Prime Minister Juncker made sure that this was clearly stated in the Guidelines. And it is, and must remain, an essential element if the strategy is to achieve the success we all hope for. And the social dialogue is now firmly anchored within the Guidelines. While the social partners are expected to play a role under the employability, entrepreneurship and equal opportunities pillars, it is under the adaptability pillar that the social partners are burdened the most by the weight of expectation. New demands are being placed on them at national, sectoral and European levels, and it is now well recognised that our ability to adapt to rapid and inexorable change is very much linked to the success of the social partnership.
Adaptability requires partnership to adapt to new economic, social and technological conditions.
It is about creating a new framework for modernising the organisation of work. To develop together a new balance between flexibility for enterprises and security for workers. What all this requires is a renewed commitment. A commitment to renewing skills, work organisation, collective arrangements, and to the integration of unemployed people. This in turn demands a more dynamic relationship between the social partners.