On 8 February 2023, 32 European sectoral social partners organisations urged the Commission to come up with a solution that ensures that the necessary financial and political support is made available to the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committees (SSDCs).
Indeed, despite, the fact that the “Communication on Strengthening social dialogue in the European Union : harnessing its full potential for managing fair transitions”, published by the European Commission on 25 January 2023, took into account several concerns expressed by the Social Partners , the European Sectoral Social Partners have serious concerns about the alternative Commission approaches as regards the future organization and financing of their SSDCs.
The main concern of the social partners is the idea of a multi-annual “project based” financing which could endanger both the autonomy of the social partners and their capacity to come up with meaningful outcomes.
Ceemet and their partners will not accept any proposal based on a project-based financing as:
- It represents, especially for the smallest organisations, a huge administrative burden, and in the long-run the end of social dialogue.
- It represents an extremely rigid and uncertain framework which does not allow the social partners to adapt their initiatives to a fast changing environment and to define an efficient planning of their work programme.
- It could imply an allocation of funds based on the foreseen outcome of the social dialogue leading to less autonomy of the social partners.
For the signatories of the joint letter,
“If social dialogue is a political priority of the European Commission, there is an urgent need to ensure that the necessary financial and political support is made available to the sectoral social partners
without increasing the burden on them.”