Programme and Speakers at the High-level Conference on the European Social Charter
The High-Level Conference on the European Social Charter is organised as part of the follow-up to the 4th Summit of the Council of Europe, as a step for the member States to take further commitments under the Charter. The Conference is organised under the auspices of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers and will be hosted in Vilnius by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania.
The High-Level Conference will bring together Ministers and high-level officials competent in the field of social rights and social policy, representatives of Council of Europe entities, including the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Commissioner for Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights. Other expected participants include representatives from the European Union, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, ILO, UN, etc., as well as civil society, social partners, academia, and National Human Rights Institutions and Equality Bodies or their pan-European networks. The members of the European Committee of Social Rights and the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and the European Code of Social Security will also participate in the Conference.
Welcome speeches
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė assumed office on 25 November 2020, becoming the second woman in the nation’s history to serve in the position. As a trained economist, Prime Minister Šimonytė served as the Director of the Tax Department from 2002 to 2004, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania from 2004 to 2009, and the Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012. In 2016, Prime Minister Šimonytė served in Lithuania's parliament, Seimas, for the Antakalnis constituency. In this position, Šimonytė served on the European Affairs Committee and was the chairperson of the Audit Committee. She was reelected to Parliament in the 2020 parliamentary election, where the Homeland Union won a plurality of seats.
Šimonytė received her Masters degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics at Vilnius University in 1998, and her Bachelor degree in Business Administration and Management from the Faculty of Economics at Vilnius University in 1996. Prime Minister Šimonytė later served as President of the Council at her alma mater, Vilnius University, from 2014 to 2016.
Prime Minister Šimonytė speaks Lithuanian, English, Russian, Polish, and basic Swedish. Prime Minister Šimonytė received the Cross of Officer of the Order of Vytautas the Great in 2015, and the Clear Wave award for transparent and responsible activities in 2012.
Mr Bjørn Berge serves as the Council of Europe’s Deputy Secretary General since 1 March 2021.
Opening of the Conference
Theodoros Rousopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Marc Cools (Belgium, ILDG) was elected President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on 24 October 2023 for a mandate of two years and a half. He is currently the Communal Councillor of Uccle (Belgium) and Honorary Vice-President of the Brussels Parliament and was previously the chair of the Independent and Liberal Democrat Group in the Congress.
Vice-President of the Court since 2 May 2024.
Aoife Nolan, President of the European Committee of Social Rights
Aoife Nolan is President of the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights, which she joined in 2017, having served as Vice-President from 2021-22. She is also Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham. Professor Nolan’s professional experience in human rights and constitutional law straddles the legal, policy, practitioner and academic fields. She has published extensively in the areas of human rights and constitutional law, particularly in relation to social rights and children’s rights.
Professor Nolan has acted as an expert advisor to several governments as well as a wide range of international and national organisations and bodies working on social rights issues, including numerous UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, multiple NHRIs and NGOs. She has held visiting positions at academic institutions in Europe, Africa, the US and Australia. She is an Academic Expert member at Doughty Street Chambers where she co-leads the Children’s Rights Group and is a member of the Doughty Street International steering group.
This session will assert the importance of social rights (and hence of the Charter) through the lens of contemporary societal challenges. Topical questions could include rising inequality, the future of work and industrial relations, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, as well as human dignity and the gender pay gap, poverty and the cost-of-living crisis, youth rights, climate change, etc.
Statements by heads of national delegations / Exchange of views;
Responses from other stakeholders (Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank, youth, academia, …).
Moderated by Mr. Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Market and Minister for Nordic Cooperation of Iceland
Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson took office as Minister of Social Affairs and the Labour Market on November 28th 2021 for the Left-Green Party.
He was Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources from November 30, 2017 to November 28, 2021.
Guðmundur Ingi was born on March 28 1977. He holds a BSc degree in Biology from the Universitry of Iceland and a masters degree in Environmental Management from Yale University. He was the CEO at Landvernd – Icelandic Environment Association from 2011 – 2017.
He also worked for the University of Iceland carrying out research in ecology and environmental sciences, and for the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland in the fields of global studies and research. Since 2006, Guðmundur Ingi has been a guest lecturer at the University of Iceland, the Agricultural University of Iceland and the University Centre of the Westfjords.
He has also worked as a park ranger almost every summer for the last few years. Guðmundur Ingi was one of the founders of the Icelandic Society for Environmental Scientists. He was the society´s first president, in 2007-2010. Guðmundur Ingi served as the Chair of the Fulbright Alumni Association in Iceland in 2017-2018.
Keynote speech - Aoife Nolan, President of the European Committee of Social Rights, Council of Europe
Aoife Nolan is President of the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights, which she joined in 2017, having served as Vice-President from 2021-22. She is also Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham. Professor Nolan’s professional experience in human rights and constitutional law straddles the legal, policy, practitioner and academic fields. She has published extensively in the areas of human rights and constitutional law, particularly in relation to social rights and children’s rights.
Professor Nolan has acted as an expert advisor to several governments as well as a wide range of international and national organisations and bodies working on social rights issues, including numerous UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, multiple NHRIs and NGOs. She has held visiting positions at academic institutions in Europe, Africa, the US and Australia. She is an Academic Expert member at Doughty Street Chambers where she co-leads the Children’s Rights Group and is a member of the Doughty Street International steering group.
This session will discuss the importance of the Charter, its implementation and effectiveness. It will also permit to reaffirm the importance of social justice and the value of the Charter system as a means to respond to the erosion of social rights and prevent democratic backsliding. Participants will be able to share their experience and express support for the monitoring arrangements under the Charter, in particular the collective complaints procedure, as good democratic governance tools assisting national authorities in policy shaping.
Moderated by Mr. Alexei Buzu, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Moldova
Keynote Speech : Ms Isabelle Schömann, ETUC Deputy General Secretary
Isabelle Schömann, has been elected Deputy General Secretary at the ETUC 15. Congress in Berlin, in May 2023.
Isabelle heads ETUC policies on Democracy at Work with a focus on Workers’ Information, Consultation and Participation, on Legal Affairs with a focus on Trade Unions, Workers’ and Human Rights, the ETUC legislative, legal and litigation strategy (the ETUCLEX), on Gender Equality, on Single Market, and on Human Centric Digitalisation with a focus on Artificial Intelligence in the world of work.
Isabelle served as ETUC Confederal Secretary between 2019 to 2023. Key achievements in setting and implementing ETUC agenda materialise in her leadership in Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, European Works Councils, Artificial Intelligence, Right to Disconnect; in guaranteeing access for self-employed to collective bargaining, on fighting Gender-based violence, in equipping the ETUC with Human Rights Legal and Strategic Litigation, in positioning the ETUC on the Social Progress Protocol, on EU Open Strategic Autonomy, Industrial Strategy that deliver for workers, on sustainable and inclusive EU Competition Policy.
Isabelle, affiliated to the DGB, is member of IG Metall. As former ETUI researcher, she was ETUI staff representative and member of the ETUC works council, member of the FGTB.
Isabelle is a former Principal Adviser to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board of the European Commission, worked as ETUI senior researcher and as research fellow at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB - Germany). Isabelle holds a postgraduate degree in Social and Labour Law from the Sorbonne University in Paris (France).
This session will analyse the state of implementation of the reform of the Charter system and reflect on ways to further increase its relevance and impact. It will offer participants the opportunity to express their views about the means to reinforce the Council of Europe response, embodied in the European Social Charter, and how to preserve its pertinence and impact in the future. They will be able to discuss the desirability or opportunity of introducing new rights and other longer-term substantive or procedural issues that the reform process did not fully address.
Statements by heads of national delegations / Exchange of views
Responses from other stakeholders (international organisations - CESCR, CCJ, civil society, …)
Dr Michael Falzon was born on November 16, 1961 to Moses Falzon and Carmela nee’ Said.
He received his Primary and Secondary education at St Albert the Great College. He joined the Bank of Valletta in 1979. Dr Falzon graduated as a Notary in 1989 and as a Lawyer in 1991. He also obtained the international qualification as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, (ACIB).
He served as the Election Manager of the Malta Labour Party 1992 to 2003.
He served as the Labour Party’s International Secretary between 1998 and 2003. Dr Falzon’s international work culminated in meetings with world leaders such as the Tony Blair; Massimo D’Alema; Martin Schulz, Kevin Rudd, etc.
He first contested the general elections in March 2008 and was elected from the Second and Tenth District. He was also Deputy Leader for Party Affairs from March 2003 to June 2008. He also contested the 2013, 2017 and 2022 general elections in which last two elections he was elected on both the Ninth and Tenth Districts, and was appointed Minister for Social Policy and Children’s Rights.
Dr Michael Falzon also served as Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Simplification, from April 2014 to January 2016.
Dr Michael Falzon is married to Anna Maria nee’ Lia and they have two children, Martina and Nathaniel.
Keynote Speech Mr Aongus Horgan, Chairperson of the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and the European Code of Social Security, Council of Europe
This session will allow a few heads of national delegations to express and explain their support for the Political Declaration of the Conference and for future activities and developments intended to strengthen the Council of Europe response in the area of social rights and the European Social Charter.
Introduction of the session by the Moderator (tbc)
Statements by heads of national delegations / Exchange of views
Interventions by other stakeholders (PACE, EC, UN, …)
Adoption of a Political Declaration by the Ministers and high-level officials
Christos Giakoumopoulos has been Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe since 1 August 2017.
Justina Jakštienė, Vice Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania (TBC)
Vice-Minister Justina Jakštienė assumed office in 2021. Prior to this, she led the Strategic Planning Group and the Division of Projects on Social Security Infrastructure at the Central Project Management Agency (2006-2021). Her career also includes significant experience in municipal administration in Vilnius (1999-2006).
Justina Jakštienė has a strong academic background with a focus on social sciences. She earned a Master’s degree in Social Demography from Vytautas Magnus University (2016-2018), where her thesis received an award. Additionally, she holds a Master’s degree in Sociology (2002-2005) and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work (1998-2002), both from Vilnius University.
Her interests include engaging in debates on demography, societal development, and the efficiency of state investments. Vice-Minister speaks English, Russian, Spanish and German.
