I'm very pleased to welcome you to this IAIA webinar. Perhaps just before we start, we might allow 30 seconds for our attendees to join and then we'll go ahead with the program. Fine, I hope most of you have managed to click into our webinar. As I say, welcome to you all again. My name is Maury Cross and this event is part of our future of the EU 27 project which is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is jointly organized with the European Commission representation in Ireland. And we're delighted to be joined today by the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicola Schmidt, who has been generous enough to take time out of his schedule to speak to us on the theme of social policy for a sustainable and fair recovery. And just a few practical points. Commissioner Schmidt will speak to us for about 15 minutes or so and then we will go into a question and answer with our audience. You will be able to join the discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom, which you should see on your screen. And please feel free to send your questions in written form throughout the session as they occur to you and we will come to them once Commissioner Schmidt has finished his presentation. It would be useful if you could give us your names and affiliations attached to your questions. And a reminder that today's presentation and question and answer are both on the record. And please feel free to join using the Twitter handle at IIA. And we're also live streaming this morning's discussion. So a very warm welcome to all of you who are joining us on YouTube. Now to introduce the Commissioner to you. Dr. Nicola Schmidt, who is from Luxembourg, took office as commissioner for jobs and social rights in December 2019. And prior to this he served as a member of the European Parliament. And from 2009 to 2018, Commissioner Schmidt was Minister for Labor and Employment in the Government of Luxembourg. This appointment followed a long career in Luxembourg's public service, including roles as minister delegate for foreign affairs and immigration and permanent representative of Luxembourg to the EU Commission. As you would see from his experience, he is very well qualified for his commission post. Commissioner Schmidt was given a very significant agenda by President von der Leyen when he was appointed in December 2019. In six short months, however, he is now in the front line of leading a recovery from the corona pandemic, which hasn't gulfed us all. So Commissioner Schmidt, we look forward very much to your presentation at this most important time and the floor is yours. So again, thank you very much for this invitation. It's a great pleasure for me to be your guest speaker this morning. And I must say we are in a very special moment because we face a big challenge. How does Europe manage to come out of this crisis, which was an absolutely unpredictable crisis, quite different from the crisis we experienced a few years ago. And which impacted Ireland quite dramatically. And so it's a crisis which has affected all member states. There is no member state which has not been affected. First, from a sanitary point of view, though there are differences, the impact is not even, it's not equal. Some member states have been affected much more on that level than others. But economically and socially, the impact is huge. In terms of GDP, we have got the last forecast a few days ago, European GDP under relatively optimistic assumptions will drop by more than 7%. And unemployment will go up close to 10%. And we are coming from something like 6.7 going up again close to 10%. So this shows how deep, how sharp, and how rapid this crisis has changed our overall environment. And you mentioned that when this commission started, I was given the responsibility for jobs and social. In a meeting we had yesterday with the whole college, I said, as a job commissioner, I was in a rather favourable position. Because during the last, before the crisis, during the last month, unemployment dropped all over Europe. And we achieved, we attained the highest level ever of employed people in Europe. And from one moment to another, this picture has changed dramatically. And this is what we have to deal with now on the recovery side. Now, what has been done first? I think there are a lot of comments saying, well, Europe has not done enough for, where is Europe? First, I would say everybody in Europe has been very much surprised by the outbreak of this crisis. And it was quite at the beginning quite difficult to measure the impact and the dimension also on the health side of this crisis. I recall just that even the World Health Organization at the beginning was not sure if this would turn into a pandemic, or if it was just something quite similar to a normal flu. When then, everybody looked to China and the first information we got from China was not, were not so alarming. And then things happened quite fast. And we noticed that no country really was prepared to this kind of crisis. But then Europe reacted very fast. First, we made sure that we mobilized the funding which member states can rely on. So we adopted regulations giving member states to draw on the funds, the cohesion funds, the remaining funds, and to use it as in the best way they consider to fight the impact of the crisis. So these two regulations in the framework of a corona investment instrument were adopted very promptly and very fast. A second measure we took was to try to keep borders open. And that was not an easy task because we noticed that the first reaction of member states was to close borders. And this was really threatening the internal market because we discovered what kind of achievement we had through opening the borders or at least having the Schengen Agreement on the continent and that there were no border controls anymore. Suddenly there were border controls and we discovered what we had finally the advantage of no border controls. Here we tried to keep borders more or less open, was not totally achieved, but at least we tried to get borders open for goods and for those workers, cross-border workers who worked in very important crucial strategic, I would say, sectors like the health sector, for instance, that these people could cross the borders. So this was a second important element. The third one was in the perspective of reopening progressively and especially restarting companies and the economy. And this was a health and safety because you cannot tell people to go back to work if they have not a minimum of guarantee that this happens in a safe way. That means that people can rely on all kinds of safety measures in order not to be infected. So we issued a certain number of guidelines which should be respected in the context of health and safety. This was done by our agency in Bilbao and we really pushed for the respect and the implementation of these guidelines. Just an hour ago I had an exchange with one of the board members of Volkswagen and he told me that this was a crucial moment in order to reopen the activities in this company, really to give people the guarantee that the working place is a safe place, that the working place is not a place where people risk to be infected. So we have to continue working on this very actively. And the last point I want to mention is finally the change in the working ways because I've also seen that hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland have stopped working either because they lost their job or they are in short time. And here we just today, I got the information just now, Coropea adopted our instrument financing short time work. We have about 40 million people presently on short time work in Europe. So this is very much the case in industry, this is very much the case in a lot of services, especially also a sector which has been very much affected this tourism. Here the commission adopted communication two days ago how we can relaunch progressively also the touristic activity and I know that Ireland is quite a tourist country also relying very much on visitors, on tourists. So we have to make sure that first tourism restarts and second that people traveling get also all the guarantees that they can do that in a safe context. So here also we have to make sure that health and safety is respected. But coming back to sure so we have now an instrument giving member states the possibility to draw on 100 billion euros to finance short time schemes, which is of high importance because when we are looking to the US for instance, we had an increase by 20 million unemployed people in one or two weeks. But this didn't really happen the same way in Europe. Certainly we had an increase in unemployment then we will still have an increase in unemployment but this unemployment surge was not as dramatic as high as for instance in the US because practically all the member states use this short time work which allows them to keep their people, to keep the skills of their people and to prepare the recovery. That's my next point, the recovery. Now recovery means that certainly a lot of measures have already been taken by member states. But these measures are quite uneven. Those member states who have a lot of financial or budgetary margin well have taken measures up to four or five and even above supports to their companies and so allow their companies to survive because one of the biggest issue in this crisis is because we are facing a supply crisis and at the same time a demand crisis and the first step we have really to do is to preserve our supplies. That means we have to preserve companies because even very healthy companies are threatened because in many areas the lockdown has finally cut them off from their normal clients because people could not consume, people could not buy cars, people could not normally have their normal living and this has had a tremendous impact on many sectors, industrial sectors, service sectors. I mentioned tourism, hospitality and so the first objective was to try to save the majority of our companies because companies dying it will be even much more difficult to have a rapid and strong recovery. So this is an important point but unfortunately not every member state had the same means to do so. We have quite big differences between member states in the measures they took to support their companies. Well we opened by the way the rules of state aid so we gave the member states a large margin to support their companies because otherwise companies would not have the right to become beneficiary of state aid so we finally changed that but it was important, it's now important to come back to some level playing field because what is at stake in that context is the internal market because if you have companies who got a lot of money to support them and in other member states they do not get the same amount because the member state has not the financial margin to do so this will have an important impact on the internal market. Same thing for employment by the way and the other aspect is we have to make sure that this economic crisis is not transformed into a social crisis and here fighting unemployment is key. I mentioned short time work but we have really to take into account special vulnerable categories of people who are really suffering or risk to suffer most from this crisis and here young people youth unemployment is really an issue and I noticed that for instance in Ireland you have a very sharp surge in youth unemployment and this happens in many other countries and especially in those countries where we had already still a high level of youth unemployment so we are working on that in the framework of the recovery plan. Now what should be the recovery plan it's difficult for me at this stage to give too many and too precise indications but during the meeting we had yesterday among commissioners it was clear that the recovery plan has to be sizeable because this is also part of the credibility of Europe. It's part of making working on the level playing field which is important in social terms but especially also in economic terms so having a sizeable recovery plan coming from Europe. I won't give any figure but when we talk about sizeable we mean that it has to at least have a certain percentage of European GDP. The second one is it has to be timely so we cannot wait months before really implementing this recovery plan so because our economies are suffering unemployment is going up so we really have to implement this recovery plan in a very short term way so that's why decision now in the forthcoming weeks is so important and third it has to be well targeted it has to help companies to survive it has to really sustain a rapid relaunch of our economy we have to kickstart the economy on the supply side as well as on the on the demand side we have to make sure that people come back to their jobs that they will find back their jobs and in order to make sure that they will find a job we have to make first sure that companies survive and that companies have trust in the future because companies who do who do not have any trust in the future will not invest and will not create new jobs or even maintain the existing jobs so now targeted means also that we will not encourage our economies to come back to the pre-crisis system if we invest billions of euros we want also these billions of euros to have an impact on the transformation of our economy this commission has had two big priorities and still has two big priorities the first one is the greening of our economy climate change remains a major a major issue this has not changed due to the corona crisis climate change remains with us so greening the economy investing in reducing co2 emissions remains our priority and I think we can use this recovery plan to help companies to adapt to change and to to to green their production processes overall that's the first one so this is very important and I think through that we can also create new jobs because the green economy has different jobs but there is the possibility of major creation of jobs and the second aspect the second priority of this commission is the digital aspect so in order to make Europe to to to make Europe competitive in the global economy we have we have we really have to be leaders in the digital transformation in the technological transformation so Vice President Vestak is very much working on that but this has also consequences social consequences and consequences for for employment as I told you I I just had an exchange with one of the the biggest European car car manufacturer and what I got from them was to say well certainly there will be a big transformation in employment there will be also some jobs lost but first the the qualification the competences of our people have have to be changed so this is for for me the biggest challenge is skills so this if we want to come out of this crisis if we want to really make the transformation green and digital successful for everybody if we do not want people to leave to be left behind we have to invest a lot in skills re-skilling and upskilling and that's why we are working on a new skills agenda I want to organize also a big skills pact with the European business involving also social partners in order really to launch and to reinforce to strengthen the investment in in in skills because that's the future of jobs that's the future also for young people we we will revamp the youth guarantee and part of this re-launching or strengthening of the youth guarantee will very much rely on pushing the digital skills for young people so companies member states regions schools have to really adapt to this major technological revolution and my last point is we have to keep an eye on those who are the real victims of this crisis because still we had a high portion of people in Europe under the threat of poverty the risk of poverty we have not achieved our goals of the 2010 2020 objective reducing the number of poor people in Europe by 20 million we had started to reduce it slightly but now the crisis may have changed changed this again and therefore when I look what happens in many member states those people who have been on precarious jobs those people who have been self-employed those who have many women have lost their job in service sectors like hospitality restaurants and tourism well many of them have no income or very small income so the poverty issue in Europe has come back to a fully come back to our agenda so we have really to work on this how can we support how can we make sure that we have not a growing portion of people falling into the poverty trap and and not being able to come out so we have to start the discussion around a minimum income unfortunately some well fortunately some member states have minimum income schemes but we have to make sure that in all member states we have some kind of a minimum income framework and that's what we will do especially also on the german presidency where the germans have announced that they want to do that we have also to make sure that and that was what the president of the commission announced we have to make sure that pay still works still pays working on the minimum wage i know that in ireland the minimum wage is the second highest i think in europe so it's not ireland which is so much targeted but other member states where the minimum wages do not allow a normal uh uh live in dignity so this will go on we will still work on that and i think wages by the way of portions of our of our working force have to be reviewed we have seen that a lot of jobs which we did not consider so much or at least we did not appreciate the social value so much when we think about nurses all the people in the chairs in the care sector very often in many member states not being really paid so well i think we have to look at this differently after this crisis and therefore it's important to have new social standards in encouraging collective bargaining also for these categories of people very many uh being women because 70 percent of the whole care sector and health sector are women and very often we see that well because the sector is very female the wages are low or because the you do not know exactly the relationship with both so uh gender equality remains also a very important issue also in this crisis because women have been in those sectors the most affected and the most crucial like the health sector or the care sector or even retail sector so we have also to have a look at that uh to get uh uh gender equality accelerated therefore patron transparency for instance is a very important issue we will continue my colleague commissioner dali uh will continue on that so these are the some aspects uh how the commission will work uh are mainly on the economic and the social side for us it's very clear and that the recovery has to have a very strong social input social dimension as we consider that the social dimension under this commission had to be reinforced we have the uh the um pillar of social rights and i've been charged by the president of the commission to work on an uh implementation plan an action plan for the uh uh for the uh pillar of social rights this remains on our agenda we will present this action plan beginning of next year we are discussing with the portuguese presidency how we will push for this uh uh action plan and they have the intention to organize a summit on on the social dimension in the period of crisis and of big transitions so uh social remains as one of our priorities because we know that uh social is crucial for for the cohesion of europe for the cohesion of our societies and for the support europe has among its citizens i stop there thank you thank you very much indeed commissioner for that comprehensive overview of what the EU is doing and uh we can see um uh the commitment uh to try to deal with the this pandemic and the crisis it has called across all areas we have a number of questions um uh which um i will put to you uh the first one is from paul ginelli uh of the european anti-poverty network now i think you have spoken about poverty and how to deal with it uh much in your um in your talk but i will put you paul's question he says thank you commissioner for your presentation what measures will the EU take to ensure we do not enter a new phase of austerity policy in the wake of the crisis and particularly to ensure we do not see any increase in poverty as happened during the last crisis specifically in relation to social protection how will the EU move to ensure all member states have minimum income schemes that provide accessible and adequate supports to those who need them aleve i'll give you that question commissioner i i partially have already uh answered it but i i i fully agree that uh we have uh and i think there is a strong will of this commission not uh to copy what was done after the last crisis i think the solution certainly is not now to say well uh now we have to come out of this crisis and uh the way how to do it is austerity so i think we have uh we we have learned a lesson in a way also because there's a political dimension a very strong political dimension in that uh what to do is first the we have to make sure that the social protection is a right for everybody so social protection also for workers who are in atypical working as statutes uh the platform workers uh the those young people who are on very precarious uh working uh statutes or labor statutes uh we we have to make sure that everybody gets uh a normal social protection meaning above all also health uh health insurance so this is something we uh we have started is a recommendation adopted under the previous commission it's only a recommendation unfortunately but we have the intention to work on that and to uh adopt uh by next year uh a more uh compulsory uh framework for social protection for everybody access to social protection for everybody especially for those who are not in normal uh working uh conditions the second is uh certainly uh the emergency because a lot of people rely now on food banks which is in a way in a rich on a rich in a rich continent something which is not very normal but i've seen that in many places uh in in the even in the richer parts of europe people uh really need the food banks otherwise they cannot afford any anymore buying food for for themselves and their children so we we have to respond to this emergency and we have this instrument of uh of the uh uh this fiat fund for for the people the most deprived people so we have to to mobilize enough resources to support this but this is an emergency emergency situation this is just to help people to to uh to come more or less uh through to go through this crisis but certainly uh we have to make sure that less people rely on this uh food banks homelessness is another issue which probably will increase we have about 700 000 homeless people in europe so my uh discussion is how can we reduce this how can we really establish the right for for housing for everybody now we have good examples finland is certainly one of a good example uh with with quite the very positive results so we will organize next year a big conference with all kinds of stakeholders with uh also NGOs how we can improve our policies in the member states to reduce the numbers of homelessness and then you have mentioned it and i have mentioned it a framework for a minimum income i think we need this because crises like this we cannot exclude that they come back and uh having people who are from one day to another have no income at all we have made sure through uh short time work that uh workers maintain a certain level of their income but there are people who do not have any income who do not get any unemployment benefits and so it's important for for having this scheme and we will work on it and i hope that unfortunately it comes a bit late but that we will have all over europe a scheme and a framework for minimum income so uh my last point is yes we need uh resources and there are discussions also in in the framework of the recovery plan to mobilize enough resources to make all these policies uh uh uh at least have a strong participation of uh you in the implementation of these policies including also at a financial level thank you thank you commissioner and i think for the next question you have almost answered it but it is from Mike Allen director of advocacy advocacy focus Ireland and he refers to um Finland as you did saying every country in europe has experience rising homelessness and the that is likely to increase and he mentioned that the commission has limited confidence in this area but could play a much more active role in shaping and guiding national best practice uh and strategies and does the commissioner of any proposals in this regard i think you have mostly mentioned the proposals you have but you may have an additional comment you want to make i think we we are in a way and i think the crises are pushing has pushed us in in that direction that more people are aware of this this extreme form of social exclusion now in every city we we meet people who are just living in the streets they have no social guarantee whatsoever and they have a big health problem because they cannot just stay at home because they they do not have a home and therefore we really want to i know that the commission has not very important competences in this area but we thanks by the way to Ireland we have in the treaty this chapter on fighting social exclusion that was a request i remember very well of Ireland at that time when the treaty i think during the Amsterdam negotiation so we homelessness is a form of exclusion and we have the the possibility to better coordinate member states in their policies and also through different financial means to support these policies so this would be done we will we we are about to start it i had a two days ago an exchange with one of the NGOs which is very active on homelessness how we can proceed how we can put also in place a european framework to fight homelessness on building by building on on good experiences i mentioned the finland as one there are a few others so this is something which is on our agenda thank you thank you commissioner our next question is as from Juan Menendez Valdez who is the executive director of eurofound the EU agency based in Dublin who as we know has just produced statistics about the covid and and the views of people in member states which has been a shock i think to everybody the the feeling of hopelessness and depression that it has exposed in many areas he asks in eurofound we're collecting measures taken at national level a number of them refer to income support like basic income schemes some are suggesting a european approach to such schemes is it realistic to expect some new common action in this field he asks maybe complementing initiatives on minimum wages but i in a way i have already given also an answer i think we we uh and we will start working on the idea of a framework for minimum income in europe uh this is an important point on the program on the german presidency's program and in my discussions with the german minister uh minister heil uh they will put that on on on their agenda of their presidency and we will work together how we can really create the basis for a framework a european framework for minimum income now i am not absolutely convinced by unconditional minimum minimum income i've seen that in finland they have they had this pilot project i've read the the evaluation well there are some positive points there are some points which do not allow to conclude very clearly but what is important is that people should get the possibility if they cannot work if they are in a position where they have no income that they get a minimum income they can live in in dignity and this has this is not just a national measure this is also a measure which has to be coordinated at european level because if some countries do have this kind of minimum income and others do not have well there are also consequences of this uh of these disparities so i think it's important to work on this framework uh because this is the course of despair as uh as the director of your fund has mentioned and i have i indeed have looked at the study which has been done and we have to come out of this situation of despair of hopelessness because we cannot have a good recovery if people have no confidence in the future because people finally they are making the recovery if consumers say no i won't consume because i'm not sure if i can keep my job if i have an income if my kids have a perspective to get a job afterwards well we will go for a long stagnation in our economy with high very high unemployment so we have to restore the confidence of people as and the confidence of people depends on the confidence of companies and the confidence of companies depend also on the confidence of the consumers so i think this is the issue of the recovery plan and we have another question from allen barrett director of the economic and social research institute here in ireland and he says we used to associate EU funding with major infrastructural projects like roads is there a case that the EU should now focus on digital projects post-covid to ensure that all parts of the EU and all people are connected to strong broadband need it for work plus so much else well a very good question i think as i said we we have as one of our priorities the the the the digital development of europe and there are certainly there are technical aspects there are infrastructure aspects because not every part in europe is well connected we are now talking about five g but some regions in europe are not yet even at the level of four g so we really have first to to make sure that there is no area in europe which is cut off or which has not the right infrastructure but the second divide is the social divide we have about 40 percent of people in in the european union which have no or very very low digital competencies skills though we know that more or less 90 percent of jobs and probably more in the future so 100 percent in the future they need at least a certain level of digital skills so there is a divide also in terms of digital skills which which has a risk of exclusion because if you do not have the digital skills well it becomes more and more difficult to find a job and do and to find a job there is even a gender divide in digital skills because we notice that many women and and young young women well the digital world is a very male world so we have to make sure so here a better balance gender balance in the in the digital so what is important is now investing certainly in in infrastructure in technology but at the end it's an investment also in people investing in skills of people investing in their competencies at all levels especially also those who have a job and whose job may change be transformed with a strong digital content we have to make sure that these people have the the right competencies in the future to to keep their job and to to to be up to to this technological evolution and here Europe has to play a role I talked about the skills agenda with a very strong digital component I talked about the skills packed with business because business has also to participate in in this digital upskilling for everybody so this is one of our big priorities thank you commissioner I have another question from Tony Brown who's a founding member and a senior fellow of the institute and he has a short question but significant social policy has often been constrained by issues of competence and subsidiarity what are the implications this time well those who didn't like social dimension in Europe all always referred to well Europe does not have any competence in the social field and social should be left to the member states that's a question of subsidiarity I do not share that because this is a reading of the treaty which is certainly very limited because if you read the treaty certainly there is a social is a shared competence we have the possibility in many areas to make proposals and this was done also the previous commission has really made important proposals in the social field I mentioned even if it's only a recommendation but nevertheless on social protection posting has a very strong social component so I think nobody wants now to have the only competence in social matters for Europe it will remain a shared competence but in an internal market in a monetary union you cannot just say everything is integrated monetary policy we have a common monetary unique monetary competence we have an internal market but social that remains national I think we have to have also in the social field a level playing field that's the discussion around for instance a framework for minimum wages that's the discussion about we have to give all the employees the right to collective bargaining so trade union rights are important in that in that context the right to be reskilled is important also in that context so I think this idea that social justice is a subsidiarity issue and we have to leave it only to member states doesn't fit into the level of integration we have now in Europe I think here also we need stronger social coordination certainly but also in some areas we need regulation and we have to create a level playing field in the social area thank you thank you commissioner we have a question from Dr Laura Banbrick who's the social policy officer in ICTU which is the Irish Congress of trade unions and she goes back to referring to the the remote working and she said should remote working materialize how will the commissioner the commission ensure the advantages for workers from working from home are not overshadowed by decent work challenges or impudition yes well we have seen through this crisis the very rapid development of remote working and in a way this helped us to save a lot of jobs because people could continue working though everybody was locked down but they they could continue working now there is there is an agreement between social partners from 2007 or 2006 I don't remember exactly on remote working but that was a period where the remote working was finally very marginal very not very important and this was a is an agreement between social partners which normally had to be adopted by by all the member states and I think now with a new evolution we have to have a look how can we develop remote working but how can we also take into account the advantages but also the risks I see that in some member states just to quote France social partners will start now a discussion how to organize remote working given the risks and the advantages and I think here also we would need some kind of level playing field in in Europe and therefore I I have already mentioned that I would like to invite social partners at European level to take up the 2006 or 2007 agreement and to look what has to be changed given that technology has changed given that the dimension of remote working has now increased dramatically what can be done to give also at European level to every worker to every employee working this in this way the the guarantees and because there is one aspect like the right to disconnect friends so everybody discuss what well what is the difference between working time and and leisure time in the digital in the digital in the digital area so all these issues have to be discussed but I would like social partners to start with that and to discuss them as they did more than 10 years ago thank you commissioner the next question we have is related to the single market and it's from Peter Gunning the NIEA member and he thanks you and it says it looks like the movement of people for leisure and tourism for business and for business and for provision of services will be slow to resume and even when resumed maybe less smooth than in the past is there a concern that there may be lasting damage to the single market well I think we I mentioned already the communication we have issued on tourism transport is certainly an important issue because there are discussions now with especially the the air companies flights how to make flights safe I know that this is also something of interest for for Ireland and for Irish companies so we will have in that area the recovery will not be very fast I think because we we still have risks because the pandemic is not over and and what we are really scared of is a second wave so there is the need for taking really real precaution but at the same time we have to make sure that these sectors are not excluded from recovery so there has to be a balance between the house and safety issues and restarting all these activities moving people around traveling and also tourism in that sense free circulation is remains I spoke about the borders I think we are we we also have issued a communication on reopening borders and I think this can go faster I think closing borders is not a solution even not for fighting the pandemic but so this is something we we have to be very keen on and and to preserve the fundamental rights of the internal market and one of the fundamental rights is the free circulation of people thank you very much commissioner another question we have from Kilian Rossi the IIA economics researcher and he said thank you for your terrific presentation commissioner what does the creation of the sure instrument mean for the planned unemployment benefit reinsurance scheme announced by president von der leyen in her political guidelines well the sure instrument is a provisional measure responding to the present crisis so we managed to adopt it now in a relatively short time less than two months when the idea was launched and now as I said it was definitely adopted today but formally it will be adopted next Tuesday I think by by by the council so this is a provisional measure and it's also in in the regulation it's limited in time I think two years well it's a response to especially the development of short time work which is one of our major instruments to limit a massive increase in unemployment but that is not replacing the other instrument which is the unemployment benefit reinsurance system which should be a permanent system in terms of responding to more crisis where in one or the other country unemployment may go up due to different reasons it's more based on asymmetric shocks now we have more or less a symmetric shock even if these the consequences of the shocks is is not even in in all the member states but the the the unemployment insurance insurance reinsurance system should be more should be permanent and should respond also to needs to one or the other countries and this is in we are working on that we have taken the commitment to come up with a proposal at the end of this year and this will be respected but it's not linked to the sure instrument the sure instrument is a response to this crisis the permanent instrument should be an instrument for future unemployment crisis and especially when one or the other country is more hit than the other to help them to maintain the level of their unemployment benefits as as a social measure but also in some way as an economic stabilizer thank you commissioner I have a number of other questions and I might put put a couple of them together from Martin Martinez Navarro the legal secretary of the general court of the EU in Luxembourg and professor of law at university Lieberman de Bruxelles how will the recovery fund be financed with the emission of debt instruments by the commission itself or with other own new resources and how will the recovery fund be spent through grants or through repayable loans that's rather one to keep to keep I also from you Anna de Silva dear commissioner a lot of member countries do not have the same digital skills as other countries will this not increase the remaining problem of brain drain in Europe two rather different questions commissioner if I could meet them um commissioner uh sorry first question uh on the recovery plan it's a work in progress so I cannot be too explicit on that but certainly uh uh it will be financed largely on uh on the loans taken by the European Union but but I think we should not exclude also the create the creation of new own resources there there's an ongoing discussion on on this new own resources and I think now it's the moment really uh to make progress on that and this will be part of a package European Parliament is very much insisting on new own resources we have the uh financial transaction transaction tax we have some green taxes so I think this is now the moment to to discuss that and also to fight agreements on new own resources now grants and and loans this is in the discussion I think we need both now what is the proportion of grants what is the proportion of loans that will be the result of a difficult negotiation uh now I am convinced that we need especially also for the social aspects and the social investments we need a real important part of grants otherwise it won't work the second question the digital divide first we have to overcome the digital divide and therefore we have to support those countries where the level of digital is low so we have really to support these countries to invest more in digital education in new forms of digital training there are a lot of new approaches how we can train people more rapidly in uh in the in digital skills uh brain drain is certainly not the solution because uh we have to keep Europe together we have to make sure that we have economic convergence and social convergence so free movement is a good thing right but if uh one region or one or part of Europe loses uh the the best skill the most uh the best educated the young people the most those who want want to be entrepreneurs well we lose the uh convergence uh the economic convergence Europe absolutely needs thank you commissioner we're approaching our uh time but perhaps um with your permission we could take one more question it's quite a short one and it's from Blair Horan um who is a long history in the social area and he's an IIA member he says how ambitious will the action plan on the social pillar be I can only say very ambitious well we are talking now uh it would be a bit my conclusion a lot about resilience I think this crisis has shown us that uh we have to make sure that our our economies but also our societies are more resilient uh are more able to uh to support and to react to shocks like the one we we are now uh we we now have experience and I think resilience is also a matter of good social systems uh those countries who have managed quite well not all but because there are a few countries who have managed well where the social system are but not so but many countries have very strong health good functioning health systems so it's important to have a good functioning health system but also resilience means also good education systems low levels of poverty so I think that this action plan is part of making Europe not only fairer but also socially and in a way economically more resilient so the the the pillar of social rise have 20 has 20 principles and all of them be it the gender equality be it youth employment be it the health system be it housing all this is part of a more resilient socially but also economically resilient society so we will work on that we will have to be very ambitious not every issue is of competence of Europe but we can help member states to improve this their social situation we do that already now in the framework of the social scoreboard we do it in the framework of the country specific recommendation uh we have now adopted or integrated in our policy the principles of sustainability and a lot of these principles are also referring to social issues to social dimension and therefore I would say this action plan can have a strong impact but to have a strong impact it has to be ambitious that means it has to respond to the expectations of our citizens because I think people have high expectation that after this crisis they are not forgotten thank you thank you commissioner and I must apologize to those questioners for whom we did not reach because there was considerable interest may I thank you commissioner not only for your presentation but for the generosity of your answers and the sheer amount of information you have given us in what the commission is doing I think we can see your commitment to bring forward the means to deal with this pandemic and we can wish you well in your work in this regard and I know that you will find our our colleagues our countrymen working with you to try to get through this this dreadful pandemic thank you again commissioner and thank you to those who have been listening to us we have several more webinars next week in the IEA and we hope you'll join us for that but thank you again commissioner and our good wishes thank you very much for inviting me it was a pleasure to have these exchanges with you and all those who participated in this in this webinar thank you thank you again


Random teams number three of bullman baseball. Here's the break schedule for anyone just joining Jumbo random teams three here at two thirty six Pacific time Saturday now May 23rd. We're gonna go five times on the list of customer names first three four five yeah Nicholas down to Nelson Recap will be at the end if you want to skip ahead First found out what team you're gonna get though five times on the MLB teams one two three four five Colorado Rockies twins combo down to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of Los Angeles So there you go Nicholas Lolley Rockies twins Greg race. There's the schedule Brandon Mike Sommage Indians Rick D-backs Pirates Jamie Mariners Mike Giants Jason Ace calm Red Sox Mike Cardinals and Orioles Jason Padres Matthew Brace Sommage Mets Justin White Sox Rebecca Philly's Chris Blue Jays Chad Reds Mike Tigers Daddy a spru crew Jake Astros Greg Dodgers Mike Sommage Cubs Justin Yankees Congrats Justin Chad Royals Eric Nationals Nick Lolley Rangers Mike Marlins and Nelson Angels So we'll leave the trade window open up for a minute. I guess I don't know if anyone's in this break here Here's the break schedule. We're doing this right now. This is the break. We're on and these are the breaks that are still left in yellow So break we're on here then we got Bowman one-pack break Bowman mixer Two and three and then select baseball a little behind so these times may be off. This might not be starting till like 350 34 am on this one probably Maybe 530 on this one. Maybe like seven on this one. I don't know If I make it that long, I guess All right, so let's print the list out and rip. Good luck trade window closed TBD exactly No, the brakes film today though Jason will be live I guess no other breaks feeling For me Jason will be live today at 11 a.m To do some stuff might be asleep to like maybe 5 p.m.  I might stream until 5 a.m. Tomorrow, too Might as well. I'm not gonna be sleeping. All right. Good luck everybody Yeah, I'll send the tweet out I'll be like what's up peeps live right now for our last leg of the 24 hour stream I think I'll need to do that after this break because once the one pack break comes and then the mixers those are gonna be tough Those are long breaks Long breaks here. Oh You did send it. I thought you're you're saying send a tweet. Okay, cool Be honest for that bone mixers. I might just open all all 10 boxes at once and then do it You see the cart in the top camera here. I don't know who they're Interviewing he's not getting excited. Yeah, just fast-forward. I'll just like Watch a can Queens 30-minute episode and then break Do we have your permission to go Bob Jordan Yamamoto Rookie Otto 16 to 15 Blake Rutherford a 250 it doesn't let you post something at all I Remember Dominguez chrome sorry Dominguez paper with paper and pass on paper shit Sam half the 499 Is Ezekiel they're on auto Yankees Justin got him in the randomizer They're breaking walls Bobby Whitcomb Matthew Limitore no 150 To talk to my And look at this to Jordan Yamamoto's in one box, this is a rookie auto to 499 Wake up Nothing much Aussie nothing crazy a red auto Megala Maya to five red shimmer auto. That's pretty nice I don't know if you saw that or not Just started this one first box to Yamamoto autos All right, I'm actually gonna open Maybe two or three boxes at once so if you're watching on the recording you can skip ahead or however you like Try to catch up to my schedule here the packs on the top camera there Yeah, I kind of remember that All right, here we go open three boxes here Once again, you can see everything on top camera if anything goes off camera on the main one What about my head is the whole bird dive you? One more box and we'll go through Then we'll open the four boxes last four and then go through those and then a recap And it's our last full case of Bowman Next to our Bowman mixers six hobby for jumbo Grinding through those and then select baseball and it all and then Joe. Sorry Jason will be live at 11 o'clock a.m. coming in on his day off Saturday and then Joe be live probably around three or four Probably go to nine or ten and then I'll go on for maybe an hour to Two or three hours maybe So that's our Saturday schedule and then Sunday of course is Jason only He's two to ten on Sundays. Actually, he's been saying some midnight, but I don't know Might be worn out from this so maybe only for ten I don't know how many breaks will have on the website even to do and Teddy will be live on Instagram tomorrow, too So a lot of stuff going on All right, here's three boxes Purple sorry blue paper to 499 Luis Castillo We're Pacific PST, I guess just Pacific time So right now it's a 3 almost 3 a.m JJ Bladet atomic auto to 100 very nice Not his first bowman auto. I think he had one in drafts, but still a nice one for the Marlins. That's Mike s Yeah, no problem The only thing we're missing we can see the game we see each other Yellow paper Joey Bart top prospect 75 to 75 joints So long this game Oh Brennan Davis to 499 very off-center top bottom there Kind of a miscut My break from my desk tomorrow better height to break for me And Just lounge back Bobby doll back to 125 to you red socks Whoa, that's awesome. That's really cool Yeah, you get it printed on a card stock and sell it for Ton of money, and yeah get it sign it Joan Diaz. That's a nice one També Ray's going out to Greg You think in and out you think I would have said in and out burger. I don't know I'm not a huge burger guy to be honest That'd be sick on a canvas if he signed it to Philip Clark auto first auto not first auto, but prospect auto for the Blue Jays Chris Walker Lion Wish I had the team logo on the left side each time switch it up Should be on the same side for each team That way I could just slide through and just look at the logos looking for a Yankees and Royals logos I Louise Gill to 125 teal Yanks Justin Brandon Hallett auto for the Red Sox that's going out to calm tea if I hit the Dominguez Super Auto Joe do I have permission to run to the next door and knock on your door Wake you up call you or the superfactor non-auto too Will Wilson still Angel in this one 150 Okay, I'll do that Joe oh No for Justin Smith is leaving Indiana transferring I know I'll have to like I'll have to go off the grid with that card For the protection of myself and whoever pulled it there'll be bounties after me I hide in Joe's hotel room with the card Paper Dominguez No, I'm going through fast with the paper, but I am not missing those dudes that we're gonna pull so don't worry I Got a knack eye. I know it's Don't it's late, but I sell a pretty good eye vision Actually probably now more than ever nothing going on the store not many people in the chat so Pay attention the most part now to be honest There's Ruben Cardenas number the 499 refractor auto.  Oh gold number to 50 Christian Yellich It's a sharp looking card, and I'll do a recap at the end of the break And Bobby Bradley the 250 Do recap of the non autos? Sorry of the autographs and some of the notable non autos Speckle auto Jacob of Maya been on fire with the Dodgers 299 Greg be without one. No Bobby. Wait. I haven't seen him Maybe Joe Jason Teddy pulled one without me knowing I Speckle auto there a Maya for the Dodgers and The red auto early of the Dodger was Vargas actually. I think I said a Maya earlier actually Vargas Not sure if any relation to Jason Vargas I Swagger D to 499 What's up mark? Yeah, I'm breaking for like the next three four hours, too Put me on at the on the TVs at work To watch me slowly die inside I Speckle auto number 299 that is Jaseel de la Cruz 272 of 299 for the bravos Matthew deep Got randomized braves. No super fractures pulled today Luckily no fractures, but no super fractures either. Oh Yeah, we did have the wit under armor. That's right. That's right No bird Brady singer to 150 top 100. Yeah, those under armor autographs you should count as a bonus auto If they're still doing that, I remember those were bonus autos for a while So I'd imagine they still are so in like a hobby box you'd get the wit plus another auto They've made like James Winston under armor. I was a bunch of other guys that we pulled Show everybody Brian hands the 499 we need Netflix on this TV pop on some office or something Damond Jones for the Phillies Philadelphia Phillies going out to Rebecca Mookie bets still a red sock to 150 in this one swaggered into 499 pirates I Think that's definitely possible Definitely definitely not so Brian. There's no way we could do that Purple auto Joan Diaz 91 to 150 Very nice one there. I think he's a pretty big seller if I want to say so Correct that is Greg that one Toyota 500 what kind of event is that? the The British car racing stuff formula one Can I bet on that? Love to put like some crazy amount on it The whole ten dollars on it. Oh NASCAR it won't be live though, right? Okay This KBO can't I can't do it. Sorry, I can't I can't get up from KBO I Don't know it's just I don't know I can't do it. I don't know if it's the fan thing no fans I don't know I can't do it though If it's I don't know any of the players There's Das camera 299 It's cool like to watch it in any near to I can't watch a full game Granted I don't watch too many full MLB games during the season either All right, there was a four boxes of Bowman now on to the last four. Yeah, I'm grateful that they're playing but Yeah, I don't know Can't get too excited Yeah, KBO is gonna be not live though for I Think this is the last couple innings Yeah, basically But I don't know it's just hard. It's just hard when you know You don't really have a rooting interest if you're betting on it Maybe but even then you only get one game. It's not like red zone channel where you can watch, you know all six games at once So it's just hard to bet it to to be honest unless you're just gonna bet the game you watch Like I feel like they just hit dingers all day. I don't know if it's the baseball Boondis League will be coming on. I've watched that. But yeah, I'll probably be off almost off by then Or my eyes will be shut doing breaks You know back massage you probably will yeah, isn't that a Erling Honda or whatever on Dortmund like the country, I guess you say it like Holland or the whatever it is whatever country city state city city country I was looking forward to MLS this year. We had Chicharito in the galaxy Probably the I guess a lot of time But a lot of time was pretty old Probably the best player One of the best players to play in the last I would imagine right? That's right. Netherlands equals Holland All right, I'm gonna open all four boxes at once and skip ahead again. That was pretty good So you're gonna play For any team next year, I know he's not gonna play in the end the last oh really isn't he like 38 39 For some reason I forgot we sold this breakout I thought it was just two Bowman mixers and then this left baseball So I probably should have agreed to that second Bowman mixer and then select Isn't a C Milan like a pretty is he gonna be like actually blinds? I guess Italy a lot of I mean is it isn't it pretty highly competitive? We're in all those playing there right in Italy Remember you can see all the cards in the top camera Next is the Bowman one-pack break and then Bowman mixer two and three and then select and then Off We're hitting the 21 hour mark on our computer. So if it shuts down No guarantee of me coming back on Sorry guys the computer malfunction No, I'm joking I'd go I come back on let's say totally broke Yeah, I don't know I wouldn't be too like Frustrated I'd be like okay the computer, you know We've had this computer a few years couldn't handle a 24 hour now. We know So restart it or get a new one Doesn't only use in 31% of the computer CPU Running slow definitely restart it after I head off Although I got to upload videos. That's always a tricky thing Maybe I'll text Jason I don't know. This is what I'm thinking about. This is my Is my life?   No flies.  Who's leaving the door? How is the beetle getting in our pack in our store? How does that happen? Who's leaving the door open? You getting under the door? I Got a cricket last week. It's just nothing my week That I've lived in California, so I would not have to deal with any type of creature I'm not joking Joe. It might have been a cockroach to be honest. I Don't know what those look like. I don't know what the difference is. It didn't look as I Don't know It's just terrible, man We don't have any food here anything so I don't know there's Louise patina out to 299. Maybe it likes Bowman Speckle auto for the Padres that's going out to Jason.  We had that at the Then your legs feel tickly after seeing one of those things Yeah, Rex. We're going for a 96 hour stream This is jumbo random team three coming up next is a mixer bowman mixers four and sorry two and three and Then select baseball and then I'll be it for me This is jumbo random team three though Anything else that sells out will be with Jason at 10 or sorry 11 a.m. Pacific 2 p.m. Eastern Today so not a lot very long wait and then Joe beyond then I'll be on Later tonight purple auto James beer number 250 Chicago White Sox that's going out to Justin. I Know right? It's been crazy Jason went live about 21 hours ago according to my computer Definitely by far our longest ever stream Joey Cantillo Padres Jason No, I don't know Yeah, you know if I tell a boss man that I saw one it's gonna be like No food allowed Purple auto to 250 jaciel de la Cruz no water or food in the store That's a braves that's going out to Matthew D.   They're invincible. It's like iron man Those things are like apocalypse proof Can't kill another James beer second one there white Sox auto Excuse me The secret it doesn't say a lot of times it's up in the seats That's back-to-back where it's at work before So suddenly Joey Cantillo a lot of duplicate autos refractor auto Padres to 499 That's Jason. Oh Yeah, I tried but I don't know Rex, I don't know if I got it It's not good. It's not good Turn the corner, man. There it was Adley Rushman teal 125 aqua No And you set up like a it's like that bait trap. I don't think that's the first one I've ever seen in this store We've been here a year so I think we're fine, but we may have to Clean my office up. It's kind of a mess. I don't think I have any food in there though We are by it like a gutter which kind of sometimes attracts the insects The passion of the fans Atomic to 150 Nate Pearson I Chris Valamon auto Minnesota twins that's going out to combo spot Nick Lolley The USA To 75, Xavier Edwards, Paper. I'm glad to be joined by Seth Frankoff, former Ducan Barrett's pitcher who's at his home in North Carolina. And K.P., you were asking Seth and Sons of the Fourth Strike free there. The interest difference is, I mean, everybody that we've talked to that has played in the States and has gone over to K.P. Oh, it's just interesting to get their experience. So what was it like for you? I know you're already in two years and then one more thing, what was the entire experience like? I mean, I think that you just have to go into it open-minded. I think that your experience is based upon really just accepting that it is going to be different. You know, I don't think anybody's quite prepared for it. I think for me, the biggest difference was... A.J. Puck Otto, rookie card for the Oakland A's that's going out to Jason. Yeah, the two to try to help you be successful. Seth, what did you notice when you came back to the States side? If we start seeing a lot more than, yeah... Come on, BGO to 499, we have to go down that road. But yeah, I've only seen one. I don't know, I'll take a picture of it. If I caught it, if I didn't, I'll probably leave Bobby Witt.  That's probably not great. Shane Bads to 299. I feel like I've been pulling him for years, if you like. Dominguez. Blake Rutherford to 499. Dominguez-Crow.  And that was the first and foremost, what was my support. So, I kind of had to explore it. It was a wonderful experience the past two years. I had a lot of fun, like a lot of new things. But, you know, I'm trying to be back to the States side this year to see what happens. One major league game in your career so far, what was that day like? Was that the guy's chair or what? Freaking squeak. Yeah, I said to earlier, we have that, like that water thing in front of the door. The big water drain. I think they like that. And then they sneak in through the crack of the door. Andy Page is out for the Dodgers. That's going on to Greg. It was a Monday that, you know, the NBA kind of pulled their guys off the court and they kind of suspended play. And I remember we had a Wednesday night game that pitched in. Probably just needing to get the store spray like every month or two. The border of the store. I forget if we had that do that at this store or the last store. I don't know. We went down this road already. Deja Vu. Denzel Washington and Deja Vu. It's Nick Jasper. Jose Beres, the 499. Everson Pereira to 150. And we're prepared to help. If you currently work with us and need assistance, contact us at rocketboarded.com. The open road, the wind in your hair, the feeling of freedom that drives us to go out and discover. At Sheddy, we're committed to getting you there with confidence. Purple Auto Grant Little, number 250. If you're in for months, I'm any of our most popular models. You may need to shop online and take delivery at home where available. And when you do, you're shamed from the dealers and committed to using enhanced vehicle-to-be measures with CDC approval answers so you can find new roads with confidence. Working at a home, except for all of us. Helio Ramos to 499. Stay active. Enjoy. Nicolo Valtra, superior light beer. At Burger King, we're updated. Micah Bello, number 250, Purple Auto for the Brewers, going out to Thaddeus. I've been hinting at a ton of Padres. I don't know what's going on. I'll try to save some. I feel like it's been a ton of Padres and Brewers. Two not very expensive teams.   Making some noodles? You were longing to try to pay me okays, huh? Yeah, it's been a couple years in Korea and you can kind of get to know the different cuisine and yeah, that dump chain is one of our favorite Korean dishes and I got one. It's in my towel. I'm going to try to do it. It worked out really well. That's good stuff. I'm going to try to get it stocked at a different time. We have the reunion show now. Just talking about it for a while together. Yeah, we're going to miss it. We're going to miss it. We're going to miss it. We're going to miss it. We're going to miss it. Am I doing the second half? Where are those boxes? Where'd you put those loose boxes, Joe? For that Bulman mixer. Oh, no. Shield your eyes, Brian. It is Xavier Edwards. Jason out. Bobby Whit. Miguel Amaya at 4.99. Eric Rivera for the Angels going out to Nelson. You were also in the Dominican. You played Venezuela. You played Korea. What's the difference in the game in all those? I mean, obviously Canada was just a stop in the Miners. But the Dominican, Venezuelan, Korea. What are the differences in the similarities in everywhere you played so far? I think that the similarity would actually just be the passion that the fans have for the game. You know, when you got away from all, you see, the atmosphere is certainly second to none as far as the liveliness of the fans. And then you go to Korea, and it's a different kind of liveliness. But, you know, they really embrace the culture if you're the part of their, that the fan atmosphere really makes the game more... Gracia Rodriguez to 125. And as well, the Dominican leagues, those are power league too. Speckle Auto, Lensi Delgado, no. 299. That's going on to Justin with the White Sox. Thank you so much for joining us. And we wish you the best of luck. And keep cooking. We're getting hungrier and hungrier. Dominguez-Crohn. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks. Nice young man set the break off, who made a faith-link debut a couple of years ago, and has been... And last one here, then we'll do a quick recap. There we go. That is the break. Beaumont Jumbo ran a team three. Some of the bigger hits here. Some of the big autographs and a couple of non-autos. Not too much. Mostly autos here. Diaz to 150 was nice. 50. Yalich Gull to 50. Diaz number two. So there you go. Thanks everybody for getting in. Jumbo number three.


Architecture school is a really strange, specific environment that I mean, I guess it kind of prepares you for the real world of, you know, an actual profession where you put in a lot of hours on details or buildings that may or may not get built or may not, may not matter. I think architecture school is maybe really unique because it's probably the only time that many of architecture students get to work on their own projects because after that it's, you know, architecture is basically a service industry, you know, to say what you want but there's some rich person saying I want neon lights on my building and you have to say no but you might do it anyway, you know, pay the bills.  So I kind of think like focusing on something so narrow maybe is, and missing the big picture is probably a big part of some architects, I just say all, I want to get in trouble. Their own language I think is a really annoying part of architecture, like making up stuff, making up concepts that maybe don't mean anything per se. The other day I heard Dramatical Logics and I was like, that doesn't mean anything to anybody except for maybe like five people who understand it maybe. I mean I kind of think it's like taking concept and then putting a name on it and then that would make it important or that would make it relevant to some kind of discussion. I don't really understand it. I mean it happens in all fields, not just architecture, but I was like Dramatical, that's not even a word, is it? Logics didn't realize it was plural so, you know, kind of that kind of imbuing importance on something that may or may not make sense outside of the context of something very, very small or very, very specific. I don't know why it's taking for granted. I mean it's something you obviously experience every day and something you do every day and use every day. So of course it's going to be taking for granted. I don't know why people take things for granted though in general. It just seems like it's going to happen and if you want credit for it, you're probably in the wrong profession. You know what I mean? People take teachers for granted and nurses for granted, so there's that.


How do you ignore that freaking letter we got them you can't read these letters thinking anything else it's proof Yeah, it is Good work Should we take it up to Ben? No Not yet Why not? We got law this is it. No, this is law covering for one priest. There's another 90 out there Yeah, and we can print that story when we get it, but we got to go with this now No, I'm not gonna rush the story Mike We don't have a choice Audrey if we don't rush the print someone else is gonna find these letters and butcher the story Joe Quimby from the Herald was at the freaking courthouse So we'll write a holding story and we'll keep our eye on the Herald keep our eye on the Herald They run this and get it wrong the church will bury it. We got to do this now Mike what? Why are we hesitating? Baron told us to get law this is law Baron told us to get the system We need the full scope. That's the only things can put an end to this So let's take it up to Ben let him decide. We'll take it to Ben when I say it's time. It's time Audrey. It's time They knew and it let it happen two kids Okay It could have been you it could have been me it could have been any one of us We got to nail these scumbags We got to show people that no one can get away with this not a priest or a cardinal or a freaking Pope


Irma? Irma? Yes, Jane? You know, this is interesting. It says here that the desert in Death Valley is 270 feet below sea level. Well, it can't be much of a desert with all that water on top of it. That's what you can expect when you listen to my friend Irma. Friendship, friendship, just perfect friendship. When other friendships have been forgot, there's will still be. All this company makers of swan, the soap with the exclusive super cream blend presents. Starring Mary Wilson-Azerma and Kathy Lewis as Jane. Find out what sign I was born under. Whether it was Aries the Rem, Capricorn the Gold or Leo the Lion. Lo and behold, I find out I'm Taurus. It says in a footnote that Taurus girls get married very young. As far as I'm concerned, now I know why this sign is referred to as Taurus the Bull. Younger. And every June I look at the wedding announcements in the newspapers and you know something? My name isn't there. And as far as Richard Rhinelanders concerned, I've tried everything. From pulling petals off the daisies to sleeping on a piece of wedding cake. All I ever got out of it was a house full of ants. I'm not the only one who does a bit of moaning around the month of June. Even Irma is affected. Right now she's looking at a picture of a June bride in the newspaper.  Which means she's thinking. Irma, yes Jane? What's fascinating you so? Well look what it says about this bride in the paper. What? When Miss Doris Albert walks down the aisle, she'll be wearing her great grandmother's lover around her neck. Let me see that. Irma, that's Lavalier. Well I've got the other words right. She's just lovely. Yeah, lovely and lucky. Especially this one. Isn't she adorable? Yes, and her babies are cute too. Yes, an artist has drawn their pictures all around the bride's photograph. Irma, those are cupids. Jane, if Richard asked you to marry him, where would you go for the honeymoon? The nearest sanitarium for shock treatment. How about you and Al, honey? Where would you like to spend your honeymoon? Oh, Al has already made reservations. We're going to stay at 822 Wall Street. 822 Wall Street? Irma isn't Mr. Clyde's office at 824? Yes, when we're on a honeymoon, Al doesn't want me to be late for work. Doesn't surprise me, your wedding ring will probably have a built-in alarm clock. This is Al. Is Irma there? Just a minute. Irma, it's for you. Who is it? I'll give you a hint. It's the one person in the country who celebrates 365 holidays a year. Oh, if anybody, it'll be you. Fussy crowd. Let's go in style. What do you mean, Al? Make some sandwiches. We'll take them along. I mean, to see Harvey. I wonder what kind of a show it is. Well, it's a comedy. I haven't seen it yet. They say it's very good. It's about a rabbit called Harvey. Only you can't see him. No wonder Al's getting the tickets for nothing. Oh, well, as long as I'm with Al, I don't care what I don't see. He's so wonderful. In June, all fellas seem wonderful. That includes my Richard.  Oh, T. Jane, wouldn't it be wonderful if the four of us were married and lived right next door to each other? Oh, I can just see it. Richard coming home from a hard day at the office, Al coming home from a hard bench in the park. But it would be so nice for our children. Yeah, the children. I hadn't thought of that. I guess there would be a little Irma and a little Jane. Little Irma would be asking little Jane questions all day. I won't have it. Well, why not, Jane? Because I wouldn't want my daughter to be prematurely gray at the age of four. Oh, you're just kidding, Jane. Isn't it wonderful to daydream like this? Gee, if Al would just propose, I'd buy the wedding ring myself. Buy your own wedding ring? Oh, no, you wouldn't. That's one thing I won't let you do.  All right, Jane. Gee, you know, I can't wait to go to the theater. What did you say Harvey was about? Oh, it's about a man who drinks and imagines he sees rabbits. It's only me, Professor Kopatkin. Hello, Jane and Irma, my two little dishes. One food for top, the other food for squirrels. Excuse me, a little joke I picked up in the park. Why, Professor? Girls, I came down here to get a little information. Is the word which an adverb or a preposition? Well, the word which is a pronoun. Or it may be used adjectively. How do you want to use it? Dear Mrs. O'Reilly, you are an old witch. Professor, why don't you stop teasing poor Mrs. O'Reilly? After all, she's the kind of a person who likes to live and let live. This I know. You should see the things she lets live in my room. Professor, why don't you forget Mrs. O'Reilly as a landlady? Just think of her as a woman. I tried that, but I had to stop right away. I found myself hating my own mother. Tell me, Irma, what are you all dressed up for? Oh, Al's going to take you to the matinee. I'm going to see Harvey. Harvey? Yes, he's bought a rabbit who drinks and imagines he sees men. Yes, and pink psychiatrist. Hello, girls. Oh, there you are, Professor. Oh, it's Mrs. O'Reilly. Please, don't get excited, Mrs. O'Reilly. Quiet, you. Girls, what would you think of a man who takes a girl to the playground in the park at night and lets her go up and down on a seesaw for two hours? Oh, I think that's very romantic. Well, that's what I thought until I got off and found a rock tight at the other end of the board. I'm sorry, Mrs. O'Reilly. I just went away to buy you some candy.  Mrs. O'Reilly, what did you do for him? Oh, just a few little intimate touches for his room. You know the leak in my bathroom pipe? She fixed it? No, she hung a shower curtain around it. And you know that old-fashioned gas stove I got? The one the gas is always escaping from? Oh, is she getting you a new stove? No, she gave me a gas mask. Well, this is all very touching, but Irma, Al will be here any minute. You better be ready to go, honey. All right, Jane. Where are you going, Irma? Al's taking me to the theater. To the theater? Oh, it's been such a long time since I've been to the theater. Yes, it's a little hard for Mrs. O'Reilly to forget all that excitement and shooting. You see, she was sitting right next to Mr. Lincoln. Push up, Professor. Oh, Irma, I almost forgot what I came here for. Amber Lipscott called while you were at the office, and she wanted me to tell you that she called back again at one o'clock. Come on, Mrs. O'Reilly. I'll take you to the movie around the corner. They're showing two pictures today.  So evil, my love. I'll go along with you. Goodbye, girls. I think I'll go too, Irma.  Oh, Jane, why can't you get along with Amber? Irma, honey, I know she's one of your best friends, but tell me, why is it the minute she gets here she has to take off her shoes and strut around barefooted? I wouldn't mind if her feet were shapely, but believe me, if they had eyes, one of them could pass for a bear-skin rug. Well, that's not Amber's fault. Her feet hurt her. You see, she's employed in a brewery. She's a barrel-kicker. A barrel-kicker? Yeah, she walks around in the brewery kicking barrels to see which ones are empty. Oh, Irma, don't listen to those stories she makes up.  I'll take you there. Hello? What? Yes, Amber, this is Jane. You want to talk to Irma? What? Why do I have to answer the phone? Well, I happen to live here. Why do I have to live? Why you? Hey, give it to me, Jane. Hello? Why, going to keep on living with someone beneath me? She lives right here in the same room. What is it, Amber? You sound excited. Huh? You can't tell me, but you'll be right over. All right. Eve, goodbye. I wonder what she's so excited about. I don't know, honey. Personally, I don't want to have anything to do with her. As far as I'm concerned, she's the coarsest, most vulgar person in the world. But I've never heard her sound so thrilled. I wonder what it can be. I'll swing gorgeous George next week. It's me, chicken. Come in. Hello, Jane. Hiya, chicken. Hello, Al, honey. Sorry I'm late, chicken. I was trying to interest a banker in my latest deal. When is it this time, putting windows and cigar boxes, selling them for television sets? Nothing so obvious. This is a special device to eliminate backseat driving. How do you do that, Al? Simple. The car has two exhaust pipes. One of them goes into the backseat. Oh, my God, I can't go. You can't go? Why not, chicken? Well, Amber Lipscott is coming over to discuss something important, and I promised I'd be here. But, chicken, after all the trouble I went to to get these tickets. Oh, I'm sorry, Al. Such a shame to waste good seats. Um, Jane. Yes, Al? Jane, in the past, you and I have had many differences, but this could, of course, be based on heredity. What do you mean? Well, in your family, to be ambitious is considered a virtue. In your family, it has come to be looked upon as a disease. Yes? Outside of this slight difference, Jane, I have never had anything against you, and have always hoped it was sort of mutual. What are you driving at, Al? Well, I was wondering if you would like to go to the theater with me. Outside of chicken, there is no one I would rather take. I've never had anything personal against you, and since you put it this way, and if Irma won't object... Oh, I won't. You know what they say, share the wealth. Look, he's broke. Well, what do you say, Jane? Al, I'd be delighted. My arm, Miss Stacy, and let me tell you, I may not be able to take your long Park Avenue like your boyfriend Richard does, but believe me, on our way to get a hot dog at the waterfront, we will cross Park Avenue. This is a day that will live in history. Goodbye, honey. Yes, so long, chicken. When we get back, we'll tell you the whole plot. Well, you don't have to, Al. I trust you. That, ladies, the music for the first dance of a lovely evening and the violins are whispering a beauty hint to you. Only Swan has that super-cream blend. That's important. Swan soap does give you something no other soap can offer. Swan differs from other soaps. You know it does, because you can feel the difference just by running your fingers over a cake of Swan. You can feel that extra smoothness, the direct result of Swan's super-cream blend, and feel that wonderful super-creamed lather.  This Swan lather cleanses so gently, so thoroughly, and then rinses away so completely that it leaves your skin looking softer, smoother, younger. Yes, you'll find out that the Swan look is a young look. You'll see new beauty in your skin, so please don't forget. Only Swan has that super-cream blend. Richard takes me to the matinee. He hails a cab, picks up a box of candy, hands me a corsage, and we end up watching the show from the third row. But this is with Al. So he hailed a cab, asked the driver what time it was, and now we had time to walk. He picked up a tootsie roll, handed me the wrapper, and we ended up watching the show from the third balcony. From where we are sitting, not only Harvey the Rabbit is invisible, but so is the cast. I must say Al is enjoying himself immensely, though. He hasn't stopped smiling since he went to sleep. Oh, wake up. Your Honor, this whole thing is a mistake. I was fr...  Al, I don't like to interrupt your dreams, but I paid $1.20 tax on those free tickets of yours. I like to have you see the show. Sorry, Jane, just can't keep awake. Why not? No dames in the show. Must you have chorus, girl? Look, Jane, as much as I love chicken, I am still a normal man. I prefer watching chorus girls to an animal act. I got the feeling that once you've seen one rabbit, you've seen them all. No, no, do by all means.  It helps me to speak freely. Amber, I hope you have something important to tell me because I passed up going to the theater with Al. Have I got something important, dearie? You know my boyfriend, Gerald the Jockey.  Harpooned is the word, dearie. I've got him clean, dressed, and on ice. We're getting married this afternoon. Oh, not really. Yeah, after the seventh race. Amber, I don't know what to say. Gosh, I'm so happy. Oh, thanks, dearie. Everyone's been so nice. At the track, they gave a party for Gerald and me. They put us in the winter circle, dropped a horseshoe of flowers around my neck, and weighed me in. They were so sentimental. I'll say, tell me, Amber, how are you coming along with Al? Oh, every time I ask Al what's holding up our wedding, he says, moniana. That's Spanish for money. Oh, hi, Amber. Hello, Al. Hey, you lost a little weight, didn't you? Yeah. You know, driving a bulldozer is an easy word. Until you hear the wonderful news, Amber is getting married this afternoon. Well, congratulations. That was nothing. He knew he'd have to do it sooner or later, or I'd cripple him. What time does the wedding take place? Five o'clock at my apartment, dearie. And that's why I drop by. You've got to do me a favor. Oh, certainly, Amber. What is it? Well, I'm going to be tied up with the Dressmakers until 4.30. So I wondered if you'd take this $50 with this slip to Kay's jewelry store and pick up my wedding ring. Oh, you'd be glad to. Do you want us to come to the wedding? Well, of course I do, honey. You're my dearest friend. And I don't care what kind of a wedding present you bring me just as long as you're not ashamed of it. I will get the ring for you. Shall I bring Jane along, too? No, thanks. There'll be enough crumbs around after we cut the wedding cake. Oh, Amber. I wish you'd try to understand, Jane. Underneath it all, she's a wonderful person. That's where I'd like to see her, underneath it all. Better not get in my way. Well, so long, honey. $50. Al? Money for the ring. I'll put it back on the table. Oh, you misunderstand, chicken. I was merely thinking of getting the most good out of this money for Amber. What do you mean, Al? Well, maybe I can get a better ring for less money. And with a dough I save, Amber, we buy her a wedding present. And there's only one man who can help us. Who else but... Hello, Joe. Al, got a problem. I want to pick up a wedding ring cheap. What shall I do? Shake hands with Mrs. McHugh? Oh, she's been on her diet. The ring is loose. No, no, Joe. Must be legitimate. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You want I should stop calling you about things that are legitimate? It's giving you a bad name with a voice. Understand your position. Goodbye, noble friend. Now, look, Al, forget about getting bargains. Let's just go out and get a wedding present for Amber. Shall I take along the 50 and the slip for Amber's ring? No, we might lose it. Leave it on the table until we come back. Okay, chicken. T.L., I wish we were getting married like Amber and Gerald. It won't be long, chicken. Oh, Al, if you knew how I'd dream of the day when I'll hold our son in my arms. Well, chicken, how do you know it'll be a boy? Oh, you don't know about those things. You're so naive. Well, I'm sure you know how he wrote to the stork. Professor, I guess no one's home. Oh, that's too bad. I wanted to tell Irma that I liked the way she sewed the button on my shirt, but that I can't get the shirt off the table because she sewed the shirt to the tablecloth. Well, this is June, and Irma is very much a love struck. Back before I left for the theater, Irma was in such a romantic mood that she said if Al would marry her, she'd buy the ring herself. Well, lots of people are desperate to get married, Janie. Take Mrs. O'Reilly.  But I'm terrified at the thought of what they might find underneath. Irma's just exaggerating, and she wouldn't do... Oh, my goodness. What's the metagine? What's on the table there? Kay's Jewelers. One wedding ring, balance $50. Oh, no! She said she wouldn't, now she's done it. She's buying her own wedding ring, so Al will marry her.  Nature was very cruel to her.  Well, Al's not going to get away with this. Irma works too hard for her money to go spending it on a wedding ring. Heavens, if Al wants to marry her, let him buy the ring. Where are you going, Janie? To the bank to deposit this money right back in her account. But the bank is closed now. Well, I'll put it in the night depository, professor. I'll see you later. This will teach Irma a lesson. Well, chicken, you better get dressed if you want to get to the wedding in time. Don't forget, we've got to pick up Amber's ring. All right, Al. What's the matter, Chick? The money for the ring is gone. Don't look at me, Chick, and I come in with you. You know what happened? That money you were going to spend on a wedding ring for yourself so this loafer could marry you is back in the bank where it belongs. Back in the bank? Yes. And the bank is closed. Closed? Why are you two acting as though someone had just gotten killed? I wish you hadn't said that, Jane. Sounds like a pretty good ringside description of what's going to happen to you. To me? What are you talking about? Jane, that 50 bucks belongs to Amber Lipscott. It was for her wedding ring. If her wedding is called off on account of your meddling, she may hit the ceiling, and it'll be with you. What am I going to do? Well, I don't want to get involved with that terrible monster. Oh, if I could only get $50 so you could get the ring. Let me see. I think I've got $4. Oh, dear. Irma, how much have you got? 20, 28, 32, 41. A half a dollar. Oh. Mrs. O'Reilly. Janey, what's wrong? You're white as a sheet. Mrs. O'Reilly, have you got $50? Oh, you should have asked me this morning before I went to the beauty parlor. You spent all that money in the beauty parlor? Yes, I tip big. I have to. If I don't, the girls won't work on me. Well, I guess this is it, kids. Might as well get ready to face it. Now it's a matter of time, nothing more. I'm just sitting here waiting for the inevitable. Al and Irma have been very solicitous. Irma keeps humming and singing. Cheer me up. Her singing is a little worse than anything Amber could do to me. As for Al, Al is really concerned. He keeps glancing through my papers to make sure all my insurance policies are paid up. It's after five o'clock, and by now Amber's either married without a ring or on her way over here with murder in her heart. Oh, if only I hadn't put the money in the bank. Well, goodbye, Jane. Come in, Amber. Hello, Amber. Now look, Amber, let me explain. You don't have to explain, Irma. That's the kind of a person you are. But really, Amber, I don't know what to say. You don't have to talk, Irma. You just see those things. Feel what things? About not showing up with the ring. You didn't want me to be married. Now hold it, Amber. You stay out of this, nosy. What I'm saying, Irma, is what makes you so clever and psychic. Psychic? Yeah, how did you know Gerald was already married to somebody else? Stay out of this. Irma, I'm so glad you didn't show up and embarrass me.  If I only told you about the money Gerald gave me. Uh, what about the money? You, my worst enemy, should try to pass that money. It's counterfeit. What's your girlfriend doing lying on the floor? I wish you wouldn't go to sleep when we have company. I'm buying a cake of swan soap in front of the electric fan. So I said, honey, what's the idea? And Irma said, Oh, I thought if our swan starts molding, the fan will blow its feathers away. Well, Jane, Irma has her serious moments about swan soap, too. Sure, she says the large cake of swan is wonderful for a bath. So ladies, why don't you get the large size cake of swan next time? See how it breaks easily into two generous cakes that last and last for your bath. And when you feel your cake of swan, you'll notice how smooth it is. Feel the lather. It's smoother, richer, creamier. And that's because of swan super-creamed blend. So get the big, handsome, generous cake of swan soap for your bath. Irma must feel all the time. Why? Because I have pulled the boner of boners. Fortunately, I got to the bank in the morning early enough to stop the counterfeit deposit, and everything's taken care of. But I just can't stand to be in a position where Irma feels she must sympathize with me. In fact, I just go crazy when Irma says, Oh Jane, don't feel so badly about making a mistake. Sometimes I even say some things that aren't exactly brilliant. Sure, but who cares? Six of one or ten of another. All adds up to twelve. It's just a little higher than the IQ of my friend Irma. And Irma presented by swan another fine product of Lieber Brothers Company was produced and directed by Cy Howard. Tonight's script was written by Cy Howard and Park Levy. Folks, next Monday evening, listen again to... Our friend Swan. With my friend Irma. Starring Mary Wilson as Irma and Kathy Lewis as Jane. The part of Professor Kropotkin was played by Hans Conreed. Ladies, listen. The shortage of fats and oils is still very serious and it's worldwide. So please keep on saving every drop of used kitchen fat. Your butcher will pay you for every pound. Frank Bingman speaking. Sprite. Cakes are light and high. Sprite. There's a reason why. Sprite. Cakes improve with Sprite. Rely on Sprite. Yes, there's a reason why Sprite makes grand cakes. Sprite has an amazing cake improver secret. Try the Sprite one bowl away and be sure of lighter, finer, richer cakes every time. No other type of shortening has Sprite's cake improver. For new cake making success, try Sprite. The pure, all vegetable shortening. Rely on Sprite. S-B-R-Y. Rely on Sprite. Tune in next week one hour earlier and listen to the Lux Radio Theatre immediately followed by my friend Irma. 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