Toespraak eurocommissaris László Andor (Werkgelegenheid, sociale zaken en gelijke kansen) over de rol van het Europees Sociaal Fonds (en)zitterschap, 18 November 2010 (en)

Madam Minister,

Mister Secretary of State,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to be here today on the occasion of this conference on the role of the European Social Fund in combating poverty and social inclusion.

The European Union is built on the principle of solidarity. But despite our best efforts, the situation today is that still too many Europeans suffer from social exclusion simply because of who they are. For example, they have a physical disability, they belong to an ethnic minority, such as the Roma, or because they are immigrants.

Furthermore, 84 million people live at risk of poverty. This is 16% of the population! And 17% suffer from material deprivation - in other words, their living conditions are severely affected by a lack of resources.

This is not acceptable in the 21st century.

2010: two key developments regarding poverty

This year, 2010, has been a milestone in making the fight against poverty and social exclusion a European issue. As this year, for the first time ever, the European Council agreed on a headline target to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 20 million by 2020.

This EU-wide target will be translated into national targets. The Member States are now setting these in close dialogue with the Commission. Meeting the "headline" poverty reduction target will be crucial to the success of Europe 2020 and to ensuring that everyone can enjoy the benefits of growth.

Additionally, 2010 as the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion has given us a unique opportunity to raise awareness of, and express support for a stronger social Europe. Our guiding principle has been to give voice to the people who have to live with poverty and social exclusion, and to inspire every European citizen to engage in these important issues.

I have been particularly encouraged by the results of this year-long, Europe-wide campaign.

Beyond 2010: What next

But we need to make sure that we keep up this political momentum with strong commitments and concrete measures.

This is why I am personally dedicated to preserving the legacy of the European Year. And I am pleased to see that the leaders of the European Union have made a lasting and measurable commitment to reducing poverty and social exclusion with their European headline target.

We must not stop here.

Promoting the full integration and participation of disadvantaged groups of people is not only a moral obligation and an expression of our values; it is also an economic necessity. We cannot afford to waste an important source of knowledge, skills and productivity. To ensure long-term growth - both economic and social, the European Union therefore needs to improve its labour market and related social system functioning in a way that promotes participation-. For this, the EU needs to make full use of all instruments at its disposal and ensure coherence between them. Public spending and in particular the European Social Fund (ESF) is an essential part of this EU`s tool box.

The role of the European Social Fund

Indeed, one sixth of the ESF funding - that’s more than 10 billion euros - is allocated to fund measures that specifically promote social inclusion. Measures targeting poverty and social exclusion affect one in four people benefitting from the ESF.

ESF funding plays an important role in supporting people to get back on track - for example, by helping them to integrate into the labour market. This can involve outreach, guidance, counselling, training, employment support and personalised services, as well as incentives for direct job creation and support for business start-ups. Every year the ESF supports training for several millions of Europeans.

The ESF is therefore a practical demonstration of how the EU actively promotes social inclusion alongside economic growth.

Ladies and gentlemen,

ESF post 2013

We are slowly approaching the end of this programming period. As you know the Commission is currently preparing new provisions for the Structural Funds post 2013. These will be put forward by in the course of 2011.The time has therefore come to look at the policy orientation of the ESF post 2013.

I am deeply convinced that to be effective and add value the new ESF must focused on supporting the Europe 2020 objectives. This is also the view presented by the Commission in its Budget Review communication adopted on 19 October. To do this, the fund must focus on improving skills, mobility, adaptability and participation in society, in particular of minorities such as the Roma and migrants.

In the conclusions of the fifth cohesion report, which was published last week by the Commission, we stressed the need to focus the structural funds on a lower number of key priorities. I see social inclusion and poverty reduction as one of them. This would be in line with the setting of poverty reduction and increasing employment as the key targets for our policies in this decade.

It is clear that each Member State will follow its own path. But ESF must be used to underpin these efforts in a coherent way if we are to succeed in making a real difference in people's lives. And it is vital that we demonstrate clearly that our commitments are not just words. For this we need to raise the visibility of the ESF. And we need to show Europeans we are ready to provide significant financial support in times of prosperity, and, most importantly, in times of hardship. This requires predictable funding volumes.

The ESF is indeed a major fund - over the current programming period some 75 billion euros will be spent. However, it is clear that this is not enough to lift 20 million Europeans out of poverty. Furthermore, fiscal constraints in each Member State will add to this challenge.

We need to find ways to leverage more resources if we are to realise our ambitions for social inclusion and poverty reduction. In the wake of the budget review and the fifth cohesion report, I want to explore with you all possible ways to make financial markets work better for employment creation and poverty reduction.

The World Bank, for example, has successfully developed a policy-based guarantee for sovereign bond issues to lift resources to underpin policy reforms. Based on this experience, could part of the future ESF operational programmes be used to make it easier for local or national authorities to raise money for pre-defined employment and social inclusion policy measures?

Another option to generate more resources is to boost the liquidity of markets for micro, small and student loans, way too shallow to make the necessary impact.

The ESF could play an important role - for example through well-targeted guarantees - to steer investors towards financial intermediaries which are able to lend to ESF target groups.

This is not completely new - the recently launched EU microfinance facility can already guarantee up to 75% of a micro-loan.

I believe that these are options that need to be carefully discussed. But financial engineering is not the only area that I am looking at.

A better use of conditionality should also be examined. For example, future operational programmes could be required to better identify groups at-risk of discrimination and exclusion in order to enforce the principles of anti-discrimination and to foster social inclusion. Here we would also look at the role national equality bodies could play - for example, strengthening Member States' reporting on anti-discrimination measures pursued with the support from Structural funds.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The fact that the new Europe 2020 strategy is built around the three strands of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is a clear political message about the European Union's commitment to a fairer and more inclusive society!

As part of the strategy, I intend to launch the Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion in December. The Platform will address four key areas:

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  Firstly, it will enhance policy coordination between Member States, such as that which takes place under the Open Method of Co-ordination;
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  Secondly, it will enhance partnership with stakeholders in civil society, and will support the social economy;
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  Thirdly, it will promote the mainstreaming of social policy issues into other policy fields, with more cross-cutting work where overlaps can be usefully explored and exploited; and
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  Finally, it will encourage the better use of EU funds to support social inclusion - and this includes the European Social Fund.

Our approach is not first and foremost about spending more or less but about finding ways to spend more "intelligently". We are exploring how to promote an innovative approach that could complete existing tools and ensure a cost-efficient and more effective use of available funds, helping citizens in their aspirations and daily lives.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Conclusion

Within the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy, both the reform of the European Social Fund and the Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion require ownership across all levels and mutual learning between stakeholders, if they are to succeed in the long-term. Therefore I invite all of you to contribute to our initiatives.

I hope this seminar has already led to many productive discussions, which will help us to develop new innovative solutions to challenges which face us all.

I look forward to hearing your views and suggestions.

Thank you for your attention.