Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Employment and Social Policy: Media Advisory

Met dank overgenomen van Bulgaars voorzitterschap Europese Unie 1e helft 2018 (Bulgaars voorzitterschap) i, gepubliceerd op vrijdag 13 april 2018.

The informal meeting of EU ministers for employment and social policy (EPSCO) will take place on 17-18 April 2018 in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. The two-day meeting will discuss the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and how they can be applied in order to improve workforce skills and qualifications and ensure equal opportunities and access to the labour market. The delegates will visit the Seventh European Social Entrepreneurship Forum as part of the event.

The meeting will be chaired by Dr Biser Petkov, Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Agenda

17 April 2018 | Tuesday

8:30 - 9:30 Arrivals at the National Palace of Culture, doorsteps and handshake (broadcast live)

9:20 - 9:30 Roundtable (broadcast live)

9:30 - 10:10 Opening plenary (broadcast live)

Dr Biser Petkov, Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria

Ms Marianne Thyssen, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills, and Labour Mobility, European Commission

Mr Heinz Koller, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, International Labour Organisation

Ms Renate Hornung-Draus, Vice-Chair of BusinessEurope's Social Affairs Committee

Ms Valeria Ronzitti, General Secretary of CEEP

Ms Véronique Willems, Secretary General of UEAPME

Mr Luca Visentini, General Secretary of ETUC

10:10 - 10:20 Digital World: Set Apart by Gender

Ms Virginija Langbakk, Director, European Institute for Gender Equality

10:20 - 10:30 Early Childhood Development

Ms Ulrika Hall, Chair of the Social Protection Committee

Working Session 1: Delivering on the principle 1 of the European Pillar of Social Rights: Education, Training and Life-long learning

11:00 - 11:20 Implementation of the Council Recommendation on Upskilling Pathways

Ms Ann Branch, Director, Skills, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission

11:20 - 11:30 Overview of reform activity in Member States

Ms Ilze Zvidrina, Chair of the Employment Committee

11:30 - 12:50 Panel Discussion: New opportunities for upskilling of adults - good practices and future challenges

12:50 - 13:00 Family photo (broadcast live)

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch debate: Contribution of the social dialog towards income growth and the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights

14:30 - 15:40 Panel discussion - continuation

16:00 - 18:00 Future of employment and social policies - high level group

17 April 2018 | Tuesday

Working Session 2: Delivering on the principle 4 of the European Pillar of Social Rights: Active support to employment

9:00 - 9:20 Implementation of the Council Recommendations on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market and the Youth Guarantee - taking stock and future development

Mr Joost Korte, Director General, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission

9:20 - 9:35 State of play of youths and long-term unemployed on the labour market - remaining challenges

Mr Juan Menéndez-Valdés, Director of Eurofound

9:35 - 9:50 Best practices and achieved results on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Bulgaria

Mr Lazar Lazarov, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria

10:20 - 12:40 Panel Discussion: Integration of the youth NEET and the LTU into the labour market - good practices and future challenges

12:40 - 12:50 Closing remarks

Ms Marianne Thyssen, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills, and Labour Mobility, European Commission

12:50 - 13:00 Wrap-up of the working sessions and closing remarks

Dr Biser Petkov, Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria

13:00 - 13:30 Press Conference (broadcast live)

Dr Biser Petkov, Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria

Ms Marianne Thyssen, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills, and Labour Mobility, European Commission

Accreditation information

Accredited journalists can pick up their badges on Monday, 16 April 2018 at the Registration Desk at Entrance B-2 of the National Palace of Culture between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Members of the press arriving in Sofia on the day of the event will be able to get their badges at the same entrance upon their arrival at the National Palace of Culture. Only accredited members of the press will have access to the National Palace of Culture.

Photos and videos

All media opportunities during the event (doorstep statements, handshake, roundtable, press conference) will be streamed live on the Website of the Bulgarian Presidency. Throughout the day, photos and videos will be uploaded in the Photo and Video sections of the Website. All official photos from the event are also available for download in high resolution on the Flickr account of the Bulgarian Presidency. Videos can be downloaded from Vimeo.

Press contacts

In Sofia: Veselin Jelev, [email protected], +359 883 990 247

In Brussels: Elitsa Zlateva, [email protected], +32 476 996 634