The social situation in the European Union has seen no improvement and is even worsening in several countries: an acknowledgement of failure by the Labor Ministers of the 28 Member States who met on Monday, March 10 in the context of the Council of the European Union. Nonetheless, social protection could be an invaluable tool in the effort to reverse the current trend.

The report on the social situation within the European Union and the scoreboard of employment and social indicators leaves no room for doubt: in 2012, poverty reached the highest level in six years, with nearly 25% of the EU population vulnerable to the risk of poverty and social exclusion. An additional 6.6 million people have fallen victim to poverty and social exclusion since the Europe 2020 strategy was adopted in 2010, even though the strategy’s main objective is to lift 20 million people out of poverty by 2020…

25 Member States can take some meager consolation from the fact that employment rates have risen for older workers. Moreover, in 75% of Member States, older Europeans overall were less vulnerable to the risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2012 than in 2008.

Strengthen the social dimension

In spite of these mediocre results, the Council is reasserting its commitment to the path laid out by the Europe 2020 strategy to meet the goals set, especially when it comes to poverty reduction.

To do so, Labor Ministers highlight the need to promote “effective social protection” focused on “effective prevention” and to achieve “higher employment rates” to further a more competitive and cohesive Europe. On this note, the Council is reiterating its request that the Commission present a joint report on social protection as a reinforcement of the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union.

It is also calling on the Social Protection Committee, an EU advisory policy committee, to prepare a report on the social dimension of the Europe2020 strategy. The Council will hold a discussion on this issue in June 2014.

Ipse will be following these discussions and initiatives closely.

The Council endorses two measures to fight insecurity

Among the many items on the agenda of the March 10 EPSCO (“Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs”) Council meeting, the Labor Ministers of the 28 Member States also adopted the recommendation on a quality framework for traineeships, a non-binding set of guidelines on the basis of which Member States undertake to present by 2015measures intended to improve the quality of traineeships. The United Kingdom stated that it would not apply this recommendation, while several other stakeholders have previously criticized it for being too modest in its scope.

The Council also adopted the Fund for European aid to the most deprived (FEAD) for 2014-2020, which was adopted by the European Parliament a few days earlier.