11/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - “Taking forward the European Welfare States: Common Challenges - A contribution to the reflection on the future of the European Social Model” - such is the theme of the seminar organised for 13 October in Brussels by the Belgian Secretary of State for European Affairs, Didier Donfut, and Belgian Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Rudy Demotte. Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla will speak on the modernisation of the European Social Model, and Paul Nyrup Rasmussen, MEP and former Danish Prime Minister, on the future of this model. Experts will explain the weaknesses and the strength of the Nordic systems and will seek to define the positive elements that can be drawn from this. (Information: stefaan.thijs@diplobel.fed.be)