An assessment of the European Semesters 2011-13

ESN has reviewed the European Semesters 2011-13 in ten countries and identified issues to watch for the next two years (read full assessment here). In 2010 the EU and its Member States committed themselves to “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” through the Europe 2020 Strategy. It introduced targets to reduce early school-leaving, to raise employment levels and to lift 20 million people out of poverty and social exclusion.

Overall, social services do not seem to be a priority and the range and importance of their role in society is not satisfactorily captured. There are a number of recurring themes in these evaluations from 2011 to 2013:

• Dominance of economic and financial issues at the expense of social issues


• Lack of balance between the priorities of tackling unemployment and tackling the broader social impact of the crisis which receives much less attention


• Narrow approach to social services as related solely to employment


• Invisibility of the most poor and excluded despite the Europe 2020 target


• Invisibility of disability or mental health issues in the National Reform Programmes (NRPs) despite their social costs and impact on labour market participation


• Lack of consultation on the NRPs at national level, even with regions and local government

There are positives in the evaluation too, notably about the potential of European policies to provide an incentive to undertake reforms which move towards social investment.

Issues to watch 2014-15

ESN recommends to the Commission and to the respective Member State to watch the following issues closely in 2014-15, recalling their social and economic costs.

Member State
Issue to watch 2014-15
Denmark
Impact of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion of the disability and sickness benefits reform
Finland
Cost inflation and efficiency of acute health care compared to other public services run by municipalities
Belgium
Effeciency of the long-term care system as a whole, rather than only institutional care
Germany
Institutionalisation, poverty and labour market exclusion of persons with disabilities and mental illness and integration of migrants into employment
UK
Government inaction on sustainable financing for long-term care ('adult social care') by local authorities
France
Making sure that future NRPs reflect the full range of government policy on tackling poverty and social exclusion for vulnerable groups
Italy
Lack of national framework for social services; regional inequality and consequent impact on poverty, social exclusion and unemployment in South
Spain
Impact of local government reform of community social services on poverty and social exclusion
Slovakia
Instability of legal and financing framework and for social services, including deinstitutionalisation strategy and long-term care
Romania
Capacity of local administration for implementation of legislation and development of adequate social services

 

Looking into the future, ESN predicts that its evaluation of the European Semester 2014 will be broadly similar unless the role of social services is given a much higher priority.

Contact ESN’s Policy team for more information on the topic.