Speaker 1: Now, the European Commission will today unveil a plan to
Speaker 1: future proof what it's calling quality jobs as Europe continues
Speaker 1: to face challenges over competitiveness, building up its defenses and
Speaker 1: the global AI race. But how does the roadmap balance
Speaker 1: protecting workers with the EU's drive to cut red tape,
Speaker 1: a key component of the Draggy and Letter recommendations for
Speaker 1: keeping the EU competitive in the future. Joining me now
Speaker 1: to discuss is Roxanne Manzata, who's Executive Vice President of
Speaker 1: the European Commission with responsibility for Social Rights, skills and Jobs.
Speaker 1: Good morning, great to have you rad this good morning
Speaker 1: in studio. What's this plan about.
Speaker 2: It's about balancing competitiveness and social rights. You are spot
Speaker 2: on because, as Dragui said, there is no competitiveness without
Speaker 2: quality employment without quality jobs, and many of the shortages
Speaker 2: that we see in many sectors are about the working conditions.
Speaker 2: But it's not just about the current types of employment
Speaker 2: that we see.
Speaker 3: It's also about the future of work.
Speaker 2: And you've mentioned AI algorithm management, which is not going
Speaker 2: to change many types of jobs and skill sets, but
Speaker 2: it does change labor relations, workers relations with their bosses, money.
Speaker 2: We have AI as an assistant is one discussion. When
Speaker 2: you're looking at AI as a boss, because we have
Speaker 2: algorithms that sometimes manage activities or assess activities.
Speaker 3: Then it's a different story.
Speaker 2: So what the Commission is doing is on the one side, investing,
Speaker 2: pushing on innovation in AI, pushing on deployment and diffusion
Speaker 2: of AI in Europe, and this is extremely important.
Speaker 3: But in order to have this diffusion and uptake of AI.
Speaker 2: Throughout our industries in all company contexts, smaller or large,
Speaker 2: we need to create trustworthy environments for workers and for
Speaker 2: employers alike, so the quality jobs will look and we'll
Speaker 2: ask this question, do we have enough protections for workers
Speaker 2: when the algorithm is in charge or do we need
Speaker 2: to create a framework that enables this kind of this
Speaker 2: kind of work environment. And I need to mention this
Speaker 2: today we'll also launch this first phase Consultation.
Speaker 3: For Potential Quality Jobs Act.
Speaker 2: So it's not just a strategy that we launch today unemployment,
Speaker 2: but it's also asking social partners what we need to
Speaker 2: do in the sense of.
Speaker 3: Legislation. Legislative initiative.
Speaker 1: But when you're talking about new rules, businesses are going
Speaker 1: to be wary about what exactly that's going to mean
Speaker 1: for their competitiveness. If you're adding to a regulatory burden,
Speaker 1: how do you respond to the call from unions, for example,
Speaker 1: to put rules in place but also balance that with compassitiveness.
Speaker 2: Look, no, no, the idea is not to create more
Speaker 2: burden for companies. We need to keep them agile. We
Speaker 2: will look at gaps. So gaps mean where we have
Speaker 2: no types of frameworks, end of regulatory setups, and whether
Speaker 2: these gaps need to be filled or not. It will
Speaker 2: be the result of these consultations with the social partners.
Speaker 3: But this is clear and I.
Speaker 2: Work very closely with the Executive Vice President for Technology
Speaker 2: in the Commission, with Henna Virkunen. We are working together,
Speaker 2: not in silos. So obviously everything will be carefully balanced
Speaker 2: so that any type of outputs of these Quality Jobs
Speaker 2: Act is not creating burden or any type of negative
Speaker 2: influence on companies. But we cannot forget about people, about workers,
Speaker 2: because it's them in the end that need also to
Speaker 2: deliver competitiveness and they need also to benefit from the
Speaker 2: prosperity that we want.
Speaker 3: To share in Europe.
Speaker 1: How worried are you about the kind of broader signals
Speaker 1: of that sense to companies that might want to invest
Speaker 1: or hire in the European Union as well, because the
Speaker 1: narrative is often that the U is just adding rules
Speaker 1: and red tape. So it's a difficult message to send
Speaker 1: without it being interpreted as it's going to be more
Speaker 1: difficult and perhaps drive jobs away from Europe.
Speaker 2: But look, we are already doing a lot on simplification
Speaker 2: and that's not looking. We're not talking about labor rights,
Speaker 2: but we're talking about many overlaps or regulatory burdens that
Speaker 2: needed to be made easier and simple for companies. But
Speaker 2: on the other side, is Europe ready or willing to
Speaker 2: go in a direction where it says, uh that workers
Speaker 2: and people that deliver for competitiveness need to be put
Speaker 2: on the third place, on to be left outside of
Speaker 2: the discussion.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is the big, the big question.
Speaker 1: Algorithm, do you want human oversight.
Speaker 2: That when a human centric, human centric is Europe human?
Speaker 2: Europe has set the standards with the AI Act, with
Speaker 2: safety and security in the workplaces and with this approach
Speaker 2: of being human centric, but we need to find ways
Speaker 2: to do it so that it makes sense, it's progmatic,
Speaker 2: it doesn't create for companies.
Speaker 3: As I said, pressures.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, you cannot treat people as
Speaker 2: a machine. They are in the end, the final end
Speaker 2: of our quest for competitiveness. So that's that's why we
Speaker 2: need to be to balance UH workers rights and workers
Speaker 2: health and safety, UH, their privacy, UH, everything that is
Speaker 2: related to that, and the productivity that we need by
Speaker 2: using AI and by using technology.
Speaker 3: So both need to find.
Speaker 2: We need to find the right balance and to strike
Speaker 2: the right balance so that we keep our European social
Speaker 2: model but also make European industries more agile. And when
Speaker 2: we say simplification, I do not think we say the
Speaker 2: regulation because if we say that Europe is not competitive
Speaker 2: because people have too many rights, then I would say
Speaker 2: this is very dangerous. I do not agree with that.
Speaker 2: Simplification means looking at reports, looking at bureaucracy, looking at
Speaker 2: how they make sense, how it can digitalize, or whether
Speaker 2: they're overlapping, and then taking action. It's not about saying,
Speaker 2: you know, you have to forego some rights. You have
Speaker 2: to really be loosening.
Speaker 1: There'll be no weakening of workers' rights through simplification.
Speaker 3: Cannot be. It cannot be.
Speaker 2: And I tell you this is part of our social
Speaker 2: fiber of our social.
Speaker 3: Cohesion in the Union.
Speaker 2: Think that the European Union is a promise for a
Speaker 2: better life for the people that you the union is
Speaker 2: that conversation.
Speaker 1: Is that being heard within the European Commission, because we
Speaker 1: hear the message coming, you know, very strongly. For example,
Speaker 1: on climate rules, we're easing of the burden and pushing
Speaker 1: back climate deadline seems to be the key part of
Speaker 1: the simplification effort.
Speaker 2: There no obviously, I'm talking here about labor rights and
Speaker 2: social rights, and this is quite clear that we cannot deregulate.
Speaker 2: What is simplification can never be about giving up people's
Speaker 2: rights at the same time, not just on environment, but
Speaker 2: also on digital Indeed, we are finding ways, but they
Speaker 2: have to be fit for purpose, so that we allow space.
Speaker 3: And time for companies, for industries to.
Speaker 2: Do these transitions in a way that is as efficient
Speaker 2: and optimal as posible.
Speaker 1: Can that help workers who are being displaced by AI.
Speaker 1: We have the example of Klarna, for example, firing hundreds
Speaker 1: of workers to replace them with AI and having to
Speaker 1: rehire them.
Speaker 2: We're working with the budgets that we have at European level,
Speaker 2: first of all, on the proposal for the next budget
Speaker 2: I have seek fuewored with my colleagues proposal that we
Speaker 2: have direct investment in people of minimum fourteen percent. That
Speaker 2: would mean support for reskilling, up skilling includingly. I want
Speaker 2: to mention another tool that we're piloting right now, this
Speaker 2: European Skills Guarantee for workers, which is also about reskilling
Speaker 2: and up skilling workers when they need to change their
Speaker 2: skill abilities to work with AI or to transition to
Speaker 2: a different kind of job because of AI or orbanization
Speaker 2: or automation impact.
Speaker 3: So we are creating
Speaker 2: These tools so that we support people in these transitions