Brussels, 08/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - In its response to the public consultation launched by the European Commission on the balance-sheet of European social reality, which is due to conclude this month (EUROPE 7375/9547), the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) is calling upon the Commission to base its findings on the conclusions of the inventory of social reality to take on an ambitious social agenda. The fight against poverty remains a political choice which must receive all the urgency it deserves, as 78 million people are living in poverty in the EU, the organisation stresses in a press release.
The EAPN network is calling on the EU to: (1) ensure that there is proper integration of the social dimension in all EU policies; (2) guarantee that the cross-cutting social cause of the new Reform Treaty lays the foundations for a European Pact for social progress; (3) develop a new programme to fight against poverty in order to complete the open method of coordination (OMC) and solid instruments at European level, which are capable of equipping all member states with high-level social standards.
The network is also of the opinion that the new social agenda of the EU should also commit in favour of a model of social and sustainable development, which is coherent with an approach based on social rights, and principally aiming to provide greater social cohesion.
For more information: http://www.eapn.org (G.B.)