A critical review of progress towards the Europe 2020 social inclusion objectives
Newsletter 2011-3
Publication date : 2011-12-02
With the social inclusion dimension of the Europe 2020 strategy as one of the headline targets, the ball is now in the court of the Member States who are ultimately responsible for achieving results. In April 2011, each Member State submitted a National Reform Programme (NRP) and since then members of the EU Network of Independent Experts on Social Inclusion have assessed the policies put in place in their countries to combat poverty and social exclusion. These findings have been collated and put in perspective, and a summary assessment of the NRPs has been undertaken by members of the Network Core Team who have also provided concrete ideas about how to improve the process going forward at national and EU levels. So far as to how well the NRPs recognise key challenges for improving social inclusion is concerned, the broad message is that a well-developed and clear analysis is the exception rather than the rule. Although the NRPs invariably cover poverty, the treatment tends to be limited and fails to address the needs of particularly disadvantaged groups. In the context of the economic and financial crisis, many NRPs give disproportionate space to austerity measures and measures to promote economic growth at the expense of policies for social inclusion. Moreover, where social inclusion goals are outlined, they are all too often lacking in substance and vague, and fail to exploit the potential benefits of synergies between different policies. Where the experts agree most with the NRPs is over the need for inclusive labour markets to be a priority as well as over the substance of the policies for fostering labour market inclusion (though they draw attention to the frequent absence of policies for addressing labour market segmentation, low pay and inequality of earnings). While tackling poverty in working age is dealt with very differently in different countries, the general stress is on ensuring access to employment rather than on income support measures, whose important role is neglected in most NRPs. The general consensus is that tackling poverty in old age is not adequately dealt with in the NRPs, though measures to encourage and help older workers to remain longer in employment are more developed. Many Network experts are concerned by the lack of policies which address the need for high quality, affordable and sustainable services, though the criticism is less as regards education. While national targets are often imperfect, almost all Member States do at least have quantified objectives for reducing poverty and social exclusion. Where the targets fall down is in their ability to highlight the needs of certain high-risk groups, for example through setting sub-targets. Other deficiencies of the targets are also pointed out – that, for example, to varying degrees, they lack clarity and are insufficiently ambitious if the overall Europe2020 targets are to be met. A general observation is that, while national policies for the economy and employment are reflected in the NRPs, when it comes to social policy, NRPs seem to present a smaller bank of measures to draw on and develop. Poverty and social exclusion need to be accorded higher priority in national policy-making.
The experts point out that certain groups of people, such as Roma, migrants and those with disabilities, are deemed to be at special risk of poverty and/or discrimination and many Member States need to step up efforts to provide support for these and to stamp out discrimination.Conclusions drawn by the Network Core Team:
