News

Tomorrow we will be leaving for Lithuania, the next host of the EU presidency from July 1st. It's not that Lithuania matters more than any other country. No. What matters is to bring European discussions to the national level. And we will do that over the next two days.
We are going to Vilnius to bring together the Minister of Employment and Social Affairs with a hundred representatives from national social NGOs and dozens of European social NGOs. The deputy speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament will also attend the debate, along with a representative from the trade unions and from the human rights institute, and the director of the European Institute for Gender equality. We will also meet with the Minister of Economy – an essential policy area in which we are becoming more and more involved.
What are we going to discuss? The social priorities of the next EU presidency and the social dimension of the current economic policy. It is at national level that the dire social consequences of the crisis are felt, and it is at the national level that discussions have to take place on the kind of EU we want. When unemployment stands at 10.2% (24.5 million people) and poverty is on the rise – 120 million are at risk of poverty, we want to propose an alternative in social protection and investment, active inclusion, the youth guarantee, the anti-discrimination directive, the maternity leave directive, jobs in the white sector and role of social services. These topics will be tackled both from a European and Lithuanian perspective.

Let's engage
Pierre Baussand – Director