 News
Welcome Belgian Presidency - Europe in Action
[02/07/2010]
Yesterday (1 July) Belgium took over the rotating Presidency of the European Union. After the ambitious Spanish Presidency - the first under the new Lisbon Treaty - which came under pressure after speculative attacks in financial markets resulting in the application of austerity programmes; Belgium sets an ambitious programme calling for a “stronger, more coherent and determined Europe, focused on guaranteeing and developing its social model and prosperity”.
SOLIDAR welcomes the statement that “our social model must be strengthened” and that “special emphasis must be placed on the necessity of social cohesion”. As well as the commitments to put employment at the heart, focusing on green and white jobs, and that common policies should support the Europe 2020 strategy.
Regarding Decent Work, under the Employment priorities, the Belgian Presidency commits to “ensure that the European Union implements the Decent Work Agenda, as well as the Global Jobs Pact in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), and ensures the defense of social norms in its external relations”. The question here is to see how much of this will apply to trade policy and the revision of the Global Europe strategy.
Regarding humanitarian aid, the Belgian Presidency wants the “European Union also to work on a mid-term review of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid. Finally, a start will be made on the creation of a European Volunteer Corps for humanitarian aid. The Belgian Presidency will ensure a strong correlation between policy on migration and other policies, in particular the external policy of the Union”. There will certainly be a debate on whether this means that development cooperation will be subordinated to the signature of readmission agreements or not.
Civil society organisations have already been able to appreciate the readiness of the Belgium Presidency to dialogue and work together. We welcome the Presidency programme and its strong social orientation. Without anticipating on the forthcoming Presidencies, this is a window of opportunity which should not be missed if we want to continue progress towards a more integrated European project which puts social cohesion at the core. This is the chance for developing a viable alternative to orthodox austerity measures by insisting on social consolidation!
Conny Reuter, Secretary General
«
Back
.
|
Tel +32 2 500 1020 Fax +32 2 500 1030