Among the measures put in place to repair the economic and social damage caused by the pandemic crisis, the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) will be a key financial instrument to support jobs by fighting poverty and promoting green and digital transition. In January 2021, the European Parliament and EU Member States reached a political agreement on the Commission’s proposal for the next multi-annual financial framework for 2021-2027, allocating a budget of €88 billion to the recently approved ESF+.
Moreover, the ESF+ has been adopted as part of the Recovery Plan, which is the largest financial stimulus ever invested through EU budget, with a total sum of €1.8 trillion.
This instrument aims at achieving both short and long-term goals, by focusing on the need to re-build a post Covid-19 Europe and to remodel the economy, as well as to create a more inclusive society.
In particular, the ESF+ will:
- Invest in children and young people. It has been established that at least 5% of Member States’ ESF+ resources should be addressed to tackle child poverty, while 12.5% should be devoted to help young people find a good quality job and training;
- Support the most vulnerable people who feel the pressure of job losses, for which Member States should issue at least 25% of their fund resources;
- Pave the way for the green and digital transitions by driving investment in skilling opportunities;
- Provide food and basic material assistance by integrating the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD);
- Support social innovation, social entrepreneurship and cross border labour mobility within the EU in order to ensure social protection and inclusion, fair working conditions, equal access to the labour market, and labour mobility, through the new employment and social innovation strand.
Not only will the European Union use this fund as the main instrument to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights, whose aim is guaranteeing equal opportunities and access to the labour market, but also to merge other existing initiatives, namely the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived (FEAD), the Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI) and the EU Health Programme.
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This week, you can tune in to another IATE goes Audio feature: click below to listen to ‘European Social Fund Plus’ explained in English.
References
European Commission. Home. The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles [ONLINE]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/european-pillar-social-rights/european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en [Accessed 22 February 2021]
European Commission. Strategy. Recovery plan for Europe [ONLINE]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/recovery-plan-europe_en [Accessed 22 February 2021]
European Commission. European Fund. A new, stronger European Social Fund Plus [ONLINE]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=62&langId=en [Accessed 22 February 2021]
European Parliament. 21 January 2021. Legislative Train Schedule, New Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment [ONLINE]
Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-new-boost-for-jobs-growth-and-investment/file-mff-esf [Accessed 22February 2021]
Written by Diandra Falchieri. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Intercultural and Linguistic Mediation and a Master’s Degree in Specialized Translation at the University of Bologna. She also completed the Communication Trend Italia (CTI) Professional Master’s Programme for translators and interpreters in Medicine & Pharmacology in Milan.