Letter to the Council make social policies the driver of the AGS and European economic governance
The AGS 2013 does not provide solutions to tackle the preoccupying social challenges. No concrete proposals or guidelines were formulated to address the on-going increase in inequality and poverty, or to ensure that the social consequences of austerity are mitigated. The AGS is calling for measures that contradict the need for quality of work and are unlikely to increase sustainable employment. Modernisation of social protection is often interpreted as simply cutting benefits or
reducing eligibility and coverage, while there is a need for increasing social investments.
Therefore, we call on you to change the focus of the European Semester and to promote the coordination of macro-economic policies with the aim of supporting social policies, as the number one priority of the AGS 2013.
