Europe: The Excluded Suffer while Europe Stagnates

‘Europe: The Excluded Suffer while Europe Stagnates’ reviews the social situation in the 28 EU member states and makes some proposals and recommendations for a more sustainable and inclusive future. The report analyses performance in areas such as poverty and inequality, employment, access to key public services and taxation. These areas are examined in light of the key social policy responses of the European Union to the crisis including the social investment package. The report also points to some policy proposals and alternatives for discussion. These include the right to sufficient income, meaningful work and access to key quality services. These policy proposals explore how these areas might be delivered upon in a changing world. We hope that this report can make a timely and significant contribution to the launch of the consultation on a European Pillar of Social Rights. The aim of the European Pillar of Social Rights is to take account of the changing realities of Europe’s societies and the world of work. Failure to deliver a balanced policy approach between economic and social policy across the European Union for several decades has contributed to the crisis that Europe finds itself in today. Focusing on this century alone we see that the original Lisbon Strategy also known as the Lisbon Agenda or Lisbon Process, was deemed to be such a failure that it had to be revised half way through its ten-year lifespan. The revised version eliminated the social aspects of policy that had been a feature of the original iteration of the Lisbon Strategy. This seemed to suggest that it was the social aspects of policy that were holding back the economic priorities of job creation. This analysis in turn proved to be false as the Lisbon Strategy in its second iteration also was deemed to be a failure. In 2010 the Lisbon Strategy was replaced by the Europe 2020 strategy. In practice this, too, has had little positive impact on social aspects of policy that it is meant to address. Of particular significance is its total failure to reduce poverty or to even make any progress towards reaching the target set. The European Union is strong on rhetoric but weak on delivery where the social aspects of policy are concerned. Failure to deliver on social aspects of policy, in particular on reducing poverty and long-term unemployment and improving access to quality services, will have major implications for the future of the EU as it will strengthen the growing conclusion that it is not a democratic project but is, rather, focused on delivering outcomes that favour the economically powerful. Our research has consistently shown that a more integrated social dimension across the European Union is required to ensure the European Social Model can meet the challenges of new realities and that the damage to social cohesion across the Union caused by the crisis can begin to be repaired. This publication points to the need to examine alternatives and to develop a social welfare and support system that can adapt to changing realities and withstand future shocks. Minimum income schemes, the Living Wage, Basic Income schemes, the changing nature of work, adequate investment, access to quality services, representation and sustainability are policy areas which are discussed and examined in this research. We present this research as part of our ongoing contribution to the European policy process.