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ANNEX on social investment to session 3 of the concept note for the EPSCO informal meeting. 14th July 2023 Social investment as engine of economically and socially resilient societies With the debate on the Economic Governance review in mind, the purpose of this note is to back a joint reflection of EPSCO Ministers on 1) the channels through which social investment supports resilient economies, and 2) how social investment could be supported and incentivised via appropriate governance arrangements in the European Semester. Social investment is a precondition for sustainable and inclusive growth, based on the European model of a competitive social economy and is key to fostering upward social convergence in the Union. On 26 April 2023, the European Commission presented a proposal for a reformed economic governance framework.1 The objective is to strengthen debt sustainability and promote sustainable and inclusive growth through reforms and investment. To achieve more gradual fiscal adjustment paths, Member states will have to present reforms and investments commitments that foster sustainable and inclusive growth in line with EU priorities and the Semester country specific recommendations. The implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights figures prominently among the core EU common priorities which the new fiscal framework is expected to promote. The prominence of the Pillar does not come as a surprise. In a context of multiple crises, well-functioning and inclusive social investment welfare states are a key component of a socially and economically resilient society. Looking back at the period following the deep economic and financial crisis, it is undeniable that, far from ‘crowding out’ scarce resources, well-funded and active welfare states have proved to be a conditio sine qua non for resilient economies. 1 COM(2023) 240 final, COM(2023) 241 final, COM(2023) 242 final 1 As highlighted in the Commission Strategic Foresight reports2, enhancing the socio- economic resilience of a society entails multiple actions, from absorption of the shocks, adaptation as the time of exposure to shock and its intensity increases, to transformation to ensure that the system not only avoids collapses but also finds its new sustainable development path (bouncing forward)3. In times of crises, inclusive and adequate social protection schemes turn out to be the most important feature in predicting the absorptive capacity of a country. It is easier to address an economic shock like a pandemic with an inclusive welfare state that provides strong automatic stabilizers, such as broad and well-organised access to sickness and unemployment benefits and short-time working arrangements. When focusing on the medium to long-term and on the capacity of countries to ‘bounce forward’, however, what becomes critical are well-designed and targeted active labour market policies, as well as up- and reskilling measures and inclusive early childhood education and care policies, which have a positive impact on potential economic growth and employment. Against this background, the purpose of this note is to back a joint reflection of EPSCO Ministers on 1) the channels through which social investment supports resilient economies, and 2) how the revisited economic governance could support and incentivize social investment and returns. Social investment welfare states: the concept and the institutional context In recent years, the notion of ‘social investment’4 has gained purchase as a policy compass for recalibrating the welfare state. The objective is not only to protect from social risks ex post but to enhance individuals’ opportunities and capabilities to address ex ante social risks that are typical of post-industrial economies, while ensuring the high (quality) employment needed to sustain the fiscal ‘carrying capacity’ of the welfare state, which relies on the number in employment and their productivity. As such, social investment covers a wide range of areas, from active labour market policies, employment services and skills, to the care sector (childcare, health care, long-term care), active inclusion policies, social housing and policies that improve access to services, including essential ones. 2 See https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/strategic-planning/strategic-foresight_en 3 Giovannini, Benczur, Campolongo, Cariboni, Manca (2020) Time for transformative resilience: the COVID-19 emergency. 4 Social investment is to be interpreted in a broad sense as investment that strengthens people’s capacity to deal with economic and social risks and that offers returns over time, while ensuring adequate and fiscally sustainable employment, skills and social policies and effective social spending, as underlined in the 2013 Social Investment package. 2 As illustrated by the High-Level Group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state, at the core of the social investment paradigm is the idea of life- course multiplier, whereby welfare benefits and services generate a cycle of greater well-being – in terms of higher employment, gender equality, and reducing the transmission of poverty from one generation to the next. At the micro-level (individual/household) the multiplier indicates the way social investment, from early childhood on, improves material well-being (employment and income) and helps mitigate social risks. At the macro-level, the multiplier indicates the cumulative benefits to society. These include improved productivity and competitiveness, higher employment, reduced gender gaps, less poverty, and later retirement – all crucial to economic growth and the fiscal sustainability of the welfare state. The idea of life-course multiplier goes together with the traditional social protection function of welfare states against risks such as unemployment, ill-health and poverty. The experience of the deep economic and financial crisis of 2008, and then of the COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the importance of both income protection at the micro level and effective demand stabilisation at the macro level. The idea of social investment-oriented welfare states is fully embedded in the European Pillar of Social Rights. The Pillar in fact promotes a comprehensive understanding of the welfare state functions, combining policies raising and maintaining the quality of human capital and capabilities (chapter 1), adequate, and inclusive social protection systems (chapter 3), and measures aimed at easing and improving labour-market and (gendered) life-course transitions (chapter 2). As stated in the preamble of the Interinstitutional Proclamation of the Social Pillar, social investment-oriented welfare states contribute not only to social cohesion but also to competitiveness and economic growth. The Pillar in this respect is conceived as part of ‘wider efforts to build a more inclusive and sustainable growth model by improving Europe’s competitiveness and making it a better place to invest, create jobs and foster social cohesion’, and as a pre-condition ‘to increase resilience and deepen the Economic and Monetary Union’. The integration of the Pillar in the European Semester, with the Social Scoreboard, give a strong push to social investment-oriented welfare recalibration in EU member states, which is reflected in the Country Reports and, as relevant, Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs). With the Recovery and Resilience Facility as well as the European Social Fund Plus, which both refer clearly to the Pillar principles, the EU support for social investment gains further strength also in funding. 3 The 2023 proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States further embeds this logic by explicitly calling on member states to adopt measures related to up- and reskilling and active labour market policies to enhance economic and social progress, support the green and digital transitions, strengthen the EU industrial base, and achieve inclusive, competitive, and resilient labour markets in the Union. Social investment micro- and macro-returns Social investment returns are materialising in terms of micro- and macro- economic and social outcomes. Among all possible social investment measures, education and skills formation, which will be key to support the green and digital transition, are generally found to provide high economic and social returns in the medium to long-term through enhancement of the stock and quality of human capital. At the micro-level, education is traditionally a predictor of higher individual resilience5. In particular, high-quality early childhood education and care in the long term is strongly correlated with better educational attainment, higher labour market participation, and reduced economic inequality, especially for children from disadvantaged socioeconomic background. At the macro level, the role of human capital formation in fostering economic growth in the medium to long term is by now widely recognised.6 Both reforms and investments in quality education (from early age) and training (up- and re-skilling) are of the utmost importance in this sense. Such measures are found to directly foster economic growth7 and competitiveness, increase productivity, including via stronger innovative capacity and absorption of new technologies, and also by ensure a better matching between skills demand and supply.8 Well-functioning and effective active labour market policies (ALMP) and public employment services provide also both individual economic and social returns in the medium to long term by increasing the efficiency of the labour market, mitigating skills mismatches and shortages, and strengthening labour market participation of under- represented groups. At the micro-level, effective ALMP programmes reduce the cost and time required for a worker to be matched to a job and improve the quality and duration of such a match.9 5 Joossens, Manca and Zec (2022) 6 See Barro, Sala-I-Martin, 2003. 7 The positive impact on economic growth is recorded despite the costs that may be entailed by some of these measures (Gemell, Kneller, Sanz, 2016) and possible delayed positive effects (Card, Kluve, Weber, 2018). 8 See European Commission, 2022a; Thum-Thysen, Vandeplas, 2019; European Commission, 2019. 9 See Pissarides, 2010. 4 Measures that are particularly relevant in this respect include, for instance, those related to the provision of effective support to job-seekers and skills intelligence, and integrated employment and social services, as well as their digitalisation.10 At the macro level, policy interventions that support labour market participation (including by removing disincentives to work via better designed tax and benefit systems and fair and well-adapted working conditions) can be particularly important to enhance growth potential, in particular in the light of sizeable labour shortages. While educational and activation policies materialize their micro- and macro returns in the medium to long term, traditional social protection policies are conducive to macro-economic stabilization in the short term. At the macro level, impact resilience, i.e., the country capacity to absorb a shock, is closely associated with high government expenditures on social protection when the latter is accompanied by inclusive schemes which also secure the most vulnerable groups11. Social protection has indeed a significant and positive impact on growth via the income and consumption channel. At the individual level social protection is clearly complementary to social investment,12 since for example, without adequate social benefits, the provision of childcare services would not address the needs of the most vulnerable children and their families. Governance arrangements that are supportive of high-return social investments Despite the key importance of investing in well-designed and inclusive activating welfare state systems, Member States entered the pandemic with different degrees of preparedness, with for instance, remaining gaps in coverage of social protection and social inclusion systems.13. Despite the introduction of ad hoc measures to respond to the pandemic, countries with better designed social security schemes were able to absorb faster the impact of the shock14. Similarly, the difference in social investments services across countries translated into a slower post-economic and financial crisis recovery in the medium-run and might affect the post-crisis bouncing forward adjustment. In 2018, a report was prepared by the High-Level Task Force on Investing in Social Infrastructure in Europe, which attempted for the first time to quantify social investment needs in the EU by 2030. 10 See Ekkehard, Merola, Reljic, 2022. 11 See Alessi Benczur Campologno Cariboni Manca Menyhert and Pagano 2022. 12 As underlined also in the Social Investment Package. Advanced welfare states in competitive economies tend to have significant expenditure in both social protection and social investment. 13 They were for instance ill-equipped to protect vulnerable groups, such as low- or unskilled employees in low- paid sectors- see Spasova et al. 2022. 14 Corti Ounnas Ruiz 2023. 5 Overall, the authors identify the minimum gap in social infrastructure investment at around EUR 142 billion per year, and around EUR 1.5 trillion over the period 2018 to 2030. At the EU level national social and employment policies are coordinated and monitored within the European Semester. Although over the years its social dimension has been strengthened, notably by integrating into it the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Social Scoreboard in 2018, some have argued that the social and employment recommendations in the European semester were ultimately subordinated to SGP and MIP provisions. Furthermore, various authors stressed that the fiscal rules indirectly lead to pro-cyclical policies which negatively affect the level of public investment15, including social investment16. By providing financial resources, conditional to the implementation of the (social) recommendations in the Semester and the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) has opened new political and institutional windows of opportunity to promote social policies and strengthen the resilience of national welfare systems in the EU at all levels. A significant share of the total recovery and resilience plans' allocation is indeed dedicated to social expenditure (around 30% or EUR 141 billion). This comes on top of more traditional cohesion policy funding, with the European Social Fund Plus alone providing almost EUR 99.3 billion to invest in people over the period 2021-27. Yet, EU funding alone will not be enough to cover what is needed to support the demand for social investments in Europe. The legislative package proposed by the Commission in April 2023 aims to strengthen public debt sustainability and promote sustainable and inclusive growth in all Member States through reforms and investment integrated into a single medium-term fiscal- structural plan spread over 4 to 7 years. In line with the RRF approach, the measures included in the national medium -term fiscal-structural plans underpinning a longer adjustment period should respond to the country specific recommendations, address the EU common priorities, including the European Pillar of Social Rights, be detailed, front-loaded, time-bound and verifiable and (if applicable) contribute to correct the identified macroeconomic imbalances under the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. While the Commission proposal, re-opened the debate on the treatment of social investments and reforms in the context of economic governance, several questions remain open that need a discussion, including how to evaluate investments and reforms to be included in the plans. 15 Heimberger and Kapeller 2017 16 Bouget et al 2015 6 The EC proposal indeed specifies that Member States will have to explain how it will ensure the delivery of a relevant set of reforms and investments. This implies that the new framework will need rigorous evaluations, ex-ante and ex- post, by the Member States and – potentially - independent expert institutions in evaluation, including academic and other national organizations. Guiding questions for debate (2 minutes for intervention): • Far from being purely a cost factor and thus a burden on economic competitiveness, social investment can increase economic efficiency while at the same time fostering equality and social inclusion. In your understanding, is the current EC proposal on economic governance enough to support social investments and reforms with high returns that are needed in your country? • In your understanding, which kind of social investments and reforms are most relevant to be eligible for an extension of the adjustment period? How to select social investments and reforms to be included in the medium-term fiscal- structural plan that are the most likely to have high economic and social returns? 7 Saatja: SGRSI <[email protected]> Saadetud: 06.07.2023 11:43 Adressaat: SGRSI <[email protected]> Koopia: Fernández-Gavilanes Díez, Gerardo <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; VELASCO RINCON M.TERESA <[email protected]>; IGLESIAS SANCHEZ-CERVERA, JAIME <[email protected]> Teema: Informal EPSCO (13-14th July Madrid) - final concept note and program Manused: 202307 Concept note and Program Madrid.pdf; 202307 ANNEX Return on social investment-session 3.pdf Dear friends and colleagues, We hope you are doing fine. In preparation of next week Informal EPSCO meeting in Madrid, we are sharing with you the final version of the concept note with slight time changes and an update on session 3. Please also find attached an annex with background information for session 3. Very best and looking forward to seeing you in Madrid, Unit for International Relations Ministry of Labour and Social Economy Paseo de la Castellana, 63 - 28003 Madrid (Spain) E-mail: [email protected] Antes de imprimir piensa en tu responsabilidad y compromiso con el MEDIO AMBIENTE! AVISO LEGAL, DE CONFIDENCIALIDAD Y RESPONSABILIDAD: El contenido de este mensaje de correo electrónico, incluidos los ficheros adjuntos, es confidencial y está protegido por el artículo 18.3 de la Constitución Española, que garantiza el secreto de las comunicaciones. Este mensaje está dirigido sólo a la persona o entidad destinataria y puede contener material confidencial y / o privilegiado. Cualquier revisión no autorizada, uso, divulgación o distribución está prohibida. Si usted no es el destinatario, por favor póngase en contacto con el remitente por correo electrónico de respuesta y destruya todas las copias del mensaje original. Si usted es el destinatario, pero no desea recibir comunicaciones a través de este medio, por favor notifique al remitente inmediatamente. SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND SOCIAL SHIELD FOR PEOPLE-CENTRED POLICIES Social dialogue as a tool of democratic legitimacy for a social, green and feminist Europe Concept Note Informal meeting of Ministers of Labour and Social Policies of the European Union, 13 and 14 July 2023, Madrid 1  Plenary session 1. National and European experiences in social dialogue The world of work is experiencing unprecedented changes that are complex and challenging. This situation has put a spotlight on the importance of social dialogue as a tool of democratic legitimacy. Dialogue between governments and social partners enables them to define employment, labour, and social protection policies, and to reach agreements that improve workers’ living and working conditions and create positive business environments, which are also beneficial to society as a whole. Since 2020, Spain has approved nearly 20 major social agreements rooted in social dialogue: employment protection mechanisms during the Covid-19 crisis, the unprecedented minimum-wage hike, the regulations on equal pay, the labour reform that has improved job stability, the Act on Protection of Digital Platform Workers (known as the Riders Act), the reform of the pension system, and the national framework for health and safety at work. Except for the parenthesis of the pandemic, in Spain the economy and employment have seen constant growth during this period, with social dialogue as the standard-bearer for combining economic efficiency and social justice. Social dialogue and bipartite or tripartite agreements enable us to define balanced, shared solutions and to endow public policies with security, effectiveness and stability, because they guarantee the participation of social partners in facing the challenges of major social transformations, such as demographic change and migration, and the digital and green transitions that are already underway. At the European level, we are also facing a decisive moment for social dialogue. Social dialogue and worker participation is a key principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights and contributes decisively to ensuring social justice and promoting Europe’s prosperity and resilience. The Council Recommendation to the Member States on strengthening social dialogue within the European Union, presented by the European Commission and approved during the Swedish Presidency, considers social dialogue to be the cornerstone for the EU social economy and for its competitiveness. This Recommendation urges Members States to ensure that social partners are consulted regarding the design and implementation of social and employment policies and to enable an increase in their negotiating capacity, while encouraging social partners to look at new forms of work and to communicate widely about the benefits of social dialogue. In January 2023 the European Commission presented a Communication on strengthening and promoting European social dialogue, which proposed modernizing its framework, providing continued support to social partner agreements, strengthening social partners’ involvement in EU policymaking, and making the EU’s technical and financial support for social partners more effective. 2 European social dialogue forms part of the European social model and has a long history of bipartite and tripartite agreements, which have contributed to the social acquis (for example, on parental leave, fixed-term work, part-time work, and regulations on working hours in different sectors). The European social partners, the employers’ organizations BusinessEurope, SMEunited and SGI Europe, and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), are implementing their 2022-2024 Work Programme, in which they affirm that they will expand their efforts to improve the implementation and impact of their autonomous framework agreements and continue to promote their joint commitments. The first major tangible outcome of this Work Programme will be the binding European agreement on telework and the right to disconnect, which social partners have been negotiating for months. If an agreement is reached, this would put an end to a long period of 13 years, since 2010, in which it has not been possible to reach binding interprofessional agreements. Questions for discussion The delegations are invited to respond to the following questions. During the roundtable, each delegation shall be allocated a maximum speaking time of 2 minutes per debate. 1. While respecting the autonomy of the European social partners, how can EU institutions and Member States contribute to having more European social dialogue, more European agreements, and more Directives based on agreements? 2. The European social partners are currently negotiating a binding agreement on telework and the right to disconnect. What other issues could be subjects for agreement between the social partners at a European level? 3. How can we strengthen the relationships between EU institutions and the European social partners? Along these lines, what changes could be introduced to the design and monitoring of the content addressed at the Tripartite Social Summit? 3  Plenary session 2. National experiences and advances in EU care policies: social dialogue and civil society The European Care Strategy establishes an agenda to improve the situation of both caregivers and care recipients. The Strategy aims to guarantee high-quality, affordable, accessible long-term care, with better working conditions, gender equality and work-life balance for professional and non-professional caregivers. Its purpose is to advance in applying the European Pillar of Social Rights and the EU 2030 targets regarding employment, capacity-building and poverty reduction. In its Communication on a European Care Strategy, the Commission stresses the need to guarantee that long-term care is timely, comprehensive and affordable, in order to provide those with long-term care needs with a decent standard of living, and to increase the offer and mix of professional long-term care services (home care, community-based care and residential care). The Communication also proposes fair working conditions and training for caregivers, with substantial improvements in their working conditions. In this regard, it is recommended that Member States do the following: promote collective bargaining and social dialogue with a view to improving wages and working conditions, guarantee the highest occupational health and safety standards, design continuous education and training for care workers, maintain their social protection, tackle gender stereotypes around care and launch communication campaigns, and ratify and implement International Labour Organization Convention 189 on Domestic Work, which Spain ratified in February 2023. Moreover, it is recommended that Member States continually adapt the offer of services to the demand for long-term care, while offering a balanced combination of options and settings for long-term care, in order to satisfy different care needs, and supporting freedom of choice for those persons who need care, and their participation in decision- making; it is recommended that they develop and improve home- and community-based care, care that promotes autonomy, and independent living. Questions for discussion The delegations are invited to respond to the following questions. During the roundtable, each delegation shall be allocated a maximum speaking time of 2 minutes per debate. 4 1. How does social dialogue contribute to improving working conditions, training, and protection of rights for care professionals, as well as for those family and/or non-professional caregivers whose work is traditionally invisible? 2. What is the best way to guarantee a model of person-centred, community- based long-term home care through territorial dialogue, understood as dialogue encompassing all levels—from the State level to the local level— between the different public administrations? 3. How can dialogue with experts incorporate the wishes and preferences of care recipients—especially those requiring significant support—into the decision-making processes regarding their care, and improve the quality of the long-term care systems of which they are the beneficiaries? 5  Plenary session 3. Social protection: short-term challenges and medium-term returns Achieving proper social protection is one of the objectives set forth in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Art. 151 TFEU). The European Pillar of Social Rights devotes an entire chapter to social protection and inclusion. Social Investment and social protection, in particular of self-employed workers, are key challenges with medium-term returns. SOCIAL INVESTMENT: On 26 April 2023, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new economic governance framework. The objective is to strengthen debt sustainability and promote sustainable and inclusive growth through reforms and investment. Member states will have to present reforms and investments commitments that foster sustainable and inclusive growth in line with EU priorities and the Semester country specific recommendations. The European Pillar of Social Rights figures prominently among the core EU common priorities which the new fiscal framework is expected to promote and is well integrated in the European Semester. Life-course multiplier is at the core of social investment whereby welfare benefits and services generate a cycle of ever greater well-being – in terms of higher employment, gender equality, and reducing the transmission of poverty from one generation to the next. At the micro-level (individual/household) the multiplier indicates the way social investment, from early childhood on, improves material well-being (employment and income) and helps mitigate social risks later in life. At the macro-level, the multiplier indicates the cumulative benefits to society. These include improved productivity, higher employment, reduced gender gaps, less poverty, and later retirement – all crucial to economic growth and the fiscal sustainability of the welfare state. A clear example is education, a key support to the green and digital transition that is generally found to provide high individual economic and social returns in the medium to long-term, through enhancement of the stock and quality of human capital. At the micro- level, education is traditionally a predictor of higher individual resilience. At the macro level, the role of human capital formation in fostering economic growth in the medium to long term is by now widely recognised. Both reforms and investments in quality education (from early age) and training (up- and re-skilling) are of the utmost importance in this sense. While educational and activation policies materialize their micro- and macro returns in the medium to long term, traditional social protection policies are conducive to macro-economic and micro-social returns in the short term. 6 The legislative package proposed by the Commission in April 2023 will demand, from Member States in need of a reinforcement of their debt sustainability, a medium-term fiscal-structural plan spread over 4 to 7 years. The measures included in the national medium -term fiscal-structural plans should respond to the country specific recommendations, address the EU common priorities (including the European Pillar of Social Rights), be detailed, front-loaded, time-bound and verifiable and (if applicable) contribute to correct the identified macroeconomic imbalances under the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. The new framework will need rigorous evaluations, ex-ante and ex-post, by the Member States and independent expert institutions in evaluation, including academic and other national organizations. This collaborative process ensures a rigorous evaluation and selection of projects with a higher probability of success. SOCIAL PROTECTION OF SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS: Self-employed in Europe face specific vulnerabilities, especially apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, and national social protection systems had to devise provisional solutions for their situation. However, as evidenced in the recent Commission Report on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self- employed, what is required are structural changes that not only address economic downturns but also establish contribution bases ensuring the protection of the benefits to be received by the self-employed, in particular, old-age benefits. Questions for discussion The delegations are invited to respond to the following questions. During the roundtable, each delegation shall be allocated a maximum speaking time of 2 minutes per debate. 1. Social investment can increase economic efficiency while at the same time fostering equality and social inclusion. Is the current EC proposal on economic governance conducive to social investments and reforms that are needed in your country? 2. Which kind of social investments are most relevant in your view? How to select social investments and reforms to be included in the medium-term fiscal-structural plan that have a life-course multiplier and truly lead to economic and social returns? 3. How does the social protection of specific groups, such as the self- employed, stabilize guaranteed income systems, especially during periods of economic downturn and with a view to providing adequate coverage of post-retirement income? What has been the experience of self-employed people in your country? 7  Informal EPSCO MEETING Tentative Program Madrid, July 13th and 14th 2023 Venue: Banco de España, Calle Alcalá 48, Madrid, Spain Thursday, July 13th 2023 Time Activity Details 12:15 -12:35 Arrival of delegations to Welcome “Banco de España” Handshake y doorstep. Heads of Delegations entrance will be at Calle Alcalá, 48. Delegates entrance will be at Paseo del Prado. 12:35 -13:30 Plenary Session 1: Chaired by the Second Vice-President of National and European the Government and Minister of Labour experiences in social and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz. dialogue. Plenary room will be at the Library. 13:30 -14:30 Informal Lunch. Cocktail lunch served at the Rotonda Echegaray for Heads of Delegation. Delegates will have a cocktail lunch at Sala Gemelos 2. 14:30 -14:45 Visit to Goya collection at Only for Heads of Delegation “Banco de España” 14:45 -16:15 Resume Plenary Session 1. Chaired by the Second Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Labour and Social Economy. 16:15 -16:30 Family photo and coffee Coffee break served at the Rotonda Echegaray break. for Heads of Delegation. Delegates will have a coffee break at Sala Gemelos 2. The family picture will take place down the stairs from Rotonda Echegaray. Plenary session 2. National Chaired by the Minister of Social Rights 16:30 -18:30 experiences and advances and 2030 Agenda, Ione Belarra. in EU care policies: social dialogue and civil society. 8 18:30 Transfer of delegations to their hotels. 19:40 Transfer of delegations to Sabatini Building, Calle Santa Isabel, 52. Museo Nacional Centro de Madrid. Arte Reina Sofia. 20:00 -22:30 Musical show, cultural visit, All cultural activities and welcome dinner for the and gala dinner. Heads of Delegation will be at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Delegates will have a dinner at the close-by Taberna Arzábal Café/Restaurant. 22:30 Transfer of delegations to their hotels. Friday, July 14th 2023 08:40 Transfer of delegations to Banco de España 9:15 - 11:30 Plenary session 3. Social Chaired by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social protection: short-term Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá. challenges and medium- term returns. 11:30 -12:00 Coffee Break. Coffee break served at the Rotonda Echegaray for Heads of Delegation. Delegates will have a coffee break at Sala Gemelos 2. 12:00- 12:15 Family photo The family picture will take place in the Operations Yard 12:15-12:45 Closing session. Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights and Second Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Labour and Social Economy. 12:45 Informal lunch. Cocktail lunch served at the Rotonda Echegaray for Heads of Delegation. Delegates will have a cocktail lunch at Sala Gemelos 2. 9