Making Europe Social and Just

Helfried Carl in conversation with Evelyn Regner and Andreas Babler

Making Europe Social and Just

Globalisation and European integration are making the fight for workers' rights beyond national borders increasingly important. Relying on national successes leads to a political dead end. The pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine have highlighted Europe's dependence and shown that it was a mistake to let the global market regulate everything. Neoliberal austerity programmes in recent decades have caused a lot of damage and forced the southern European countries into a deep recession.

Elections to the European Parliament will be held in June 2024 - the only direct elections at European level - and the EU Commission will be replaced as a result. Evelyn Regner, Vice-President of the European Parliament: „Much has been achieved in this legislative period: the Pay Transparency Act, which gives men and women the same pay for the same work; the Women on Boards Act, which breaks through the glass ceiling and abolishes the unofficial quota for men on supervisory boards; the law on EU-wide minimum wages, which is adapted to the wage levels in the respective EU member states and strengthens collective bargaining. Some things are on the home straight: the flagship project that will make our internal market better once and for all is the law on sustainable supply chains in the EU.„

SPÖ leader Andi Babler is committed to the EU as a peace project and is also fighting for a Europe that serves its citizens instead of acting in the interests of economic lobbyists and large corporations. He wants to ensure that companies uphold workers' rights, finally pay their fair share of taxes and no longer benefit from tax loopholes.

The European Union must fundamentally continue to develop in the direction of a social union and organise its legal and financial system in such a way that sufficient investment in social and ecological transformation is made possible. What are the strategies on this path and what are the stumbling blocks?

Andreas Babler, Mayor of the municipality of Traiskirchen, member of the Federal Council and Federal Party Chairman of the Austrian Social Democratic Party.

Evelyn Regner, Member of the European Parliament since 2009, S&D Group, Vice-President of the EP since 2022

Helfried Carl, Diplomat, since 2019 partner of the company he co-founded Innovation in Politics Institute in Vienna. From 2014-2019 he was Austria's Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, before that he was Head of Office and Foreign Policy Advisor to National Council President Barbara Prammer.