With or without numbers the reality is the same
Doing policy in Brussels is too often about numbers, statistics. You want to influence EU policy makers, or combat the increase of poverty and inequalities? First you have to have the right numbers to answer their questions: How many people exactly are in poverty today? Can you demonstrate to me the increase in inequalities? Or how many people do not trust their government anymore?”
The strength of Social NGOs’ lies in their networks at national level that report on what they witness in the field. They know the reality. It takes much longer for statisticians, research institutes or international organisations to assess the information and provide numbers. But when they do they reach the same conclusions. For example, last week, the OECD report “How’s life?” found that “citizens in the hardest-hit euro area countries have lost trust in their governments and institutions. The percentage of people in these countries claiming to trust national government fell by 10 percentage points in the five years leading to 2012”. The report also found out that “subjective well-being deteriorated in countries most affected by the crisis. Between 2007 and 2012, reported average life satisfaction declined by more than 20% in Greece, 12% in Spain, and 10% in Italy.
So yes, we can get numbers that support our advocacy actions! The OECD has put numbers to what our members have been reporting for the last 3 years. This report comes at a good moment when we are asking again for an alternative EU economic policy. Tomorrow will be the publication of the next Annual Growth Survey that will set the priorities for 2014’s economic policy.
With or without numbers, the reality remains the same. The conclusions also remain the same and I will leave the OECD Secretary General conclude this editorial. “This report is a wake-up call to us all. It is a reminder that the central purpose of economic policies is to improve people’s lives. We need to rethink how to place people’s needs at the heart of policy-making”. I have nothing to add.
Lets engage!
Pierre Baussand
Director
