The Competitiveness Compass and the draft Joint Employment Report 2025 – What’s in it for Europe’s Roma?
The Autumn Package kick-starting the European Semester 2025 was released by the European Commission in two batches, on 24 November and on 18 December 2024. While the latter batch included the usual draft Joint Employment Report, none contained the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey. This is the first ever since the establishment of the European Semester in 2011. There was only a brief accompanying communication of two and a half pages. Instead, the European Commission put forward a new document, entitled the Competitiveness Compass, on 29 January 2025.
The Competitiveness Compass is a programmatic framing document aimed to “guide the work in the coming five years” and listing “priority actions to reignite economic dynamism in Europe.” This approach means that most – if not all – other policy areas, including social and environmental policies, are subsumed to competitiveness goals. The vision seems to seek competitiveness at any price since it outlines no red lines or areas to be spared in this quest. The lack of attention to social issues is a significant step back even from the previous Annual Sustainable and Growth Surveys (itself primarily an economic document), and the narrative of the Competitiveness Compass leaves little doubt as to the low priority assigned by this Commission to equality and inclusion.
There was also no place for Roma, ethnic minorities, racism, or discrimination anywhere in the Competitiveness Compass. This is another missed opportunity compared to the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey where, more often than not, the Roma were mentioned, or at the very least there was a commitment to the Union of Equality – also absent from the current document. The Compass includes one sentence about taking pride in Europe’s anti-discrimination laws, a sentiment that many human rights organisations would like to question. Vulnerable groups are only mentioned once in the entire text.
The document features a small section on social fairness, which prioritises skills and jobs. Moreover, social aspects are viewed exclusively as an enabler of competitiveness rather than a goal in themselves. The European Pillar of Social Rights (Social Pillar) is mentioned once from the perspective of its role in shaping a competitive Europe. There is some positive language on quality jobs, adequate wages, inclusive labour markets and the welfare state, as well as references to welcome initiatives like the EU Job Quality Roadmap, the Affordable Housing Plan, and the EU Affordable Energy Action Plan – but no wording on the EU’s upcoming first Anti-Poverty Strategy. However, the overall approach is one of instrumentalising social policies for economic gains, where people are seen as bargaining chips in a race of global business interests.
The Competitiveness Compass also announces some very worrisome structural changes to EU processes and funds, such as aligning the new MFF with competitiveness objectives, raising great concerns that vital social funding will be cut or redirected. A new and streamlined European Semester is meant to focus on reforms and investments for competitiveness, but once again the worry is that social monitoring through the Semester might disappear or at least be significantly downsized.
We are very pleased to see Europe’s Roma acknowledged multiple times in the Joint Employment Report concerning issues such as their heightened risk of experiencing poverty and social exclusion (including that of children), early school leaving, and difficult access to services and the labour market. Additionally, strong links are made to the EU Strategic Framework on Roma Equality, Inclusion, and Participation as part of the Union of Equality. Very disappointingly, though, there is no mention of antigypsyism or racism and only four references to discrimination.
The references to civil dialogue are rather poor, as the Competitiveness Compass does not mention civil society, while social partners are mentioned three times. The accompanying communication of the second batch of documents of the Autumn Package includes one explicit reference to civil society about increasing ownership of the Country Reports. Finally, the Joint Employment Report fares much better, with multiple references to the role of civil society organisations in delivering impactful and inclusive policies.
ERGO Network will continue to advocate for a stronger focus on Roma rights and inclusion in the framework for these processes and for better synergies between the European Semester and the EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion, and Participation, the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan, and the Union of Equality.
For more information on ERGO Network’s work on the European Semester, please contact Senior Policy Adviser Amana Ferro – a.ferro@staging.ergonetwork.org
