Economic, Environmental and Social Issues: Examining the relationship between the economic system and environmental and social policies, especially with regard to the specific policies of the European institutions and economies in transition.
A report from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church
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Collective complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights
Upon request of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), the Conference of European Churches (CEC) has submitted on 17 January 2013 a “collective complaint” to the European Committee of Social Rights (called below “the Committee”) of the Council of Europe (CoE), which seat is in Strasbourg.
CEC is one of the organisations authorized to lodge a collective complaint under the Revised Social Charter.
It is also on request of the PKN that CEC did not inform so far about this initiative.
The purpose of the complaint is to request the Committee to hold that the Dutch government has failed to fulfill its obligations under the Revised Social Charter to respect the rights of undocumented adults for food, clothing and shelter.
Opening and Welcome Rev Rüdiger Noll, Director CSC of CEC - English
European social market economy: social and competitive in a globalized world? Bishop Gianni Ambrosio, Vice-President of COMECE, Bishop of Piancenza-Bobbio - Italy - Italian
Converging toard a European social market economy? The situation in Member States: Prof Dr Heikki Tuomas Hiilamo, Social Insurance Institute of Finland - Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland - English
Dr Andrzej Sarnacki sj, Ignatianum University Krakow, Poland - English
Prof Dr Eelke de Jong, Radboud University Nijmegen - Protestant Church in the Netherlands - English Read more from Prof de Jong
Youth unemployment - an imminent challenge across the EU Presentation of best practices Maria José Tortosa Valls, Caritas diocesain Segorbe - Castellon, Spain - French
Deborah Garden, Youth Work Development Advisor, Frontier Youth Trust - UK - Presentation & speaker notes
Raimund Egger, QuiK-Service of the Kolping Akademie Ingolstadt, Germany - German
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L-R: Landesbischof Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Bishop Gianni Ambrosio and Olivier Guersent
L-R: Katharina Von Schnurbein, Rev Rüdiger Noll, Jean-Claude Thebault, Stefan Lunte
L-R: Landesbischof Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Bishop Gianni Ambrosio, Olivier Guersent
L-R: Landesbischof Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Bishop Gianni Ambrosio, Olivier Guersant
For a stronger policy against poverty – CSC and Eurodiaconia address President Barroso
In a common letter CSC and Eurodiaconia have addressed President Barroso to encourage the European Commission to pursue “with strength and transparency” the objective of poverty reduction in Europe.
With the Europe 2020 strategy the European Union has decided in 2010 on five targets which seem to be crucial for the European development in the coming years. These targets cover employment, research, environment, education and poverty. Until 2010 the EU is aiming at raising 20 million people out of poverty. To reach this goal the Member States committed themselves to define every spring in National Reform Programmes how they pursue this target. After that the European Commission assesses these programmes and gives advice in Country Specific Recommendations to the Member States which have to be adopted by the European Council in the summer. During this month the European Commission works on these recommendations.
“We are therefore very concerned, that in the drafting of last year’s National Reform Programmes and the subsequent Country Specific Recommendations little or no priority was given to the headline target of reducing the number of people in or at risk of poverty by 20 million by 2020,” CSC and Eurodiaconia stated in the letter. The Ecumenical organizations demanded from the EU to strengthen the policy against poverty, especially in this time of crisis: “…we ask the European Commission to steer discussions and recommendations at EU level to ensure the implementation of all Europe 2020 targets and priorities by national governments.”
Furthermore CSC and Eurodiaconia highlighted the necessity to involve civil society and social actors in determining the National Reform Programmes. “Reaching the poverty target and ensuring social cohesion will only be possible if a genuine effort is made by national governments to cooperate and engage with stakeholders and take into account their expertise.”
In the process of the European Semester the member states have to send in their National Reform Programs (NRPs) to the European Commission this month. With the NRPs the member states define how they pursue the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy, like reducing unemployment, improving education and professional training, fighting poverty. For churches the NRPs give the opportunity to assess the national social policy but also to advocate for improved Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs) on European level, which the Commission and the European Council will decide in June. These CSRs evaluate the NRPs and give guidance to the member states. CSC works very closely with Eurodiaconia on this process.
