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One short, Twitter-friendly sentence popped into my head when we finalised our messages to the Ministers of Employment and Social Affairs who will meet this Thursday October 16: that was, “#ReverseTheCurveOnPoverty”. This hashtag-able tweet cries for a radical change in policy, as we witness a seven million-person increase of people experiencing poverty in Europe, despite Heads of State and government pledging in June 2010 to reduce levels by 20 million. This hashtag calls for immediate action to support people on the ground, while over the last four years 17 countries have witnessed an increase in poverty levels and six are still above the European average.

The problem with the hashtag is that even if it translates our collective rage at witnessing inaction, it alone won’t bring about the change we want to see. The EU is not ‘social’ at the moment, preferring to focus on economic and monetary integration. Our members clearly told us last week at our Steering Group meeting that the curve will be reversed only when the overall structure in European priorities is tilted in the social direction. This requires a strategy that can address all current shortcomings. 

One shortcoming is the overpowering role of budget and finances when looking at social priorities. The fight against poverty, unemployment and early school leaving needs to be given priority in European governance, especially when only a few months ago President Barroso declared a “social emergency”. Economic and monetary policies need to be strictly monitored to ensure that they support social policies, rather than undermine them.

The EU and member states need to act now on these issues if we want to #ReverseTheCurve on social trends.  We want to see concrete actions and recommendations on the EU’s employment, poverty and education targets, which includes them being taken into account in European economic cycles. This will have to be implemented in each country, with the inclusion of ambitious national action plans.

Finally, we need to be protected from budget consolidation measures: the anti-poverty plan we are asking for should be safeguarded from austerity measures. 

One of the great things about working at Social Platform is that I don’t have to choose between hashtags or strategies – we can express our disappointment and rage about the current situation, but we can also be a source of concrete proposals to change the situation: we can communicate and have a strategy! We hope that European leaders communicate a similar strategy to #ReverseTheCurveOnPoverty soon.

Let’s engage!

Pierre Baussand, Director