The European Policy Centre (EPC) recently held a Dialogue with the support of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) to mark the publication of a new EPC report entitled ‘Social investment first! – A precondition for a strong Social Europe’ and based on discussions held within the EPC expert group on social investment. The Dialogue also acted as a follow-up to the public consultation on the European Pillar of Social Rights, and sought to analyse how best to promote a strong social investment narrative across the EU that can be turned into concrete policy actions. To this end, the EU has a key role to play in initiating the necessary changes for this to happen. At the event, the main policy messages of the EPC publication were presented and the way forward debated with experts, stakeholders and policy-makers.

Speakers included: Lieve Fransen, Senior Adviser, European Policy Centre, Klaus Heeger, Secretary-General, CESI, Claire Dhéret, Senior Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre, Allan Larsson, Special Adviser on the European Pillar of Social Rights, European Commission, Lukas Vesely, Advisor to Maria João Rodrigues MEP, Gunnar Muent, Director for Innovation and Competitiveness, European Investment Bank (EIB), Conny Reuter, Secretary General, Solidar