Porto Social Forum boosts the Pillar of Social Rights

The Porto Social Forum recognised the social model as a global advantage and noted, under the European Year of Skills, the way in which solid policies on skills, educaiton, and training can create better jobs and a quicker integration into the labour market, promote social inclusion and, as a consequence, increase the EU’s economy and society’s resilience and competitiveness. 

The event, which brought together in Porto more than 400 delegates from 30 countries over two days, also stressed the importance of an integrated strategy to fight poverty in the framework of the multidimensional matter of social exclusion and access to essential service by all persons, especially children, where we note the effective application of the European Guarantee for Childhood in the various European countries.

"There can only be economic prosperity with a strong social dimension", stated the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho. "Collectively, we must have the capacity to respond to emergencies, to crises, but structurally we can never slow down structural social investment", she added.

At the end of the conference, an Open Charter was signed by 37 European leaders, where the commitments of the Porto Social Summit for 2030 are renewed, envisaging an acceleration of the target for the European childhood guarantee, yet also the dimensions of skills and qualifications in the world of the twin (digital and green) transition.

The Porto Social Forum is a biennial initiative hosted by the Portuguese Government with the support of the European Commission, where the social partners and civil society take part. It sets the second anniversary of the Porto Social Summit.