For local policy-makers working in social services across Europe, the European Parliament’s March 2025 resolution on the European Semester for economic policy coordination sends a powerful and timely message: social services matter and they belong at the heart of national policy reform and social investment strategies.
The resolution’s clear recognition of “high-quality social services, including early childhood education, long-term care, housing, education, training, and healthcare, particularly for individuals in vulnerable situations” offers more than political validation. It emphasises the significance of social services in promoting social inclusion and cohesion across Europe. And it opens a policy window for social services in local authorities, which are often the ones actually delivering these services on the ground.
As the first responders to social needs, social services departments in local and regional authorities know better than anyone that economic and fiscal targets mean little if people cannot access affordable housing, reliable disability and older people’s care, or effective child protection. The Parliament’s call to prioritise investment in social services acknowledges that economic resilience and social cohesion are deeply intertwined—and that local services are essential to both.
Crucially, this resolution does not just recognise the importance of social services; it also points to the need for stronger data collection frameworks and investment tracking. That is where local actors come in. From providing data on investment and coverage to piloting social inclusion services models, municipalities and regional authorities are central to making EU-level goals real for communities.
The resolution highlights the message we have been reiterating in our previous European Semester reports. While collecting the data is key for an evidence-based analysis of national social policies in the European Semester, there is currently no regular national collection of data on social services investment and coverage, let alone at European level. This year’s resolution goes further by acknowledging specifically that “the European Social Network’s Social Services Index is an example of how such data collection can contribute to the European Semester analysis.”
By naming social services and the Social Services Index explicitly, the European Parliament acknowledges our work and adds democratic weight to calls from the European Social Network and partners who have been long championing this cause. We have highlighted disparities in the coverage of social services and difficulties figuring out the type of investment made, and how these need to be addressed through the European Semester as the Parliament’s resolution does.
The European Parliament’s call to prioritise access to quality social services using national and EU instruments like the EFF+ and promote better data collection to monitor social services coverage and investment are very much aligned with the proposals we made in the cross-country analysis of our 2024 Social Services Index. The message from the European Parliament is clear and aligns with ours: social services are not secondary -they are strategic. And the Parliament is backing that up by embedding social services into the European Semester process, the very mechanism that shapes national policy reform plans and EU funding priorities.
For local policy-makers, this is an opportunity. It is a moment to advocate more strongly for targeted funding, to promote social inclusion in national plans, and to build partnerships that scale up best practice. In short, it is a chance to help shape a Europe where recovery and growth are measured not only in GDP, but in people’s daily lives.
