Partnership as a prerequisite for implementing the European Social Fund

On February 6 and 7, the European Commission, together with the Greek EU Presidency, organised a launch conference for the new programming period of the European Social Fund (ESF) for 2014-2020. The objective was to bring together policy makers and stakeholders to exchange views on how the Fund could be more effective and efficient. Social Platform Vice President Claire Roumet participated in the plenary session on the first day of the conference, looking at the most important innovations of the new ESF and at how to implement it.

In his opening speech, László Andor, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, attributed the ESF a fundamental role for developing human capital and strengthening the EU's competitiveness. Against the background of the budgetary constraints of many member states, the Commissioner finds it crucial to ensure the ESF is used in the most effective and efficient way, leading also to greater value for money. It should play a key role in contributing to the Europe 2020 headline targets for poverty reduction, employment and education. In the Commissioner's view, an effective and efficient use of the fund requires working together on its implementation and evaluation at national, regional and local level, with all relevant partners, including civil society. To this end the Commission adopted a European Code of Conduct on Partnership in January. The Commissioner furthermore called on member states to introduce a comprehensive Youth Guarantee in their countries as a priority to tackle the high youth unemployment in the EU. To support social inclusion and employment, he drew attention to other tools that can complement the ESF, such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) and the Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).

For Social Platform Claire Roumet pointed out how two of the most important innovations of the new ESF are the identification of social inclusion and combating poverty apart from employment as one of the four thematic objectives with a specific earmarking, as well as the principle of partnership in the programming and implementation of the ESF. Such a partnership should not be restricted to a mere consultation of all relevant stakeholders, but it should result in designing the programmes and implementing them together. She stressed also that the preparation of the programmes has to start well in advance as it can take a lot of time. Another important innovation is the possibility to combine different funds, in particular ESF and ERDF, to allow for more integrated answers to address the overall situation, for example in the case of homelessness.

The ETUC considered the thematic concentration on priorities, for the "old" ones, being employment and education as well as for the new ones including combating poverty and promoting social inclusion. They made a strong case for the proper implementation of the partnership principle and called the creation of jobs one of the key priorities. BUSINESSEUROPE also welcomed the stronger focus on partnership and prioritised the increase of employability and the creation of employment by the employers.

You can find more information on this event on the Conference website.

2014-02-10