My plenary speech on Social Europe: making life affordable, protecting jobs, wages and health for all
Our social model is under pressure.
The digital transition – AI and platform work – has exposed the weaknesses of a regulatory framework that is decades out of date.
This is not an abstract debate: it is a crisis affecting millions of Europeans.
Young people are increasingly caught in cycles of precarious jobs and minimal social protection, while corporate profits are rising at their expense.
We must confront this reality and take concrete action.
We currently observe an excessive fetishization of innovation. But we must ensure that technological progress benefits society as a whole.
This means establishing binding digital labour standards to protect platform workers and instituting strict oversight of algorithmic decision-making to ensure it does not undermine fair labour practices.
We also need targeted investments in education and retraining programs to prepare our workforce for the jobs of tomorrow.
Moreover, we must tackle the concentration of power in the tech sector.
We must ensure the full implementation of the DSA and further legislate to curb monopolistic practices that distort our economy and exacerbate inequalities.
The cost of inaction is clear: we risk not only the erosion of workers’ rights but the unravelling of our European social model.
Europe must act! We must legislate!
