Mutuus – project co-financed by the European Union – is focused on the extension of social protection to the professional self-employed (PSE), considering that social rights (which include the right to an adequate social protection also for the self-employed) are one of the priorities of the current Commission.

Indeed, in its Communication “A strong social Europe for just transition”, it stressed the need to adjust social protection standards to the new realities of the world of work and to implement the Council Recommendation on access to social protection.

A further element of the project background is the Commission’s Communication on “The European social dialogue, a force for innovation and change”, that considers social dialogue as a key to better governance, to economic and social modernisation.

Here, it is also acknowledged that the role of social partners has extended to cover also social protection, but that at the same time work in this field should be reinforced.