Strasbourg, 19/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - By a wide majority (345 to 14 with 2 abstentions), the European Parliament adopted an own initiative report on Thursday 15 November 2007 by Elizabeth Lynne (ALDE, UK) entitled 'Social Reality Stocktaking'. The European Parliament urged the European Commission and member states to pursue 'an ambitious objective of reducing poverty, especially among working people in Europe.' It stresses that 'to make work financially viable, a decent living minimum wage' should be set at member states' level, which would also fight child poverty. The report calls for exchanges of best practice on how to encourage young people to stay on at school until they have acquired the skills they will need on the labour market. The EP welcomes the European Commission's forthcoming proposal to make 2010 the European Year of Combatting Poverty and Social Exclusion and the draft directive establishing 'sanctions against employers of illegally staying third country nationals,' to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable workers by gang-masters'.
Elizabeth Lynne started by pointing out that no amendments had been made to the European Parliament's Social Affairs and Employment Committee's report. She welcomed very close cooperation in this domain from the European Parliament and Portuguese presidency, which has made social policy a priority in the EU. She explained: 'We face a huge challenge in Europe - and this challenge is one of fairness. I don't think most people would believe that in 2007, as we celebrate 50 years of the Treaty of Rome and 50 years of economic growth, over 72 million European citizens continue to live in poverty. And yet despite increasing prosperity, the gap between the rich and the poor in many member states is also increasing.' She said the challenge was 'about lost potential, the inability to live a life free from the charity of others, a life free from discrimination, poverty and social exclusion.' 'Our objective is clear. We want to expand opportunities so that nobody, whatever their background or circumstance, is left behind.' She said equality was a complex issue and early prevention was vital. Lynne said it was scandalous that five member states had no minimum wage and in other member states, the minimum wage was 'so low that 8% of all EU citizens now suffer from in-work poverty, which is scandalous.'
EU Social Affairs and Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said that the political will to fight exclusion was required. The various social objectives had to be transposed into appropriate national legislation, and infringements proceedings should be launched against member states violating EU social legislation. He said the Commission would be: 1) proposing common principles on social inclusion in the form of Commission recommendations in the second half of 2008; (2) presenting new measures over the next few weeks to promote the integration of the disabled; and (3) adopting in the first half of 2008 a proposal to meet the existing gap in protection required by Art.13 of the Treaty (anti-discrimination). The Commissioner said social reality was changing but he was certain that the basic idea of balancing the economy with social, ecological and environmental issues was still primordial, and it was now a question of finding ways of overcoming existing problems.
Miroslaw Mikolasik (EPP-ED, Slovakia) said it was important to have a healthcare strategy to improve access to high quality healthcare for all. Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL, Portugal) argued for high quality public services and a fairer revenue policy. Edit Bauer (EPP-ED, Slovakia) said the European social model was out-of-date, not only due to the challenge of globalisation but also to the ageing population, calling for new poverty indicators to be introduced. Richard Falbr (PES, Czech Republic) said social security safety nets should be introduced, along with minimum pay levels established by collective bargaining or the law. Ona Jukneviciene (ALDE, Lithuania) called for other countries to learn lessons from member states which make effective use of the European Social Fund. Stepp Kusstatscher (Greens/EFA, Italy) said that the EU had stopped being fair at Lisbon. He said all citizens, even those not living in poverty, should be able to have minimum pay. Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden) said changes should be made in advertising aimed at children. Kathy Sinnott (IND/DEM, Ireland) said she was disappointed that the stocktaking reflected economic indicators rather than social reality. She wanted to know whether people had enough to eat both intellectually and physically rather than simply whether they had a job or not. In the long-term, economic growth might be held back by poverty issues, she added. Frank Vanhecke (NA, Belgium) said the report's 97 recommendations were measures that could help everyone. Only one small group had been forgotten, he said, that of middle-age white heterosexuals who tend to be on the right. He said he opposed the report, describing it as a catalogue of good will, a Santa Claus policy but choices had to be made and one couldn't be Santa Claus to everyone. He concluded by criticising the European Commission for wanting social policy to be one of its powers, which was not a good thing. Gabriele Stauner (EPP-ED, Germany) thanked Elizabeth Lynne for an excellent report and the debate it had sparked over minimum pay. Providing jobs is all very well, but they have to allow people to feed their families, commented Jan Andersson (PES, Sweden). “Is a burgeoning economy an end in itself or a way or improving everyone's living conditions?”, asked Siiri Oviir (ALDE, Finland). Eva Tomaszewska (UEN, Poland) stressed the incoherent way Economic Union tackled poverty issues. Carlo Fatuzzo (EPP-ED, Italy), said the cause of poverty was bad governance in the world, and therefore bad governments, which call for so much from the EU but don't do much themselves, were the cause of poverty. He hammered home that there should be minimum pay and a minimum pension for all retired people in Europe. Karin Jöns (PES, Germany) called for people to have the chance to grow old in good health, to have access to affordable, high quality healthcare and affordable medicines. “Couldn't a minimum survival income be foreseen in Europe comparable to a member state's average income?”, asked Marie Panayatopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, Greece). She said that social solidarity and solidarity among generations had to be guaranteed, and called on the member states to provide this inter-generational solidarity. Alejandro Cercas (PES, Spain) said that like for all ill people, it is not enough simply to make a diagnosis - treatment is also required. He added that European treatment was needed and warned against nationalistic, xenophobic policies that threatened European social reality. Agnès Schierhuber (EPP-ED, Austria), said member states had to have very high standards when it came to social affairs. Poverty is legion in Europe, said Proinsas De Rossa (PES, Ireland), adding that the problems facing Commissioner Spidla should not be underestimated, and social problems were obstacles to economic prosperity. Tomas Zatloukal (EPP-ED, Czech Republic), said the economy cost people and society dear. Richard Howitt (PES, United Kingdom) called for disabled people to be listened to and involved in discussion when talking about social Europe.
Responding to the debate, which he described as very profound and intense, Vladimir Spidla said: (1) the idea of social reality stocktaking was backed by the European Parliament. I agree with Mr Cercas, he said. No treatment is possible without a diagnosis to combat the threats to social reality; (2) social reality has a certain internal dynamic reflecting a general conception of the European social model, involving social protection values. It is unacceptable for people to remain passive in the face of all these problems at EU level; (3) there was no doubt about the existence of the principle of subsidiarity. The commissioner said that everyone should deal with social policy where it is easiest to apply it. He added that acting only at national level without making use of the EU level is impossible if one wants to find solutions to social problems, and synergy is required between the two levels; and (4) a balance has to be struck between social policy and economic policy, neither of which is superior to the other.
In a press release welcoming the vote, the vice-president of the Socialist group with responsibility for social affairs, Harlem Désir, said: 'We have today sent a very clear message to the Barroso Commission. We want to update the guidelines of the Lisbon strategy to ensure the achievement of the fundamental social objectives of the European Union, such as a reduction in poverty and increased access to decent jobs, to education, to healthcare and to social protection.' 'For us Socialists, there's an urgent need to reinvigorate social Europe, to increase investment in research, innovation, education and environmental protection and to adopt strict regulations to combat volatility in financial markets,' commented Belgian MEP Anne Van Lancker. (G. B.)