EPP Group calls for responsibility and solidarity in the EU

During the 2016 edition of the European Parliamentary Week this week, the European Parliament welcomed national MPs from across Europe for joint debates with MEPs. Two EPP Group Members, Esther de Lange from the Netherlands and Sofia Ribeiro from Portugal, participated in the first session on 16 February, the interparliamentary meeting on the European Semester Cycles 2015/2016.

Dialogue with national parliaments

The meeting provided an opportunity to debate the recently proposed changes to the European Semester process, an exchange of information on best practices in implementing the Semester cycles, and to strengthen cooperation in order to scrutinise the actions of the executives at national and European levels within the framework of the European Semester cycle.

The dialogue with national parliaments remains of crucial importance to support economic recovery through structural reforms, sound public finances and responsible investments Esther de Lange

"Many European countries are still recovering from years of economic hardship. Economic growth is still slow and fragile and too many citizens still face enormous difficulties in their daily lives. This is why the dialogue with national parliaments remains of crucial importance to support economic recovery through structural reforms, sound public finances and responsible investments", stated Esther de Lange MEP, Vice-Chairwoman of the EPP Group responsible for Relations with National Parliaments.

Employment and social aspects to generate sustainable growth

"We are confronted with the massive challenge of migration and refugees coming to Europe. If we want to remain on the path towards sustainable growth we need to start generating quality jobs by reforming our economies and investing in the human capital of our citizens. We also need to urgently update employment legislation with tools to fight undeclared work", stated Sofia Ribeiro MEP, the EPP Group Rapporteur on the Employment and Social Aspects in the Annual Growth Survey 2016.

If we want to remain on the path towards sustainable growth we need to start generating quality jobs by reforming our economies and investing in the human capital of our citizens Sofia Ribeiro

De Lange welcomed the contributions by the European Commission for a strong European Monetary Union which can implement structural reforms, achieve sustainable public finances and deliver investments whereas Ribeiro called on all participants in the European Semester to consider all relevant indicators while evaluating countries' performance, namely the activity rate, youth employment and long-term unemployment rates.

We support a more intensive involvement of social partners by the European Commission at a European level as well de Lange and Ribeiro

Furthermore, both EPP Group Members called for the meaningful involvement of social partners in the European Semester: "Many of our social market economies in the Member States are built on a structural interaction between lawmakers, unions and employers in the interest of economic growth and jobs. We therefore support a more intensive involvement of social partners by the European Commission at a European level as well. If we want to regain long term sustainable growth in Europe we need to work with all stakeholders concerned."

On 17 February, the Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the European Union will be held as part of the European Parliamentary Week. This gives a framework for debate and exchange of information and best practices in implementing the provisions of the Treaty in order to strengthen cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament and to contribute to ensuring democratic accountability in the area of economic governance and budgetary policy in the EU, particularly in the European Monetary Union, taking into account the social dimension and without prejudice to the competences of EU parliaments.