Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!

15 July 2016

Yesterday, 14th July, Bastille Day commemorates the French Revolution. Its three principles engraved on every town hall and every public school in France have again been under attack, this time in Nice. What more symbolic day! France is mourning yet again and we express again our solidarity reaffirming that the defense of democracy, of freedom, equality and solidarity, the call for social progress remains the core of our commitment, our compass!

After the Brexit vote, these principles should more than ever lead a value-based debate on European policy.

Liberté is not only a principle of rights, it also means being free from poverty and exclusion. The 125 million people in Europe who live in, or under the threat of, poverty do not have Liberté. How can we get them out of poverty? How can we get the less qualified back into the labour market and into decent work? The EU had – once upon a time – a social agenda, a Lisbon strategy and later it had a Europe2020 strategy. Unfortunately, instead of taking the lead and using the mid-term review of Europe2020 as a basis for action, the Juncker Commission is instead continuing the European semester process, while not working on improvement of the strategy to make it more effective. The news that the ECOFIN Council has decided to send a letter to Spain and Portugal illustrates the main reference to guideline Number 1 of Europe2020: “the vigorous application of the Stability and Growth Pact”. In the interpretation of Schäuble and others, vigorous means vigorous, without taking into account the damage it has on society or without even taking electoral results and referendum results into account. Did the message not get through? This European Union of austerity has been rejected as the majority of citizens do not have the feeling that the EU cares about them.

Egalité. In the last four years the Commission has reported on Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE). We are not all equal. We are still a long way from equal pay for equal work in the same workplace. The gender pay gap is still huge, not to mention the unfair tax system that allows tax evasion and tax havens for the rich. Since 2008 there have been some efforts to tame the financial markets, but these initiatives have been watered down under a Commission President who has now been recruited by the bank responsible for the implosion of the financial markets eight years ago. So much for the the credibility of leaders! Only a handful protested at the publication of this news; at the same time some people in the European Parliament were preparing a report on whether Civil Society Organisations and NGOs should continue to be financially supported by the EU when they are being ‘too critical’ of it.

Fraternité. Competitiveness is the new criterion under which everything is evaluated. The dangerous poison of nationalism is unleashed because there is now also competition between member states in the north and member states in the south. Pensioners in Greece and in Germany are in completely different situations, but both expect the EU to contribute to ensuring the stability and the availability of decent, ‘poverty-preventing’ pensions. And what about the arrival of migrants and refugees? After the wave of solidarity last year, the Balkan route is now closed and people are dying daily in the new ‘Dead Sea’ (i.e. the Mediterranean). There are indeed fewer images on the news but the human loss is immense and it cannot be excused by ignorance. How to strengthen a sense of solidarity (Fraternité) is indeed a challenge, but first the mutual benefits of sharing need to be proven before solidarity can mould our thinking.

This foreword is not a new “J’accuse” in the Emile Zola sense. These are just the thoughts that many of us have who want the EU to progress, but we want an EU with different assumptions. Sustainable economic, social and political development, social investment and social protection for all should be the basis of the EU. We Europeans have to take the lead in the post-Brexit debate. We have to challenge the political leaders and the policy makers in the Institutions to make sure they put people’s concerns first. They should use the momentum for political change that delivers a real safeguarding pillar of social rights, and that translates the Sustainable Development Goals agenda into an ambitious European agenda. They should trust the next generation and promote their skills and competences and deliver on integration and the inclusion of migrants and refugees. Ambitious? Maybe! But still feasible. It is a matter of will. Those who believe that this Europe should first be destroyed and then reconstructed are playing with fire and instead they should learn from history. Reform is not a term of abuse, it is a progressive challenge!

SOLIDAR’s Summer

This is the last SOLIDAR Weekly Round Up before the summer break, we will be back on 2nd of September with a new edition that will be sent from our new premises on rue du Pascale 4-6, 1040 Brussels.

Together for Social Europe

The European Pillar of Social Rights – a basis for upward social convergence?

13 July 2016

On 8 March 2016, the European Commission presented its communication for a public consultation on the European Pillar of Social Rights. The process of building the Pillar is part of the ongoing “Deepening the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)” and it looks forward to a final proposal for the Pillar early in 2017.

SOLIDAR assessment of the draft outline of the Pillar
As a real social agenda has been absent from EU policy-making for several years and the Europe 2020 agenda has disappeared, SOLIDAR welcomes the initiative for a European Pillar of Social Rights with the aim of achieving upward social convergence towards a Social Europe. In our understanding, this convergence is necessary to stop the growing social and socio-economic divergences between and within member states.

The overall question remains – ‘What is the real added value of this proposal for a Pillar compared to the already existing acquis communautaire (which includes the Lisbon treaty, Protocol 26 on services of general interest and the Charter of Fundamental Rights)’?
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Next steps for a sustainable European future. Reforming Europe, implementing Sustainable Development Goals
“having a good life that does not cost the planet”

11 July 2016

On 7th July, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted a conference on “Next steps for a sustainable European future: reforming Europe – implementing SDGs” (Sustainable Development Goals. SOLIDAR attended the Conference to discuss ways towards more equal and inclusive societies with a model that promotes prosperity with human rights, fosters peace and is based on worldwide solidarity.

Achieving the Agenda’s goals is a challenge for the member states and for the European Union as a whole. It is necessary to take new paths in order to ensure prosperity, both in economic and social terms, and all countries and stakeholders have to ensure the implementation of this Agenda.
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Building Learning Societies

Slovakian Presidency takes on Education and Training

14 July 2016

Since 1st July Slovakia has taken the lead in the Council of the European Union in times when the Union faces unprecedented challenges that contest both its unity and its common approach. The main focus of the Presidency in the area of education is talents, and the ways we foster and develop them. It is believed that the development of talents has a direct impact on an individual and it enhances social inclusion, and it is the driver of innovation and growth. For the SOLIDAR Foundation, it is important to see that the focus on the development of skills and competences takes precedence in European policy making. As the CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) skills forecast shows, in the coming years the demand for specific skills will increase due to technological changes. Furthermore, investing in skills development is an important method of preventing unemployment, and lifelong learning is vital to personal growth and inclusion.
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Organising International Solidarity

The European Parliament has to step up efforts to promote civil society worldwide

14 July 2016

This week SOLIDAR attended a hearing on promoting civil society in the European Parliament. Speakers said that governments had started to reduce the space for civil society in fear of popular uprisings. Violations were documented in 96 countries indicating that six out of seven people live under circumstances where their fundamental freedoms (association, assembly and speech) are under threat. These violations are not only targeted at human rights defenders, but also at civil society organisations as they contribute to transformation processes and they have a large outreach among the general population.
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SOLIDAR condemns the military trials against Egyptian workers

14 July 2016

In June 2016, 26 civilian workers from the Alexandria Shipyard Company were referred to the Alexandria Military Court after they staged a peaceful protest demanding the implementation of the minimum wage, and improved health and safety conditions at work.

SOLIDAR supports the call of the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) to stop the trial of shipyard workers in Case No. 2759 (2016) at the military court in Alexandria and it calls for the immediate release of the imprisoned workers remanded in custody while the case is pending. CTUWS also stresses the inadmissibility of military trials for civilian workers and the inadmissibility and the unlawfulness of referring them to military courts while they exercise their right to strike or their right to peaceful assembly. You can read the report of the CTUWS about the Workers Case No. 2759 that appeared on 11th July 2016 here.
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Israel’s newly adopted transparency law set to outlaw progressive Civil Society

14 July 2016

This week, the Knesset passed the “Transparency Law” which de-facto only affects civil society organisations that receive funding from the EU and foreign institutions, in particular human rights defenders. Promoted by the Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, and strongly supported by Prime Minister Netanyahu, on Monday night the “law of NGOs”, also known as the “Transparency Law”, was adopted. After months of discussions the far-right-controlled Israeli Knesset achieved its objective: as of 2017, NGOs mainly financed from abroad will have to specify in all external communications that they are funded by donors from abroad – so they can be branded as “foreign agents”.
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Call for Academic Papers – Progressive Lab for Sustainable Development
Approaches and solutions to fight inequality, promote education for all and mobilise domestic resources
In the framework of their joint initiative, the “Progressive Lab for Sustainable Development”, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) and SOLIDAR are launching a call for academic papers to critically evaluate how the embedding of the 2030 Agenda into the EU development, trade and investment approaches could contribute to reducing inequalities and to mobilising domestic resources for sustainable development. More information and how to apply can be found here.

SOLIDAR is looking for a new policy fellow
SOLIDAR is looking for a new policy fellow, in the International Cooperation Pillar, who could join the SOLIDAR team from mid-September 2016 for a period up to 7 months.
More information and how to apply can be found here.