Feeding in and Feeding out – Key conclusions from the 2007 second semester Synthesis Report of the Network of Independent Experts

Newsletter 2008-1

Publication date : 2008-07-01

At their Spring 2008 meeting, EU leaders reaffirmed “the importance of the social dimension of the EU as an integral part of the Lisbon Strategy” and stressed “the need to further integrate economic, employment and social policies”.

Against this background, members of the European Commission’s Network of Independent Experts on Social Inclusion assessed Member States’ plans for implementing the EU Growth and Jobs Partnership as set out in the 2007 Implementation Reports of the National Reform Programmes (IRNRPs). The 2007 second semester Synthesis Report presents an analysis of the key lessons that can be drawn from the experts’ reports.

One of the lessons was that while a small group of Member States had strengthened the link between social policies and policies for growth and jobs, in most cases, this link remained tenuous or non existent. Indeed, in many national reports, there was little mention of the potential contribution of social policies to achieving higher rates of growth and more jobs (feeding in) or of the beneficial effect of higher growth and employment on social inclusion (feeding out).

On the other hand, the Synthesis Report points to the recognition in some countries that programmes for boosting economic growth and employment combined with targeted social policies are an effective means of combating the social exclusion of particular disadvantaged groups. At the same time, it remarks on the limited attention given to tackling deficiencies in systems of social protection and ensuring that everyone has access to sufficient levels of income to prevent them falling into poverty. As such, it points to the need for a more balanced approach to ‘flexicurity’, in the sense of ensuring that the same weight is given to the security dimension as to flexibility. The Report also comments on the limited coverage in national reports of issues, such as child poverty and child well-being, gender equality, housing and healthcare, and the neglect of the potential contribution of the last three, in particular, to growth and employment.

The report makes 10 key suggestions for strengthening the link between the EU’s “Growth and Jobs” and “Social Protection and Social Inclusion” agendas. Three of these are particularly important. First, EU countries should consider more systematically than up to now, in their 2008-2010 National Reports on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion, which measures can contribute to economic growth and jobs as well as to greater social protection and social inclusion and in what ways. Secondly, they should identify in their 2008-2010 National Reform Programmes (NRPs), the potential contribution of their economic and employment policies to improving social protection and social inclusion. Equally, NRPs should also assess the contribution that social protection and social inclusion policies are making, or could make in the future, to the achievement of economic growth and job objectives. Thirdly, more rigorous and systematic assessment and reporting of the impact of economic and employment policies on social protection and social inclusion are needed at national and sub-national level. At the same time, there is a need for countries to learn from each other in this complex area and to do more to make this actually happen.

http://www.peer-review-social-inclusion.eu/network-of-independent-experts/2007/second-semester-2007