On 9 Juin 2021, EFEE attended the Liaison Forum of the European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), which took place online. The Liaison Forum brings together EU sectoral social partners for exchanging good practices across sectors and following developments in EU policy making with regards to employment and social affairs.

On this occasion, the Liaison Forum was entirely dedicated to the upcoming review of the European sectoral social dialogue. The Commission provided participants with more information regarding the questionnaire, which was launched on 12 Mai and has been sent out to EFEE members in the meantime. In this regard, the Commission urged all sectoral social partners to provide them with as much facts and figures in order to systematically analyse the current status of EU sectoral social dialogue. Furthermore, social partners were invited to be as creative as possible in their improvements or solutions to strengthen this process to DG EMPL. Subsequently, participants were provided with a timeline of the review, which indicates that a consultation of social partners and technical seminars will be organized in Octobre-Novembre 2021 to gather more input on this topic. Finally, the complete review report will be launched in 2022.

The Liaison Forum was closed with an overview of the latest developments in social policy and social dialogue. The final highlight of the meeting included the notification that starting from 1 Juillet 2021, DG EMPL will go through some structural reconstructions. Most importantly, it was noted that a new directorate will be responsible for social dialogue, under the guidance of new director Stefan Olsson.

For more details, please contact isaline.ossieur@educationemployers.eu