Published Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 10:01
by
rikkeindenmark 
in In the spotlight (431 views and 0 comments)
Not long ago I learned
about the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions. To be
honest I didn't know about the group's existence until a year ago
(ignorance is not always bliss), but it's a forum for local and
regional politicians to meet and discuss EU politics. It's an
interesting organization because many EU decisions impact greatly
on the local level - and the PES Group is a chance for local and
regional social democrats to meet and work together to influence EU
policies.
I admit that this was a digression from the topic that I actually wanted to address in this post! The reason why I brought up the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions is that the group has its own PES manifesto consultation - and in this consultation there's a fifth point of discussion, in addition to the four 'traditional' themes - namely the gender dimension.
I agree very much with the view-point of the PES Group - that there's a significant gender aspect to all four manifesto themes - and I hope the 'pervasiveness' of gender issues will be taken into consideration when the PES manifesto is drafted over the coming months....
read morePublished Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 09:33
by
rikkeindenmark
in New Social Europe (642 views and 10 comments)
And now for
something completely different – as Monty Python would say! I’m
moving away from gender issues and on to a completely different
topic, namely education.
I work in the university sector, where tuition fees are currently
a burning hot topic for debate. In my home country we have a long
tradition for free – or rather publicly funded – higher
education. The argument is that when higher education is free
everyone – regardless of social or economic background – has the
opportunity to take a university degree. Basically, as Danes see
it free education is a question of equality and equal access to
education.
However, in globalization the Danish higher education model is
challenged: Denmark is one of very few countries in the world
which does not have tuition fees (correct me if I’m wrong, but I
think there are only 10 countries worldwide with free higher
education!). University education is increasingly becoming
‘internationalized’: more and more universities cooperate across
borders to offer joint degrees; more and more students go abroad
on exchange or take a full degree abroad, etc. With more
cooperation across borders it gets more difficult for Denmark to
stick with the ‘no fee’ policy – since many of the countries we
cooperate...
Published Monday, June 23, 2008 at 09:06
by
_EPSU_
in New Social Europe (328 views and 0 comments)
Quality employment and quality public services and not “market obligations” should be the driving principles for the European Union in order to foster social inclusion, equality and solidarity.
The European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) welcomes PES initiatives striving for better public services such as the call for a specific horizontal framework that should set out concrete quality standards and criteria. This horizontal legal framework, based on the public services protocol annexed to the Lisbon Treaty, could serve as a departure point for sectoral initiatives and could be an opportunity to give more scope for the inclusion of social and environmental criteria in public procurement contracts and in productivity indicators, to raise good administration, transparency, democratic control, to promote more gender equality and to guarantee equal access to public services.
Concerning employment, a “quality work” has to be preferred to a “flexisecurity approach”. In this respect, EPSU advocates fair working conditions, full rights and representation including better collective bargaining rights. There is also the need to do more in order to improve gender equality and to promote life-long learning especially in the hospital sector....
read morePublished Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:48
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (398 views and 0 comments)
Low income and the unemployed are the most affected groups by chronic diseases and have lower life expectancy. European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) presents its suggestions for the manifesto2009 to tackle the problem.
Click here to read EPHA' contribution for the manifesto2009.
read morePublished Friday, May 30, 2008 at 14:36
by
lewismsyp
in New Social Europe (360 views and 0 comments)
(I'm Lewis Miller,
16 year old, a member of various organisations involving young
people politically in Scotland such as the Scottish Youth
Parliament and I enjoy trying to enthuse young peple in politics)
As a very politically aware young person in Scotland it seems to me like the our society losing sight of what it means to be a person and what it means to be a human being.
I think, and many others amoungst me think, that our society needs to uphold the values we were tought at a young age, we need to look at achieving goals that sound simple and yet are very rewarding. What a lot of young people (particualrly on the left) want is a society where people are cared for, we want to see Europe become a place where countires can support each other and where the poorest people can be helped. When we are only bairns we are told to share our food, we are told to look after each otehr, and so many of us forget that this is what society expects of us, and I think that the older politicians ought to remember seeing the world this way and never forget what society really stands for.
"But what should be our priorities for 2009-14?" Was the first question asked by the website. I think we should have a simple goal, to work towards creating a more equal, a more caring and a more enriched society. We should do...
read morePublished Friday, May 23, 2008 at 15:35
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (496 views and 2 comments)
Harlem Désir, Member of the European Parliament (France) and Vice-President of the Socialist Group, has his say in the PES manifesto consultation. He speaks about the European social model and why it’s very important that we defend social rights and public services.
Read the report ‘Inclusive Europe’ from the Socialist
Group in the European Parliament.
Published Monday, April 21, 2008 at 12:08
by
Duncan Anderson
in New Social Europe (607 views and 2 comments)
I know the British National Health Service can be improved, but I still personally believe that Free Health Service and Free Education from cradle to grave should be part of the fundamental human rights of every citizen, but let's start in the EU first.
read more
Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 16:30
by
ania_skrzypek
in New Social Europe (826 views and 1 comments)
I write rarely about Poland – as a Secretary General of a
European Organization. But as I have also never written a blog
before I have decided to make an exception. Especially that the
issue below remains at the heart of the manifesto debate on
New
Social Europe and “how to reach a New Social Europe for
everyone and everywhere?"
There are few Easter traditions Polish cultivated up till today.
One of them is the tradition of hand-painted Eggs, and another of
“Wet Monday” when Polish are sprinkling water on one another. The
wetter you get, the more popular you are – says ancient
tradition. Both customs seem to have reached a new political
dimension; just before Easter Polish got their very own “Kinder
Surprise” hand-made by the Kaczynski Brothers colored in national
white and red, indicating the popularity to wash away in a
Niagara Falls of words like ‘never’, ‘scandal’,
‘forever’ the Lisbon Treaty.
Polish representatives, negotiating the Lisbon Treaty, made a lot of promises in the media. As a nation, educated in school by romantic literature, we like symbols underlined by a little drama. This is why it is in our political DNA to tear our clothes apart and claim that ‘we will die if…’ as in the negotiations; ‘…the Ioannina...
read morePublished Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 11:03
by
phoenix999
in New Social Europe (889 views and 12 comments)
Hello,
A few months ago I had to change my cell phone and I purchased a Nokia phone. After that, I learned that Nokia was leaving Germany with the money of the Germans, leaving Germany for Romania because salaries and wages there were, in euros, FOUR times lower. "What a social Europe !" I said to myself then. If I had known that piece of news earlier, I would have joined the Germans in the Nokia boycott. Anyway I signed the German petition FOR the boycott. But things are changing and Europe is not just a huge market place, not yet : the Romanian automobile workers have decided to go on strike because their wages were too LOW whereas the auto company was making a huge profit with their low standard cars. There, we have two choices left, yes WE, us, Europeans, have one alternative:
- Either we choose to follow the media and think : Let's keep these poor fellas underpaid, because there will be a big competition with Morocco or India or whatever, and there, they pay even lower salaries (when and where, in the World, does it end ?);
- Or, we decide to make a political DECISION : We agree on a decent minimum wage across the whole European Union and we, Europeans, TAX importations from the poor countries where they pay their salaried slaves literally nothing and exploit women and small children. This is our last chance if we want a social Europe and there, as an exception to the rule, I'll quote George W Bush : ' Our living standards are...
read morePublished Friday, March 14, 2008 at 09:24
by
PES Group - CoR
in New Social Europe (952 views and 1 comments)
Within the
framework of the consultation for the elaboration of a PES
Manifesto for the 2009 European elections, the PES Group is
organising a seminar to encourage a broad exchange of views on
the major challenges for the PES political family for shaping a
genuine Social Europe. It will take place at the
Headquarters of the Committee of the Regions
(Room 62, Jacques Delors Building, Rue Belliard 101, 1040
Brussels), on 8 April 2008 (09h30-13h00).
The seminar will be opened by the President of the PES Group, Mercedes BRESSO, and by Michel DELEBARRE, 1st Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions.
Anna DIAMANTOPOULOU , Member of the Greek Parliament and former Member of the European Commission in charge of Employment and Social Affairs, will address the keynote speech on the Perspectives for a post-2010 EU global strategy.
The seminar will focus on five key themes: the social dimension of the Lisbon strategy, the demographic challenge, the response to restructuring, the role of services of general interest and the challenge of social inclusion (see...
read morePublished Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 16:08
by
heisbo
in New Social Europe (869 views and 5 comments)
On the 21st century
education has become an inevitable tool for a personal and national
success. European Union aims to be the most competitive
knowledge-based economy in the world. That requires investing in
education and training as well as in research and development.
Investing in education is investing in the future, both in personal
and in macro level.Published Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 10:05
by
negrescuvictor
in European democracy & diversity (826 views and 3 comments)
Published Friday, February 22, 2008 at 15:45
by
jonworth
in European democracy & diversity (817 views and 6 comments)
Twice in my life I've called the
emergency services - 6 months ago, and today. Last autumn I was
in the UK and had to report a break-in, and every Brit knows that
the emergency number for police, ambulance or fire services: 999.
Easy.
Today a nasty incident was developing in the street where I live in Brussels and I was the first person to exit from my flat and do something about it. But hell - what number do I call in Belgium? No idea. Yet thanks to the EU there's one emergency number - 112. Only because I'm a geek for EU policy things did I know it - plenty of European citizens do not.
The slight problem is that when you call 112 in Belgium it takes you to ambulance and fire services, not really what I wanted when I needed to urgently reach the police - they sorted it for me though. For readers living in Belgium here is the full list of emergency numbers. Wikipedia also has a handy page will all the emergency numbers for all countries across the world.
What can be learnt from all of this? Well, first of all, thanks to European legislation I was better...
read morePublished Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:40
by
jonworth
in New Social Europe (834 views and 3 comments)
Free trade
between Member States is one of the principles on which the
European Union is founded. I profit from this personally, being
able to sell website services in the UK, Belgium, Germany and
Sweden. It's good that a company from Ynys-ddu can sell its
widgets in Ystad without hindrance.
Europe-wide markets have helped many large firms to develop - plenty of us make calls with our Vodafone mobiles, fly Easyjet and drink beers brewed by Inbev. Regulatory frameworks established by the EU help these firms to develop.
Yet what about services traditionally provided by the state such as refuse collection, water and energy services? Street sweeping in Camden, London, the underground in Stockholm, trains in northern Netherlands, buses in Pontypridd and sewage works in Budapest are all operated by Veolia - a logo that's appearing all over Europe. SUEZ is active in many countries in similar sectors - water, waste, recycling and energy...
read morePublished Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 21:20
by
Eric
in New Social Europe (913 views and 1 comments)
Published Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 23:45
by
Editor
in EU in the world (819 views and 0 comments)
Published Friday, February 1, 2008 at 12:50
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1424 views and 4 comments)
The Spanish Socialist
Party, PSOE, has launched its manifesto for the
Spanish general elections on 9th March. It happened at a conference
this Saturday at which PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen declared
“We cannot have a Social Europe without a Social Spain”!Published Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 14:55
by
Editor
in EU in the world (1074 views and 2 comments)
Turn the tap on and
you’ll have fresh water, right? According to the World Health
Organization 14.000 – 20.000 people die every day because of
contaminated water. No one can live without access to clean water –
it is essential to survival and development.Published Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:26
by
carl0s
in New Social Europe (848 views and 0 comments)
I think we can identify four distinct "stages" where people make the most use of public services, particularly in regard to welfare and education services. They are not necessarily sequential. Firstly, from childhood to early adulthood, people need free-at-point-of-use education - its important that this is not only of academic quality, but also that the environment results in a decent formative experience. Secondly, families with a young child need a lot of support, from the birth through to free childcare. Thirdly, people with illness at any time in their lives should not be thrown back on the resources of the family, as the fear that this engenders will act to the detriment of general public health. And lastly, people who have finished work will need a future where they aren't worried about subsistence living. That way, younger people can look to the future with a degree of confidence.
If I'm stating the obvious here, then apologies. But for all four of these stages, there is no indication that private schemes or private insurance can adequately and securely provide for individuals. Private involvement at these times always involves public provision at some stage - for example, someone with health insurance always goes to their local hospital in an emergency. My belief is that public hospitals should not be charging their patients for care.
By combining health and social services for these different groups it should be possible to treat everyone...
read morePublished Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 16:10
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (1190 views and 5 comments)
The PES discussion paper on "New Social Europe" presents a comprehensive
approach to social policy in Europe. We social democrats are
convinced that all the answers to all the problems of European
citizens in their work life and their social life are part of the
same social policy concept. For this reason, Rainbow
Rose, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network of
the PES, is glad to see that inequalities among workers are
mentioned in the discussion papers, as well as "the social
security rights of employees, the self-employed and their
families." We believe that addressing these problems is
necessary to build the inclusive society we want, with equal
rights and duties for all.
That's why, at the side of gender inequality, which is explicitly and rightly mentioned, we would like to make sure that all other grounds for discriminations are also addressed by the PES manifesto. We would like to see homophobia and transphobia mentioned explicitly. We think it is important that the manifesto stresses that gays, lesbians and transgender should have the same rights as all other citizens to be protected against discrimination at work and in the access to all public and...
read moreTags: discrimination, diversity, equality, gay, LGBT, public services, welfare
File:
PES Group statement on the outcome of the conference on the year of equal opportunities.pdf
Published Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 10:39
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (844 views and 0 comments)
Published Friday, October 26, 2007 at 09:40
by
lubraneski
in New Social Europe (1376 views and 2 comments)
L'adage populaire est-il prêt de s'éteindre?
La division "conditions de vie des ménages" de l'INSEE nous livre aujourd'hui les résultats d'une enquête sur la santé des plus pauvres d'entre nous. Exempt d'être traité de gauchiste, et scientifiquement plus opérationnel que les instituts de sondage, l'Institut National des Statistiques et des Etudes Economiques rend compte, avec cette étude, d'une situation extrêmement grave, qui, pour ceux d'entre nous qui y sont confrontés de plus près, n'est pas étonnante.
Elle n'est pas étonnante, mais elle est pour autant inadmissible. Inadmissible dans un pays développé comme le nôtre et disposant, contre toute idée reçue qu'un gouvernement voué à la classe dominante voudrait nous vendre, de marges de manoeuvre qui existent bel et bien au budget de la France (lire à ce sujet les "10+1 questions sur la dette à Liêm Hoang Ngoc" - éd. Michalon).
L'analyse des résultats, que vous trouverez ci-après, met le doigt sur l'absence de prévention chez les ménages les plus...
read morePublished Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 12:12
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1075 views and 0 comments)
“Flexicurity” has become a buzzword. This labour market concept, combining high levels of flexibility and security, is generally linked to northern European countries like Denmark and Sweden, but has also proved successful elsewhere, e.g. in the Netherlands. In this model, relations between employers and workers are much more flexible, but the state also invests a lot of money to bring the unemployed back to work more quickly. Unemployed people receive benefit payments, but in turn, they must also accept re-training and qualification measures. It is an approach based on rights and duties.
Instead of job security, the idea of flexicurity is to create employment security; the security of always having work, but not necessarily a job for a life-time.
True, such “Active Labour Market Policies” cost money, but the results are impressive. Denmark’s unemployment rate, for example, has dropped from 13 percent to 3.9 percent in the years of the labour market reforms.
So could this be a model for all European countries?
Recently the European Commission has issued a communication aimed at setting common principles of flexicurity in Europe. However, it is always pointed out, that each country will have to find its own version of the flexicurity concept, because there are great differences in the economy, the degree of social...
read more
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