European Social Democracy in the Post-COVID Period: Importance of Update

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the process of changing the approach of the European social democratic parties to the social policy and employment policy of the European Union in the post-crisis period. In particular, the role of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and its group Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (EP) in the development and implementation of a new strategy for strengthening the social sphere, presented by the European Commission headed by J.-C. Juncker at the initiative of the representatives of the PES in it, including the initiative for the creation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). Various options for coping with the consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic proposed by the PES, as well as the new strategy for the transition to a social Europe put forward by it, are considered.