Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel Glöckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

tackling income inequalities and preventive welfare will continue to rest
with the member states, and the diversity of situations between and within
countries will require if anything a more differentiated approach. But
there is a European dimension to national reform policies: the EU, and
the Commission in the first place, can help define the implications of the
crisis for EU and national public policies, make the social justice case for
economic reform, and pave the way for sustainable growth.
Today, the main way for European institutions, policies, processes and
financial instruments to contribute added value is by helping member
states focus on key common policy priorities. The focus of the EU 2020
strategy for the next decade should be to steer policy development,
innovation and coordination, particularly as concerns the emerging social
risks and challenges which are outside the traditional scope of most
national welfare regimes and require a high degree of social innovation:
managing economic migration and integrating multi-cultural communities;
maximising the employment and social impact of climate change and
policies; and addressing urban/rural cleavages and labour mobility.
In turn, the most effective way to promote these key strategic goals is to
strengthen the links and conditionality between EU policy priorities and
financial instruments, and to shift the role of EU funds from mere
redistribution tools to incentives towards the achievement of agreed
objectives. The added value and credibility of Social Europe and the
European Employment Strategy (EES) on the one hand, and of the European
Social Fund (ESF) and European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF) on
the other, can be mutually reinforcing – as long as these policy and funding
instruments are also clearly perceived as being mutually reinforcing.
Strengthening Social Europe in the next decade
For 50 years the EU has developed a wider range of instruments than this
paper can discuss: from legislation to enforce a level playing field in the
single market to preventing gender and other forms of discrimination.
The EU Social Agenda and OMC have proven their worth by supporting
mutual learning; promoting the wider involvement of stakeholders; giving
impulse to the modernisation of social protection systems; increasing
awareness of the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and social exclusion;
and by forging a shared approach to the common challenges and bringing
to the fore emerging common issues.
Time will tell, as the social impact of the crisis unfolds, whether member
states and EU institutions will have the strength to establish and enforce
Chapter 7 – Xavier Prats-Monné 109