Six years after the launch of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) notes that much work remains to be done, notably with regard to social inclusion.



Six years after the launch of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) notes that much work remains to be done, notably with regard to social inclusion. The European Commission's joint report on social protection and social inclusion, presented to the Council today, shows that one European in six is now living below the poverty line, and 10% of people are in households where nobody has a job. Even where there is work, it is no longer a protection against poverty. The ETUC thus considers it a matter of urgency to reinforce - or where appropriate to reorientate - some of the policies being implemented today within Member States.

In the case of long-term healthcare, more action is needed to guarantee equal access for all to quality care, as the joint report stresses. In the view of the ETUC, the right to health is one of the fundamental social rights which it wants to see more forcefully applied. The Member States should make it a priority. The ETUC insists that they should show greater ambition as regards the objectives and resources - whether human or financial - they deploy in these areas. The ETUC considers that guaranteeing access to quality care for all demands permanent funding that meets the scale of the challenges to be tackled, based on solidarity within and between generations.

As for pensions, in contrast to the view sometimes put forward, the development of private pension systems is not the right way to fight poverty among retired people (19% of retired people aged over 65 were at risk of poverty in 2003). The ETUC believes that the answer lies in the development and reinforcement of quality public pension systems based on solidarity. This is the only means - if there is the political will on the part of the Member States - to guarantee a decent income for elderly people and thus to cut poverty.

Globalisation is too often used as a pretext for making working conditions more precarious. Advocating the development of flexibility means allowing for - as is currently the case - an increasing number of workers who are poor or at risk of poverty within the EU (at present, 11 million workers are in that category). The ETUC, on the other hand, is calling for quality jobs for all (young and old alike). It strongly urges the Council and therefore the Member States to realign their employment policies in that direction.

Where such flexibility exists, it must be accompanied by a guarantee that social rights and access to social services of general interest will be maintained.

The ETUC also vigorously opposes the introduction of measures to make it more difficult to gain access to social assistance, under the pretext of 'active inclusion'. The report itself recognises that restricting conditions for access is liable to 'aggravate the social exclusion' of the people affected.

Consequently, in the ETUC's view, if the EU wants to achieve its objective of eradicating poverty by 2010, then the Member States must not only redouble their efforts, but they must also, and above all, reorientate some of the policies that are having the opposite effect to their declared aims. For its part, the ETUC will continue its efforts to take on the challenge of the Lisbon Strategy.

The ETUC exists to speak with a single voice, on behalf of the common interests of workers, at European level. Its prime objective is to promote the European Social Model and to work for the development of a united Europe of peace and stability where working people and their families can enjoy full human and civil rights and high living standard.