Social progress must be a European Council priority
Following today’s [18 December] European Council meeting in Brussels, Social Platform calls on European leaders to ensure that social progress is a primary consideration of any European investment plan.
Social Platform – the largest civil society alliance fighting for social justice and participatory democracy in Europe – has previously expressed concern over the lack of emphasis on social investment by the new European Commission, headed by President Jean-Claude Juncker. Following the publication of the Investment Plan, platform President Heather Roy warned that the European Social Model cannot survive without a serious commitment to invest in ambitious and integrated social policies.
Building on the draft conclusions of today’s Council meeting – the first under new Council President Donald Tusk – Social Platform wishes to see social prerequisites included in the list of conditions to be met by projects applying for funding from the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). Additionally, social progress can be encouraged by ensuring that investments made through the EFSI and progress made in key areas of regulations are monitored not only for their economic impact, but their social impact too. Only by committing to positioning economic and social policies on an equal footing can decision makers bring a real added value to the EU as a whole.
