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How bad does the social situation in Europe have to be in order to see a sense of urgency and action from EU leaders? The poverty level in the EU has increased by 10 million in 5 years to reach 124 million – one European in four. In addition, “there are now wide inequalities in the distribution of income in the EU: on average, the top 20% earned 5.1 times as much income as the bottom 20% in 2012”. Finally, “unemployment has increased sharply in Europe, from a rate of 7.1% in 2008 to a peak of 10.9% in 2013” or 26 million people. These are quotes from “Taking stock of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”, published by the Europe Commission last Wednesday (05/03).

Does the Commission foresee an improvement in these trends? Looking at the Europe 2020 target to reduce the number of people experiencing poverty by 20 million by 2020, the Commission assesses that “the EU has drifted further away from its target (…) and there is no sign of rapid progress to remedy this situation”.

Are there conclusions and recommendations for the Heads of State ahead of their meeting on March 20 to provide guidance on the implementation of the strategy? While the poverty target is recognised as “politically binding” (sic), “the Commission has not drawn policy conclusions nor made policy recommendations at this stage. (…) the Commission considers it necessary to launch an EU-wide consultation of all stakeholders on the lessons to be learned and on the main factors that should shape the next stages of the EU's post crisis growth strategy”.

We, as Social Platform, believe that actions are required now. Our President Heather Roy reacted to the Communication stating, “the setback in achieving the poverty and employment targets should in no way mean that the EU should disengage from these priorities”. “There shall be no excuse of whether or not a target is politically or legally binding, or whether it is the primary role of the member states or not. The social situation in the EU should be the top priority for our leaders when they meet in Brussels on March 20”.

The EPSCO Council meeting yesterday also came to the same conclusion: “policies should focus on making sure that improving the social situation across the Union becomes a widely shared priority. (…) Member States are invited to review and strengthen their efforts to reduce poverty”.

To follow that up, we believe that a major political commitment should be made by the Heads of State in nine days to provide concrete actions, benchmarks and timetables to be included in the European semester to respond to the worrying social trends identified in the communication.

Let’s engage

Pierre Baussand