Editorial by Conny Reuter, SOLIDAR Secretary General

8 March – International Women’s Day

06 March 2015

Our fight for Women’s Rights is not limited to one day only. In Europe we were inspired by for example Rosa Luxemburg and in Germany we are proud of Maria Juchacz, a member of the German Parliament who in 1919 founded our German member organisation Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Workers Welfare). Nearly 100 years later gender inequality and discrimination are still part of daily life. And even in our progressive family, gender equality still needs to be defended and promoted.
In these post-modern times we often hear that women’s rights do not require any further promotion. Opportunities are equal, it is claimed, and so it is now up to women to show they have the capacity to make the most of themselves. Unfortunately, the truth is that our wish for real gender equality has not yet come true and the fight must go on.

Women are still at greater risk of poverty and exclusion, in particular in times of crisis. In a fragmented labour market women often accept precarious jobs which not only do not provide a decent income or independence, but also affect their pensions later in life, assuming they will even have a pension in the first place. They still struggle more than men to combine work and private life. As the crisis also has a tremendous psychological effect on families under pressure it is not surprising that violence against women is increasing in countries suffering under austerity. The European Added Value Assessment ‘Combating violence against women’ (2014) states that in Europe 12% to 15% of women are victims of domestic violence. More disturbing is the daily d eath rate of seven women (2006). Under no circumstances can discrimination and violence against women be tolerated, particularly when justified by cultural or religious differences. We support the initiative by the European Women’s Lobby to make 2016 the European Year to End Violence Against Women and Girls.

SOLIDAR calls for women’s rights to be strengthened and gender equality promoted globally in order to guarantee social justice for all. Our publication titled ‘Promoting Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in the Middle East and North Africa’ (2014), highlights the role of women as the main actors of the Arab Spring. As a result Tunisia now has a progressive constitution, the rights are there. Nevertheless the question remains as to how these rights can be translated from paper into social reality.

8th March is just a date, women’s day must be 365 days a year!

Together for Social Europe

NGO-Forum, Riga: better legislation through civil dialogue – a key for connecting citizens with the EU, its policies & institutions

2 March 2015

Under the Latvian Presidency, the Society Integration Foundation (SIF) in cooperation with the European Movement – Latvia and the Liaison Group of EESC organised an NGO-forum which opened on Monday in Riga, and was attended by 300 people representing Latvian and European NGO networks. At a time when the focus is on better policy making, the European NGO networks within the Liaison Group of the EESC have prepared a roadmap for the implementation of Article 11 of TFEU which says:

• “The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action.
• The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.”
  Civil dialogue cannot be an aim in itself, but can improve the policy making at EU, national, regional and local level if it is well understood in the sense of a complementary and real dialogue. At EU level civil dialogue is still too heterogeneous as no standards are set and sometimes it’s more a monologue instead of an actual dialogue. At national level civil dialogue is often ignored or even put under threat, like in Hungary.
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Newly announced European Agenda on Migration: SOLIDAR calls for solidarity and the respect of human rights to be at its heart

5 March 2015

The European Commission yesterday held an orientation debate on the development of a new comprehensive European Agenda on Migration in order to deliver on the political guidelines of President Juncker. The Agenda, due to be launched by the end of May, will set out actions to improve the EU’s capacity to manage migration flows as well as to address challenges and opportunities of migration.

Actions are to be developed in the following four main areas:

• The Commission is committed to reinforcing a common Asylum System and to tackling divergences in national asylum policy practices; increasing availability of resettlement places; improving collaboration with third countries;
• The Commission will work on a new European policy on legal migration including a review of the Blue Card Directive in open consultation with all relevant stakeholders;
• The Commission wants to work in collaboration with third countries on fighting irregular migration and human trafficking;
• The Commission has announced that the preparation of the European Agenda on Migration will be an opportunity to discuss possible reinforcement and a budget increase for the EU’s Border Agency Frontex. During a press conference Commissioner Avramopoulos also announced the Commission’s intention to promote the creation of legal routes allowing people to arrive in Europe safely.
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Reconciling economic growth and social progress: a challenge!

5 March 2015

On 4 March, the Progressive Economy Initiative by the S&D group in the European Parliament held a high-level conference on the challenge to combine economic growth and social progress. Among the participants were Commissioner Moscovici, MEPs Maria Joao Rodrigues, Jutta Steinruck and Elisa Ferreira as well as former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and SOLIDAR Secretary General Conny Reuter.Commissioner Moscovici outlined in his opening statement that there will not be an instant return to growth and that the Juncker Plan for investment is a good step in the right direction as investment levels in Member States remain significantly below their pre-crisis levels. He added that “We need budgetary discipline, but no more orthodox approaches.” He promised that the new Com mission will ensure a reorientation of EU policies as well as more fiscal transparency and harmonisation.

At the conference, the independent Annual Growth Survey (iAGS) 2015 was presented by its authors, leading economic institutes from France, Denmark and Germany.
The main challenge highlighted by the iAGS is the increasing divergence within and between regions of Europe. Europe is still stuck in the crisis with negative impacts on unemployment rates, especially among young people, and income inequality. In Europe, contrary to the US, the GINI rate, which is a tool of measurement of inequality, is further rising. The report stressed that divergence in Europe is rising as growth – where it exists – is no longer distributed equally but benefits regions and population groups very differently. In addition, current low inflation rates are increasing the threat of deflation which can increase the weight of real debt.
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Building Learning Societies

Investing in education as a tool for sustainable growth

5 March 2015

Last week at the European Parliament’s meeting of the Committee for Culture and Education, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility – Commissioner Marianne Thyssen presented the Commission’s plans to overcome to current employment challenges Europe is facing. Despite the fact that at the end of 2014 there were half a million fewer people unemployed which – in her eyes – could be seen as a cautiously positive sign, there are still 24 million people unemployed, including 5 million young people aged 15-24, of which 43% have been unemployed for more than a year.

The European Commission’s Investment Plan puts a strong emphasis on job creation, as a fundamental driver of growth in the European economy. To reach this goal, the links between education and the labour market will be strengthened, by improving skills intelligence – a better understanding of evolving needs and the so-called skills mismatches. The challenge remains of anticipating the market’s needs, so that people can be empowered and supported to develop within their chosen careers. Moreover there is a need to facilitate the development of not only the skills in demand such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) or entrepreneurial skills, but also social and civic competences, that are needed to foster well engaged citizens.
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Organising International Solidarity

#Future ENP should promote Decent Work, Social Protection and Freedom of Association in the Middle East and North Africa

5 March 2015

On 4 March 2015 the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, issued a joint consultation paper “Towards a new European Neighbourhood Policy”.
The new communication highlights the main focus and priorities of the new ENP, including “Promoting Trade and inclusive sustainable and economic development and enhancing job opportunities, addressing security in the region and enhance stability, promote democratic governance, ensuring rule of law and fundamental rights; and promoting migration and mobility”.
In this regard, SOLIDAR believes that the new ENP policy should further address the root causes of inequalities through the promotion of rights- based policies that can achieve sustainable economic growth, promote democratic transition, and ensure sustainable and inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogue.

In view of the strong commitment of SOLIDAR members and partners to monitoring the progress of the ENP in the MENA region, SOLIDAR strongly calls for the new ENP:

• To promote universal and comprehensive social protection systems, including the establishment of social protection floors as a tool to fight inequalities, tackle poverty, fostering human development and promoting peace and fostering democratic governance.
• To strengthen and promote Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly and promote the progressive realisation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ECSR) through fostering social dialogue with CSOs, trade unions and progressive political forces to design together, implement and monitor effective strategies that guarantee decent work and social protection for all.
• To strongly consider a much-needed reorientation of DCFTAs, based on creating decent work, social protection and fostering inclusive social development. Social protection and productivity are strongly related, hence diminishing social protection will lead to lower productivity.
• To promote a rights-based migration policy based on a more efficient responsibility- sharing system and solidarity.
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Mobilising for Social Justice | Trade and Decent Word @ World Social Forum

6 March 2015

SOLIDAR together with the Global Progressive Forum (GPF), SOLIDAR Member Organisations, Trade Unions and NGOs from both Europe and the MENA region* will be hosting 24 roundtable debates at the World Social Forum (WSF) that will take place in Tunis from 24 to 27 March 2015.
Led by the Global Progressive Forum (GPF), one of the workshops that we are co-organising will discuss the relation between Decent Work and Trade.

After the failure of the “international community”, to create a multilateral framework for fair trade and international financial regulation, the negotiations of TPP, TTIP and TISA as well as trade agreements between the EU and some Arab countries (Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan) are at the heart of the debate. In this framework, the workshop will discuss the following questions:
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