EU must have a social conscience

PRIME ministers and presidents will take a crucial decision about the future of the EU when they agree a strategy setting the agenda for economic development for the next five years at a two-day meeting ending today.

In Lisbon in 2000, EU leaders agreed that sustainable development could only be achieved with a strategy that integrated economic, social and environmental policies. Now, this balanced approach is under threat.

The European commission, led by President Barroso, has proposed to governments that social and environmental concerns be sidelined so that the focus remains only on growth and jobs.

If EU leaders agree to this proposal, the European social model will be seriously undermined.

We support an agenda of jobs and growth, and we believe that high levels of social protection, social inclusion and full employment are in themselves a fundamental right and a key factor in the EU’s economic success. This integrated approach must remain at the core of any EU strategy for economic development.

We therefore call upon the European Council and the Luxembourg presidency to reintegrate the social dimension into the Lisbon strategy.

Age Action Ireland ATD Fourth World Ireland Blanchardstown EQUAL Initiative Carbery Housing Association Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign, Dublin Co Kildare Resource Centres Community Consultants Community Workers Co-op Dungarvan Community Development Project EAPN (European Anti-Poverty Network) Ireland ESOSC Finglas Cabra Partnership Galway Peoples’ Resource Centre Galway Simon Community Inner City Organisations Network Inner City Renewal Group Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed Irish Refugee Council Markiewicz Community Centre Nagle Community Nat’l Federation of Voluntary Bodies Providing Services to People with Intellectual Disability Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network (NIAPN) Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action Offaly Money Advice and Budgeting Service Older Women’s Network Ireland One Family OPEN Network of Lone Parents Organisations Presentation Centre Tallaght Special Project for the Long-Term Unemployed St Munchin’s Family Resource Centre Tallaght Partnership Threshold Training Workshop In Horticulture Triskele Community Training and Development WAVES Women’s Support Services West Tallaght Resource Centre Westmeath EQUAL Women’s Human Rights Alliance

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