Ensuring decent lives and facilitating active participation in society
On April 29-30, the EU ministers for employment and social affairs met at the Informal EPSCO in Athens, organised by the Greek EU Presidency. Social Platform was invited to this meeting to deliver messages on the importance of adequate minimum income schemes. The Hellenic Presidency has now made the conclusions of the meeting available.
The discussions held by ministers were focused on three thematic axes; a) labour market reforms aiming at rich recovery jobs and the role of wage-setting systems and reforms in the legislation for the protection of employment combat long-term unemployment and to increase participation in labor market, b) the importance and the role of minimum income scheme in times of economic recovery and c) Towards quality jobs; Fighting Undeclared Work.
Concerning the meeting between Social Platform and the Greek Presidency, the conclusions state that it was agreed that, despite divergences among the social protection models across European Union, the same principles should apply to all the minimum income schemes, in order to ensure their efficiency. Furthermore, it was acknowledged that in order to tap their full potential, minimum income schemes should be understood and developed within a wider social investment approach. In this respect, references were made to extensive reforms aiming at increasing the effectiveness of the minimum income schemes, but also their social protection system in general. These reforms focused on the one hand, to ensure decent living standards for the beneficiaries and the on the other hand to facilitate and to ensure the active participation of the beneficiaries to society and the labour market.
Afterwards, a ministeriel workshop about the importance and role of mininimum income took place. For the Greek Presidency, the main conclusion from the comments of the member states, the European Commission and the Social Protection Committee as well as the Social Platform was the following: The Member States with the most powerful social protection systems are the ones that have and will have the most competitive economies. The minimum income schemes are components of the basic principles of equality, dignity and solidarity.
Read our full recommendations to the ministers for social affairs and employment
Read the remarks by Heather Roy in the opening plenary of the ministerial meeting
