College of Commissioners to discuss the Commission’s Social Package and the 2016 European Semester Winter Package

Following the commitment President Juncker made in his State of the Union speech on 9 September 2015, and following the first orientation debate held by the College on 27 January 2016, today Commissioner Thyssen will present the preliminary outline of the European Pillar of Social Rights to the College, as well as the details of the public consultation on the same subject which will be launched today.The College will also discuss the proposal for a targeted revision of the 1996 Posting of Workers Directive. In addition, the College will today take the next step in the European Semester cycle. Following the publication of the Country Reports at the end of February, Commissioners will discuss the economic and fiscal situation of the Member States and take decisions in the context of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP). Specifically, the College will decide on the category for each Member State covered by an in-depth review. As of this year, the Commission has streamlined the MIP from six to four categories of macroeconomic imbalances: no imbalances, imbalances, excessive imbalances, and excessive imbalances with corrective action. There will be two press conferences this afternoon in Strasbourg, at 16:30 and 17:00, by Commissioner Thyssen and Vice-President Dombrovskis respectively. You will be able to follow them both live on EbS.