How to build a caring Europe - Nicolas Schmit warned, at a conference, of the risk that Europe may no longer be seen as a caring project
Nicolas Schmit, minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy
On 22 October 2015, Nicolas Schmit, the Luxembourg Minister for Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, took part in the conference on the state of Europe organised by Friends of Europe, under the patronage of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council. Discussions were held on 'Europe's crises' and 'policy crossroads' by 150 top-level participants - European commissioners, members of the European Parliament and of national parliaments, ministers, opinion formers, members of civil society and business leaders. Some of the challenges mentioned were the repercussions of the refugee crisis, war and poverty at the EU's borders, the difficult transition from austerity towards sustainable policies focusing on growth and job creation, innovation to make Europe more competitive, citizen concerns about healthcare and economic and social inequalities, and finally European policy on Ukraine and issues of global security and climate change.
Nicolas Schmit took part in a round table entitled 'Quality Europe - Building a caring Europe'.
In her introduction, Sylvie Goulard i, a Liberal MEP who is a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), as well as president of the intergroup fighting against poverty, said that 'Europe could not care less about people who are excluded', creating a widespread feeling in Europe among the unemployed and persons with very little that 'Europe is not for them'. Although one of the goals of the 2020 Strategy is to reduce the number of people threatened by poverty to below 20 million in the EU, their number has increased. The MEP stressed that the European project had included a social dimension since the start, and there was therefore no need to re-invent the wheel. For Sylvie Goulard, this issue is one of human dignity, the cohesion of societies and the well-being of all.
In the view of Nicolas Schmit, the EU's social dimension has been shaken up by the crisis and many people think that the EU no longer stands for the social model that it initially endorsed. 'Europe is no longer seen as a caring project, which is dangerous', he said, because 'that opens up a wide field for the Eurosceptics and the populists'.
In the minister's view, the triple A social rating is a 'nice formula' from the Commission. 'But we would like it to be better filled in terms of content. He said that, a year after the formula's launch, the time had come to deliver, before warning that 'if nothing is delivered, it will backfire on the European project'. Therefore, no readjustment within the EU should lead to the social dimension being put to one side, even though it is, above all, a matter for national governments. This is particularly true of the reform of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which should, in the minister's view, include a strong social dimension, since 'budgetary discipline has an impact on social policy'. According to him, 'if the finance ministers governed the Union, they would not take the social dimension into account'. This prompted his initiative on 5 October to create a social Eurogroup, which was not achieved without difficulty.
In Nicolas Schmit's view, the economy and the social dimension cannot be separated. Contrary to the common perception, where there is positive convergence in societies, their competitiveness is also high, and not the contrary. That is why Nicolas Schmit believes it is necessary to relaunch the idea of social investment, which the EU ought to put back on its agenda, with a new role for Member States and public-private partnerships (PPPs). In any event, the subject should be put on the agenda of the EPSCO (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs) Council in December 2015.
Nicolas Schmit also discussed the situation in Greece, which offers 'very clearly the best example of economic and financial decisions being taken where nobody wants to know what kind of social impact they will have'. According to the minister, these decisions were taken outside the European treaties and 'against the values of Europe'. In his view, the social impact assessment of the third aid package to Greece was 'at least an attempt to see things as they really are - but it was written in the offices of Brussels, not by people who have been to the streets of Athens'. Nicolas Schmit said he agreed it was necessary to move towards fiscal consolidation in Greece, 'but not just by provoking social misery and an economic disaster'.
Returning to the subject of the Youth Guarantee of which he was one of the authors, he believed that it was a 'good programme, but insufficient resources were allocated to it'. Insofar as the Youth Guarantee relies on training young people in order to overcome the gap between their skills and demand on the labour market, Nicolas Schmit believes that it has less of an effect in countries where there are no jobs on offer.
The minister also issued a plea in favour of the social and solidarity-based economy, citing as an example the new needs in the area of care which cannot be met by enterprises operating solely according to the principles of the market economy. He believes that there are social objectives that cannot be dealt with according to the rules of the market and people who cannot enter the normal labour market. It is therefore necessary 'to promote this new economy within our system'.
Concluding his remarks, Nicolas Schmit said: 'ten years ago, the social state was considered to be a burden. That is false and foolish, because our welfare state, with its health, social protection and education systems, is an asset. This means that we need to change our systems so that they do not result in increasing numbers of people losing out.'
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