Val Duchesse summit sets path out of social dialogue gridlock

The appointment of a social dialogue envoy within the European Commission is part of the plans to increase cooperation set out in the declaration agreed at the Val Duchesse summit on 31 January 2024.  

The envoy will support social dialogue at national and European level, as well as responding to breakdowns in social dialogue raised jointly by the social partners through a new alert system.

The new role is being created in an effort to return to the vision for European social dialogue set out by Jacques Delors at the first Val Duchesse social summit that took place on this day in 1985.

Pact for Social Dialogue

In June last year, three European employers’ organisations signed a social dialogue work programme with the ETUC which included a commitment to negotiate a legally binding agreement on telework to be implemented in the form of a directive. 

However, after negotiations lasting more than a year, two of the three employers’ organisations refused to put forward any text.

The summit called by Jacques Delors in 1985 marked the end of similar difficulties in social dialogue and began a process which resulted in the first joint union-employer positions, including on new technologies. 

Unions and employers have agreed today to undertake a series of meetings to agree what further measures are needed to strengthen social dialogue, with a view to concluding a Pact for Social Dialogue in early 2025.