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On January 24, the European Commission organised the 8th Stakeholder Dialogue meeting of the European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion (EPAP), looking back at Annual Convention of the Platform that took place on November 26-27 last year and the publication of the Annual Growth Survey for 2014. During the meeting, the Commission stated how the level of ambition to achieve the reduction of poverty as well as the strategy has to be improved, and expressed its wish to enhance its cooperation with stakeholders, including civil society, and to organise this cooperation as a proper dialogue. Social Platform as well as many of its members participated in the meeting.

Lieve Fransen, Head of the Directorate for Europe 2020, Social Policies in the Commission, presented the highlights of the Commission's social policy work in 2014. During 2014, the implementation of the Social Investment Package (SIP) will be continued. In November last year, a Roadmap for the implementation of the SIP was published and this will be updated every few months. A key theme for the work in 2014 will be the effectiveness and efficiency of social policies and expenditure. This has also been addressed in the Commission's report on the "Employment and social developments in Europe 2013". In the context of the ongoing work on the development of a framework for reference budgets, a conference will be organised in March or April. The Commission will further develop the setting up of a knowledge bank for social policies. Related to this, a Conference will be organised around social policy innovation in May. This conference will look at what has been done with European funds in this field up till now and at how social innovation will be achieved in the future. Concerning Investing in Children, also one of the specific themes of the SIP, a key focus will be the use of the ESF, ERDF and FEAD to support this. An important topic for the Commission in 2014 is gender issues including pensions and the development of indicators in this field. In February, a conference will be organised on pensions, taking stock of the white paper on pensions from 2013. It was also already announced that the next Annual Convention of the European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, will take place on November 20-21.

The Director also presented the process for the Mid-term Review of Europe 2020 as it is currently foreseen. The review itself will take place in 2015, but the preparation prior to this, will start with the publication of an EC Communication by the end of February 2014. This communication will take stock of where we are with the Europe 2020 headline targets and flagships, and will look at what worked and what did not work. It is also possible that the Communication will formulate some suggestions for the review itself. The Communication will be on the agenda of the next Spring Council and it is hoped that afterwards a Roadmap will be launched for a further consultation process until the end of this year. This consultation will then also be used to prepare the decisions of the Spring Council in 2015 on the Mid-term Review.

Ms Fransen also expressed how she wants to go further in involving stakeholders, especially in the context of the EPAP, as she considers the current format of the stakeholder meetings does not give enough opportunities for real dialogue. An idea would be to organise thematic meetings on specific topics, giving stakeholders the possibility to launch certain topics. In the context of the EU Funds, there is also a code of conduct on involvement that should be really used at country level to influence and participate in the implementation of the funds.

Heather Roy, President of Social Platform and Secretary General of Eurodiaconia, reiterated the need for integration and coherence of all the different "social" tools and processes that are existing now in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy, including the EPAP flagship and the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union. She asked whether perhaps the lack of integration and coherence is one of the reasons keeping member states from implementing the social aspects of the Strategy.

Looking in particular at the 2014 European Semester, it was announced that this year's proposals from the Commission for the Country Specific Recommendations will only be published after the European elections. Several Social Platform members stated how the European Semester should not only be an economic process, but should have a clear social dimension, with a clear social policy framework, in order to be successful and that arguments should be formulated going beyond the financial and economic field.

Looking back at last year's Annual EPAP Convention, the evaluation of the event revealed that the World Café and workshops were very much welcomed by the participants. For the next edition, it was suggested to ensure a clear link between the Convention and the European Semester and to address topics including housing, migration and education. According to the evaluation, participants also expressed the need to have more opportunities to exchange ideas. EAPN asked for more information on the impact of the Convention on EU processes and on policy and wants to see more involvement of People Experiencing Poverty to enhance the ownership of the Convention. Taking up the idea of Director Lieve Fransen to organise thematic meetings, Social Platform also suggested the setting up of specific targeted meetings with stakeholders for the agenda setting of the Convention.

2014-01-27