The European Commission will launch the Renewed Social Agenda in Brussels on 2 July 2008. This ambitious package presents a comprehensive answer to rapidly changing social and economic realities. It aims to promote social well-being of European citizens by bringing together a wide range of EU policies and instruments, while streamlining and modernising existing policy tools.
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The new package is centred on the three key principles of opportunities, access and solidarity. Europe is becoming increasingly diverse and no-one should be held back by artificial or discriminatory barriers. Everyone should have the right to access to quality services such as education and health care at all ages. Europe needs solidarity between individuals, generations and regions in order to make the principles of opportunities and access meaningful and to ensure that no-one is left behind. Initiatives to make these objectives a reality will be presented in the package.
An umbrella Communication will frame the package and explain the Commission’s approach. As part of the package, the Commission will present proposals for directives on anti-discrimination, on European Works Councils and on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare in the EU as well as on the implementation of the social partners’ agreement in the maritime sector. There will also be individual communications on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, the follow-up to the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All in 2007, and the Open Method of Coordination in social protection and social inclusion.
Staff working papers will be presented on Roma, telework, social services of general interest, decent work, restructuring, the well-being of citizens in the information society and improving the efficiency of social spending. The package will also include a Green Paper on education and migration, a communication on schools for the 21st century and a recommendation on the mobility of volunteers.
Overview of some elements of the package:
The Commission will propose a draft directive to take another step towards completing the legislative protection against discrimination across all grounds under Article 13 of the Treaty, in particular discrimination on grounds of age, sexual orientation, disability and religion or belief.
There are several million Roma in the EU who often live in difficult conditions. This working paper on Community policies in favour of Roma people will address the particular difficulties faced by Europe’s Roma community and show possible ways of active inclusion.
An increasing number of enterprises is operating across borders in Europe. A revision of the European Works Council directive (94/45/EC) has been discussed since 2004. As the Social Partners disagreed earlier this year on starting negotiations on the issue, the Commission is now proposing a Directive to improve the functioning of European Works Councils to ensure effective social dialogue on restructuring operations.
This proposal for a directive aims at clarifying and promoting the right of patients to gain access to healthcare in another EU country by ensuring, at the same time, high quality and safe cross border healthcare throughout Europe. On this basis, patients will be able to make an informed choice, in full confidence about the reimbursement that they are entitled to and about safety and quality of the care that they will receive. It will also provide a basis for increased cooperation between healthcare systems. The EC aims as well to better sharing of expertise, innovation and information. The challenge is to give more opportunities and guarantees to citizens without affecting the financial sustainability of national health systems.
The objective of the draft Council Recommendation on the mobility of young volunteers across Europe is to promote youth mobility by inviting Member States to further develop the interoperability of national schemes for voluntary activities and to address remaining obstacles to cross-border volunteering. The goal is that every young person should have the opportunity to volunteer in Europe if he or she wishes to do so. Cross-border volunteering has proven to have a particularly strong impact on young people’s personal and professional development. The European Commission will support Member States in their efforts to promote cross-border volunteering, notably by developing the European Youth Portal with a view to ensuring that it provides a facility for matching offers and demands for volunteering opportunities.
This Commission Communication says that change, sometimes radical, will be needed if Europes schools are to equip young people fully for life in this century; it proposes an agenda for cooperation in three areas: a focus on giving all pupils the competences they need for life; a commitment to provide high quality learning for every student; and improving the quality of teachers and school staff.
This Green paper on the challenges posed by increased immigration and intra-EU mobility onto European education systems analyses the situation of migrant pupils in schools across Europe, and invites debate on how policies to address the issue might be developed and implemented. It also looks at what Community programmes, funds and processes might do to improve the situation. Finally, it invites reflection on Directive 77/486/CEE on education of children of migrant workers.
The EU has a strong tradition of emphasising the social dimension of society, from legislation on equal treatment for women and men and on workers’ health and safety to the European Social Fund, which invests 10% of the EU budget in people’s skills.
But European societies are facing rapid and dramatic changes as a result of new challenges such as globalisation, climate, technological and demographic change. We need a new response to these secular trends, and the renewed social agenda embodies this response. The Renewed Social Agenda draws on a broad public consultation launched by the Commission in 2007 to take stock of Europe’s changing social reality.
