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.
In its response to the Commission’s public consultation on Europe’s ‘social reality’, EAPN calls on the European Commission to build upon the outcomes of the Social Reality Stocktaking exercice to develop an ambitious Social policy agenda.
The present paper focuses on a more detailed reading of pieces of the ‘employment part’ of the Lisbon package, the European Employment Strategy (ie the draft Joint Employment Report and the proposals for new guidelines), and assesses to what extent our social inclusion concerns have been taken into consideration.
EAPN recently submitted its contribution to the second stage wide-ranging public consultation entitled “Modernising social protection for greater social justice and economic cohesion: taking forward the active inclusion of people furthest from the labour market”.
In a letter sent today to EU Prime Ministers ahead of the European Spring Council due to take place on 13-14 March, EAPN asks the forthcoming Spring Council to give clear answers to four key questions on Social Europe.
On 24-26 November 2005, EAPN held its sixteenth General Assembly in Liverpool, England. This General Assembly welcomed the Norwegian and Cypriot Networks into membership of EAPN. This year the key note theme was: “Delivering the Social Inclusion Agenda”. At the end of the General Assembly, the EAPN delegates adopted the following declaration.
Can activation schemes work for social inclusion? This is the question to which EAPN tries to answer in this position paper. According to the Network, the answer is ‘yes’ provided that these schemes aim to meet individual person’s needs, wishes and priorities.