EU leaders to agree on social standards to woo voters

European Union leaders will proclaim a set of 20 "social rights" on Friday in a bid to make the EU more appealing to voters and counter eurosceptic sentiment across the bloc.

The set of social rights, supported by all EU governments and institutions, spells out what the EU believes are the foundations of fair and well-functioning modern labour markets and welfare systems.

It encompasses principles ranging from equal access to jobs, to fair working conditions and wages and social protec- tion and unemployment benefits and training.

"It's time to put people first for social Europe," Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters as he arrived to host the summit.

"This is a very important social summit. To me it's obvious that our common market cannot be one where employers or enterprises have to compete with lowering wages, lowering conditions," he said.

Recent elections such as in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, at which populist parties have done well, have shown citizens have lost confidence in governments or in the European Union.

"There is certainly a need to respond," a senior EU official said.

Britain's decision last year to leave the EU served as wake-up call for the bloc and made it reflect on the way forward, including putting more emphasis on social policies.

"I think people believe there's been maybe an excessive focus in recent years on economic matters, banking and we want to re-fire the engine of social Europe, advancing things like equality, workers rights, pension rights and other things," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.