Eurodiaconia is a federation of organisations, institutions and churches providing social and health services and education on a Christian value base in over 20 European countries.
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2010 has been designated by the European Union as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Its primary goal is to raise awareness of and renew political engagement to combat poverty and social exclusion in Europe.
A wide range of organisations and individuals will be involved in the year. Activities will take place throughout Europe and include information campaigns, cultural events, conferences, studies and publications. Visit www.2010againstpoverty.eu to learn more about the year's goals and activities.
Europe 2020 – A First Analysis of the Commission Proposal
On March 3 2010 the European Commission presented its proposal (here)for the EU’s strategy for economic, environmental and social development for the next ten years.
In comparison to the EU’s previous 10 year strategy, the “Lisbon Strategy”, there are many positive developments in terms of a stronger social dimension. The document as it stands brings fighting poverty to the fore and proposes a number of proposals to do so but for the moment the lack of detail in these proposals makes analysis difficult. With some proposals it is not clear if employment and its economic contribution is the focus or whether they are aiming for social inclusion for inclusion’s sake.
The paper will be discussed by heads of state and government at the end of March and broad policy actions will be then be approved. Eurodiaconia has been active in the process of pressing for a real commitment to social development in the new strategy and responded to the consultation (see here). The week before the presentation of the strategy Eurodiaconia undertook extensive lobbying including calling for a poverty reduction target, that active inclusion plays a central role in the strategy and for the recognition of the importance of social services (for our letter see here).
A key component of the strategy is the suggestion of an EU target to reduce poverty by 25% by 2020 as well as a “Flagship initiative” of a "European Platform against Poverty", which seems rather to be a package of actions than a Platform as such.
One of Eurodiaconia’s main concerns is that the Active Inclusion strategy’s integrated approach to labour market integration and social inclusion is not mentioned. Social services, their special characteristics and key role in society are not mentioned either. For a first comparison between Eurodiaconia’s demands and the Commission proposal please see here.
Eurodiaconia and its partner NGOs fear that Member States will not accept all proposals, particularly the poverty reduction targets nor national targets at their meeting at the end of March. Therefore we urge our members to take action and contact decision makers to stress the importance of such commitments. We have prepared a letter template for members to use which you can download here. Eurodiaconia will continue to raise its concerns with decision makers in Brussels.
Take Action Now for a More Sustainable and Social EU!
16 February 2010
Eurodiaconia calls on its members to contact national decision makers to insist that the new EU ten-year policy strategy has social inclusion and cohesion at its heart. The decisive work on the “EU 2020” strategy is currently underway at national level and therefore it is essential to make sure our voice is heard now, by national governments.
Eurodiaconia has drawn up a short briefing and advocacy action plan to assist members in their work, including a sample letter with key demands that can be translated and adapted for each organisation. For further information please contact
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European Year To Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion Launch in Madrid
25 January
On Thursday 21 January Heather Roy, Secretary General, joined Ministers, local government representatives, NGOs and activists for the launch of the European Year to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, hosted by the Spanish Presidency. European Commission President Barrosso stressed the role of the Europe 2020 process in developing an economic growth paradigm that would create more jobs and assist social cohesion. He also stressed the need for Active Inclusion policies to be adopted by Member States. However, it was commented by others that the current Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs had also created more jobs - yet more people than ever were living in poverty and/or were unemployed. Something is not working with regards to economic growth and it was suggested that the focus should move away from growth and rather look to economic development. Furthermore, leaders were encouraged to consider extreme wealth as well as extreme poverty and it was suggested that issues of distribution of wealth may also warrant study.
The European Year was seen as an opportunity to raise awareness about poverty and exclusion - but as yet there has been no real committment to a political impact of the year nor any long-lasting political legacy. It was announced that there would be a closing conference for the year on the 17 December, in Brussels, and a statement on poverty and social exclusion would be agreed by Member States. We wait to see if this will have any real impact.
Eurodiaconia is a federation of organisations, institutions and churches providing social and health services and education on a Christian value base in over 20 European countries.
