Despite enjoying the status of the most equal region in the world, Europe remains, overall, a land of rising inequalities, with new dimensions and forms of inequality constantly emerging and Covid-19 as a most recent catalyst for many of them. While it is not obvious at all how these growing societal rifts will be addressed, let alone remedied, in the post pandemic world, it is clear that they should be dealt with as a matter of urgency since the longer we take to reverse inequality the harder it will be to reconstruct  sustainable and resilient European economies and societies.
 

This issue of Benchmarking Working Europe takes stock of the various inequalities in Europe, emphasizing how the pandemic has both generated new dimensions of inequality and aggravated existing ones, as well as pointing out how inequalities are an obstruction to resilience and sustainability and actively hinder a post-pandemic vision for a prosperous and equitable Europe. It also seeks to identify a range of policy actions that could assist with tackling inequalities.
 

Welcome
Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC
Oliver Röpke, ÖGB, President of the EESC Workers´ Group 
 

Presentation of main findings of the Benchmarking 2021 report
Nicola Countouris, Director of the ETUI Research Department 
Agnieszka Piasna, Senior Researcher, ETUI
 

Panel discussion
Barbara Kauffmann, Director for Employment and Social Governance, Analysis at DG Employment, European Commission
Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC 
Evelyn Regner, MEP, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament 

with input from the Benchmarking by Sotiria Theodoropoulou, Head of Unit II, European economic employment and social policies
Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York
Simon Deakin, Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge

Chair
Paula Franklin, Senior Researcher ETUI
 

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