The first day of the kick-off seminar ‘Competitiveness with a social dimension: workers' priorities for the future of Europe’ has been successfully completed. After the official opening by Luc van den Brande, President of EZA, and Mara Erdelj, President of Bofos, participants enjoyed a varied programme with input from politics, trade unions and academia.
High-level speakers included Siegfried Mureșan, Member of the European Parliament from Romania, Beate Andrees, Assistant Director-General of the ILO, Antoine Kase, Director in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, and Dr Ivica Lazović, Director of the Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes.
The speakers agreed that fair wages, secure contracts and high health and safety standards are essential criteria for job quality and thus for genuine competitiveness. They also emphasised that competitiveness and social cohesion are inextricably linked and that it is precisely this balance that characterises the European approach.
After a short coffee break, in-depth contributions were made by Marco Buti, Professor of Economic and Monetary Integration at the European University Institute and former Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission, and Jan Franco, International Secretary of ACV-Bie Int.
Buti made it clear: ‘Competitiveness = productivity, not external surpluses. Europe faces a structural competitiveness gap: lower productivity growth than the US/China, higher energy costs, slower scale-up of innovation.’ Jan Franco highlighted that social issues in Europe are often reduced to skills development and labour market participation, while more comprehensive social rights and strategies to combat inequality are neglected.
The goals are clear: close innovation gaps, develop a roadmap for decarbonisation and competitiveness, reduce dependencies and strengthen security.
With many new ideas and a solid common basis, the participants are now looking forward to an equally informative second day of the seminar.
However, before the day ended with a joint dinner, the participants toasted the 80th birthday of the EZA president.
Anyone who is interested and would like to find out more can look forward to a detailed report on the conference in the upcoming EZA magazine.
EZA Kick-off Seminar 2025 in Belgrade
