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It’s very rare to find a single solution to the problems we face every day. For example finding employment is often hampered by more than just the availability of work. So how do we get the varied aspects of our lives taken into account by the different policies at EU and national level?  This is the dilemma I encountered again this week. 

The first occasion was during our meeting with Celia Malmström, Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs, on the different challenges that migrants face in the EU. One of our members asked: how can you expect victims of violence – who happen to be undocumented migrants – to go to the police when they are threatened with deportation due to their legal status? Or, how can people be encouraged to move from one country to another for work when social rights are left behind in the previous country of residence? These are not just rhetorical questions; many people face these situations every day showing the gaps between the reality of people’s lives and policy responses. These gaps can have dramatic social consequences such as destitution or no protection against violence. Our President also addressed these gaps in her opening speech at a meeting on Volunteering for Social Inclusion at the Red Cross EU Office this week.  

The second time we talked about this issue was at the first meeting ever between the Heads of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), Eurofound (EU agency for improving working and living condition) and EIGE (European Institute for gender equality).  This was an interesting meeting where the Directors showed great willingness to work together with our members on addressing people’s realities. We made one proposal: that the three agencies work jointly on one report that can be for example on access to employment.  We had in mind that Eurofound could look at the difficulties not only in accessing employment but also all the necessary services (such as housing, education, health, childcare, vocational training) that we all need in order to have a job. The two other agencies could contribute with their expertise in relation to gender and to discrimination based on different or multiple grounds, such as ethnic and religious origin, age, disability, sexual orientation and others. This joint research would help provide a better picture of people’s realities and see who, where, how and when people can be supported in accessing employment. This topic was only one proposal to illustrate the importance of integrating the different facets of our lives into a more comprehensive approach to policy making.

This is what we do at Social Platform: we integrate the realities gathered by 47 members to bring a comprehensive approach to policies. Our care position developed two years ago is another good illustration of what we manage to do together. At the end we want our positions to reflect people’s lives and to find the most appropriate response to their daily challenges.

Lets engage!

Pierre Baussand

Director