What ‘social triple AAA’ actually means has become a recurrent topic of conversation around Place du Luxembourg and beyond. The immediate response is to refer to what triple AAA means in a rock concert: Access All Areas for the organisers and the staff – back stage and front stage and more. Given this analogy, the logical conclusion is that it is about bringing the social impact of policies at EU and at global level to the forefront. It was with a certain relief that we welcomed the statement finally issued by the Commission on long term unemployment, which should focus on having an overall solution. We are also positively surprised to hear echoes from Commissioner Thyssen’s cabinet that Europe2020 has not been buried because the targets have not been reached. Proposals for reform are on the table and they shall seek to match ambition with feasibility. In line with this approach social NGOs welcome the possibility to discuss proposals next week. The migration and refugee flow continues and has reached a dimension which challenges our societies and their ability to include and integrate. So far it is more a question of an enabling environment that makes social and professional integration possible, than any populist approach primarily concerned with whether our social system would be able to “absorb” the flow.

On the global level the move from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whose objectives have also only been reached partially) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Social Protection Agenda could set an example for the EU. A new Social Agenda to translate Socially Sustainable goals into the European context. This would be an opportunity to fight populist and nationalist tendencies and to rebuild trust in the European project.

Those who lament the lack of solidarity are sometimes the same people who are not doing what is needed to build it.

In this sense we do not need only gender mainstreaming, but also social mainstreaming whose economic and social benefits are undeniable, not only for fans of Keynesianism! I apologise for repeating myself, but repeating the message is a pedagogical tool to ensure (lifelong) learning success!

You can read the latest Social Justice Blog on EurActiv written by Conny Reuter, Secretary General of SOLIDAR on the European Social Agenda here.

Together for Social Europe

SOLIDAR Statement ‘Migrant and refugee crisis: what did the Council decide this week?’

24 September 2015

In the last two days, EU Heads of State and their ministers came together to discuss adequate solutions to the current migrant and refugee crisis in the EU.

The Council’s decisions in a nutshell
On 22 September the Justice and Home Affairs ministers adopted the decision proposed by the European Commission to relocate 120,000 people in clear need of international protection from Italy and Greece to the other EU Member States. Denmark and the UK will not comply with these measures, while Ireland expressed interest in participating. On 23 September EU leaders agreed on a list of priorities for immediate action, namely: increase financial support to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme by at least 1 billion euros; assist Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey in managing the refugee crisis by increasing financial support through, for instance, the EU’s regional trust fund; reinforce dialogue with Turkey; assist Western Balkan countries to manage the refugee crisis through pre-accession instruments; address root causes by increasing the funding of the emergency trust f und for stability; strengthen border controls; put in place the relocation scheme by November 2015 at the latest; increase the budget of the European fund for asylum, integration and migration and the internal security fund-borders.

SOLIDAR welcomes the decision to improve financial support to international organisations as well as to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and the countries of the Western Balkans on the front line of the refugee crisis. The numbers of refugees that will be covered by the relocation scheme are rather limited compared to the efforts made by the countries on Syria’s border, hence it is only right that the EU enhances its contribution. However, particularly in regard to relations with Turkey, SOLIDAR calls upon the EU to clearly ensure that any kind of financial support be linked to the full respect of human rights in order to prevent further violations and instability.
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Long-term unemployment: SOLIDAR welcomes the Commission’s proposal to help long-term unemployed but attention needs to be paid to the details!

25 September 2015

The proposal presented by Commissioner Thyssen on 17 September is a good initiative as long-term unemployment has been a pressing issue for many years now, especially for young people. Being unemployed for more than 12 months at the beginning of a person’s career has a detrimental effect on their future job prospects, earnings and social protection. The elderly are also severely affected by long-term unemployment.

The Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation foresees that all jobseekers, who have been out of work for more than 12 months, receive an individual assessment and a job integration agreement, offering them a concrete and personalised back-to-work plan, before reaching 18 months of unemployment.

SOLIDAR welcomes the approach of an individual assessment to identify needs and abilities on a personalised basis as well as the proposal for a single point of personal contact. This would ensure consistency of support by the different bodies involved, such as public employment services, social services and local authorities.
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Building Learning Societies

Meeting of Lifelong Learning Interest Group

24 September 2015

On Tuesday 22 September SOLIDAR attended the Lifelong Learning Interest Group meeting on “EU Fundamental Values – the Potential Role of Education and Lifelong Learning”. The Interest Group, formed in April 2015 by EUCIS-LLL and EAEA, brought together representatives from civil society and MEPs to discuss the main challenges and possible solutions towards quality citizenship education in Europe.

SOLIDAR believes that democratic and citizenship education is a key part of the transversal competences each individual should have, in order to foster solidarity and tolerance within society. Citizenship education should be available for all, acknowledging the role of non-formal and informal learning opportunities through education, training and volunteering programmes.
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Organising International Solidarity

2030 agenda for sustainable development: Let’s engage to make it real

25 September 2015

Between today and 27 September 2015, the United Nations will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will become the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The agenda – that, unlike the Millennium Development Goals, sets universal goals and targets which industrialised countries will also have to achieve by 2030 – provides an ambitious framework able to have an impact on our lives, our planet, the way we produce and consume and the way we leave together.

SOLIDAR welcomes all the goals in the SDG framework, but in particular the inclusion, in the proposed goals and targets of decent work for all, universal social protection (target 1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable); universal health care, education and life-long learning for all; gender equality and namely the target to ‘recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate’ (5.4); the reduction of inequality with particular emphasis on the target focused on fiscal, wage and social protection policies (10.4).
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SOLIDAR at the ILO to promote a rights-based approach to Social Protection in the MENA region

25 September 2015

Last week, SOLIDAR participated in a workshop on “Finding Ways Forward: Challenges and Opportunities in Creating Rights-Based Social Protection Systems “, as part of the launch of the Human Right and Social Protection Platform, at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Office in Geneva. The platform was developed by UNRISD in collaboration with the former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda, to bridge the gap between the human rights and social protection disciplines and capitalise on the parallel developments in the public discussion.

During the meeting, SOLIDAR focused on the ongoing challenges for Civil Society in the Middle East and North Africa region to organise and to promote economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) and social protection in the region, and also highlighted the possibility to create meaningful spaces for CSOs to promote a rights-based approach to social protection through policy and advocacy work at country, EU and international levels.
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