Tag: social europe

Despite the lack of strong economic growth in Europe, there is more that can be done to create jobs, says the managing director of Eurociett, who believes EU policymakers have some tools to boost employment in a low-growth, or no-growth environment.

A new study by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) maps out the effects of the economic crisis on unemployment and inequality. It blames EU leaders, notably the European Commission’s push for austerity in early 2011 and the European Central Bank’s previously tight monetary policy, for the failure to spur a recovery.

Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier yesterday (8 February) proposed creating a European foundation statute to allow public interest organisations to use the same legal framework across the EU.

Union leaders from across Europe gathered in Brussels yesterday (25 January) and agreed to oppose the 'fiscal compact' treaty. They proposed an alternative set of policies – including a new role for the European Central Bank and increased investment – which they say will provide growth and jobs.

Members of the Indignados and a senior EU official held a rare debate yesterday (19 October) in Brussels which highlighted the chasm between the European elite and the international protest movement.

Suicides rates rose sharply in Europe in 2007 to 2009 as the financial crisis drove unemployment up and squeezed incomes, with the worst hit countries like Greece and Ireland seeing the most dramatic increases, researchers said today (8 July).

Countries with paritarian welfare institutions - those in which pensions, health care and other social protection schemes are negotiated equally between employers and social partners - were significantly better able to cope with the financial and economic crises, Francesco Briganti of the European Association of Paritarian Institutions of Social Protection (AEIP) told EurActiv.hu in an interview.

The eurozone crisis has transformed the debate on 'Social Europe' and threatens to undermine the pro-Europe sentiments of the left, writes Olaf Cramme, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. He asks how the supporters of a 'Social Europe' could use the crisis in their favour.

Plans to create a generation of 'green' jobs will involve low-skilled as well as high-skilled workers, and could therefore play a key social function in addressing Europe's unemployment crisis, EU officials and MEPs told a Brussels conference yesterday (10 June).

After months of controversy between Eastern and Western EU countries, it appears increasingly likely that EU leaders will lower their ambitions on poverty reduction during a summit in Brussels on 17 June, diplomats said.

Dismayed by the lack of a social dimension to the European Commission's draft '2020 Strategy', centre-left MEPs and trade unions told EurActiv that the Spanish EU Presidency was their best hope of securing a genuine social commitment in Europe's next ten-year economic plan.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso this week (16 December) faced accusations from MEPs that his draft EU 2020 strategy for economic and environmental renewal lacked a sufficient social dimension.

The EU's 2020 strategy to build a sustainable future beyond the current economic crisis is too short-termist and fails to address the fundamental problems of the current growth model, Philippe Herzog, founder of the Confrontations Europe think-tank, told EurActiv in an interview.

The European Union should equip itself with an "ambitious" social plan by spring 2010 in order to fight growing unemployment, EU leaders are expected to state at the conclusion of a two-day summit which opens in Brussels today (10 December).

Amid growing unemployment and increasing inequality in Europe, the new social provisions in the Lisbon Treaty will not immediately correct social imbalances, according to experts. But the crisis might trigger the right kind of social innovation and reform the market economy, they say.

Squeezed by the economic crisis, Europe's labour markets can find new dynamism through social innovation, said Vladimir Špidla, EU commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

A proposed EU microfinance fund, set up earlier this year to stimulate job creation in recession-ridden Europe, has provoked sharp disagreements. Two experts, one from a social NGO and one from a European chamber of commerce, spoke to EurActiv about the scheme's chances.

An EU-wide poll has found that citizens from the Baltic countries are the most pessimistic about the ongoing jobs crisis, while 50% of all Europeans expect greater EU involvement in the area of employment and social affairs.

After hosting a meeting of EU employment ministers last week, the Swedish EU Presidency began to set out its ambition for a revised Lisbon Agenda, casting the EU's future growth and jobs policies along Nordic lines.

A May summit organised by the Czech EU Presidency to tackle the Union's unemployment crisis has been cancelled due to last-minute objections by EU leaders.

Anna Diamantopoulou, a former EU social affairs commissioner, has warned EU leaders against protectionist rhetoric ahead of an EU summit on 1 March that is due to address the worsening economic recession. She spoke to EurActiv in an interview.

An offer by Prague of a free plane ticket and 500 euros for foreign workers who voluntarily agree to go home after losing their jobs has triggered criticism in Brussels circles.

The European Union has had a social agenda since the early days of the European Economic Community (EEC), argues Joachim Fritz-Vannahme, director of European projects at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, in a November paper.

With the financial crisis pushing the EU towards recession, citizens say they want economic issues placed at the centre of next year's election campaign, a Eurobarometer poll revealed. However, very few seem to be aware that an election will actually take place.