March 28. 2024. 11:08

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Spanish EU presidency to push for improved minimum income, minister says


The upcoming Spanish EU Council presidency will push to improve monitoring of national minimum income schemes, Spain’s minister for inclusion and social security José Luis Escrivá told EURACTIV, adding that the EU should move towards a minimum income directive.

The EU Commission proposed the Council recommendation on minimum income last September, calling on member states to make sure they have adequate benefit schemes in place by 2030, coupled with labour market reintegration mechanisms.

“The next step is to monitor how this recommendation has been implemented, to make it more concrete and specific and to provide a benchmark to test against the progress made by various countries,” the minister told EURACTIV in an interview.

As social policy is a competence of national governments, the Commission did not put forward a legislative proposal, despite various calls for a binding framework by civil society organisations and EU lawmakers pointing to the limited effectiveness of voluntary measures.

In March, the European Parliament adopted a report which included a call on the European Commission to consider a potential directive on the matter, with MEPs from the Greens, Left, and S&D groups saying that a recommendation alone would fall short of the EU’s goal to lift 15 million people out of poverty by 2030.

EU lawmakers call for minimum income schemes set above poverty line

EU lawmakers called on member states on Wednesday to ensure that national minimum income schemes are set above poverty thresholds and urged the European Commission to consider a directive in that respect, though centrist and right-wing deputies did not support the initiative.

A gradual process

“I think it needs to be a gradual process if we want to be realistic,” the Spanish minister told EURACTIV, adding that while the long-term goal is a directive, the immediate focus should be on making the recommendation “more concrete and specific”.

“When all this has happened, further reflection can take place in order to possibly move to a directive,” he said.

In his view, such a binding framework could build on the “success” of the directive on minimum wage adopted in October 2022, which aims to lift minimum wages in member states and strengthen collective bargaining.

The move towards a directive on minimum income is supported by other member states, such as Germany.

During a debate on minimum income schemes on Thursday (20 April), German state secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs Rolf Schmachtenberg said the “government [is] open for discussion to move forward with a directive at the European level.”

However, other EU countries and many centrist and right MEPs oppose such a measure, pointing out that social policy falls under the competence of member states, meaning a legislative framework is not likely to come in the near future.

Improving the recommendation

In the meantime, Escrivá said the Spanish presidency of the Council will focus on improving the recommendation on minimum income, focusing on establishing a benchmark and improving take-up levels, which remain low in many EU countries.

According to the Commission, around 20% of jobless people at risk of poverty in the EU are not eligible to receive any benefit and between 30% to 50% of those eligible do not take up this support, due to excessive bureaucracy and lack of awareness around the instrument.

The Spanish presidency will also work to foster exchanges between member states and will organise a high-level meeting in November focusing on minimum income and social investment, the minister said.

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Boosting social investments

“I think it’s time at the European level to upgrade the status of social investment at the same level of other investments,” he said, adding that “when you have evidence that social investment is going to pay off it needs to be prioritised.”

In his view, there should be more focus on fiscal frameworks for social investments.

“I think it’s important that this discussion that probably is not challenged too much at the level of [social policy] ministers, [and] is also brought to the attention and with the discussion with finance and economic ministers,” he said, pointing to the “high returns” on certain social investments.

Asked whether he sees other countries sharing the same view, he said, “I think there is a growing consensus in this area.”

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