Towards a European Pillar of Social Rights: Upgrading the EU Social acquis

Abstract

The European Commission has recently launched a ‘European Pillar of Social Rights’. This policy brief contributes to the much-needed broad reflection on ‘social Europe’ initiated by the EU Pillar consultation which will conclude in March 2017. It develops a focused and realistic fourfold proposal to upgrade the social acquis by adopting (1) a Directive for the Protection of Dependent Workers, ensuring the application of the existing EU social and labour law measures to all dependent workers (2) a Protection against Precarious Work Directive, (3) a Directive for the Enforcement of Workers Rights and (4) a Declaration safeguarding the integrity of the social acquis as an EU floor for worker protection.

Keywords: EU Pillar of Social Rights, Social Europe, Social Acquis