Print
See related documents
Resolution 2158 (2017)
Fighting income inequality: a means of fostering social cohesion and economic development
1. Over the past few decades, income
inequality has continually increased across Europe and throughout the
world, with an ever-greater gap between the top earners and those
at the bottom of the income scale. The richest 1% has now accumulated
more wealth than the rest of the world put together. In Europe,
the economic recovery observed since 2010 has not yet delivered
inclusive growth or reversed the trend of increasing income inequality,
which remains at its highest level since the mid-1980s.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly is very concerned about the current
level of income inequality and its effects, not only on social cohesion
but also on economic performance, development and sustainability
and the functioning of democratic institutions and processes. While
it has always been widely recognised in European societies that
a certain level of inequality may be needed to stimulate individual
ambitions and overall growth, levels of inequality in Europe have
now gone far beyond what is seen as healthy competition. These concerns are
shared by international economic organisations, such as the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
3. Member States and economic stakeholders at all levels need
to recognise that increases in income inequality lead to other forms
of inequality and related challenges, such as high levels of youth
unemployment and precarious employment, the appearance of a new
class of “working poor” and persistently high gender pay gaps in
many European countries. Such inequalities are, in the long term,
harmful to democracy. Member States should address these challenges
urgently and include relevant targets in socio-economic policies
at all levels, ranging from the new European Pillar of Social Rights
at the European Union level to social policies at the local level.
They should promote an inclusive social dialogue aimed at reaching
a new social consensus with regard to levels of individual security
and employment flexibility to be achieved in each national context.
4. In the light of the above, the Assembly invites member States
to:
4.1. make the fight against
income inequality a political priority and develop comprehensive
and effective national strategies, including setting or promoting
measurable targets in terms of reducing overall levels of inequality,
gender pay gaps and ratios between the lowest and highest salaries;
4.2. as regards employment and wage-setting policies:
4.2.1. encourage the reduction of current levels of precarious
employment and provide employees with more stable professional prospects
and positions in accordance with their qualifications;
4.2.2. invest in training programmes and continuous training
for all workers throughout their life, in order to improve the general
skills of the workforce, including the use of information and communication
technologies;
4.2.3. increase the participation levels of women in the labour
market in accordance with their qualifications, thus consolidating
household incomes and facilitating families’ equal access to health
care, childcare and education;
4.2.4. introduce a sufficiently high minimum wage (living wage),
ensure equitable wage levels for all categories of workers, including
vulnerable groups in the labour market (women, young people, migrants,
etc.), and consolidate relevant income support schemes;
4.2.5. take concrete measures to promote youth employment and
vocational training;
4.2.6. promote the fight against the gender pay gap, and ensure
equal pay for work of equal value to all women and men, including
through relevant legislation and complaint mechanisms;
4.2.7. strengthen social services in order to allow families,
including single parents, to achieve an acceptable work–life balance
between decent employment and domestic care duties for children
or elderly people;
4.2.8. encourage the limitation of excessive wages and rewards
to top earners, by ensuring transparency of their income and by
promoting maximum ratios between the highest and lowest wages within
specific sectors or companies (for example through stakeholder controls,
public tender rules and, in particular, via public procurement policies);
4.2.9. encourage better access for small and medium-sized enterprises
to public procurement;
4.3. as regards tax policies and systems:
4.3.1. make
taxation systems more progressive, in particular by increasing the
tax rates for higher incomes and significantly lowering pressure
on “at risk of poverty” groups, such as large families or single
parents (for example, lower income tax rates, tax breaks and tax
credits, and shifting away from consumption taxes on basic and essential
goods);
4.3.2. review taxation on wealth, capital gains and inheritance,
with a view to reducing tax incentives and increasing the transparency
surrounding any tax incentives;
4.3.3. step up international co-operation and design effective
measures to fight tax havens and tax evasion, as specified in Assembly Resolution 1881 (2012) on
promoting an appropriate policy on tax havens and Resolution 2130 (2016) on
lessons from the “Panama Papers” to ensure fiscal and social justice,
and promote co-operation to avoid tax competition between countries
which leads to the displacement of companies and individuals;
4.4. as regards labour market institutions:
4.4.1. reverse
negative trends which have weakened collective bargaining institutions
and coverage in the past;
4.4.2. strengthen social dialogue as a means of fighting income
inequalities and designing modern labour market policies, in line
with Assembly Resolution
2146 (2017) on reinforcing social dialogue as an instrument
for stability and decreasing social and economic inequalities;
4.4.3. build systems of “good governance” and transparent decision
making by setting up public registries of lobbyists and stricter
rules on conflicts of interest, with a view to limiting, if not eliminating,
the influence of groups with vested interests in all relevant policy
areas (including employment, wages and taxes).
5. The Assembly also calls on member States to:
5.1. contribute to the development
of a new paradigm of social justice for their societies, in which income
inequality is treated as a major challenge for entire economies
and societies;
5.2. comply with their commitments with regard to the universal
Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in September 2015 at the
United Nations, and effectively protect social rights as guaranteed
by the European Social Charter treaty system of the Council of Europe,
not least by ratifying the European Social Charter (revised) (ETS
No. 163) if they have not yet done so.