope of eligibility for benefits to a pan-european level (transnational provision of social services beyond regulation no. 883/2004)
Legal constraints (finances, economic and competition law) Monetary Union and the stability pact create shrinking range of action in the field of national monetary policies and enforce sustainable public (social security) budgets Basic EU freedoms create a creeping erosion of the traditional territoriality principle in social security and healthcare systems Increased price and quality transparency (as a result of the Internal Market and the Euro) sharpens transnational competition in all sectors of social security and between service providers Supranational competition law applies wherever social insurance transactions have a clear market dimension and a business approach EU concept of social services of general interest (SSGI) generates a new debate about liberalisation in all traditional public service offers (including the statutory social insurance and the provision of healthcare)
New challenges for national systems and actors Economic, financial and employment goals of the EU as well as budget constraints and the Euro force to cuts in public expenditure / convergence of systems Growing comparability of national systems (regarding sustainability, quality and price) involves public debates about the performance of each system and thus creates a transnational justification constraint for national legislators National structures in the public and private sector are subject to common challenges of European SSGI approach (public sector faces partial deregulation, private sector will see more regulation) Structural reforms towards more public-private-mix solutions; social protection to be viewed as a transnational (virtual) net-structure Transnational dialogue and co-operation must be extended in order to achieve better political participation at EU level and workable solutions for all parties involved