Some areas saw ongoing progress, such as working arrangements favouring the work-life balance. However, the housing crisis has intensified, and energy poverty is on the rise. Non-European migrants are increasingly marginalised and excluded from essential services. Mismatches between skills and the labour market hamper the green transition.
Country score: 52
Albania has made notable progress in several critical areas, including education, healthcare, and social protection. However, challenges remain in achieving equal opportunities, particularly for vulnerable groups such as women, minorities, and people with disabilities.
Country score: 40
Belgium has made significant strides in housing, healthcare, and the fight against poverty. The country grapples with persistent disparities in employment, particularly affecting migrant women and minority groups. Access to housing and energy poverty remain prominent challenges.
Country score: 52
The country has made notable advances in gender equality, rising in the EU rankings. Migration management remains a challenge, with large numbers of Ukrainian refugees being integrated into social services. Youth unemployment has risen sharply and unaffordable healthcare and energy poverty continue to burden vulnerable groups.
Country score: 43
While there has been a notable increase in foreign labour, inclusion policies remain inadequate to proper inclusion. Slow wage growth combined with unaffordable housing and widespread energy poverty hamper economic justice. Healthcare and civic space are two areas where improvements are needed.
Country score: 41
Budget cuts to education and employment, combined with new immigration laws, threaten social rights. The erosion of civic space and rising poverty are a big threat to social justice and fundamental rights. Progress in areas such as sustainable mobility is overshadowed by the rising cost of and unequal access to transport.
Country score: 50
Germany has made some advances in gender equality, education, and social protection but has also faced notable challenges with persistent gender disparities, a housing shortage, and inclusivity issues for migrants and vulnerable groups. Germany’s ambitious green transition goals were not always combined with social objectives.
Country score: 40
Greece faces significant societal challenges, particularly in housing, healthcare, and poverty eradication. And new labour laws have raised concerns about work-life balance and workers' rights. In addition, limited progress has been made in the green transition and sustainable mobility.
Country score:
Italy has made strides in renewable energy adoption and digitalization; however, the country still faces significant social challenges, including persistent gender inequality, high youth unemployment, and increasing job insecurity. Migrants and minorities continue to experience systemic marginalization, and civic freedoms are under pressure.
Country score: 52
North Macedonia is facing opposition to the implementation of gender equality laws, and improvements are needed in education oversight, energy policies, and access to healthcare. In addition, recent funding decisions have strained the relationship between the government and civil society organisations.
Country score: 40
Portugal faces significant challenges in housing, healthcare, and social inclusion. Access to housing has been jeopardized by rising poverty and inadequate support for vulnerable groups including migrants. Healthcare is strained due to poor working conditions. Civil dialogue remains weak which hinders progress in the highlighted social issues.
Country score: 50
The country has made notable progress in OHS and in the green transition, but challenges remain in enforcing labour rights and fair working conditions. Housing, gender equality and youth unemployment continue to be problematic. Despite some improvements in healthcare, access remains uneven. Civic space is increasingly restricted.
Country score: 67
Spain has made significant progress with respect to gender equality thanks to positive parental leave measures, but the pay gap remains an issue. Wage levels have improved thanks to labour reforms and collective bargaining, but poverty and social exclusion persist. Healthcare continues to be a critical issue, especially for vulnerable groups.
Advocacy Point
01
Combat youth unemployment within the EU and candidate countries. Combine this action with ensuring equitable access to quality education and lifelong learning including VET to all to promote social inclusion of marginalised youth and people in general, beyond the labour market participation.
Advocacy Point
02
Accelerate labour market integration into decent jobs for migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers who are ready to work. Access should be ensured to work permits and language courses, prior to a final decision on asylum status.
Advocacy Point
03
Monitor and ensure the proper implementation of the adequate minimum wages Directive at national level to ensure the efficacy of the adequacy standards established by Member States and that they are regularly revised to protect workers, including those in non-standard employment, from in-work poverty.
Advocacy Point
04
Ensure that the assessment of the level of national collective bargaining coverage required by the Directive takes into account all types of workers, including atypical workers.
Advocacy Point
05
Recognise the value of (unpaid) care work and its gendered dimension. Increase public investment in Early Childhood Education and Care services and the sector of care more broadly to underpin the promotion of the work-life balance for all, reducing the overwork afflicting women primarily and improving working conditions in a feminised sector such as care, as foreseen by the EU Care Strategy.
Advocacy Point
06
Explore innovative solutions like the 4-day working week to tackle the deteriorating work-life balance and unemployment.
Advocacy Point
07
Introduce an EU framework Directive on adequate minimum income to make sure that no one lives below the poverty line.
Advocacy Point
08
Adress the underlying causes of homelessness also through the European Semester and EU funding while guaranteeing universal access to the fundamental right to adequate housing.
Advocacy Point
09
Make affordable housing a reality for all and protect tenants from the rise of housing costs pushed by house owners on them.
Advocacy Point
10
Ensure that all people on the move have immediate access to social rights including health, housing and essential services, regardless of their residence status upon arrival. The successes from the response to people fleeing Ukraine, rooted in strong political will and organising swift access to a residence permit and rights, should be incorporated in European asylum systems.
Advocacy Point
11
Elaborate a European Civil Society Strategy aimed at strengthening civil society across the EU, supporting the harmonisation and enhancement of the open, accessible and enabling environment in which civil society operates in Europe. Pursue the same objectives also in candidate countries.
Advocacy Point
12
Strengthen and recognise accessible, structured and meaningful civil dialogue throughout the entire policymaking process as an essential element of healthy democracies including through an interinstitutional agreement that is co-developed with civil society. Ensure that civil dialogue is strengthened also in candidate countries and closely monitor the involvement of civil society in policymaking, as well as in the EU accession process.
Advocacy Point
13
Protect and strengthen social dialogue in the EU, also through the implementation of the adequate minimum wages Directive and the Council proposal of strengthening social dialogue in the EU, as well as in candidate countries.
Advocacy Point
14
Advance climate action, environmental protection and restoration, and social justice as a coherent and mutually reinforcing agendas, rather than treating the social dimension of the transition as an afterthought of green transition policies.
Advocacy Point
15
Fully implement the Council recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality and establish a cross-sectoral EU ‘Green and Social Deal’ that maximises the economic and societal benefits of the green transition, while ensuring that the required contributions are shared equitably across society.
Advocacy Point
16
Adopt a broad understanding of a “fair, equitable and just green transition” that ensures decent work for all and contributes to the elimination of inequalities, including by strengthening social protection systems and the welfare state, adapting migration and international protection systems and practices to climate-induced mobility and displacement, and providing access to quality and affordable essential services such as clean energy and transport.