Contribution of the Liaison Group

to the

European Commission 2015 work program:


Introduction

The Liaison Group welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the EESC's position on the work program of the European Commission.

The European Commission's work programme is being discussed at a time when the new European Commission is in the process of being set up under the guidance of President elect Jean-Claude Juncker. The 2015 work program not only needs to provide answers and identify ways out of the political, economic and social crisis but must also find answers to the growing inequalities both within and between individual EU Member States.

During the course of the last year, greater consideration has been given to the social impact of policies, yet the work program nonetheless reflects the focus placed on entrepreneurship and markets. There is still the credo that we can only redistribute wealth once we have first achieved growth. The contributions by Picketty, the author of Capitalism in the XXI century, and by Wilkinson and Picket, who wrote the Spirit Level, as well as the annual report of the Commission itself on Employment and social developments have all demonstrated the need for a change in policy.

At the same time, we will also be discussing the EU's international and global dimension: this means that as Europeans, we will be involved in the design of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a more social dimension for European Neighbourhood Policies (ENP).

Technical answers and proposals will translate this political ambition and we expect the new Commission President to deliver on this ambition.

Article 11 of the Lisbon-Treaty has given civil dialogue a new constitutional importance. As Civil Society Organisations, this means that we are now able to contribute to the negotiation process within the EU-institutions through the present document and put forward the view of organisations that are neither agencies nor charities but organisations and networks that bring together and represent EU citizens.

We shall not only be commenting on the work programs of the Commission but also plan to carry out an annual evaluation of them to examine the extent to which they cope with the challenges. Do these programs meet our needs and do they deliver on the EU's political, economic and social needs?

Fostering the social and territorial cohesion of the EU should not involve the creation of jobs at any price but real investments in public and social infrastructure, education and training. President Juncker's objective to set aside EUR 300 billion for a public investment plan is an ambitious one: investment is key and blind austerity policies focused only on how to reduce spending risk will ultimately end up putting countries at risk in budgetary terms.

Money has never been as inexpensive as it is today yet it is not used for lending to the real economy. The mantra of reducing public deficits at any price has become meaningless when we consider the current interest rates of the European Central Bank. And if the necessary investments are delayed and postponed, this will mean increasing the bill for future generations.

Today, there are other ways of financing public and social expenditure and funding the welfare state model, such as through social investment bonds.

Nevertheless, while we partially support the Political Guidelines set up by President Juncker, they clearly need to be revised in the light of the potential and need for investment in the future.

The EESC plays an important role in this consultation process and the Liaison Group and its members are eager to contribute, drawing on their knowledge, competence and experience.

The challenge now is how we can do more and deliver greater social and territorial cohesion!

1. A New Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment

1- The European Commission should issue a Communication on a proposal for an EU Action plan to unleash the job creation potential of the social and health services sector.
As a result of demographic and societal trends, there will be more and more need for social services over the upcoming decades. Consequently, more and more jobs would also need to be created to fulfil this demand; an argument already supported by the European Commission. Furthermore, an important aspect of social service provision is to help those most excluded to become active members of society and be employed, in education or in training; although, importantly, not in all cases. Investing in social services would thus help to create more jobs in that sector, but also help to integrate those most excluded back on to the labour market and into education.
However, in order to unleash this potential, many barriers must first be tackled. An EU action plan should promote social investment into the sector, as well as policies and activities focusing on how to improve working conditions and training opportunities for the staff employed, the imbalanced regional workforce, the low attractiveness of the sector, the difficult working patterns, etc. It would also be important for the Commission to support member states overcome these barriers and develop concrete actions based on the policy and financial instruments it has at its disposal, including European structural funds. The Action Plan should also prioritise on the need to support and develop the capacity of social partners in this sector to be able to successfully negotiate on these issues.
The Action plan should come with a Communication in order to give it the much needed political relevance and support at both EU and national level.
2-The European Commission is called to write a White Paper on rural realities in the European Union.
- the European Commission, together with all the European Authorities are called:
-to an explicit recognition of rural territories as poles of development and innovation contributing to the 2020 Strategy, in a balanced relationship with the urban poles;
-to promote the implementation of the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD), based on the experience of the bottom-up Leader method, during the 2014-2020 programming period, in view to deliver greater economic diversification, job creation and local level capacity building in the rural territories;
-to be attentive to the place and role given to rural actors and territories in the rural-urban strategic visions. Periurban areas have a particular role in this relationship, given their importance in terms of local agriculture, landscape quality, environmental management, employment and social cohesion. The conclusions of the RURBAN project are to be integrated in the new regional policies of the E.U. and its members.
3-It is requested to place the care sector on an equal footing with other ‘job rich’ growth sectors of the economy, namely the ‘green economy’ and ‘ICT’ in the EU2020 Strategy. These sectors should seek to create a gender inclusive labour market which focuses on job creation policies.
4 –Ensure commitments related to equality between women and men in the EU 2020 Strategy and the goals set forth herein for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth: A dignified violence-free life for all, equal access to quality education opportunities, decent and equal wages and income. This should be mirrored in all of the processes of the EU2020 Strategy: the Annual Growth Survey, National Reform Programmes, National Stability and Convergence Programmes, Country-Specific Recommendations, Joint Employment Report, Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion.
5 - The European Commission and Vice President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness should take into account the “New Deal 4 Europe” European Citizens Initiative when developing their plans for jobs, growth and investment, in particular its demand for the creation of a European Solidarity Fund to create new jobs especially for young people. In this light, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Scheme should be accelerated, but the Youth Guarantee Scheme alone is not sufficient in creating new jobs for young people.
6 – The European public investment plan proposed by the new European Commission should be based on the principles of sustainable development and job creation. It should focus on the following objectives: realization of European infrastructures, new technologies, new energy sources, the protection of the environment and cultural heritage, cutting-edge research, and advanced education and professional training.
7- The EU should adopt aspecific strategy for the employment, social inclusion and poverty reduction of persons with disabilities, with dedicated sub-targets, in the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy, on the model of the Youth Guarantee.
Despite the existing range of EU activities over the past 15 years, improvement in the human rights situation of people with disabilities has been slow. Persons with disabilities are still discriminated against in many areas of life and since the financial and economic crisis, are thrown into poverty and social exclusion.EU-led austerity measures, with, in particular, drastic cuts in social services and benefits, have only aggravated their living conditions and enjoyment of Human Rights. The Europe 2020 Strategy’s Headlines targets on poverty reduction and employment rate cannot be reached without a specific attention to the 80 million Europeans with disabilities.
The European Semester process should be reformed for more coherence between EU macroeconomic policies and objectives of inclusion and poverty reduction. Country Specific Recommendations should include persons with disabilities as a priority target group when trying to reducing poverty and increase employment;
8- Regarding the future Small Business Act, Commission should take this opportunity to take measure that allow member based enterprises such as cooperatives, social economy enterprises or social enterprises to develop on a level playing fields.

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

1- The swift adoption and implementation of the proposed EU directive on the accessibility of public sector bodies’ websites, with a wide scope as amended by the European Parliament at first reading.
Access to websites has become crucial to participate in society. The proposed directive on the accessibility of public sector bodies’ websites will allow citizens, including persons with disabilities, to better access services made available to the public. Improving access to ICT has the potential to stimulate employment and access to education, culture, information. It will allow persons with disabilities to be more active and engaged citizens, to participate fully in society and to live more independently.
2-The European Commission White Paper resulting from the consultation on the review of EU copyright law should recognise the role of artists as creators of cultural content for the digital market. All initiatives taken by the Commission in the framework of the connected digital single market should ensure fair remuneration for creators.
The new organisation of portfolios in the European Commission’s moves copyright from DG Internal Market to DG Connect. While regulating the distribution of the cultural content online, the European Commission should:
- Recognise that copyright is not reduced to removing barriers to distribution online and ensure fair remuneration for artists and creators - often individuals or small organisations - who construct cultural content for digital market.
- Ensure a copyright system that fairly remunerates artists and creators in order to maintain European creativity and promote cultural diversity.

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

1 – The European Commission should proceed with its energy supply diversification strategy, and put particular effort in realising the Southern Gas Corridor. The realisation of the Southern Gas Corridor will not only increase Europe’s energy security, but will also enhance cooperation between the European Union Member States and its neighbouring countries.
2 – The European Union should take a leadership role in arriving at an ambitious agreement at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, and communicate in one voice. In particular, the European Commission should take into account the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament on the subject, calling for more a more ambitious post 2020-agreement in order to reach the 2°C target, and proposing several binding targets.
3- In the framework of 2030 energy framework, citizens should benefit of the liberalisation of the energy market that should allow them to produce, supply and consume renewable energy themselves or together in cooperative or community power projects.

4. A deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

1 – The Financial Transaction Tax should be agreed upon and implemented, which will combine a substantial financial contribution to the EU budget with fiscal fairness. Furthermore, a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base should be implemented, which will help reduce administrative costs and thus improve growth as well as lead to the creation of jobs.
The revision of European Tax Policy will generate own resources for the EU without increasing the general tax burden on citizens, and could fund the new European jobs, growth and investment plans.
2 – In order to battle against tax evasion within and outside the EU, the Member States must focus on improving their tax administrations and ensure that controls and sanctions are sufficient to deter this kind of activity. Best practices need to be shared between Member States and the coordination at EU level needs to be improved to ensure that aggressive tax planners can't exploit loopholes between Member States' systems.
3 - The swift adoption of a legislative proposal for a European Accessibility Act (EAA) covering a maximum of policy areas including but not limited transport, the built environment, emergency services, ICT, etc. In order to guarantee its effectiveness it should have the form of a Directive and it should provide for robust and coherent enforcement systems and accessible complaints mechanisms.
Persons with disabilities face major obstacles to access mainstream goods and services as easily as other EU citizens. Barriers are numerous and multidimensional:
-Barriers to free movement of persons, for instance inaccessible transport, variations in passenger rights and lack of enforcement;
-barriers to free movement of goods and barriers to access goods, for instance there are many products that are inaccessible, e.g. phones, household appliances and also labelling. At present different national accessibility requirements are stifling this market.
-Barriers to free movement of services and barriers to access services, for instance inaccessible built environment, inaccessible public or private online services, inaccessible emergency services, inaccessible apps, barriers to e-commerce, to tourism services and so on.
The EAA will enable 80 million disabled citizens and consumers to access goods and services that most other EU citizens take for granted. The EAA has also a huge potential for economic growth. It will provide a level-playing field for industry to deliver the goods and services that are needed to a large market and reinforce European companies’ competitiveness on US and Asian markets, which contain more and more accessibility criteria. I will also deliver the products and services that persons with disabilities in Europe need and want to buy.
4 - A European Card for the mobility of persons with disabilities with mutual recognition of gratuities and discounts in areas like transport, culture, tourism; as well as the adoption of common EU policies and rules so that free movement can become a reality for persons with disabilities, notably by facilitating stronger coordination of social security systems among EU Member States to ensure portability of social security benefits, including personal assistance.
Travelling, studying or living in another country, one of the fundamental EU freedoms and one of the greatest benefits of EU membership for EU citizens, is in practice not yet a reality for persons with disabilities or for families with a family member with a disability due to obstacles to free movement.

5. A deeper and Fairer Economic and Monetary Union

1 – The European Commission should add a real social dimension to the Economic and Monetary Union. In particular, attention should be paid to article 9 TFEU, which should play a more visible role in European economic policy. In times of crisis, strengthening the European Social Model is the best way out, having a direct effect on the lives of European citizens.
2 – Structural reforms regarding the Economic and Monetary Union should be well-defined and broadly supported, as well as efficiently and firmly coordinated by the new Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment & Competitiveness. To this end, it should encompass all different instruments and related directorates-general, avoiding fragmentation, as well as ensure the coherence of its economic policy with policies in other areas.
3- The exemption of disability-related services and benefits from any budgetary cut, considering that social services are essential in enabling persons with disabilities to live independently and to participate fully in society, which are rights guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities.
Persons with disabilities and their families have been faced with drastic cuts in social services and benefits, leading to greater unemployment, a return to segregating institutions,where persons with disabilities are deprived of theirfreedom and right to make decisions on their own lives.
Social services are essential in enabling persons with disabilities to live independently and to participate fully in society, which are rights guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities - to which the EU is party, along with 25 Member States.
EU Economic and social policies must include specific measures to promote employment support and strong social protection systems. The EU must measure and follow up Members States’ performances in those areas.

6. A Reasonable and Balanced Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.