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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Porto Social Forum to review progress on goals set at 2021 EU summit

Porto,May.26,2023(Lusa)-The Porto Social Forum, taking place on Friday and Saturday in Portugal's second city, is to assess progress on goals outlined two years ago at a summit organised by the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The official programme of the forum is only on Saturday, but on Friday side events are to take place at the Crystal Palace arena that is hosting the event.
At 11.30 a.m., the European Union's commissioner for employment and human rights, Nicolas Schmit, is to give the opening speech, representing the European Commission and travelling to Porto to take stock of commitments made in 2021 by member states.
Three panels are to follow throughout the morning and Portugal's minister of labour, solidarity and social security is to speak at 1.15 p.m. The programme scontinue in the afternoon with debates, for example on the accessibility of digital skills for all EU citizens.
On Saturday, the official delegations of the 27 member states will arrive at the Crystal Palace at 9 a.m. The final news conference is scheduled for 6 p.m.
According to the information made available, there are two items on the agenda of this meeting: the reaffirmation of the strategy defined two years ago in the European Pillar of Human Rights and the adoption of a joint position of the presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as 'social partners' such as trade unions and employee organisations.
Organised by Portugal's government, the Porto Social Forum aims to reaffirm the role of social rights in the EU and to continue the commitments made at the Social Summit held in 2021, which adopted objectives such as achieving a target of at least 78% employment in the EU for people aged between 20 and 64, guaranteeing annual training for at least 60% of adults and also reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million, five million of whom are children.
Held during the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, the Porto Social Summit of two years ago reinforced the European Commission's action plan for the development of the European Pillar of Social Rights, through a joint position signed by the presidents of the European Parliament and of the European Commission and by trade unions, employers and a platform of social organisations.
This new Porto Social Forum aims to move forward on these commitments, but also to promote the efforts of EU member states in the area of skills enhancement and lifelong learning, particularly where the digital transition is concerned, as well as to reaffirm European social values in geopolitical terms, at a time when the enlargement of the community bloc is being discussed.
AFE/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-05-27 03:11:00
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