Rinne in Brussels: "The EU must become the world's most competitive and socially fair low-carbon economy"

The Tripartite Social Summit between EU institutions and European social partners met in Brussels to discuss a competitive, fair and sustainable Europe. Finnish Prime Minister Rinne co-chaired the social summit with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

“The EU must become the world’s most competitive and socially fair low-carbon economy. To achieve sustainable growth, we must make future-oriented investments in skills, education and training and promote fairness and equality. This requires broad-ranging European cooperation. We need to understand that we cannot achieve economic sustainability without social and ecological sustainability,” Prime Minister Rinne commented on the summit discussions.

Climate, skills and industrial policy

Minister of Employment Timo Harakka gave an introduction to the summit’s section on a just transition to a climate-neutral economy.

“We must make the transition to a climate-neutral economy so that everyone is on board. We must offer hope and opportunities instead of risks and fears. The social partners play a key role in ensuring a just transition,” said Minister of Employment Timo Harakka.

The social summit also discussed investing in skills and improving access to adult training and designing an industrial policy fit for the future.

The Tripartite Social Summit is a forum for dialogue between the EU institutions at president level and the European social partners at top management level. The summit preceded the European Council on 17 and 18 October.