Replying to the European Commission consultation on the future of EU cohesion policy, EAPN stressed the need to see structural funds as a tool not only for growth and jobs, but also for the fight against social inequalities.
This new Guidance note therefore sets out to provide the guidelines for member states and stakeholders on the objectives and process for the new cycle in the development of the National Strategic Reports (2008-11) and its relationship to the Lisbon National Reform Programmes (2008-11). In its response to the guidance note for the Strategic Reports 2008-11, EAPN would like to highlight its satisfaction, but insists it would have liked more time for consultation.
EAPN organized a seminar on 13-14 September 2007 to assess the reasons behind the loss of momentum in the fight against poverty in the EU, but also ways to develop innovative thinking and strategies towards a more social Europe (in particular ahead of the 2010 Year Against Poverty).
This guide therefore aims to give more information on the type of social inclusion indicators that can be applied to structural funds. It will be of particular interest to NGOs sitting on the monitoring committees of the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.
In this report, EAPN sets out to evaluate the 2007 Implementation Reports of the National Reform Programmes for their contribution to Inclusion.
In this report, EAPN sets out to evaluate the 2007 Implementation Reports of the National Reform Programmes for their contribution to Inclusion.
Brussels, 16 January 2008 – The European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) launches today its response to the Lisbon Implementation Reports 2007 and the Commission’s Annual Progress Report on the revised Lisbon Strategy. EAPN has established a social inclusion score board assessing the contribution made to social inclusion by the revised Lisbon Strategy.
The EAPN assessment of the 2007 Annual Progress Report on the revised Lisbon Strategy highlights 5 key ways that the Report has not responded to the proposals of social NGO’s or the promises made by the Spring Council to strengthen the social dimension of the Lisbon Strategy.
As Member States were still negotiating their strategic priorities (National Strategic Reference Frameworks and Operational Programmes) with the European Commission, the EAPN seminar aimed at examining the place given to social inclusion in the new programming period of structural funds, focusing more specifically on mechanisms that can support social NGOs’ access to the funds.
{jathumbnail}Often presented as the EU’s main success story and solidarity instrument, structural funds have been at the heart of the EU’s 50th anniversary in 2007.
