Editorial by Conny Reuter, SOLIDAR Secretary General
Time to take it serious! This is the last chance!
22 October 2014

On the 22nd October Jean-Claude Juncker presented his new Commission (423 voted in favour) to the European Parliament which is everything but gender balanced, a situation he rightly described as “ridiculous”. He insisted strongly that this was the last chance for this Commission, which in his understanding will be “the most political one”, to reconcile citizens with the institutions. He challenged his Commission to go for a social triple ’A’. SOLIDAR strongly supports the triple ‘A’ and urges the new Commission to promote Social Justice in Europe and world-wide, please read our recommendations here.

On governance, Juncker promised to re-establish the community method and to recognise the European Parliament as the Commission’s first interlocutor in the triangular relationship between the Commission, Parliament and Council. The Vice-Presidents shall be seen, in a very French way, as VPs for projects, whilst Juncker insisted that there is no difference in rankings between colleagues. He added that he considered his Commission to be composed of heavyweights. We can see, however, that there are some lightweights who will have to prove that they intend to follow the policy direction set out by Juncker.

The most significant announcement Juncker made was on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). He did not reject it as such, but he made it clear that he will not accept another rule of law around investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This is what SOLIDAR and others have been campaigning for. President-elect Juncker also agrees with us that medicine is not a tradable good. On the debate around TTIP, SOLIDAR continues to have strong concerns regarding the inclusion of health and social services, as can be seen from our report. For us social services are not social businesses that compete in liberalised markets, but are driven by concerns about social needs and quality.

In German he addressed the economic issues by firstly underlining his attachment to the Stability and Growth Pact, while also calling for more flexibility. He is right to say that neither increasing nor reducing deficits automatically creates growth. He promised to present an investment programme together with Commissioner Katainen before the end of the year. Hopefully he will be inspired by proposals from progressive academia, trade unions and civil society to build on 2% of GDP and increase the capacity of the European Investment Bank instead of following the line presented by neo-liberals calling for the privatisation of public and social services to finance the investment plan. These investments shall in our understanding focus on social infrastructure and education. Again education and lifelong learning – Europe’s major resource – was even not mentioned by President Juncker.

We are reminded every day that migration remains one of the biggest challenges. But Mr Juncker we do not consider migrants as illegal, but “irregular”. Sending two Commissioners from South Eastern Europe to Africa will not solve the problems: what is needed is a human rights based approach on migration, tackling the root causes and an ambitious plan for economic cooperation around trade agreements focussed on mutual benefits and not only on the benefits for Europe. We need solidarity at the heart of Europe’s Migration and Asylum Policy (see our statement as expressed by SOLIDAR during our recent mission to Lampedusa).

On citizenship President Juncker announced that the portfolios will be taken away from the Hungarian Commissioner, but education, culture and sport will remain with him. Many artists and cultural actors have sent a protest letter, some as recently as yesterday. We still await a sign that not only social dialogue, but also civil dialogue will be among the responsibilities of the VP in charge of FRAND.

This is the last chance! Let us take it seriously and develop a real civil dialogue. We owe it to the citizens who suffer from exclusion and we owe it to our own values and convictions.

SOLIDAR Silver Rose Awards – Call for Nominations

The SOLIDAR Silver Rose Awards were launched in 2000 to raise awareness of organisations and individuals who have significantly contributed to improving social justice and equality around the world. This event brings together more than 400 people to celebrate individuals and organisations whose extraordinary struggles contribute greatly to social justice and solidarity throughout the world. The Awards are presented each year at a prestigious awards ceremony held at the European Parliament in Brussels. This year’s edition will take place in February 2015 (exact date to be confirmed).

Who can make a nomination?

Everyone is welcome to make a nomination, especially member organisations or other organisations and individuals who actively support SOLIDAR’s work. The deadline for the submission of your nominations is 28 November 2014. The nomination should be made using the nomination form. A more detailed explanation of the procedure can be found here.

Together for Social Europe

Informal care: an obligation, a right, a choice or a penalty? Negotiating improvements for the working carers of adults (NICA)

23 October 2014

SOLIDAR organised the final conference of the EU-funded project “Negotiating improvements for the working carers of adults (NICA)” at the EESC in Brussels (22-23 October) which was led by SOLIDAR member General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU, UK) with project partners in Bulgaria, Malta, Poland and the UK. An informal carer is defined as someone who, without payment, provides help and support to a family member or friend who may not be able to manage without this help because of their frailty due to old age, illness or disability. This often means that informal carers need to be supported in balancing their professional, family and care-related life, either through national or European policies or by their employers. It also calls for innovative and creative ways of providing care and supporting carers, and a debate has begun to develop around increasing “Personal and Household Services” which co uld have the additional economic benefit of creating jobs and prosperity.
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Related article: Negotiating Improvements for working carers of adults (NICA)

Press Release – Enforceable Social and Labour Standards to be included in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
23 October 2014

Last week SOLIDAR was part of a transatlantic dialogue in Washington D.C. to raise our concerns regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). We participated in a conference organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) with the support of the Brookings Institute on the international financial architecture. In addition SOLIDAR co-organised a transatlantic debate with FEPS, the Global Progressive Forum (GPF) and other partners on TTIP and together with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) facilitated meetings between MEPs and US trade negotiators responsible for labour, social services and investment. On the basis of these meetings SOLIDAR strongly recommends the following:

 
• Health and social services should be excluded from TTIP, and not even be placed in an annex; to ensure the partnership principle, there must be close cooperation between public authorities at national, regional and local levels in the Member States with social and health services providers to tailor high quality services that match the needs of vulnerable people.
• TTIP must promote regulatory harmonisation to eradicate non-tariff barriers and non-tariff measures where it is beneficial; however regulatory convergence cannot lead to lowering high quality standards, such as the ones defined by the Voluntary European Quality Framework For Social Services, and should rather aim at improving them.
• As Commission President-elect Juncker seems to have stated already, following the example of the US-Australia agreement, the Investor-to-State (ISDS) dispute settlement mechanism has to be removed from TTIP and be r eplaced by State-To-State dispute mechanism.
• Replace the sustainability chapter within TTIP and make labour and social standards enforceable by introducing a State-to-State dispute settlement mechanism on the basis of all ILO Conventions and in particular ILO Recommendation 202 on social protection.
• In order to promote transparency the European Parliament should be enabled to hold an open and transparent mid-term assessment of the TTIP negotiation mandate and the ‘state of play’ to provide a better political mandate for the European Commission to proceed with the negotiations.

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Building Learning Societies

Roundtable Debate – ‘Social inclusion through VET – new opportunities for NEETs’
24 October 2014

The economic crisis and its consequences are having a tremendous impact on young people’s participation in society and employment. According to the latest figures, approximately 15 million young people are not in employment, education or training (NEETs), which makes them highly vulnerable to social exclusion. To foster employability and social inclusion in vocational training, we are organising an expert roundtable “Social inclusion through VET – new opportunities for NEETs” on 19 November 2014.
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This Roundtable debate will be held at the European Parliament on 19 November 2014 from 13:30 till 17:30.

Draft programme
Registration

Organising International Solidarity
SOLIDAR monitoring the ENP Progress report 2014
22nd October 2014

On the occasion of the publication of the European Commission Progress Report on the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) in 2014, SOLIDAR and its members and partners in the MENA region carried out a consultation from April to October 2014 to provide an opportunity for the organisations within the “SOLIDAR Network for Social Justice in the MENA region” to comment on the progress reports prepared by the EU.
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More News
UNRWA Gaza situation report (issue No. 66), read the full report here.

The European Ombudsman has sent out a press release titled ‘Fundamental rights and forced returns of migrants: Ombudsman opens investigation’ which says that the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, has opened an investigation into how Frontex ensures the respect of the fundamental rights of migrants who are subject to forced returns from the EU to their countries of origin. The EU agency, based in Warsaw, co-ordinates and finances joint return operations (JROs) in co-operation with Member States. The Ombudsman sent Frontex a list of questions, including who has responsibility for the welfare of returnees during the flights and how independent monitoring during JROs can be guaranteed.Read more.

Members News
For SOLIDAR Member CSV October is ‘Make a Difference Month’ in which they offer you the opportunity to volunteer and make a huge impact in your community (UK). Read more about their activities and ‘ten steps to become a volunteer’ here.

Our Member SOLIDAR Suisse presented a study in response to the FIFA’s meeting on Fairplay that took place on Wednesday 22 October to point out that the organisation should step up its game when it comes to the protection of human rights, especially given the social disaster faced by the workers in Brazil during the world cup of summer 2013. Read more.