The EFN participated to “The European Union and the Pillar of Social Rights” Workshop which is part of the Just EU and Me project, funded by The European Union’s Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) Programme (2021-2027).
The project consists in a transnational capacity-building programme led by ActionAid which aims at providing young people and representatives of youth associations with knowledge, skills, and opportunities to improve EU and Member States’ policies implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and addressing social justice issues.
The main focus of this workshop was the European Pillar of Social Rights Actions Plan which aims to put in place concrete actions for reaching the EU ambitious goals by 2030.
Marco Cilento (ETUC) highlighted the importance to work with EU institutions for finding global solutions and elaborate on the 20 Principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The main focus on the working-life balance above all for women, will be key. The focus on the nursing profession will be key as 92% of the nurses are women. Marco explained that the EU social scoreboard aims to improve the collaboration and coordination among members’ states in favour of job supporting, working-life balance: “It is key now to speed up the process and support member states which cannot go forward alone. We need to change the interpretation the pillars in order to understand how to proceed and update the list of priorities.”
3 key priority areas identified:
- More and better jobs;
- Skills and equality;
- Social protection and inclusion
These 3 key areas are essential for nurses and for the entire healthcare ecosystem. In a rapidly changing world, new skills and competences are needed, above all, in the healthcare sector in which nurses represent the majority of the workforce. Upskilling and reskilling nurses means create a more resilient healthcare system able of facing future crisis.
The European Pillar of Social Rights represents a great opportunity in terms of funds for making the difference. Don’t miss it!