The Tripartite Social Summit is the highest-level EU social forum where the leaders of the European Union, the head and the social minister of the EU presiding member state, as well as representatives of the subsequent EU Council Presidencies and of employers' and workers' associations discuss ways to address unemployment problems, reduce poverty and social inequality, and improve the position of workers. At the forum, President Dalia Grybauskaitė represented the EU Council.
According to the President, to deal with the consequences of the crisis in Europe we must promote economic growth and job creation. This task requires immediate reforms. However, the President noted, it is also necessary to protect the most socially vulnerable members of the society.
"People in the European Union are waiting for rapid solutions. While promoting Europe's economy and competitiveness, we must not forget the most vulnerable members of our society. The ES social policy must go hand in hand with economic policy. Only through collaborative effort and joint responsibility we - the member states, social partners and EU institutions - can meet people's expectations," the President said.
The discussion involved the Commission-proposed measures to strengthen the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union. It is suggested to create a special Social Scoreboard which based on the five indices - unemployment rate, the number of inactive youth, and the household income and expenditure ratio - could help assess the true social situation in a country and assist in drafting recommendations as to the reforms a country should implement.
Measures include the strengthening of a dialogue with social partners, boosting their engagement in the decision-making process and implementation of a range of initiatives to reduce unemployment, including the Apprenticeship Declaration, the Youth Guarantee Initiative, etc.
The President further underlined that EU members must assume full responsibility for failures in domestic policies, show strong political will and implement critical reforms without any delay.
The Tripartite Social Summit meets twice a year, before the spring European Council and the autumn European Council.
