EAPN

National Stop TTIP & CETA day!
2016-09-20 16:30 - 19:00 UTC | rue de la loi, brussels, Belgium
16:30 – Gathering together
17:00 – Demonstration
18:00 – Giant flashmob
19:00 – Alternative party
@Rue de la Loi, Brussels

How to take action?
– Share the Facebook event
– Use these stickers/posters/flyers
– Join the flyering day 13 September in the SNCB stations by applying here
– Change your Facebook profile.
– Help on the day: tim.vandewiele@stopttip.be
– Question your MEPs on CETA! Elliminate the secrecy around CETA!

Register now for the 2016 Eurochild Conference!
2016-07-05 - 2016-07-07 | Palace of Academies, Rue Ducale 1, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
Eurochild, together with Kind en Gezin and Office de la Naissance et de l’Enfance are cohosting the conference “Children’s Rights Matter: Why Europe needs to invest in children”. It will be the first event to bring together children and young people with practitioners, policy makers and politicians. This will give the youngest members of society a platform to express their opinions and make their voices heard.
The Eurochild conference Children’s Rights Matter: Why Europe needs to invest in children, aims to take stock of progress, address on-going challenges, share good practice, and bring together different perspectives. Conference participants, both young and old, will learn and reflect on how policies and services promote the rights of all children in the five sub-themes: education, early years, health promotion, family strengthening, social protection and welfare support. For each of these themes we will focus on three target groups of children: children in poverty, children on the move or affected by migration, and children in care or in risk of going into care.
Why should you attend?

3 days of interactive learning opportunities and discussions with politicians, policy makers, practitioners and children and young people
3 target groups in focus: Children in poverty; Children on the move or affected by migration; Children in care or in risk of going into care
5 sub-themes: Education; Early years policies; Health promotion; Family strengthening; Social protection and welfare support
More than 14 services for children and families open their doors to participants
More than 13 workshops to discover promising practices around education, health, families and social protection
Be part of a unique experience of reflecting on children’s rights, with children.

Here is a list of some of the speakers who will be attending the event:

Elke Sleurs: State Secretary for Combating Poverty, for Equal Opportunities, for Disabled People and for Science Policy, Belgium
Gianluca Esposito: Head of Equality and Human Dignity Department, Council of Europe
Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos: Head of Equality and Citizens’ Rights Department, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Margaret Tuite: Coordinator for the Rights of the Child, European Commission
Bruno Vanobbergen: Flemish Children’s Rights Commissioner, Belgium
Valeriu Nicolae: Children’s rights and Roma activist, Romania
Cath Larkins: Co-Director of the Centre for Children’s and Young People’s Participation, University of Central Lancashire

REGISTER NOW!
Click here to read more about the event on Eurochild’s website, download the full programme of the conference here and click here to find out more about the children’s involvement in the project.

European Council Meeting
2016-06-23 - 2016-06-24 | Unnamed Venue, Brussels, Belgium
The European Council defines the EU’s overall political direction and priorities. It is not one of the EU’s legislating institutions, so does not negotiate or adopt EU laws. Instead it sets the EU’s policy agenda, traditionally by adopting ‘conclusions’ during European Council meetings which identify issues of concern and actions to take.
More recently, the European Council adopted a ‘strategic agenda’ of priority areas for longer-term EU action and focus.
The members of the European Council are the heads of state or government of the 28 EU member states, the European Council President and the President of the European Commission.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also takes part in European Council meetings when foreign affairs issues are discussed.
For more information, see the Council’s website.

EAPN's annual policy conference 2016! Please register here
2016-06-16 13:00 - 18:00 | Crowne Plaza hotel, 3 rue Gineste, Brussels, 1210, Belgium
From the Delors White Paper (1993) to the EU Pillar of Social Rights (2016), what future for the fight against poverty
EAPN’s response – building on 25 years combating poverty, inequality and exclusion
EAPN with hold its conference on Thursday 16 June 2016 to provide a concrete and timely input to the key European Commission consultation on a European Pillar of Social Rights. EAPN will provide its experience and insights into how such a Pillar could complement or build on the existing strategies such as: Europe 2020 and the European Semester and the Social OMC.
The potential of the Pillar of Social Rights will be reflected upon, and links to the future role of the EU in the fight against poverty and social exclusion will be explored.

Context
On March 8 2016, the European Commission launched a public consultation on a European Pillar of Social Rights. This was announced by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in September 2015, and is part of a greater initiative to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and, implicitly, its social dimension, by ensuring upward social convergence between Member States.
The initiative is targeted at the Eurozone, aimed at strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union, but other Member States can join if they want to. The reasoning is the strong economic interdependence in the Euro area. The legal nature of the Pillar is to be defined, as it will involve a number of different tools of a diverse nature, according to the content, subsidiarity principle, and overall legal EU framework.
Commitments in the consultation on the Pillar of Social Rights, come under three headings:

equal opportunities and access to the labour market: skills, active labour market policies, improving employability, supporting transitions;
fair working conditions: achieving balance between flexibility and security, facilitate job creation, promote social dialogue;
adequate and sustainable social protection and access to high-quality essential services: childcare, healthcare, long-term care, to ensure dignified living and enable professional and social participation

Participants: Around 70 EAPN members will participate from the national level, including people with direct experience of poverty, plus some European Organisation members of EAPN, and around 80 Brussels-based stakeholders.
Provisional Programme
The programme can be accessed here (PDF).
Key speakers
Allan Larsson, Special Adviser for the European Pillar of Social Rights
And speakers from the European Parliament, and other civil society actors and people with direct experience of poverty.
How to register
Register for the conference via this link by 10 June.
Key related documents

Overall webpage of the initiative
Communication on Launching the Consultation on the European Pillar of Social Rights
Annexes:
– Annex: A European Pillar of Social Rights – First preliminary outline
– Staff Working Document: Key economic, employment and social trends behind a European Pillar of Social Rights
– Staff Working Document: The EU social acquis
The public consultation, including the questionnaire
– Press release
– Questions & Answers
– Factsheet – European Pillar of Social Rights

Contact
Contact the Acting Director Mr Fintan Farrell for information on the event’s programme and the issue: fintan.farrell@eapn.eu
Photo: © Rebecca Lee, EAPN
This event is supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation “EaSI” (2014-2020). The information contained does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission. For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi.

Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs Council
2016-06-16 - 2016-06-17
The EPSCO Council brings together ministers responsible for employment, social affairs, health and consumer policy from all EU member states. Relevant European Commissioners also participate in meetings.
There are usually four EPSCO meetings a year. Two of the meetings are generally devoted exclusively to employment and social policy topics.
About employment and social policy
The overall objective of the EU action is to raise the standard of living and quality of life of its citizens, notably through high-quality jobs and a high level of social and health protection and the protection of consumers’ interests.
In the fields of employment and social policy, the Council is responsible for drawing up annual employment guidelines which the member states take into account in their national policies. It also adopts legislation, together with the European Parliament, aimed at improving working conditions, social inclusion and gender equality.
For more information on the EPSCO Council, see the Council’s website.

The Seminar “What Future for Social Europe?” on the impact of the UK Referendum on Poverty and Social Exclusion
2016-06-14 09:00 - 13:00 | Glasgow Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street , Glasgow, G2 3NY, United Kingdom
EAPN UK and the Poverty Alliance will organise a seminar to discuss the future of social policies at EU level and the impact of a UK referendum on the fight against poverty.
The event will focus on whether the goals of poverty reduction and social justice are best served with the UK remaining part of the EU, and highlight what is understood by “Social Europe”, in a time when the effects of the 2008 economic crisis still reverberate across the continent.
The session will open with Robin Hanan, Director of the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland. After that, selected speakers will contribute with short inputs on some of the main challenges currently faced by the EU: the refugee crisis, creating an equal Europe, and the fragile state of employment across the Union.
During the second session, a debate will be held between those in favour of the UK EU membership and those against, giving the audience the opportunity to actively participate in the discussion.
This seminar is FREE and open to all. Click here to register and know more about the event.

The 2016 FEAD European Conference
2016-06-02 - 2016-06-03
On June 2 and 3 EAPN will contribute to the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived European Conference titled The FEAD Network: Sharing Knowledge, Finding Synergies to Break the Vicious Circle of Poverty and Deprivation to share the network’s experience in the field and disseminate the key findings of the latest publications.

The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) supports EU countries’ actions to provide material assistance to the most deprived. This includes food, clothing and other essential items for personal use, e.g. shoes, soap and shampoo.
Material assistance needs to go hand in hand with social inclusion measures, such as guidance and support to help people out of poverty. National authorities may also support non-material assistance to the most deprived people, to help them integrate better into society.

EAPN’s Acting Director Fintan Farrell will speak at session F panel The way forward for the FEAD Network.
EAPN is part of the FEAD network and contributes to the project by performing following tasks:

Structuring the themes and tools for exchange of experience, capacity building and networking in relation to the FEAD Fund and the establishment of the FEAD Platform
Ensuring online presence of FEAD (web pages and electronic networking tools)
Organising Network Events
Collection of good practices
Expert and logistic support

Click here to visit the FEAD website for more information and here to see the draft programme of the conference.

EAPN Participates to Round-table meeting with the United Nations Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights
2016-05-30 16:00 - 2016-06-03 19:00
EAPN will participate to a round-table meeting with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) to discuss impact of the financial crisis on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in EU countries. The event will reunite representatives of European civil society networks and organizations.

The visit to Brussels will result in the publication of an official report to the UNOHCHR to complement the latest report on the effects of the financial and economic crisis within Greece on social and economic rights (A/HRC/31/60/Add.2). It is also intended to reflect more broadly on lessons learned from European countries which have completed adjustment programmes and are currently under post-programme surveillance, such as Cyprus, Ireland, Spain and Portugal.

The visit will focus on the following issues:
• Human Rights obligations of European institutions and European States in relation to economic reform and austerity policies implemented in Eurozone countries;
• Human rights impact of recent economic adjustment programmes implemented in Europe to overcome the sovereign debt crises (Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and other countries under post-programme surveillance) with particular focus on the economic, social and cultural rights, e.g. right to work, social security, health, education and adequate housing;
• Human rights impacts of the financial crisis and of the economic adjustment measures on individuals and groups in situation of vulnerability, such as persons with disabilities, refugees, migrants, members of minorities, unemployed, highly indebted persons, children, the elderly, and women;
• Efforts undertaken by .European institutions to prevent negative social and human rights impacts in past and current adjustment programmes and to ensure non-discrimination in their implementation;
• ) Main lessons learned from the implementation of economic reform programmes in the different countries (success stories, unintended side-effects and failures) in particular in relation to the enjoyment of human rights;
• The right to participation, transparency and accountability in contexts of economic reform policies supported by European institutions;
• Other topics related to the mandate of the Independent Expert.

Click here to know more about the objectives of the visit and background information about the work of the Independent Expert.

Youth Partnership Symposium ‘(Un)Equal Europe? Responses from the youth sector’
2016-05-30 - 2016-06-02 | Unnamed Venue, Budapest, Hungary
The Symposium ‘(Un)Equal Europe? Responses from the youth sector’ will take place in Budapest to explore the range of social, geographic and economic inequalities that young people face in today’s Europe and develop solutions through a dialogue between practitioners, researchers and policy makers.
The event will also highlight some of the personal experiences of individuals who have encountered structural and contextual barriers to inclusion and discuss the impact of the most recent refugee migration fluxes on the youth sector.
The Objectives of the symposium are:

To discuss and disseminate the knowledge on inequalities, participation and social exclusion concerning young people in Europe;
To share good practice in youth work and youth policy relevant to the key questions of the Symposium;
To identify challenges and research gaps, draw conclusions and formulate recommendations, as well as to propose models of youth policy and youth work interventions;
To support knowledge-based youth policy and practice for fighting against inequalities through networking, dialogue, and peer learning;
To connect youth, policy-makers, practitioners and researchers.

Mr. Fintan Farrell, Acting Director of EAPN Europe, will speak about youth poverty in Europe at the event, at which about 80 to 100 experts representing the various fields of policy, research and practice will participate.
For more information on the EU-CoE youth partnership, please see their website.

The 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Development
2016-05-20 - 2016-05-22 | Unnamed Venue, Thessaloniki, Greece
Maria Jeliazkova, Vice-President of EAPN and member of EAPN Bulgaria, will represent the network at the 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Development in Thessaloniki, an event organized by the independent student group Students for Sustainability in collaboration with the International Hellenic University and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
The conference aims at promoting the personal social responsibility of students and citizens through awareness and engagement, as well as presenting sustainable development theories and best practices in a non-academic context.
The event will last three days and include workshops, the main conference and an exhibition of local agri-food products. Several international speakers will be called to contribute to discussions concerning six key topics that are at the core of sustainable development:

Topic A – The importance of Sustainable Development Strategies in the 21st Century
Topic B – Politics and Sustainable Development: tool or throwback?
Topic C – Agriculture and Sustainable Development
Topic D – 1st Pillar of Sustainable Development: Society – Can Poverty be tackled through Sustainable Development Policies?
Topic E – 2nd Pillar of Sustainable Development: Economy – Green Economy – Trick or Treat?
Topic F – 3rd Pillar of Sustainable Development: Environment – Environmental Protection: a matter of local, state or international mobilization?
Round Table Topic – Crisis, Conflicts, Refugees, and Global Sustainable Development.

Ms. Jeliazkova will give a speech concerning the Topic D, “Can Poverty be tackled through Sustainable Development Policies?”
Click here to know more about the event and here to access the e-book produced by Students for Sustainability in order to explain and raise awareness about issues concerning sustainable development.

EAPN speaks at "Public policies for accessible social services" conference in Romania
2016-04-07 - 2016-04-08 | Unnamed Venue, Bucharest, Romania
Amana Ferro, Senior Policy Officer at EAPN, will speak at the conference Public policies for accessible social services – Building bridges between social service providers in Bucharest on April 7-8.
The event is organised by Foundation for the Development of Civil Society. Other panelists will be from EASPD, AGE Platform, and the Social Platform.
See programme.
