This EAPN statement is based on the responses by NGOs to the first Round of National Action Plans on Social Inclusion in the new Member States and to the Joint Inclusion Memoranda in the candidate countries.
This position paper was presented on the occasion of the Third European Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion which took place in Rotterdam on 18-19 October 2004.
The document is the report of the reflection seminar EAPN held in Porto on 29 and 30 April 2004 on the current trends in the European Employment Strategy.
In this position paper, EAPN is arguing is that the commitment made by Heads of State and Government in Lisbon in 2000 to bring forward a strategy to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty is as relevant, if not even more relevant, today.
It is clear that we will not reach or even move towards the objective to ‘make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty and social exclusion by 2010 with ‘more of the same’. To achieve this, we need a serious boost to the strategy.
This paper summarises the analyses by EAPN national networks of the Report and makes some proposals on how to the make the process more effective in the context of the mid-term review of the social inclusion strategy and the discussions on ‘streamlining’ social inclusion and social protection processes.
The report identifies the major achievements of the National Action Plans on Inclusion to June 2004. It must be remembered that the NAPs Inclusion process is not quite four years old.
The legislative framework for the reform of cohesion policy for 2007-2013, aimed at reducing the “wealth gap” in an enlarged EU, presents few surprises and raises both concerns and hopes for NGOs.
EAPN gives its take on emerging employment policies that make not just the unemployed, but workers too, more vulnerable.
EAPN, urges that the following key messages emerge clearly from the review of the Lisbon agenda: the need to achieve a balance between Social, Employment and Economic Policies; the need to maintain a visible and effective EU Inclusion strategy as part of the EU Social Policy Agenda.
