Address at the 21st European Social Services Conference Dublin
Dublin, 17 June 2013
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin agus cneasta.
I am very pleased to address you at this your 21st European Social Services Conference and am delighted to welcome to Dublin those delegates who travelled from across Europe to be here.
From your Conference programme, I note that you are addressing very many of the issues which are critical to the interests of our European citizens – especially vulnerable citizens – at this challenging time in the history of Europe.
This Conference brings together from around Europe the champions of social justice and inclusion – people who provide and advocate for the interests of vulnerable and marginalised citizens. While your work has always been important for the welfare of society, at a time of economic crisis – with social services across Europe being subjected to increased financial pressure – it is even more important that your voice be heard, and your analysis and advocacy made, on behalf of those who are least able to protect themselves.
The theme of this plenary session of the Conference is “Changing Society, Investing in the Future”. I am very conscious that the delegates here span a wide spectrum of activity and concern – young people, older people, the disabled, the poor and the marginalised. Such a diversity of needs, and the vindication of the rights associated with them, means that a variety of measures, rather than any single homogenous one, is required by way of policy response.
However, one thing you all have in common is that, in simply doing your work of advocacy and analysis, you are changing society and you are making the case for investing in people who represent our collective future. Another feature that you share is that each of you, and the citizens who you seek to assist and represent, are critically dependent on the adequacy and quality of the system of social protection that exists in your respective countries.
The models of social protection developed across Europe over recent decades – notwithstanding their diversity – are something of which we Europeans can be proud. They have marked us out in the wider international arena as countries where our citizens’ social needs, and not just their economic aspirations, are a matter of common concern and national priority. Social protection, where it has been strongest in Europe, is a gift from our collective heritage that must be shared with the global interdependent community.
Even if it may be difficult to define, there is – like society – such a thing as a European social model. It recognises that solidarity among citizens and social cohesion are values that must be fostered and maintained – not as mere byproducts of, or compensations for, a successful economy but as key objectives in their own right.
Where at times it has been threatened, there has been remarkable consensus across Europe about the need for a minimum threshold of social protection to support citizens who are vulnerable or are experiencing difficult circumstances in their lives. And this model of social solidarity is something that EU member states have cherished, again each in their own specific and diverse ways. In some countries, social protection has included redistribution of income and life chances; in others, social insurance; and in some others, investment in social infrastructure.
It is interesting to reflect that precisely at the time in Europe when models of the welfare state and public health service were being planned and developed, this same generation of visionary leaders was imagining what a peaceful and united Europe would look like. Although coal and steel may have been the instruments around which the founders of the European Community cohered, their ultimate objectives were far more transformational – they were harnessing the possibilities of peace, goodwill between the peoples of Europe and the incremental achievement of political integration.
The Europe of today was born from the harrowing experience of two World Wars and the determination never to have to go through that again. The Europe of tomorrow is now being debated and forged in the furnace of one of the deepest financial crises in modern times. How we respond to that crisis, what and whom we choose to prioritise for our care and attention and what lessons we draw from the experience will have a crucial bearing on the future of Europe and the welfare of its citizens.
It is clear that we are witnessing severe social consequences across Europe from the current crisis in which we find ourselves. Many citizens have lost their jobs, their homes, their self-worth and their place in society. The most recent economic and social indicators make clear the severity of this challenge.
The Spring Economic Forecasts from the European Commission point to further economic contraction in 2013: 0.1% in the EU and 0.4% in the euro area. There have in fact already been six successive quarters of economic contraction in the Euro area since the end of 2011, accompanied by further job losses and rising unemployment.
Unemployment rates this year are now forecast at 12.2% for the euro area and 11.1% for the EU27. And of course these figures contain dramatic variations across Member States, with a current unemployment rate of 27% in both Greece and Spain. When it comes to youth unemployment, these rates are almost double. These figures represent real hardship for real people – our fellow citizens and fellow Europeans. This is the greatest challenge for the European Union – the task of providing real opportunities and life chances for its citizens.
The Commission’s forecasts point to a gradual recovery in economic conditions in the second half of this year, and a return to growth in 2014: a modest 1.4% in the EU, 1.2% in the euro area. This means that 2013 is essentially the third successive year in which the economic recovery for which we all yearn has not been achieved. If we are to make a serious impact on unemployment across Europe, more robust and sustainable levels of economic growth will be required.
With 26 million people unemployed across the EU, two million more than this time last year, unemployment is easily the most pressing social crisis facing Europe today. As mentioned, the levels of youth unemployment across Europe are of particular concern – reaching above 50% in some Member States. People are emerging from education systems across Europe qualified for work; yet for all too many, work does not exist. If these trends become embedded, with a whole generation of young people becoming locked out of the labour market, we are in danger of experiencing a real threat to the maintenance of social and political stability.
Such levels of unemployment, and the poverty, social marginalisation and exclusion it creates and sustains, are serious contradictions and obstacles to a genuinely inclusive citizenship; they are life draining impediments which can erect so many barriers between an individual and the society in which they wish to engage. A citizen not afforded the right or the opportunities to put a roof over their heads, to feed themselves and their families, to remain within the educational system and achieve their full potential is a citizen trapped in a cycle of disadvantage, lost opportunity and exclusion; is a citizen denied a voice in society.
While there are very few who now ideologically believe that inequality is inevitable or even beneficial within a society, we now know there is concrete evidence to show that a more equal society is a healthier society. Almost everything – from life expectancy, to levels of mental illness, illiteracy and violence in the community – is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is. Societies with a larger gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone in them, including the well off. A more equal society is a healthier society judged by almost every indicator available.
Given the prevailing unemployment levels, I was pleased to see that in February the Irish Presidency of the European Union secured agreement on the key principles of the Youth Guarantee – setting a clear goal that our young people will receive an offer of meaningful apprenticeship, training, work or further education within four months of leaving school.
I warmly welcome too that President Van Rompuy is making its implementation the key focus of the June European Council. As the scourge of youth unemployment demands nothing less, this is welcome attention to an urgent component of the European Union’s most compelling problem.
The role of a sustainable economy is of course to support a stronger society, and we need to keep this imperative uppermost in our minds. Our Union must support a balanced set of policies based on sustainable growth, investment, full employment and social inclusion. It would not be enough to simply navigate our way out of the fiscal storm or simply achieve stability if we were to leave millions of people behind fending for themselves, sinking into poverty or at risk of doing so.
We must see that the flourishing of human capabilities is at the very heart of our European agenda. This requires that we acknowledge economic and social development as being inextricably linked; that we accord parity of esteem to the values of economic competitiveness and social cohesion; and that we shift the debate towards investing in our most valuable resource – our people. That is the social investment pattern that must prevail in the future.
This was indeed the key conclusion of the Leuven Conference on the European Commission’s Social Investment package organised by the Irish Presidency at the beginning of May. It is only by investing more and better in women and men, from birth to old age, will Europe have the legitimacy to navigate a credible path from the current crisis. This is a crucial contribution to the further work on developing a stronger Economic and Monetary Union on which President Van Rompuy will also report to the European Council in June.
The fundamental nature of the European Union is reflected well in the original Schuman Declaration, made on 9 May 1950, in its observation that: ‘Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.’ Pooling sovereignty around coal and steel gave the confidence to move to the successive stages of free trade, an open internal market and then monetary union. At each stage in the journey, the de facto solidarity that was being generated between Member States and their peoples was further deepened and, through the concurrent process of Enlargement, broadened.
Just over sixty years later, one of these concrete achievements – monetary union – is facing stiff challenges. Paradoxically, it is the resource of de facto solidarity among our people that we must now call upon to address the current crisis in Europe in all its aspects. The major challenges currently facing Europe cannot be resolved by technical solutions alone. It is a time for socially driven policies based on normative theory. The policies we require need a democratic underpinning which will only be forthcoming if there is a collective sense of solidarity across Europe. That solidarity requires the reaffirmation of common values, the recognition of the importance of social cohesion and an adherence to the founding vision of an open, generous and interdependent Europe.
If we are to successfully navigate through the current crisis in Europe, and I believe we can, individual Member States cannot go it alone. We must all look to the values of solidarity, social cohesion and shared cultures to guide our collective journey to higher and safer ground. We must also realise that the challenge of fostering solidarity and cohesion also exists within Member States, as well as across Europe.
On the eve of World War II, W.H. Auden wrote the following lines:
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark
And the living nations wait
Each sequestered in its hate.
While there is not now the prospect of war, the full fruits of peace have not been achieved and there is evidence of new fears emerging. The economic crisis has created the conditions for the spawning of extremist tendencies, racism and xenophobia across Europe. If we are to contain the number of those who are sequestered in their hate and limit their toxic impact, democracies must be very vigilant in ensuring that all citizens – particularly those who are vulnerable or marginalised – are able to actively participate in society and benefit from a collective solidarity that meets their basic needs and respects their human dignity.
The choices we face across Europe, including within the Union, are about how we are to mobilise our collective resources to change society for the better, and invest in the future of our citizens. In a world that has never been more interconnected, the European project – with the values of cohesion and solidarity at its heart – remains our best hope for underpinning peace, prosperity and social equity.
The people of Europe, all of us together, are still on the journey to the destination of a more inclusive and sustainable Union. The work that you do – in providing, debating and advocating for good social services for our citizens – is a critical part of that journey. I hope that the knowledge and insights generated by this Conference, as well as the fellowship provided by meeting other delegates, will inspire you to continue to fight the good fight on behalf of those citizens who so badly need your expertise, your advocacy and your human concern. Thank you.