Blog Articles

This blog was included in Caritas Europa’s ‘FOCUS’ newsletter, which you can read here.

The European Union is in the depths of a social emergency, said former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso back in 2012. Four years later, there are still no strong signs that this emergency is coming to an end. Austerity still prevails over investment, economic policy over social policy, and the non-inclusive growth policies of EU Member States over the wellbeing of their people.

Some signs show that the reign of austerity measures is coming to an end. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has called for an end to such measures, favouring instead investment in infrastructure to promote inclusive growth; investment in social infrastructure would have an impact on reducing inequalities in areas such as housing, health care, education and social services. On top of this, the International Monetary Fund, in a total U-turn, implored G20 countries to take “bold action” by increasing public spending.

Despite this apparent paradigm shift from austerity to investment by two prominent international economic organisations, the EU and certain Member States continue to resist, to the detriment of people living in the EU.

In 2014, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker introduced his jobs, growth and investment agenda. While it showed potential on paper, its implementation has had little to no positive effect on the social situation of people in the EU. Yes, employment is up from 68.6% in 2010 to 70.1% in 2015, but so is in-work poverty, which has increased from 8.3% to 9.5% over the same time period.

In the perfect illustration of why the EU’s current economic and social course is not delivering on its promise to include all people, the jobs and growth agenda has been prioritised over the social situation of people living and working in the EU. This has caused a flurry of worrying statistics: the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion was exactly the same in 2015 as it was in 2010 (26.9%), with this figure rising to 26.9% for people aged under 18 years old. The EU’s tunnel vision on jobs means it is failing those who cannot or do not work, such as children.

But there is a flicker of hope for social rights in the EU – faint though it may be – in the shape of the proposed European Pillar of Social Rights. The pillar encompasses equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions, and adequate and sustainable social protection. It represents a tool to drive investment over austerity by focusing on the inclusivity and sustainability of our economic systems, bringing an end to the prioritisation of economic policy over social policy. This is not the first time that the EU has tabled a seemingly social-forward proposal; the Social Investment Package and the EU 2020 Strategy are spectres that continue to haunt the dreams of all things social. The EU needs to show that it is serious about improving the lives of the people living within its borders by ensuring that the pillar is implementable and binding for Member States. Social rights are universal, not optional, and it’s time our political leaders realise this. The social emergency can only be ended through actions, not words.