Borders and limits
29 January 2016

Many Greeks are on the frontline of saving lives and delivering essential services to ensure the humanity and dignity of those arriving on their islands, yet they had to listen this week to a message from a Commission Vice-President criticising them for not ensuring border control. As if this would be their only task! This is certainly not the best way to encourage people to believe in the progress of the European integration project, not to speak of a progressive European integration project.

“Fortress Europe” is the theme tune, accompanied by the tired – and objectionable – old lines “we cannot host all the misery of the world” or “we need to protect our borders” meaning rather the control of national borders. Instead of welcoming the huge efforts made by individuals, organisations and administrations, instead of looking at how to support them, the fundamentalists of budget consolidation again raise the BREXIT scenario. Hot spots are not working well, but instead of asking why, the blame is being laid squarely at the door of Greece, a country that has suffered in the political blame game like no other over the last year.

Europe has borders and could find the means to protect them by creating a multilateral force and not by building walls. Even the Berlin wall could not prevent people from crossing it, so how could anyone imagine that Greece with its thousands of islands would be able to do so? Greece needs support! We are talking about a European area which needs to be able to regulate entries in a way which abides by the so often quoted European values (cf. debate on Poland last week in the EP plenary). If not, there could come a point at which the democratic majority in Europe will say that this is no longer their Union.

If we want to prevent such a disaster and find solutions, a large investment programme needs to be launched. Welfare and civil society organisation have tabled proposals and concepts. It would pay off by aiming for proper integration that makes constructive use of the potential of migrants and refugees, not to balance demographic change, but to benefit from their competences and their will to build a new life. Wasn’t this also the motivation for the migrants arriving in the wake of the Second World War? Haven’t those who escaped Nazi terrorism not contributed to economic, social and cultural progress in the countries where they have been received?

Investing in our future, investing in people, investing in social housing, social and care services, education and lifelong learning is the alternative towards sustainable progress. How can it be financed? Why not by rethinking a utilitarian approach to Eurobonds or solidarity funds allowing better burden sharing? Border control has its limits and populist speeches cross often political limits! Imagination and creativity in finding a decent approach to migration and refugee reality will make the difference! No time to lose! Holocaust Memorial Day was yesterday. History shall not repeat itself, but…

Together for Social Europe
The European Pillar of Social Rights – concrete proposals?
29 January 2016

The College of European Commissioners held its first orientation debate on Wednesday (27 January 2016) on the European Pillar of Social Rights, a proposal we have been waiting for since it was first announced last summer.

Unfortunately, the orientation debate provided little concrete news.
“I have secured support by all my colleagues in the College”, announced Commissioner Thyssen, responsible for employment and social affairs within the Commission. “It should be a self-standing reference document, of a legal nature, setting out key principles and values shared at EU level and there will be a broad consultation”, the short communication on the debate reads and continues “The Pillar would serve as a framework to screen employment and social performance in the light of rapidly changing work patterns and societies. The Commission wants to ensure that workers can be offered decent protection today and tomorrow. As a result of the Pillar, EU legislation may need to be revised or complemented to ensure common rules are up-to-date. In areas where Member States are directly competent, better exchange of good practice and benchmarking may help to foster upward convergence.”

For SOLIDAR this raises questions about the content of the upcoming proposal especially as there seems to be confusion between the terms “minimum rights” and the “provision of rights”.
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Social Progress Watch on poverty and social inclusion
27 January 2016

The Social Progress Watch (SPW) initiative is a tool implemented by members and partners of SOLIDAR to monitor the commitment and progress made by national governments towards a more social and cohesive Europe. Through the SPW, SOLIDAR collects country reports on a yearly basis providing recommendations for upward social convergence as well as case studies presenting innovative and sustainable models to promote social inclusion, the social economy and quality job creation.

Fighting the impact of the economic crisis – Support structures in Attica, Greece

Last year, SOLIDAR member Volkshilfe Hellas launched the municipal advisory and support structure in the municipality of Daphne-Imittos (central-southern Attica) as a pilot project. It is aimed at combating the impact of the Greek economic crisis through counselling by volunteers, on legal, psychological, work and financial issues.
Read the full version of the newsletter here.

Western Balkans: support to CSOs is key to promoting fundamental rights and social justice
28 January 2016

With inputs from members of the IRIS network and partners of the IPA project “Improving the provision of Social Service Delivery in South Eastern Europe through the empowerment of national and regional CSOs”, SOLIDAR developed a fact sheet providing recommendations on how to make the best use of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) providing services to refugees along the Western Balkan route.
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Building Learning Societies
‘No’ to a Europe of hate and the role of intercultural dialogue and education
28 January 2016

27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day which is commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. On this occasion, SOLIDAR participated at the opening ceremony of the exhibition ‘Roma Memory’ which was held in the European Commission premises. The exhibition on Roma genocide during World War II has been developed by the French association YAHAD – IN UNUM. Founded in 2004 by Father Patrick Desbois, this organisation is dedicated to systematically identifying and documenting the sites of mass executions of Jews and Roma by Nazi mobile-killing units in Eastern Europe during WWII.
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Skills for 2020
27 January 2016

Skills are becoming a central focus of the current discussion on the future of education, with a regrettably limited concentration on up-skilling and re-skilling to anticipate short-term employment needs. Over the last few years the European Commission has presented several initiatives that focus on skills i.e. Agenda for New Skills and jobs, EU Skills Panorama, or and has actively promoted entrepreneurial skills in order to contribute to employability and support new business creation. Also this year we can anticipate the presentation of the New Skills Agenda for Europe – an initiative promoting skills development, including the mutual recognition of qualifications, supporting vocational training and higher education and reaping the full potential of digital jobs. However, policy makers also need to take action to deal with the potential risks of the digital gap, and help people overcome them. The world we are living in is changing faster than the one of the previous generation. In the last 20 years alone we have seen the profound impact of new technologies on the world of work, and the transformation of the employment landscape. For most of today’s students, by the time they finish school education, the jobs they were preparing for won’t exist anymore (despite following the trends in professions that are currently in demand) or will require a different set of skills and competences. This is the reality in a rapidly evolving situation. Anticipation of future skills needs is at the same time crucial and challenging, as was voiced during this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.
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Organising International Solidarity
44 Civil Society Organisations Call for Renewed Efforts to Ensure the Release of Egyptian Political Prisoners.
25 January 2016

Monday was the anniversary of the 25 January Revolution in Egypt. The slogan of the revolution “Bread, freedom and social justice”, which encompasses the broader long-term objectives of democracy, human rights and rule of law, is far from being achieved. The Egyptian government continues to severely restrict and violate the fundamental freedoms of Egyptian citizens, including freedom of expression, association and assembly, as thousands were arrested and detained as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent, with some detainees subjected to forced disappearance.

SOLIDAR urges the EU institutions to put pressure on the Egyptian government to raise the case of human rights defenders, independent trade unions and political activists and journalists who have been imprisoned or are being investigated for their peaceful legitimate activities as Egyptian citizens. The recent release from military detention of prominent Egyptian human rights defender and investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat on 10 November 2015 after forceful international interventions with the Egyptian authorities demonstrates the impact that action on these individual cases can have and the important role played by the international community.
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