Informal meeting of the Ministers of Employment and Social Policy (EPSCO) of the EU

Mr Heinz Koller, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, participated in the informal EPSCO meeting hosted in Bratislava by the Slovak Presidency of the EU.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Jan Richter, Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic with the participation of Commissioner Marianne Thyssen. Participants discussed the social and technological challenges in the world of work and focused more specifically on three areas: ageing population, digitalisation, and migration.

Mr Koller welcomed the EU Presidency’s approach that consists of keeping a balance between the innovative and technological aspects of the future of work and its social dimension, as promoted by the ILO. In his presentation on the Challenges in the Fields of Social Security and Ageing, the Regional Director analysed the main demographic trends and their potential impact on European societies, labour markets and the financing of social security systems. He underscored the need to develop employment and social protection policies considered as a long-term investment and emphasized in this regard the importance of designing a “comprehensive policy mix” to tackle the challenges and opportunities of demographic transitions, in line with the resolution adopted in 2013 by the International Labour Conference on “employment and social protection in the new demographic context”.

As an illustration of the significance of technological change for the production processes, participants were also invited to visit a modern, highly-automated worksite at Pečivárne Sereď - the largest Slovak producer of confectionery and pastry.