Brussels, 10/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday 8 June, the employment and social affairs ministers of the EU 27 adopted their conclusions on "social services as a tool for active inclusion, strengthening social cohesion and an area for job opportunities". They stress the importance of these services for the active inclusion of people in society, the existence of increased requirements for social services due to demographic change, quality social services and the creation of new jobs and the need to highlight the quality, accessibility, efficiency and financial viability of the services.
In its conclusions, the Council calls more specifically on: (1) the member states to ensure that measures targeting social exclusion and promoting the active inclusion of those who are the furthest outside the labour market, by improving access to social services, are among their political priorities; (2) the European Commission to continue to support the exchange of best practice between the member states on access to quality social services with long-term viability; (3) the member states and the European Commission to continue the work being carried out in the Social Protection Committee on the application of Community rules to social services of general interest and the voluntary framework for quality of social services, which aims to provide guidelines on the method to be followed to define, control and assess the quality of standards applicable to social services, in full respect of the principle of subsidiarity. (G.B./transl.fl)