EAPN’s response to the Communication from the Commission Cohesion Policy in Support of Growth and Jobs: Community Strategic Guidelines, 2007-2013 is based on the response to the predecessor document, the Non paper of Directorates Generals Regional Policy and Employment released on May 2005. This version takes into account the changes introduced in the draft Community Strategic Guidelines published on 6 July 2005.
The communication, as its predecessor the Non paper, still re-situates the Community Guidelines in the Growth and jobs perspective of the re-launched Lisbon strategy and the new guidelines is re-titled ‘Cohesion policy in support of jobs and growth’. This is a first and immediate concern for the European Anti-Poverty Network. The network has pointed out that the original Lisbon strategy (2000) contained a balanced commitment to economic, social and sustainable development, while the re-launched strategy (2005) has a one-sided emphasis on the economic pillar.
The emphasis of the Community Strategic Guidelines is strongly on the ‘jobs and growth’ agenda. The European Anti-Poverty Network has warned many times that growth alone will not solve the problems of poverty and social exclusion in Europe: indeed, growth without social responsibility has historically exacerbated poverty and inequality. Furthermore, there is worrying evidence of unacceptable levels of poverty for those in new employment (‘the working poor’). We welcome the inclusion of More and better jobs as one of the main guidelines for cohesion policy. However, policies for social inclusion, whilst they must address centrally the current high levels of unemployment in Europe, must also confront problems of poverty and social exclusion that extend far beyond the labour market. Unfortunately, the latter dimension is missing in the communication.
