Resolution submitted by: JEF Political Commission 2 – Internal European Affairs
Adopted by the Federal Committee in Skopje on 25 March 2018.
Amended and re-adopted and amended by the online Federal Committee (FC Home) on 25 October 2020.
Amended and re-adopted by the Federal Committee in Malta on 19 March 2023.
Amended and re-adopted by the European Congress in Strasbourg on 16 November 2025.

JEF Europe,

• Recognising the need to build a common European social policy able to lead to a common economic plan for sustainable development and social welfare in Europe to improve European social cohesion with an end goal of eradication of poverty and promotion of increased well-being of all living in Europe;

• Recognising that such a common European social policy needs to be financed through a larger and federal European budget raised through genuine own resources rather than national contributions;

• Concerned by the persistent institutional barriers which leave the process of legislative convergence on social issues as an exclusive competence of Member States, with no regulatory powers on the States failing to fulfill their responsibilities;

• Noting further an evident disparity between economic governance, where sanctions are clearly provided, and social governance where there is no binding legislation;

• Alarmed by the persistence of horizontal and vertical inequalities – aggravated by the previous, current and future economic crises – among European citizens and Member States;

• Deeply concerned about growing and persistent income inequalities, along with employment and pay gaps between men and women and difficulties for more vulnerable groups, such as older workers, migrants and people with disabilities;

• Noting with concern the high number of 93.3 million people in the EU or 21% of the population (2024) living at risk of poverty or social exclusion, as well as more than one fifth of households with dependent children living at risk of poverty or social exclusion;

• Recalling that the current economic challenges pose an even greater threat to those living in or at risk of poverty or social exclusion with a risk of pushing families to cross-generational poverty;

• Deeply concerned about the rapidly growing youth unemployment rate that reached 14.6% in the European Union;

• Taking into consideration the growing flexibility of employment in the EU labour market, which fosters job creation but has also made employment more precarious, impacting especially younger generations and lower wage sectors;

• Taking note of the increase in voluntary as well as non-voluntary “non‑standard” forms of employment, e.g. platform employment and other digitally mediated forms of employment, zero-hour contracts and short-term contracts, which have contributed to the erosion of forms of workers’ protection normally guaranteed with traditional forms of labour, as well as contributed to slower development of pension benefits;

• Noting with deep concern the persistence of modern forms of slavery within the European Union, including forced labour, labour exploitation, human trafficking, and undeclared work, particularly affecting migrant, seasonal, and platform workers, despite existing EU legislation prohibiting such practices;

• Emphasising the importance of the free movement of people and Schengen Agreement in relation to the job security of cross-border workers, migrant workers, posted workers and other kind of persons working outside of their place of residence or origin, as well as the right of these workers to enjoy the same fundamental and non-derogable social and economic rights as the rest of the working population;

• Recognising that climate change and the loss of biodiversity and natural resources is a contributing factor to growing socio-economic inequalities;

• Underlining the need for strong federal institutions on the European level in order to manage supranational challenges;

• Hopeful about the reinforced attention to the social dimension shown by the commitments made in the European Pillar of Social Rights, but at the same time regretting that little action has been made for these commitments to be put in practice;

• Observing with concern the introduction by some countries of restrictions to the right to strike;

• Noting that representation of EU workers in multinational companies needs to become more effective as despite the recast of the European Works Council Directive in 2009, the number of European Works Councils and quality of information on (transnational) company restructuring for most EWCs has not increased significantly;

• Recognising the need of equitably distributed prosperity, with appropriate measures of employment protection and welfare, as a fundamental condition to relaunch the European project with the support of European citizens;

• Reaffirming the phrase “equal pay for equal work at the same place” that should be applied in the Single Market;

• Noting with concern the worrying development of economic and social insecurity affecting especially young and low-educated people, families and migrants;

• Recognising the current impossibility for sex workers to practice their profession safely and legally without discriminatory structures;

• Noting with concern that EU citizens experience unequal access to support in times of hardship, both economic and social, due to differing levels and models of social protection across Member States, which ought to be harmonised throughout the Union;

• Recognising the financial and social struggle that European students face while studying in their home countries as well as in other European countries due to different subsidies and social welfare models across the Member States;

• Noting with concern that rising tuition fees and student loan dependency in several Member States are creating long-term debt burdens, widening social inequality, and restricting equal access to higher education;

• Concerned about how social structures hinder the equal division of labor between parents, placing a disproportionate economic burden on women in particular;

• Noting with concern that the enforcement of European labour law remains inconsistent across Member States and that social partners are often insufficiently involved in shaping EU-level labour and wage policies, undermining workers’ rights and effective social dialogue;

• Noting with concern that millions of Europeans, particularly young people and low-income households, still lack access to basic banking services or affordable credit, and that insufficient debt counselling leaves many trapped in financial insecurity and exclusion;

• Noting with alarm that homelessness has increased by more than 70% in the past decade across the EU, with over 895,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night, and recognising that temporary shelter models have proven insufficient to ensure long-term social inclusion;

• Noting with concern that cultural participation in the EU remains highly unequal, with Eurostat data showing that only 38% of low-income Europeans attend cultural events compared to 86% of higher-income groups, and that one in three EU citizens have no regular access to libraries, museums, or public cultural infrastructure;

• Noting with deep concern that more than one in three women in the EU have experienced physical or sexual violence, while shelter capacity remains critically insufficient – with only about 35% of the minimum number of refuge places recommended by the Istanbul Convention available across Member States.

JEF Europe therefore,

1. Asks for a binding European framework of social rights as a first step towards a European welfare state and as an essential element of an integrated European labour market, given that integrated economies and increased labour mobility also call for coordinated forms of social protection;

2. Demands Europe-wide eradication of poverty and social exclusion through setting a special focus and targeted tools;

3. Demands that the EU and European countries take initiative in removing all forms of labour discrimination, and that initiatives are introduced to promote the employment of people facing difficulties in accessing employment;

4. Requests that a sufficient level of protection for workers be ensured across the Union, by consistently enforcing existing European laws, and – when necessary – improving the coherence and effectiveness of the European legal framework on social matters, in particular when it concerns multinationals and cross-border businesses;

5. Requests further investment in human development through strengthening the budgetary capacity of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), with particular focus on young people that are unemployed or just entering the labour market;

6. Calls for the further strengthening of youth-focused measures under the ESF+, ensuring adequate support for young people entering the labour market, including access to unemployment protection, social shock absorbers, equal working conditions, and a balanced framework between workers’ rights, employer responsibilities, flexibility, and social security;

7. Encourages the European Commission and Member States to use ESF+ youth programs to design and implement effective policies addressing absolute poverty, relative poverty, and in-work poverty among young people, particularly those who are unemployed or in precarious employment;

8. Calls for the EU and European countries to continue and further develop social empowerment initiatives for disadvantaged and marginalised groups, including young people and people with disabilities;

9. Demands a ban on unpaid labour in form of unpaid internships and traineeships as well as guaranteeing equal enjoyment of fundamental labour rights and fair labour conditions in internships and traineeships;

10. Requests the EU to ban zero-hour contracts and guarantee fair contracts with social security rights to all workers including platform and gig workers, especially youth entering the labor market;

11. Calls for the establishment of a European Anti-Slavery Directive ensuring binding minimum standards on the prevention, detection, and prosecution of forced labour and exploitation, with an EU-level monitoring body empowered to investigate cross-border cases and sanction companies or Member States failing to uphold workers’ fundamental rights;

12. Calls for aid to people in need of monetary benefits, voluntary training services and social inclusion programmes to support the transition period from unemployment to employment refusing coercive forms of work;

13. Calls upon European countries to commit to a long term simplification, harmonisation and reform of social security systems to provide support in rapidly changing life situations, for entrepreneurs, students, people in short time employment, people with children or acting as family caregivers, or anyone else in need, aiming towards a future where social security is automatised, thus draining less resources;

14. Encourages the Commission to explore the establishment of a permanent European unemployment reinsurance scheme, building on the Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) framework, to provide long-term support for Member States facing economic downturns, thereby stabilizing the economic cycle and enhancing workers’ social protection;

15. Demands the creation of a system for coordinating benefits across borders, ensuring automatic recognition of entitlements for mobile citizens, and simplifying access to social protection throughout the Union;

16. Calls for a European roadmap towards a Universal Basic Income (UBI), starting with coordinated pilot schemes across Member States, financed through EU-level resources, and indexed to cost-of-living (CPI), to guarantee every resident a stable income floor regardless of employment status and to reduce poverty and social exclusion within the Union;

17. Demands the EU and its Member States take decisive action to close the pay gap;

18. Suggests an EU-wide equal pay certification scheme obliging medium and large employers to demonstrate pay equity, with audits and sanctions for non-compliance;

19. Calls for a binding European living wage framework, building on the Minimum Wage Directive, to establish enforceable standards indexed to the real cost of living across Member States, ensuring fair pay and ending in-work poverty;

20. Calls for full European compliance with the minimum age set in ILO Convention 138 at 18 for work which is likely to jeopardise the health or safety of young people and ensuring special protection for young workers;

21. Stresses the importance for employers of adhering to minimum requirements for occupational safety and health, as well as providing a basic level of medical care and mental well-being supporting services, of course ensuring the confidentiality of patient data;

22. Recommends for European countries to strengthen the legislative framework which requires employers to ensure the health and medical fitness of workers at their workplaces, including for remote work;

23. Encourages institutionalised tripartite negotiations at EU level, ensuring social partners co-shape wage, safety, and working-time directives;

24. Requests the European Labour Authority be given a mandate to ensure correct application of European labour law and to fight against violations, fraud and abuse by proposing sanctions on Member States in case of a failure to comply with their obligations;

25. Asks for the European Union to make sex work legal and regulated as a profession that has its own work safety, legal and financial framework all over the Union;

26. Calls for the European Union Member States to provide harmonised social benefits and subsidies tied to cost-of-living (CPI) for students all around the Union;

27. Urges Member States to engage in enhanced cooperation on social issues or social compacts, following the example of the Schengen agreements, in order to achieve better integration among those countries with similar social standards and avoid the risk of social dumping;

28. Stresses the importance of an easy access to public education, ensuring free education opportunities and the recognition of skills and knowledge acquired through non-formal learning;

29. Calls for a European-wide plan to support the education of disadvantaged people and for the promotion of lifelong learning;

30. Demands the European Union to phase out tuition fees in public higher education and increase Erasmus+ grants to match real living costs;

31. Calls for extension of the EU Work–Life Balance Directive toward fully equal, individual, and paid parental leave for all parents, as well as introducing initiatives such as the baby box and child benefits across the Union;

32. Calls for European countries to set up plans for ensuring fair retirement conditions for young and future generations in an ageing continent, and to introduce a Single Market for retirement benefits to ensure development of pensions also when working in a different jurisdiction;

33. Encourages the development of Europe-wide trade unions in order to become a true bargaining power and to establish adequate instruments for the protection of workers in an ever more globalised world where the transnational dimension of business is on the rise;

34. Encourages further strengthening European Works Councils by implementing mechanisms of fast, imminent evaluations, providing answers to addressing possible issues of the newest amendments (October 2025) of the 2009 EWC directive;

35. Requests an EU-level childcare guarantee ensuring access to affordable, high-quality early-childhood education as part of the European Child Guarantee;

36. Calls for an EU directive ensuring access to basic banking services and debt counselling, especially for youth and low-income households;

37. Calls for the EU to establish a Housing First framework, encouraging Member States to guarantee permanent housing as a starting point for social inclusion, supported by ESF+ and cohesion funds;

38. Proposes the inclusion of “access to culture”, including extensive library network, in the European Pillar of Social Rights, recognising cultural participation as a social right, not a luxury;

39. Demands that the EU Gender-Based Violence Directive be expanded to guarantee minimum shelter coverage and free legal aid in all Member States;

40. Calls for a European Basic Services Guarantee ensuring universal access to essential public services – housing, healthcare, energy, digital connectivity, and education – as non-negotiable social rights of Union citizenship;

41. Demands that a common European Social Policy forms the base of a federal social union with proper resources, democratic instruments, and concrete tools for its implementation;

42. Calls for a European welfare state financed with an enlarged European budget independent from Member State contributions, funded by substantial and genuine own resources, based on a EU-wide system of taxation.