Brussels, 15/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - During a conference held in Luxembourg on 13 and 14 June by the Luxembourg Presidency, experts from the 25 Member States of the EU, the accession and candidate countries discussed a report on boosting the Community social inclusion process. The conclusions from this conference will be used as a key contribution to the assessment report on the application of the open method of coordination in the field of social policy, which the Commission will draw up for November.
In their report, which was commissioned by the Presidency, the authors- Sir Tony Atkinson (Nuffield College, Oxford, United Kingdom), Bea Cantillon (University of Antwerp, Belgium), Eric Marlier (CEPS/Instead, Luxembourg), Brian Nolan (ESRI, Ireland)- look at the role of the community social inclusion process in the re-centred Lisbon Strategy, and make concrete recommendations on implementing and developing what has already been achieved from this process (quantified objectives, social indicators, national action plans). According to a Presidency press release, they also look at how the Member Estates and the Commission can significantly improve their follow-up to inclusion policies and the exchange of best practice in the field of social monitoring.
Opening the work, the Luxembourg Minister for Family, Integration and Equal Opportunities, Marie Josée Jacobs, pointed out that the "re-centring of the Lisbon Strategy has been accompanied by serious concerns at the place reserved for the social pillar". "How could anybody doubt this need, when 15% of the EU population are exposed to the risk of poverty and when one quarter of those exposed to this risk are carrying out professional activities?", said Ms Jacobs, calling on her audience not to "shut their eyes to reality: there is no automatic link between economic growth and social cohesion". "Rather than assuming that our initiatives to promote growth and employment will reach the most defavoured, we should continue to tackle the evil at its roots, by also boosting policies carried out within the community ", the minister concluded.