On Friday, February 3, 2023 the European Movement International’s held an online workshop entitled ‘The European Union and the Pillar of Social Rights‘ on Friday, February 3, 2023. The event was attended by 146 participants from 14 EU countries.

This workshop was part of the Just EU and Me project, a transnational capacity-building programme led by ActionAid which aims at providing young people and representatives of youth associations with knowledge, skills, and opportunities for actively participating in developing recommendations to improve EU and Member States’ policies implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and addressing social justice issues such as access to education, gender equality, equal opportunities, etc.  

Agenda: 

9.00 – 9.05 Opening remarks

9.05 – 10.30 EU decision-making process, presented by Federico Terreni, Policy and Advocacy Manager, European Movement International 

• Presentation of the EU  

• The role of civil society in the EU processes 

10.30 – 10.45 Break 

10.45 – 11.45 Presentation of the European Pillar of Social Rights principles, its Action plan and targets 

Marco Cilento, Head of Institutional Policy, European Trade Union Confederation 

Silvana Roebstorf, Policy Officer, DG EMPL, European Commission

11:45 – 12:45 Breakout sessions 

1. Focus on EPSR 1 – Education, training and lifelong learning  

Brikena Xhomaqui, Director of the Lifelong Learning Platform 

2. Focus on EPSR 2 – Gender equality 

Jéromine Andolfatto, Policy and Campaigns Officer, European Women’s Lobby 

3. Focus on EPSR 3 – Equal opportunities 

Jessica Nguyen, Policy and advocacy manager, Youth rights, European Youth Forum

12.45 – 14.00 Lunch break 

14.00 – 15.30 Discussion: Expert Views on Social Rights within the EU

Moderator: Joe Lynam, Journalist

• Andriana Sukova, Deputy Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission;
• Liina Carr, Confederal Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation;
• Elizabeth Kuiper, Associate Director and Head of the Social Europe and Wellbeing programme, European Policy Centre; 
• Alessia Sebillo, Executive Director, Diesis Network
• Giuseppe Palmisano, Former-President of the ECSR, Council of Europe
  

Besides this event, other workshops will be available in 2023 and 2024 on the theory of change methodology, solutions journalism, media literacy, and countering disinformation. 
 
JUST EU and ME project was funded by the European Union’s Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) Programme (2021-2027). 
 
The project is implemented by seven European organisations: ActionAid Italia (Italy), International Initiatives for Cooperation Galicia (Spain), Foundation of Alternative Educational Initiatives (Poland), International Initiatives for Cooperation (Bulgaria), Nordic Diaspora Forum (Sweden), Transitions (Czech Republic) and European Movement International (Belgium).