Addressing a conference marking International Workers' Day, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said that the European Parliament led in taking action for increased workers' rights, social protection and equality.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me to address this annual conference on the eve of an important day for us Europeans.
Tomorrow, we celebrate Workers’ Day and the 20th anniversary of Malta’s accession to the European Union, as well as that of nine other countries.
20 years ago, we could see that membership would help workers and our country in moving forward, by providing more opportunities, including training and work, an increase in private investment, both local and foreign, thereby leading to more jobs, and a strong impetus with regard to social, environmental and infrastructural projects. We hoped that all this would translate into better opportunities. No road is plain sailing but, when we look back at these 20 years, we certainly can conclude that it was the right decision.
If we just look back at the challenges that Europe and the world have faced over the past few years and months, it is plain to see that joining the European Union proved beneficial for workers. We cautiously and prudently overcame the financial crisis. We faced a pandemic that posed economic and social problems but the European Union helped every country. We have gone through Brexit. And while all this was happening, in the European Parliament we were discussing and approving social laws, including those to strengthen labour rights and work-life balance by increasing the amount of parental leave. We also approved a law to ensure that women and men get equal pay for equal work, and introduced a Disability Card to be recognised in every Member State. We also approved funds so that European countries can carry out environmental initiatives and make changes to increase the use of technology.
The European Parliament is our Parliament. And therefore it does not work in isolation. The examples of financial aid and social laws I have mentioned must be properly implemented on a national level, including through genuine and effective social dialogue.
This applies both to the standards we must meet and to the way European funds are invested in order to get the economy moving and growing for everyone and, thanks to economic growth, it has proved possible to conduct a social justice policy to the benefit of many people who are really in need.
In my opinion, economic growth and the functioning of social justice are not abstract goals, but should mean a change for the better in workers’ and pensioners’ lives.
They should mean an increase in workers’ incomes. Economic growth and social justice should mean an increase in pensions as it is unacceptable that the elderly, after having worked for so many years, end up in a situation where their quality of life diminishes and they are unable to cope with price increases.
Action is needed to improve people’s quality of life.
Therefore, days like these, in which we celebrate the industriousness of the workforce and European Union membership, provide us with the opportunity not to fall into nostalgia of the past, but to analyse where we stand, how are we going to improve on what we have done and, most importantly, what will we do to arrive at the desired destination. If we do not look forward, we will lag behind.
In the economic field we can build on what has been built over the years – tourism, financial services, the aviation sector and the pharmaceutical industry, but we also know that tomorrow’s world will be different from yesterday’s and also from today’s. The future has already begun. The future cannot be separated from the present. We need a transformation that brings about an increase in economic activity with more job opportunities.
The digital, environmental and energy transitions have already begun, to name but three examples. In a fast-changing labour market, it is not enough to speak about upskilling and reskilling. We must also ensure that training courses are offered for that purpose.
The formal education and training that were offered a few years ago did not foresee the jobs that are being created today. That’s how fast the rate of change is. There is nothing wrong with this, as education and training should serve to increase the desire to acquire more skills.
Artificial intelligence has been around for some time but the rate of change we are seeing and that will continue to grow will be significant. This will continue to bring about changes in the labour market. In this area of IT and artificial intelligence, we also need a full transformation. All workers and each and every person need to be given help to be able to use IT in every aspect of life, as this has an impact on their quality of life.
Friends,
In the same way we were able to harness new opportunities in the past, I believe that, if we make the necessary transformation, we will be able to reap the most benefit from the challenges associated with this change. A change that is ultimately brought about by humans themselves.
Thanks to the transformation that needs to be done, we can have more trained workers with different skills and, therefore, an economy and a labour market that lead to more inclusiveness and diversification of well-paid jobs. These lead to a better quality of life.
We need to be strategic in the choices we make and in the direction we take. Right away. We need to anticipate labour market needs. Right away. We need to shape the future, even the future that may seem distant. Right away. The transformations to be made must get underway. Right away.
Other changes must be made in education. Also right away. School education must prepare students and young people for jobs that do not even exist yet. This can be done by training children and helping them to develop more skills, change the way they think, analyse and evaluate, become critical and strategic thinkers, make the best decisions on the spot and in the long term, and be able to adapt to new realities – by means of skills transfers, and by being multitaskers and multi-skilled. We must aim for a generation that is more creative and innovative in everything it does.
There are other challenges we need to address. When we talk about workers’ prosperity this should not be limited to just financial and economic prosperity. Prosperity has to include the way we live, our lifestyle, the environment around us, our physical and mental health, mobility – the time has come to start talking about mobility rather than about transport or traffic alone. And we should talk about faster mobility, in less time, with different means and in complete safety. In my view, these are areas that should also be at the heart of the trade unions’ discussions. We are all policymakers; we might have different roles but our interest is the human being as a whole. We cannot separate mental health or the physical environment from the economy. We cannot separate mobility from jobs. They are interdependent. Only in this way will we improve the quality of life of our people.
We are in politics to shape the future, to deliver initiatives that increase prosperity in an inclusive society that recognises diversity and in a fair society in which everybody thrives. This is my commitment and one which I am ready to continue discussing with you.
Our hope remains strong and is encouraging more than ever, for the benefit of all workers, for the benefit of the people.
Thank you.