Brussels, 14/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Immediately after the summer break, European Commissioner Vladimir Spidla spoke about his ideas for the debate on the European social model, to be discussed informally by the Commission at its meeting in Brussels on 20 September. The future of the European social model will also be discussed at a meeting at Val-Duchesse (Brussels) on 29 September marking the twentieth anniversary of the social model, attended by Jacques Delors and Jose Manuel Barroso. Both discussions are part of the process of preparing for Tony Blair's Special October Summit of 27/28 October at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey (the UK, see other article).
As requested by the British Presidency, the European Commission is preparing a contribution for the Special October Summit with the aid of several Directorate-Generals (see EUROPE 8983). The contribution by Commissioner Spidla's Cabinet (Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities) has already been submitted to Jose Manuel Barroso's group of business advisors, highlighting the importance of an inclusive society for all and the need to give workers the resources to adopt to change while staying on the labour market and improving workers' home life. These subjects were discussed at length by Commissioner Spidla at a meeting of the European Policy Centre in Brussels on 14 September on 'Flexisecurity on the labour market - are the EU25 speaking the same language?'
The debate on the European social model is vital to look at changes confronting us and the objectives to be pursued these days by public action at both European and national level, hence the importance of the Special October Summit at the end of October, said Spidla. He said the Hampton Court Summit should shed light on the future by underlining the ideas shared by Europeans, the challenges they have to face and areas of common action. For this reason, he said, the Summit cannot be the location for competing national models, repeating his refrain that no single country incarnates a model. Spidla said he preferred to think of different social systems each with their own coherence and covering social protection, the labour market and governance, in other words 'flexisecurity'. The Commissioner said the main challenge for legislators and social dialogue these days was to give workers the resources to adapt to change, remain part of the labour market and making progress in their professional lives. Refusing to change in Europe would be suicidal - reforms have to continue, he added. Spidla reflected that he himself came from a country that had not simply made simple reforms since the fall of Communism but had carried out a quiet revolution. He said he had no taboos and would continue to express strong opinions. There is no one single response to the big challenges of today, said Spidla, noting that countries with positive growth and employment results are the ones that have made big and coherent reforms, in this way managing to preserve their fundamental values (like anti-discrimination and equal opportunism) and also turn social policy into a competitive element.