“Analysis of the National Action Plans on Social Inclusion submitted by the 10 new Member States” at the ENSCW Symposium on
“Street children and youth as a priority of the EU´s social inclusion policy for the new Member States in Central and Eastern Europe”
on 9 and 10 December 2004 in Brussels
At the Symposium organised last December by EFSC, Marie-Anne Paraskevas, the Commission’s official in the Social Protection and Social Inclusion unit, presented the “ Analysis of the National Action Plans on Social Inclusion (NAPs/incl. 2004-2006) submitted by the 10 new Member States”, compiled by the European Commission and not yet published.
According to the Analysis, the poverty risk appears to be higher when faced by children (20%) and young people (16%), whereas older people have a relatively low poverty risk (8%). Furthermore, in the Commission’s Analysis, the high level of poverty and social exclusion experienced by children is widely recognised as a key challenge in most Member States. This is confirmed by strategic approaches, objectives and targets set and the measures adopted in the
NAPs/incl. in many of the Member States. For more information, see the Commission website:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/social_inclusion/naps_en.htm
The need to strengthen policies to tackle child and family poverty and to protect the rights of children is considered to be one of the six key challenges over the next two years to eradicate poverty and social exclusion.
The Analysis of the Commission indicates that family allowances are important instruments in the new Eastern European countries’ social policy to fight poverty, and child benefit seems to be the most widespread type of family benefit. Furthermore, in most National Action Plans, family benefits have been largely improved in various ways.
Ensuring access to education is also important in the new Member States to fight child poverty and protect children’s rights but, unfortunately, it is still largely considered as a way of accessing the labour market rather than a way for inclusion in civil society. In many countries different solutions have been sought, such as free school lunches or free placements in student homes, to overcome particular barriers (poverty or particular social problems) limiting access to education of children.
A crucial role is also played by the Structural Funds, in particular the European Social Fund, to support the inclusion policy in the new Eastern European countries. It is for this reason that EFSC has recently been monitoring the role of the Structural Funds in the new European financial perspectives for the period 2007-2013 that should soon be adopted. This financial instrument could contribute to the full promotion of social inclusion in the new Member States. For more information, see the Commission website:
http://www.europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l34004.htm
From the discussion the following steps emerged which should be taken into consideration at European and national level to strengthen the inclusive child social policies of the new Member States and “tackle the root of child poverty” , as Jerome Vignon, t he Commission’s director in charge of Social Protection and Integration, declared during the EFSC symposium :
- Implementing and developing NAPs/incl. at social and municipal level:
inclusion at local and regional level; multidisciplinary approach, putting together all actors to discuss problems, list common goals and shared actions (teachers, social workers, representatives of local authorities, experts, etc.); strengthening capacity building at municipal level.
- Mainstreaming acknowledgement of the need for an integrated and multi-dimensional strategy (considering factors such as education, health, communication, information) into the NAPs/incl., because the scale of what is proposed is mostly considered by the European Commission to be insufficient to make a decisive impact on the eradication of child poverty and social exclusion.
- Ensuring a post-evaluation procedure to check the results in view of ongoing or changing strategies and actions and their sustainability.
- Local, regional and federal governments need to develop better communication by including the NGOs intervening in the field.
- Ensuring better participation in EU assistance programmes (the European Social Fund in particular) by both creating specific strands for children’s support projects and facilitating application procedures.
- Providing new reliable data and elaborating clearer definitions and targets on street children.
- Exploiting new information and communication technologies to carry out childcare activities, organise public campaigns and distribute information within the networks.
- Co-ordinating future civil society actions by joint strategies to influence the next round of EU National Action Plans on social inclusion in 2006 compiled by governments in favour of the rights of the most excluded children.
