site.btaSocial Policy Minister Meets with Counterparts in Berlin

"My research experience before I became a minister shows that for people in vulnerable groups, financial support is only 20% of making a significant difference to their way of life. Integrated social services, combining cash assistance with non-monetary measures, these are key to the profound reform of social services that our government has undertaken," said Minister of Labour and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova at a high-level conference with European counterparts in Berlin, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy said. 

This is what underpins the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, which has been a key focus of the European Commission's work during its current term in office, replied European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit. He added that it is crucial that rich countries should accelerate work to eradicate child poverty, and to end unemployment. The policies that the European Commission has developed must now be decisively and swiftly implemented, Schmit stressed, quoted in the release.

At the one-day forum in Berlin on Monday, which Minister Shalapatova attended at the invitation of her German counterpart Hubertus Heil, she also had bilateral meetings with French and Dutch counterparts, Olivier Dussopt and Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Policy Karien van Gennip. The talks with the French Minister focused on possibilities of sharing the French experience on the care for people with disabilities, gender equality in the labour market and employment, as well as specific issues related to people employed through platforms and the payment of unemployment benefits under Regulation 883 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the coordination of social security systems. 

The meeting with Minister van Gennip covered labour market issues related to the so-called letterbox company schemes, through which third-country nationals work in the Netherlands under completely unacceptable working and living conditions.

Pierre-Yves Dermagne, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs and Employment of Belgium, also participated in the conference. Belgium is due to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to June 2024. 

The aim of the conference was to highlight the priorities of European countries in terms of social and labour policy for 2024. The five ministers and Commissioner Schmit concurred on the importance of skills to reinforce and sustain the innovation and social investment economy in Europe, and on the "No one left behind" concept involving social inclusion measures in public life and the labour market.

In Bulgaria, eleven institutions and eight NGOs have started work on the drafting of a Child and Family Strategy, the press centre of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy announced at the end of July, following the first meeting of the expert working group of the National Council for Child Protection, which launched its work on the preparation of the draft.

The strategy is part of the country's governance programme for the period 2023-2024 and aims to identify the most serious risks to children's well-being and propose measures to address them, with a focus on providing support for their families.