News

Dear Friends, colleagues and partners,

It was an honor for me to be elected at the General Assembly of Social Platform last week. To have the support of so many members to lead the strategic and political work of the platform for the next two years is a lot to be trusted with! I am very grateful to the immense work of Conny Reuter as President over the past five years.

The next two years will see Social Platform celebrate its 20th anniversary. From 25 original members we now number 47 and Social Platform is more visible than ever. Indeed there has never been a more crucial time for social NGO’s to be visible, to work together, to support each other, and to make their voices heard – collectively and individually. Our members have countless examples of how people are finding themselves facing increasing discrimination, polarization, exclusion and poverty and support for the European Project is diminishing.

We know that there is a fundamental democratic deficit in how economic and social policy is currently being developed – citizens are not listened to and their problems ignored. We also know how it is becoming more and more difficult to challenge the current thinking in this area and to ensure that European policies are based on the founding principles of dignity, freedom, democracy and equality.

So we need to be both louder and more concrete. We need to be more targeted in our common advocacy as Social Platform – to be the architects of a different Europe*. We must increase our support for the individual work of our members. And building on our vision of solidarity and inclusiveness we need to look to our alliances with other sectors and ensure that they are both strong and timely.

We must use all of our capacities and experience in the right ways – which may also be new ways – to show that another way is possible. A way that has the well-being of people at its core.

I look forward to working with you all to do so,

Heather Roy

President

*We don't just need firefighters; we need architects too." Jacques Delors, three times President of the European Commission, Mittelweg 36 (September 2010) on the crisis in Europe