Brussels, 17/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) published on 16 April its first contribution to the debate on the link between employment and social protection, and above all on the so-called "making work pay" initiative. The debate will be the focus of the report that the Commission has been invited to prepare for the Spring European Council of 2004. EAPN's contribution is in fact a response to the document published on 4 November last by the EU Social Protection Committee entitled "Key issues on social protection and employment". The document is in line with some of the concerns of the Network (especially a high level of social protection as a goal in itself, as is a high level of employment), but which seems in places to be in contradiction with the European strategy on inclusion. Thus, as the EAPN explains in a press release, the Social Protection Committee: 1) seems to rank economic growth and social protection by order of importance, where the latter is put to work for the former. EAPN, by contrast, argues that inclusion should be the main and overarching priority; 2) dismisses the fact that most people enduring poverty want to work however marginal the likely improvement in their situation; 3) does not recognise the reality that, for some people and for some moments in the lives of other people, work is not an option, and society must provide another way of ensuring their inclusion. Also, the issue of paying for public services is addressed, but EAPN is concerned that the privatisation option considered may further lead to the development of two tier public services as well as reducing both the quality of and the access to public services.
EAPN makes the following recommendations: 1) free, good quality child and dependent care provision should be made available to all those on low incomes; 2) social protection systems should be made more adapted to the needs of part time workers and made more accessible to "irregular" workers, including those caring for dependants; 3) it is more efficient to frame social protection systems by reference to what people need to live a life of dignity rather than the changing needs of the economy; 4) the Commission's ongoing work on the costs of non-social Europe must be taken into account in the ongoing debate on the subject.