We must pursue an upwards convergence of social standards! This would prevent employment and social policies being the first to suffer in the event of economic shock. Harmonised standards could be set, which would ensure protection and prevent social dumping across Europe.

We must introduce decent minimum wages! A fair minimum wage should be established in every member state, either by law or through collective borrowing. This would help prevent in-work poverty and reduce inequalities. At the same time, unfair wage competition and low wages in some countries are one of the major reasons for reduced consumption and investment in Europe.

We must get the youth guarantee up to full speed! This guarantee was set up in 2012 to oversee the functioning of employment services and education systems. But it still requires further efforts to reach full speed and should thus be better monitored within the European Semester. To support its full implementation, an increase of the Youth Employment Initiative’s financing to €21 billion a year should be considered, as well as an extension of its age limit to 30.

We must introduce minimum standards for active labour market policies! This would ensure that these policies provide effective support to find a job - notably guidance and re-training suited to individual needs. We need to stop penalising the unemployed and reducing their rights.

We must reduce the segmentation of labour markets! This should be done by facilitating access to quality employment, without reducing rights. We need to end precarious and zero hour contracts, and to support the upwards convergence towards common labour standards.

We must take measures to reconcile professional and private life! This would boost productivity by supporting workers‘ motivation and health. Investment in quality childcare and elderly care is an important means to enable more women and men to join the labour market.

We must promote diversity and fight discrimination! This should be encouraged via dialogue and actions with trade unions, professional organisations and employers. Protecting LGBTI people or people with migrant background should be a particular focus.

We must have a binding target of narrowing the pay gap by 2% annually! Women are still on average paid less than men, and reducing this gap would be a strong step forward for gender equality. A revised maternity leave directive should guarantee a minimum level of paid leave and protection in the EU.

We must strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining! This should be done through workplace democracy within companies as well as greater social partnership within sectors. It would help to build trust relationships between workers and employers, and support the identification of better models of work organisation enabling initiative and creativity as well as decentralised, situation-adequate, flexible solutions for adapting to changing economic and social conditions.

We must introduce minimum income schemes Europe-wide! This would help reduce poverty and combat inequalities, while also helping to ensure that macro-economic adjustment happens in a socially sensible way.

We must ensure universal access to primary healthcare! This is a social investment that can help to reduce unnecessary recourse to specialist and hospital care, thus lowering health expenses.

We must focus on pre-distribution! High-quality education and social services must be accessible to all. This would strengthen people’s skills and capacities to participate fully in employment and social life from cradle to old age. Combined with robust re-distributional safety nets, a social investment approach helps to strengthen people’s resilience to deal with economic shocks.

We must reform our pension systems! Demographic developments make it unavoidable that some adjustments need to be made to pension systems. While increasing effective retirement ages is important to ensure pension systems‘ sustainability and adequacy, in full respect of national specificities, it is important to calibrate pension reforms in a way to better reflect differences in the arduousness of work across occupations. At the same time, trainings, services and pension system arrangements supporting active ageing need to be promoted, so as to encourage more people to remain economically active beyond their statutory retirement age if they want.

We must tackle the gender pension gap! This could be done by reducing the gender employment and pay gap, and also by better taking account of care activity, whether for women or men.

We must re-orient our pension funds towards long-term investment! Both public and private pension funds should be re-oriented toward investments with a lower risk level. This would prevent both short term financial gambling and contributors’ risk of losing their pensions.

We must limit exemptions to employer social security obligations! To ensure the sustainability of social protection, exemptions to social contributions by companies need to be re-examined. When such exemptions are used, the social system’s budget should be systematically compensated. More progressive formulas for social security contributions may be needed in light of increasing income inequalities.

We must invest in social services! Organisations involved in the social economy can have a hard time accessing finance. Making this access easier would support the creation of jobs, particularly for disadvantaged workers. It would also contribute to the well-being of the entire population and a stronger cohesion.

We must promote the provision of social assistance and advice! Sectors such as strategic planning, consulting services and business incubators can support the further development of the social economy.

We must have a clear legal framework across Europe! More homogenous legislation in Europe would lift barriers to the development of social economy activities.

We must have balanced partnerships between public authorities and social actors! Stronger partnerships could develop more effective ways to provide services to the public and to finance innovation. This would contribute to economic growth and job creation. Stronger partnerships would also strengthen the sharing of practices between the public and private sector.

We must support new entrepreneurial models! New models favouring the reinvestment of profits, the mutualisation of company ownership, and worker participation in company governance should be supported as innovation-friendly ways of doing business.

We must clarify a legal framework for the sharing economy! The sharing economy, which has been made famous by companies like Uber and AirBnB, opens new models of both consumption and provision of services. Nevertheless it poses challenges in terms of compliance with social legislation and tax policies and thus calls for an adequate legal framework to be developed focusing on the commercial aspects of the sharing economy. We need to ensure legal certainty and fair competition for operators, especially with respect to working conditions and taxation.

We must reinforce companies’ corporate social and environmental responsibility! A failure to comply with corporate responsibility commitments should be punished with appropriate sanctions, in particular throughout the supply-chain liability. All companies in a sub-contracting chain should be made potentially liable for environmental or social abuses, even if those happen outside the EU.

We must maintain social partners’ involvement in this journey! To adapt to changing employment patterns and working conditions, social partners’ involvement is essential for a transition to a new productivity and competitiveness model that reinforces rather than weakens social standards and workers protection.