EU urges tougher fight vs poverty, inequality

European Union leaders stressed on Friday (Saturday in Manila) the importance of fighting poverty and inequality as the continent emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, but member-states remain divided about Brussels’ role in rebuilding a fair economy.

The heads of the EU institutions agreed an action plan with stakeholders from labor and civil society, before heading to dinner with most of the 27 member-state leaders ahead of Saturday’s European summit.

“We are going to transform Europe’s economic governance, thanks to this action plan, the model will be more balanced, more fair... a better Europe,” host Antonio Costa, the socialist prime minister of Portugal, declared.

A handful of leaders, notably German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, will attend only by videoconference.

In what was dubbed the “social summit,” the meetings began on Friday with conferences bringing together representatives of civil society and trade unionists as French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders attended workshops.

“We are living unprecedented times,” social summit delegates said, in a statement dubbed the Porto Social Commitment, calling for “a transition toward a green, socially just and digital economy.”

“With unemployment and inequalities increasing due to the pandemic, it is important to channel resources where they are most needed to strengthen our economies and to focus our policy efforts on equal opportunities.”

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told the talks, held in Porto’s imposing old customs house, this “very important social summit comes at the absolutely right time, we’ve been through a very tough year” and promised a process to ensure that post-virus recovery also leads to “decent wages.”

There cannot be a general relaunch of a social Europe without rethinking our economic model,” said Luca Visentini, secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation. “We need to move from the old narrative based on austerity and fiscal discipline.”

The events are being held just days after Portugal, with one of the lowest coronavirus incidence rates in Europe, entered the final phase of lifting its Covid restrictions.

For Fernanda Martins, who runs a small family cafe nearby with her husband, Friday’s meeting meant above all the return, however briefly, of a clientele that has been missing since the pandemic hit.