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Upon its taking office as Presidency of the Council of the European Union for July-December 2015, the Luxembourg’s government has announced that it would make an effort to put citizens at the centre and ensure that their interests are taken into consideration in all EU policies.

The priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency for this semester are based on seven pillars:

  1. Stimulating investment to boost growth and employment
  2. Deepening the European Union's social dimension
  3. Managing migration
  4. Combining freedom, justice and security
  5. Revitalising the single market by focusing on its digital dimension
  6. Placing European competitiveness in a global and transparent framework and promoting sustainable development
  7. Strengthening the European Union's presence on the global stage.

Deepening the European Union's social dimension

This was announced as one of the priorities of the Luxembourg’s presidency in the speech of Ms Corinne Cahen, Minister for Family and Integration, at the European Social Network’s annual conference. The social consequences of the financial and economic crisis, such as the increase in unemployment, especially youth unemployment, and increased inequality have weakened the European Union's economic performance, and its socio-political stability. Given this, the Luxembourg Presidency seeks to promote a highly competitive social market economy, which aims at full employment and social progress, as well as justice and social protection as set out in the Treaties.

According to the presidency’s programme, social investment and investment in human capital will be a main focus. "You cannot have good economic governance without a strong social dimension", Nicolas Schmit, Minister for Labour, Employment, Social Economy and Economic Solidarity stressed recently while intervening at the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) revealing that he was "left unsatisfied" by the report of the five presidents on the deepening of the economic and monetary union (EMU). This issue was debated at the informal meeting of the EPSCO Council on 16 July 2015. At the meeting, Mr. Schmit touched on the need to give greater visibility to the social component and to reinforce the management of social issues as part of governance at a time when Europe is going through a critical phase. Romain Schneider, Minister for Social Security, referred to the various interventions of the Member States, which had all agreed that the social dimension needed to become the focus of concern during subsequent stages of the Union integration process. In fact, the growth of unemployment and poverty within the EU poses a "threat to general well-being, social stability and economic development".

Honouring the Europe 2020 strategy

The Luxembourg Presidency will coordinate efforts to strengthen the Europe 2020 strategy, in particular to reduce poverty and social exclusion. The Presidency is planning a major conference for early December 2015 on the social economy. Here, particular attention will be paid to increasing the rate of female employment and to a balanced representation of women and men in political and economic decision-making as factors of competitiveness.

A primary objective in the field of education will be to take better account of students' diversity. The Luxembourg Presidency will focus in particular on the provision of schooling and high-quality childcare during early childhood. As for youth, it has been highlighted that it is necessary to strengthen young people’s participation in employment and to develop, for that purpose, necessary European synergies.

The European Social Network’s view

At the European Social Network (ESN), we believe that the presidency should encourage national governments and the European Commission to link Juncker’s Investment Plan for Europe to investing in people; for instance, by implementing the 2013 Social Investment Package, the 2008 Active Inclusion Recommendation and the 2013 Investing in children Recommendation. Programmes may include early years support, integrated services and infrastructures for community based services, health promotion and prevention services for older people.

When it comes to Europe 2020, despite a public consultation took place in 2014, the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 has been put on hold. ESN would like to see that the Luxembourg presidency drives forward the review and focuses attention on balancing the economic and social dimensions, and paying attention to the poverty and social exclusion target. However, ESN has been concerned about the limited attention given to achieving this target and to how it has been applied. There is a risk of deadweight effect i.e. a risk that only the easiest to reach will be targeted, as opposed to more vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and/or mental health issues, older people, people from a migrant or ethnic minority background. Moreover, the overall target has lacked credibility as it has not been accompanied by concrete measures/action plans. Therefore, looking ahead, it will be key to ensure a stronger social dimension to the Strategy; this should be reinforced by social impact assessments, a bottom-up perspective, as well as a coordinated approach (which links resources and takes account of a more sophisticated set of social policy indicators).

For further information on ESN’s assessment of Europe’s 2020, please visit our website