Editorial by Conny Reuter, SOLIDAR Secretary General

International Workers’ Day!

30 April 2015

Tomorrow we will celebrate International Workers’ Day in the midst of an ongoing social and humanitarian crisis.

In spite of all the talk of balanced globalisation, jobs and growth, the reality is that we are still in the aftermath of the crisis, with increasing numbers of working poor and as a result, increasing poverty and inequality in Europe and worldwide (in 2013, there were still 375 million workers living on less than US$1.25 a day!). Progressive governments have made tremendous efforts to lift people out of poverty like in some countries of Latin America, but the rules of capitalism have still not changed. There is still no balance between capital and labour and the increasing inequality, whereby 1% of the world’s population own nearly 70% or more of its wealth, as observed by Thomas Piketty and others, is not sustainable.

We have heard the wonderful announcement of a “Jobs, Growth and Investment plan” by the Juncker Commission, but since then there has been silence and no real plan nor strategy. Investing in social protection, in public goods, social services and education would bring the highest return on investment one can imagine: socially cohesive societies! And it would bring back trust and confidence in the European project. Where is the one significant social commitment of the Commission? Instead the Europe2020 strategy is suspended and the focus is more on SMEs and taking away the so-called administrative burden with the risk of ignoring the results of social dialogue.

This May Day we shall also take time to consider ideological pollution: “Trade unions are a thing of the past, they are weak, they protect only those at work”… “Social-democracy has had its day”, the “Greens have become bourgeois” and the “Left is incapable of offering solutions”. Gramsci in his time understood the issue of cultural hegemony which is now shored up by a platform he could not have imagined in his time: the monopoly of media.

Finally, on this May Day, we cannot forget our brothers and sisters whose right to live in dignity is neglected by a European Union that closes its doors, helping turn the Mediterranean Sea into a deadly sea. Nor we can forget the people of Nepal to whom goes all our solidarity and support.

On this May Day we call on the European Union to promote policies that put people first and fight poverty and inequality! Remember that Europe is a community of values and rights and that the quality of the society is not based on quantitative easing for financial capital, it is about the protection of those in need!

Get up, stand up for your rights! Solidarity forever! Together for social justice in Europe and worldwide!

Our Members and Partners on International Worker’s day

• Our member FOS-Socialistische solidariteit is also ready for the First of May, they’ll be present in central squares in several cities across Flanders. More information can be found here.
• Our member CGIL has published an article in which their Secretary General Susanna Camusso reflects on the 1st of May. You can read the full article here.
• The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has published a speech by Secretary General, Bernadette Segol. You can watch the film here.
• DGB will be celebrating their 125th 1st of May tomorrow. More information can be found here.

Solidarity to Aid the Victims of the Nepal Earthquake

29 April 2015

On Tuesday 29 April, SOLIDAR launched a Call for Solidarity in response to the earthquake that has struck Nepal and caused major destruction in the whole country. According to official figures at least 3,900 people have lost their lives and a further 7,000 have been injured. It is feared that the number of deaths will keep rising. The epicentre of the earthquake was located only about 80 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu. This was the strongest earthquake in the last 80 years. The Nepalese government has declared a state of emergency. Aid, SOLIDAR Suisse, Samaritan Austria, Volkshilfe Austria, Norwegian People’s Aid together with their Nepalese partners, are working to raise funds and to deploy missions to the epicentre to help those people in need with first aid, shelter, medications, food and other support.

You can help the people in Nepal by making a donation to the SOLIDAR Foundation for Humanitarian Cooperation:
IBAN: BE53 7310 0861 1753
BIC: KREDBEBB
ACCOUNT HOLDER: SOLIDAR Foundation for humanitarian, development and European cooperation ASBL
Mentioning the following sentence when doing the payment: Nepal Solidarity

SOLIDAR Silver Rose Awards

Next week we will announce the four nominees

This year SOLIDAR is organising the 13th edition of its Silver Rose Awards. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday 3 June 2015 in the European Parliament, Brussels. The Award will be given in four different categories, Together for Social Europe, Building Learning Societies, Organising International Solidarity and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Next week the winners in the four different categories will be announced. Through social media and our website you will be able to see who will be in Brussels on 3 June to accept the award. We can already tell you that participants will be joining us from across the globe. Should you wish to join us for this occasion of great importance to Civil Society Organisations dedicated to contributing to social justice in Europe and worldwide, please register by clicking here.

The Silver Rose Awards is organised with the support of the S&D Group and the Party for European Socialists

Together for Social Europe

Social investment needed more than ever

29 April 2015

At the beginning of 2013, the European Commission adopted the Social Investment Package, a policy package that was very much welcomed by SOLIDAR (See SOLIDAR Media Release) as it marked a change in the Commission’s narrative away from austerity-driven policies towards an investment in people approach.
Over the past two years there has been little action at Member State level, however. At the beginning of this year, the Commission decided to take stock of how Member States’ policy reforms have supported the policy objectives set out in the package. The Commission therefore asked the European social policy expert network to assess the overall approach to social investment across 35 countries (all EU Member States plus Iceland, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway and Lichtenstein). The findings of the national experts were compiled into a synthesis repor t: Social Investment in Europe: a Study of National Policies, published on 23 April 2015. The report focused on the following three areas of social investment: early childhood education, participation of parents (especially women) in the labour market and adequate, activating and enabling support to those experiencing social and labour market exclusion. The focus on these three areas limits the ability to gain an overall picture of the situation in the EU member states and SOLIDAR regrets especially that the area of education has not been taken into account.
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#AskFrans – Better Regulation and Fundamental Rights; What we’ve asked

28 April 2015

On Friday, 24 April 2015, First Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, who is responsible for Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, answered questions on Better Regulation posed by the Civil Society. The live chat, titled #askfrans, was held via Facebook and Twitter and SOLIDAR participated.
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SOLIDAR Member Community Service Volunteers (CSV) becomes Volunteering Matters

30 April 2015

Why change a name and especially why change a name that has served your organisation well for 53 years? (CSV was founded in 1962) Many reasons, says Oonagh Aitken, Chief Executive of Volunteering Matters and Member of the SOLIDAR Board. “We are a new senior leadership team at the charity and some of us have also been part of the transformation of the organisation which resulted in closure of some parts and a new focus on social action and volunteering around four communities – older and retired people, young people, families at risk and disabled people.
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Building Learning Societies

Skills and qualifications for the 21st century labour market

29 April 2015

In its Europe’s skills challenge CEDEFOP predicts that by 2020 the composition of the needs of the labour market in terms of skills and qualifications will change. It is expected that the demand for medium and high-level of qualifications will increase when the number of many traditional or routine jobs declines. Therefore it becomes a priority to look ahead, at new jobs that are created by the new technologies and the new requirements of the job market in terms of skills and qualifications. To better match peoples’ skills to the needs of the labour market we shall reinforce our current measures, so that our education and training systems equip people with the knowledge, skills and competences required.
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Organising International Solidarity

European Commission’s Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy: a step in the right direction

30 April 2015

Yesterday, the European Commission issued a joint communication to the European Parliament and the Council on the revision of the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for 2015-2019.
SOLIDAR welcomes the focus of this revision on the need to address key human rights challenges, and namely the need to promote economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) together with civil and political rights.

SOLIDAR supports this revision in the framework of the post-2015 development agenda and strongly welcomes the reference to the revision of the European Neighbourhood Policy that should ensure the respect for fundamental freedoms and rights.
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EU-LAS cooperation to enhance Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly

27 April

From 20 to 22 April, SOLIDAR attended a workshop on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly organised by the External Action Service (EEAS) with the League of Arab States (LAS).

The workshops stems from the increased need for strengthened cooperation between the EU and LAS in promoting human rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. At the workshops 50 representatives from the national Human Rights institutes, professors, members of the Arab Parliament, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from the MENA region and Europe engaged in the dialogue on how to advance EU-LAS cooperation in promoting human rights and in particular advance Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly.
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