The La Hulpe Declaration: A Blueprint for Europe's Social Future

Member States and the EU institutions signed the "La Hulpe Declaration on the Future of the European Pillar of Social Rights" during a High-Level Conference on 16th April 2024. The 16-page document underlines the importance of the Pillar as a compass for the future social Europe and should serve as a blueprint for EU’s social policy agenda for 2024 to 2029. 

With this declaration, Member States reaffirm their resolve “in the pursuit of a social Europe” and commit themselves to implementing 43 measures implementing the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, ranging from strengthening social protections and enhancing working conditions, to improving access to education, ensuring fair wages, and promoting gender equality. 

Its effectiveness in achieving these goals, however, remains uncertain. Two weeks after the signature of the declaration, the Parliament and the Council adopted the EU’s new fiscal rules „which reintroduce austerity and make it far more difficult to implement the social measures agreed [in the declaration],” as ETUC Secretary General Esther Lynch noted.

While the declaration was supported by most EU member states, Sweden and Austria, along with the employers' association BusinessEurope, declined to back the initiative. This opposition highlights significant tensions within the EU regarding the future direction of labor market and social policies. The employers in particular, regretted that “the La Hulpe declaration remains ambiguous on the fact that, in our EU social-market economy social progress can only be based on economic progress”.