EU 2020 Strategy

European Commission's consultation document on Strategy 2020 - full text

The full text of the European Commission's consultation document on the Future EU 2020 Strategy is available here.

Social Justice Ireland's Submission to the European Commission on the EU Future Strategy 2020 consultation - full text

The full text of Social Justice Ireland's submission to the European Commission on the EU Future Strategy 2020 consultation is available here
 
 

Anger at European Commission's misrepresentation of views on its draft strategy for 2020

Social and environmental organisations have reacted angrily to claims by the European Commission that they "broadly support" draft plans for the EU's Strategy 2020. The European Commission has published a first overview of the public consultation on the EU 2020 Strategy, together with an evaluation of the Lisbon strategy. This overview misrepresents the views of major networks of organisations working with those who are poor and excluded across the EU. In turn this misrepresentation calls into question the commitment of the Commission to develop an acceptable strategy for 2020; it also call into questions the willingness of those involved to give serious consideration to views other than their own.

The overview stated that stakeholders specialising in social issues used the consultation process to repeat their criticism that the draft strategy is "too narrow" in scope. This is true. (The negative response by stakeholders was based on their conviction that a strategy for 2020 that does not address social, economic and environmental issues in an integrated manner is a deeply flawed strategy.) However, the report went on to claim that these groups broadly supported its proposed priorities. This is untrue. The response of the European Social Platform can be accessed here. A further sample of the anger among stakeholders can be accessed here.
Put simply, the Commission's overview paper stated that Non-Governmental sector "broadly supports" the Commission's proposals, when the opposite is true: many social actors find the social dimension of EU 2020 to be virtually absent. In response, several of these networks (Caritas Europa, EAPN, COFACE, AGE and Mental Health Europe) reacted publicly to express their dismay at seeing their views distorted. Social Justice Ireland's response to the Commission's consultation can be accessed here.
The misrepresentation in the Commission's publication is a matter of concern for two reasons:
1.The overview of the public consultation will be given as a background document to heads of state and government for next week's European Council. In no way can civil society accept that the illusion of consensus is created when, in the current climate of belt-tightening, the divisions are probably wider than ever.
2.Public consultations should be treated with the greatest respect, as they are a unique opportunity for EU institutions to connect with citizens, their organisations and society at large. A rushed consultation, followed in less than three weeks' time by a "rosy" overview document, is not a demonstration of good governance especially when you consider what's at stake i.e. a decision on the EU priorities for the next decade.
This raises very serious questions concerning the democratic deficit in the EU.

Are Europe's leaders giving up on Europe's poor?

Judging by their actions in recent days European leaders seem to be abandoning the most vulnerable people in Europe. At its meeting on March 25/6, 2010 the European Council failed to set targets on reducing poverty or addressing educational disadvantage.  While the European Commission had proposed relatively modest targets on both issues to be two of the five headline goals for the Europe 2020 Strategy, these were not accepted by the Heads of Government. Instead they produced meaningless, aspirations in their ‘Conclusions’ published on March 26. This failure displays a totally unacceptable lack of any sense of urgency or determination to take the necessary measures that will inject a new impetus into addressing some of Europe’s core and most intractable problems.

France and Germany among others are claiming the EU does not have the legal right to set poverty targets. Their position contradicts the recently-adopted Lisbon Treaty which explicitly allows the EU to support member states' efforts on social exclusion.

Some leaders continue to insist that if their jobs strategy works then poverty will be adequately addressed. This ignores all the evidence which shows that:
  • On the one hand many people at risk of poverty are NOT in the labour force and, consequently, will not benefit from job creation;
  • On the other hand many people at risk of poverty already have jobs. In Ireland, for example, more than 30% of all households at risk of poverty are headed by a person with a job.
A jobs strategy is essential but to conclude from that that there is no need for a poverty target is rediculous.  In the original draft of Strategy 2020 a target had been included to reduce poverty by 25% by 2020. Likewise there were concrete targets on reducing the number of early school leavers and on increasing participation in third-level education.
It is long past the time for European leaders to face up to the challenges being faced by large numbers of people across the EU. Unemployment has grown rapidly. Poverty is growing. Education completion rates are being threatened.
 Posturing b y German y for example, who argued their federal competences would be infringed, is not acceptable and should not be allowed to block the concrete targets on poverty and education which are so urgently required if these issues are to be addressed with the urgency they demand.
Likewise, the uninformed position of several other European leaders that poverty is too difficult to measure should be rejected with the contempt it deserves. An agreement among all member states on how to measure poverty was concluded several years ago and poverty is now measured on that basis in all countries of the EU.
Critics were quick to the brand EU leaders' conclusions on the Europe 2020 strategy a flop, warning that failure even to agree on the top five goals set by the Commission had left a lingering sense of anti-climax.

 

EU 2020 Strategy - Full Text

 
The full text of the EU 2020 Strategy considered at March European Council meeting is accessible here. Note it does not include the final version of some of the targets which were agreed at the June Council meeting.
 

EU 2020 Strategy begins to take shape - huge problems remain

Following the EU Summit it is hard do work out what was decided or what the response of the Heads of Government will be to the huge response of the Social and Environmental organisations who challenged the European Commiossion's claim that they broadly supported the Commission's proposals for Strategy 2020. Drawing on the media responses of participants in the Summit the Social Platform draws a number of likely outcomes for the Strategy Document.

 On content:

  • The EU 2020 Strategy will be called the EU 2020 'sustainable growth and jobs strategy'
  • There is unanimity (or consensus) on three key objectives:
  1. Growth based on knowledge and innovation
  2. Inclusive high employment society
  3. Greener growth
  • There is unanimity on the EU 2020's goal of "a new economic model: a sustainable, inclusive, competitive social market economy"

On Governance:

  • There are fewer objectives than in the original Lisbon strategy. These will be quantified and differentiated according to each member state's situation
  • The ownership of the strategy will be taken by the European Council, with more regular meetings
  • There will be one big Economic European Council (in the spring?) dedicated to the Stability Pact, the economic strategy and the climate change agenda

On Process and Timeline:

  • Packages of proposals are due to be released on March 3 by the Commission
  • Deliberations on the objectives of the strategy will take place during the Spring Summit
  • A decision on the whole package is due in June

Related material:

 

EU heads of government produce lop-sided strategy and fudge poverty target

The European heads of government have produced a strategy for the next ten years that is underwhelming to say the least. The development model on which it is built is lop-sided. The target it has set on poverty and social exclusion is a deliberate fudge and will have little or no impact.

The European Council adopted the final targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy on June 17, 2010. It provides their template for the socio-economic development of the EU for next ten years. It follows, more or less, the same pathway that the Lisbon Strategy travelled with major lack of success in the period 2000-2010.
The heads of government set a target to "lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and exclusion" by 2020. This was less than the original draft of the strategy had proposed. It was also weakened even more by leaving it up to each member state to decide which indicator to use to achieve the target ('at-risk-of poverty', 'material deprivation' or 'jobless household'). This is a bit like leaving each country to decide how it will measure GDP! It is simply not a credible approach and shows a pathetic lack of commitment to address the problems facing the EU’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
After the meeting, President of the Council Herman Van Rompuy said "We today finalised our new strategy for growth and jobs, the so-called "Europe 2020". It will set things in motion in the real economy." It will not achieve this outcome, despite the President’s claims, because the model it is following is lop-sided assuming that a narrow understanding of economic development must be given priority and that social services can follow on in due course. This overlooks one of the key insights of those who have looked seriously at the failures of the last decade. Economic development is critically important but it will not be achieved without putting the necessary social services in place AT THE SAME TIME. Economic development and social development are two sides of the one coin. One cannot be achieved without the other. An economic strategy that fails to grasp the importance of education, for example, in producing an improved economy with more jobs is itself doomed to failure. Strategy 2020 leaves a great deal to be desired.

 

 

 

 

European Commission's strategy for the EU until 2020 is deeply flawed

 
The European Commission's strategy for the EU until 2020 is deeply flawed and would not be acceptable under any circumstances as a meaningful basis on which to proceed to articulate a vision to guide the EU in the coming decade.

In a submission to the Commission, Social Justice Ireland has argued that: “the vision outlined in the Commission’s working document only contains very superficial ‘social’ content.”  It sees the EU as a social market economy. However smarter and greener such an economy may be, focusing on the economy alone leads to a fundamental failure to appreciate that economic and social development are two sides of the one coin. Economic development must be accompanied by social development and environmental protection if we are to have a genuinely inclusive, viable and sustainable future for the European Union.
The full text of Social Justice Ireland’s submission to the European Commission is aailable here. 
The meaning of human development and wellbeing is being narrowed down by the European Commission to refer only to a narrow employment-oriented and consumer-based approach. Social Justice Ireland points to the wide-ranging evidence that, while having a job is a good protection against poverty and social exclusion, employment alone is insufficient to guarantee social inclusion. Active employment policies are very important but can constitute only one element of an overarching ‘sustainable development’ strategy for 2020. One in every three households at risk of poverty in Ireland is headed by a person with a job. Furthermore, the European Commission itself has concluded in the past that employment cannot represent the solution for all cases of poverty and social exclusion.
 
In its submission to the European Commission Social Justice Ireland proposes that the fundamental principles underpinning the EU Strategy for the next decade should include:
 
1) An ever more serious commitment to making the EU a genuinely inclusive and cohesive society: a social Union, taking responsibility for the people living in its territory, is ever more important and must become a priority objective;
 
2) A new emphasis on shared responsibility: rather than insisting on individual responsibility only, the EU should ensure that it’s Institutions, the Member States, local governments and all their agencies promote solidarity and recognise that these all have co-responsibility in delivering on an inclusive and cohesive European Union.

 
Social Justice Ireland is the Irish organisation working with Caritas Europa on issues of poverty, inequality, social exclusion and sustainability. Caritas Europa is a network covering all 27 countries in the EU as well as other countries in Eastern Europe and is supported by the European Commission.
 
The year 2010 has been designated by the EU as the European Year Against Poverty and Social Exclusion. The ‘Year’ was officially launched in Madrid January 21st. Social Justice Ireland’s comment on the launch can be accessed here. 
 
 

Ignoring poverty could lead to serious problems according to EU Commissioner.

POVERTY is something we cannot afford, according to the European Commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion. In a report in the Irish Examiner Ann Cahill points out that the usual arguments for reducing poverty are social ones, but the Commissioner, Laszlo Andor, is an economist who has worked for organisations from trade unions to the World Bank and uses a different context. The Commissioner points out that a problem in one EU country can have serious affects for another. He warns of social instability and says that like problems in the world of finance, social problems can spread across borders too. Social Justice Ireland welcomes this confirmation of its basic position by a European Commissioner.  It is not acceptable that the Heads of Government of EU countries failed to set a poverty target during their Council meeting on March 25/6, 2010.
Social Justice Ireland's response to the Council's conclusions can be accessed here.
The full Irish Examiner article can be read here.
 

Ireland and the Europe 2020 Strategy - Unemployment, Education and Poverty - FULL TEXT

This publication from Social Justice Ireland reviews the social inclusion aspects of Ireland's National Reform Programme and the Europe 2020 Strategy and how these have been implemented to date in Ireland.  The FULL TEXT may be accessed here.

Social Justice Ireland challenges Government during presentation to Oireachtas Committee

In a presentation to the Oireachtas Committee today, March 25, 2010, Social Justice Ireland has called on the Taoiseach and the Irish Government to ensure that the European Council adopts a target of reducing poverty by 25% in the EU by 2020 and adopts social cohesion and social inclusion as explicit objectives of the European Strategy for 2020. The Council is set to meet today and tomorrow, March 25 and 26, 2010.

Social Justice Ireland has written to the Taoiseach urging him to ensure this European Spring Council meeting agrees to:
• Set social cohesion and social inclusion as explicit objectives of the Europe 2020 agenda;
• Commit to reduce poverty by 25% by 2020 as an interim target towards eradication of poverty and use the relative poverty measure (60% median income) as indicator;
• Guarantee the sustainability of social protection systems and universal access to services of general interest;
• Strengthen the Social Open Method of Coordination to make it effectively deliver on social cohesion and inclusion objectives
• Focus the employment strategy on decent jobs according to an active inclusion approach.
• Ensure the "20/20/20" climate/energy targets will be met.
Including these commitments in the final Europe 2020 Strategy is essential for a number of reasons including:
• The need for the EU to be seen to address seriously the situation of large numbers of people in the EU who are currently suffering real hardship;
• The need to ensure the legitimacy of the European project among EU citizens.
 

Background
• The European Commission's original consultation document on Strategy 2020 was deeply flawed.
• Social Justice Ireland made a detailed submission to the European Commission, which made 15 practical proposals.
• The European Commission's first overview of the responses received to their consultation document was strongly attacked by social and environmental organisations because it was misleading.
• The second summary provided by the Commission was more accurate.
 

Current situation
In preparation for the Council meeting starting this evening the European Commission has produced a second draft of the 'Europe 2020' strategy.
Among other things this draft proposes 5 key targets for the EU to be achieved by 2020:
• 75% of people between 20 and 64 should be employed
• 3% of EU's GDP should be invested in R&D
• "20/20/20" climate/energy targets should be met (i.e. reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% compared to 1990 levels, increase the share of renewable energy in our final energy consumption by 20% and achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency).
• Share of early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of younger generation have a tertiary degree.
• 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty.
This is the first time that a concrete target to reduce poverty has been included in a draft strategy document. According to information available to Social Justice Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Sweden, Netherlands and Italy are against having either the principle of a poverty target or the specific relative poverty target included in the Strategy.
Recommendation
Social Justice Ireland strongly urges the Irish government to ensure the poverty targets are contained in the final strategy adopted. We also urge Government to ensure that the 'risk of poverty' measure is used in setting these targets as that would go some way towards addressing the inequality that has been growing in the EU.
We continue to work with our colleagues in the Caritas Europa Network in all 27 EU-member countries to ensure that these targets are adopted and that the European Council agrees that social cohesion and social inclusion are adopted as explicit objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy.
Specifically we urge that the EU Strategy 2020:
• Set social cohesion and social inclusion as explicit objectives of the Europe 2020 agenda;
• Commit to reduce poverty by 25% by 2020 as an interim target towards eradication of poverty and use the relative poverty measure (60% median income) as indicator;
• Guarantee the sustainability of social protection systems and universal access to services of general interest;
• Strengthen the Social Open Method of Coordination to make it effectively deliver on social cohesion and inclusion objectives
• Focus the employment strategy on decent jobs according to an active inclusion approach.
• Ensure the "20/20/20" climate/energy targets will be met.
Zero-Poverty
In the longer term it is important that the EU set itself a target of Zero Poverty. This target could and should be attained.
Caritas Europa is currently running a campaign which is seeking 1,000,000 signatures throughout the EU to a petition to be submitted to the European Parliament later this year. The campaign is called the Zero Poverty Campaign and seeks to have the EU adopt a target of zero poverty as its ultimate target in this area. We in Social Justice Ireland are leading this campaign in Ireland and see the petition as a fitting way of marking the European Year Against Poverty and Social Exclusion (2010).
 

Links to docuiments

The European Commission's original consultation document on Strategy 2020 was deeply flawed.

Social Justice Ireland's submission to the European Commission, addressed these flaws and presented 15 practical proposals. This submission can be accessed here.

The European Commission's first overview of the responses received to their consultation document was strongly attacked by social and environmental organisations because it was misleading.

The second summary provided by the Commission was more accurate.

In preparation for this Council meeting the European Commission has produced a second draft of the 'Europe 2020' strategy.

The EU 2020 Strategy

The EU 2020 Strategy is underpinned by the notion of sustainability; it has grown out of the recent set of crises which have affected all European countries. On the 17th June 2010 the European Council adopted the final targets for this strategy .

“For our own and future generations to continue to enjoy a high-quality of healthy life, underpinned by Europe's unique social models, we need to take action now. What is needed is a strategy to turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion” (EU 2020 Strategy, pg10). 

To this end the strategy has identified five specific targets relating to the areas of employment, education, research and development, the environment and poverty. All the targets are viewed as complimentary and their achievement is seen to be critical to the continued development of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the European Union.
Significantly this is the first time that EU member states have established a concrete target in regard to poverty. The manner in which poverty has been measured and defined has come under some criticism. Furthermore the target group has grown. However, the target has remained the same making it far less ambitious than initially thought. None the less it is important that governments take concrete measures to eradicate poverty and continue to protect the most vulnerable members of our society particularly in the current turbulent time.
 
Participation
Of note within the EU 2020 Strategy is the focus on participation especially in regard to the advance of the National Reform Programmes which identify the targets to be met by the governments of member states. 
Participation is seen as a central plank of the development and achievement of the targets. This participation extends to all stakeholders in society. For the most part the strategy is to be implemented by the national, regional and local authorities of the EU countries, associating national parliaments, social partners and civil society should be consulted.
 
Irish Review of Poverty Targets
Currently there is a review of national poverty targets in Ireland; there is an opportunity to be part of this process. This process will allow interested parties to take part in workshops being held across Ireland during September, there is also an opportunity to have your say by inputting into the online survey being carried out until the 14th October 2011, further details are available here.