Energy crisis heightens risk of poverty and social exclusion: EU Commissioner Minzatu • FRANCE 24

Indexed: 2026-05-22

[00:00:12]Hello, this is Talking Europe. My guest today has an important role in promoting social policies in the European Union at a time when much of the political oxygen has been sucked out by competitiveness and defense. Roxana Mînzatu is executive vice president of the European Commission and she's in charge of social rights and skills, quality jobs, and preparedness.

[00:00:34]Roxana Mînzatu is a Romanian Social Democrat, a former Minister for European Funds in the Romanian government, and also a former MEP. And in fact, she's joining me today at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Welcome to the program, Commissioner. A pleasure to be here. Thank you. Let's start with your anti-poverty strategy that you recently presented.

[00:00:58]One in five Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. That's 93 million people.

[00:01:05]Actually, that 93 million could increase because of the energy crisis, couldn't it?

[00:01:11]For sure, it could. And I don't want to paint a bleak picture. I just want us to look at the truth and also send a send a signal of optimism with this strategy.

[00:01:20]But the reality is that these numbers are are dynamic. Cost of living is rising. The energy shocks crisis, the Ukraine the invasion of of Russia and Ukraine, now the Middle East crisis.

[00:01:32]There are a number of shocks that could modify these numbers. And then this strategy sets the framework and sets the path forward and sets a kind of a a shield, I would say, that could be activated and should be activated so that no matter what type of vulnerability, we are together in Europe ready to act, to support, to prevent whenever possible, but also to support efficiently people that are in situations of exclusion, of poverty.

[00:01:58]People have said the the limitation that you have is that action on poverty is going to be a competence of member states. So, it's going to be up to them how they activate measures.

[00:02:10]Also, do you think it would be useful at this stage to relax the rules governing the stability and growth pact in the EU? Some EU leaders like Georgia Meloni in Italy have said it's time to relax these fiscal rules to give households a bit more breathing space as they're dealing with these poverty issues. It would that be a good thing to do?

[00:02:33]First of all, we have the European semester. I know it's a technical thing, but we already have a tool at European level which acts in a way that it doesn't infringe on the competencies of member states, but we assess their budgetary, fiscal, economic, and social policies, and then we do recommendations, and these recommendations are linked also with the funds that we give to member states. So, this is a good tool, and I will stay for the moment inside this this important tool. Why? Because there we each year see the fiscal, and you know, space, and the budgetary trajectory a member state takes, but also if there are social costs that lead to social divergence, that lead to an increase in in, you know, poverty or or any types of social exclusion risks.

[00:03:23]This is a good tool. Obviously, member states' prime ministers will propose, and they have this role as co-legislators, different types of measures, and as leaders of the EU, different types of measures, targeted measures. And I want to say this also because I meet prime ministers, I meet ministers of finance, not just ministers of labor and education. They're not easy conversations. Of course, many times the temptation is to say, "But, you know, we need to invest more in security. We need to invest more in uh, economic, you know, technology." but I always, of course, bring into discussion the essential role of of people, of the quality of their jobs.

[00:03:59]>> and and turning to people, uh, you've pointed out that one in three teenagers in the EU are failing in basic maths and one in four are failing in science. So, this obviously has a direct link to competitiveness and the EU's position in the world, but why is that? I mean, that's pretty shocking, isn't it? One in three for maths, for example.

[00:04:19]>> Europe is a continent of knowledge, of great innovation, of humanity's greatest progress. Our universities, our education is one of the greatest European legacies. It's our DNA. But indeed, even before the pandemic, because these trends of deteriorating results have been visible before the pandemic, but after 22, uh, a bit more increase in in the results of our teenagers, especially in in this in this subject. And we are in a global competition, including talent and and people's training matters. So, they've got worse, you're saying, basically.

[00:04:53]>> does seem I cannot establish here a causality, but looking at the statistics, the pandemic was a turning point where numbers started to deteriorate deteriorate a bit more. And of course, it has to do with how education was, uh, offered of the of online teaching. And there there are consequences and I meet with ministers of education and they have all assessed in their member states the impact. But then, of course, we see numerous other transformations, including the impact of artificial intelligence, of of technology, of social networks. We see an ever-changing landscape. So, importantly, we launched the Union of Skills, which is a new strategic European approach. We work together with member states so that we improve basic skills, math, reading, uh, digital and AI literacy, critical thinking, but also focus on on STEM-related education. So, science, technology, engineering.

[00:05:45]>> But the Union of Skills also faces the the familiar problems of fragmentation of labor markets and you know qualifications being different and so on. So there's still a lot to to sort of complete on that side.

[00:05:57]>> we called it union of skills so that we emphasize the need to create more trust between the training and education systems of member states. We will for example in September propose our skills portability initiative. It will be part of a bigger package, but this skills portability initiative which will make use of everything we can, legislation, digital tools, AI tools, is meant to create much more equivalence and and trust and a space for conversation between you know how we understand qualifications, degrees, diplomas between member states so that people can travel freely with their knowledge, with their education.

[00:06:34]>> I want to ask you about the quality jobs act which is obviously something that is in progress at the moment. It hasn't actually come into effect but you face some skepticism from trade unions on this whole idea. They say or some of them are saying that it seems to favor corporate interests and perhaps that it's a bit vague in terms of concrete deliverables. So you're going to do you expect a lot of opposition even from trade unions as these negotiations go forward?

[00:07:05]First of all, it is important that a Europe that is very focused on competitiveness also tells us clearly quality jobs are a key ingredient of being more competitive and stronger economically. Second, yes, this proposal for a quality jobs act is now in consultation. So both trade unions and employers give us their input.

[00:07:26]Some want less or more trade unions want more legislation, more binding rules.

[00:07:32]Employers want more guidance, but what I think is important is what do we want to obtain with this with this potential law for for quality jobs. And it's it's about three main things. One, the working and labor relations in job where the algorithm is the manager. We have algorithmic management present in all types of industries. So no longer a human is the one that manages, you know, a team. It's an algorithm. And so we need to see what adaptations should be in place so that social rights, workers rights, the quality of the job of a person is preserved.

[00:08:11]Second, we look at high-risk precarious sectors where because we have not just an employer, but a chain of employers, subcontracting chains.

[00:08:22]Many times the workers that are employed by the last company in this chain do not receive the right salary, they don't have their social contributions paid, they cannot be sick or if they are, they are not insured. So they are, you know, living working in very precarious conditions and we want to address this.

[00:08:40]And then we also look at health and safety in the workplace.

[00:08:45]Traditional, you know, elements have been addressed by European legislation.

[00:08:48]How should the workplace be so that a person is is healthy and goes home okay?

[00:08:53]But also we want to address climate-related hazards because of course there are sectors where people are outside exposed to this climate extreme climate events or psychosocial risk. Much more online work means much more psychosocial pressure. So there's a lot in this quality jobs act a lot of very wide ranging.

[00:09:13]>> of consultation. So in December, hopefully these will be then finalized and we will come with a legislative with a proposal that will have potentially legislative and guidance measures. We will see, I cannot preempt, but potentially it could have that. I have to ask you one question of a slightly more political nature about developments in Southeastern Europe.

[00:09:35]There's now a new Prime Minister in Bulgaria who some see as being a little bit too understanding of the Kremlin point of view, let's say.

[00:09:44]And of course, the pro-EU government in Romania, your home country, was brought down by no-confidence vote. Is there some sort of Euroskeptic shift happening in these two countries, do you think?

[00:09:56]I look at the people. I know best my own people, the Romanians, which are, you know, highly pro-European. The dream of a lifetime of many generations of Europeans, and including the current generations, has been to be part of Europe. You know, many times this was the we want to be inside Europe, although we were geographically. This dream does not disappear easily, especially since, you know, there were concrete improvements in people's lives in terms of income, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of, you know, standards from from food to environment. But people, of course, will always judge politicians and will always judge also European or a global format from the perspective of their everyday lives. So, we need to also be able to address their concerns about the cost of living, their concerns about, you know, the taxes that they pay. The reactions are very concretely anchored into that. Beyond that, I will never question the pro-European pathway of Romania. And of course, we're looking also at other countries in in Southeastern Europe. And my confidence is that the Eastern flank is really a strong a strong region. It Its role from a geopolitical and security perspective is is absolutely crucial.

[00:11:14]And I work very well with with with all countries, and I know a bit the landscape. So, beyond what democracy allows, and democracy in the end gives people the right to choose, it is very important also for us here in Strasbourg, in Brussels, for European policy makers to stay very connected with the real concerns of of of the citizens in all countries and give responses that are connected to those concerns and show the exact solution.

[00:11:42]We'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for being our guest on Talking Europe, Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice President of the European Commission.

[00:11:49]And that's all for this episode here on Talking Europe. Thanks for watching us.

[00:11:54]Thank you very >> [music]