Frans Timmermans: “It is our moral duty to formulate the need for a Social Europe”
Why do we need to build a social Europe? Frans Timmermans explained it in his 4th Facebook Live chat with EU citizens. He touched upon several aspects of the future of Europe, and even talked about his love of football and cycling…
Pedro from Portugal, Ignacio from Spain, Zoé from France, Astrid from the Netherlands are among the hundreds of citizens who tuned in with their questions to First Vice-President Frans Timmermans during his fourth Facebook Live chat on the European Commission’s Facebook page. This ongoing dialogue with citizens reflects a radical change in the relationship between politicians and voters, as illustrated by Mr Timmermans himself:
We are no longer in a situation where I can go to you and tell you: ‘Trust me, I have got it, I will take care of it’. It doesn’t work like that anymore.
You’ll say to us every day: ‘Show us that you are able to do what needs to be done’. I like that development, it creates a much more equal relationship and it means that you have much more influence on your future, if you want.
This is also the principle behind the White Paper on the Future of Europe:
Instead of prescribing how that future should be, we offered five possible scenarios. And we offered citizens and member states a dialogue on these scenarios: Why don’t you tell in what direction you want Europe to go?
On Wednesday 31 May the key question on the social dimension of Europe came from Stijn (Belgium).
The current draft of the Social Pillar doesn’t really create a social union with hard legislative power. Why the EC doesn’t open the debate to add a real social pact with the member states in order that social standards can be really enforced?
“Although the Treaties do not give us specific competencies, we have the intellectual and moral duty to formulate the need for a social Europe”, replied Mr Timmermans. He added:
We need a debate for member states to understand that only a social policy that is formulated in a way that is consistent across the European Union avoids the risk of social dumping.
Read also: 5 points to take away from the reflection paper on social dimension of Europe
M. Timmermans concluded with sports prompted by questions from two Dutch viewers: he is confident about his favourite football club’s future (Roda JC) and praised the triumph of the cyclist Tom Dumoulin at the last Giro d’Italia: “He has all he needs to be successful in the Tour the France in the future”, he said.
Read about the previous Facebook Live sessions and follow Mr. Timmermans on Facebook
