Putting workers first: PES welcomes the Quality Jobs Roadmap

The Party of European Socialists (PES) welcomes the Quality Jobs Roadmap, as presented today by Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, Roxana Mînzatu. Quality jobs are at the heart of the PES political project, and the call for a Roadmap was a central commitment of our 2024 European election campaign.

The initiative reflects that priority and correctly identifies where we urgently need EU action to build a fairer labour market that delivers for workers in every corner of Europe. The PES fully agrees that quality jobs are a precondition for European competitiveness and supports the priorities detailed by the European Commission, which include: good working conditions, including on subcontracting; fair wages; strong collective bargaining and social dialogue; regulating AI in the workplace and the right to disconnect; helping workers navigate the just transition; enhancing social conditionality in public procurement; and fair labour mobility with a strengthened European Labour Authority and digitalised procedures under social security coordination.

This Roadmap lays the groundwork for an ambitious Quality Jobs Act, based on extensive input by social partners and expected in 2026. The PES continues to call for jobs that pay fairly, protect effectively and empower workers. We are convinced that the EU must make a real difference on people's working lives.

Stefan Löfven, PES President, said:

"This Roadmap is a welcome and long-awaited step towards what Europe urgently needs: quality jobs that pay, protect and empower. Workers across Europe deserve fair wages, safe workplaces, strong rights and real opportunities to grow. This has been at the core of our political fight, and it was reaffirmed by our parties at our Congress in Amsterdam. Now, we must turn ambition into action. From regulating AI at work to tackling subcontracting abuses, protecting mental health at work, strengthening collective bargaining, delivering on fair mobility, and more training at work. The PES stands ready to work with Roxana Mînzatu and trade unions to make these commitments real in people's lives."

The Quality Jobs Roadmap and future Quality Jobs Act will complement past socialist achievements such as the Minimum Wage Directive, the Pay Transparency Directive and the Platform Work Directive. The PES reiterates the need for a strong and ambitious legislative package that brings real improvements to workers' daily lives. This direction is consistent with the recent PES EPSCO Ministerial Declaration "Delivering on a Strong EU Social Agenda" and resolutions adopted at the 2025 PES Congress in Amsterdam, notably "Jobs that Pay, Protect and Empower" and "Social Europe, Strong Europe". These documents call for stronger workers' rights, robust social conditionality and social spending as core elements of Europe's social model, reaffirming that quality jobs are essential to Europe's cohesion, competitiveness and social progress. PES ministers and leaders look forward to working with EVP Roxana Mînzatu to continue delivering on this.