A gap has been filled” “

The Convention on the future of Europe, in the course of its last plenary session, decided to set up a work group on social policies (cf. the previous report). The debate on social issues is likely to be of great importance for defining the future appearance of the “common European home”. That’s why SirEurope has begun to sound out the first comments of the four main signatories of the motion for the establishment of such a work group: the Austrian Johannes Voggenhuber , MEP of the Greens; the German Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann , MEP of the European Left; the Belgian Anne Van Lancker , MEP of the Socialists; and the Italian Emilio Gabaglio , general secretary of the European trades-union confederation. Dr. Voggenhuber, why did you ask the Convention to set up a work group on social policies? “The proposal was signed by no less than 47 Convention delegates and supported internally by almost all the members of the Convention and by all political groups, and externally by non-government organizations active in the sector and by trades unions. The request stems from the fear that the Convention is ignoring the social aspect of the Constitution for the future Europe. Now that the work group is about to become a reality, it may be said that all the great values of the European tradition are being addressed in the Convention. The aim of this proposal is not to impose a predetermined social policy on Europe but to ensure that the social Europe be firmly rooted in the Constitution; if it were not, the European identity itself would have a precarious character. The Convention has set itself an important goal and is now a true constituent assembly. By seeking a European identity I hope we’ll succeed in inserting into the Preamble of the Treaty a reference to the values and instruments of a social market economy. It’s a challenge for solidarity: new projects are needed and I hope we’ll be able to define them”. Ms. Kaufmann, what should be inserted in the Treaty in terms of social policy? “The European Union is now a market economy based on free competition and all its policies are subordinated to this objective. Yet we hope that the EU may become a social market economy. I think the Convention is now obliged to make specific proposals on social policy which will be inserted in the Treaty. In the first part of the Treaty, constitutional in nature, the values and objectives of European social policy will need to be defined: solidarity, for example, which still does not appear in the first outline presented by Giscard d’Estaing. And then equal opportunities, social protection, quality public services: ambitious objectives which, if they are to be achieved, have a need for the reinforcement of the Union’s functions. Citizens want the European social model to emerge improved and reinforced from the process of the Union’s constitutional reform. I’m optimistic. I cannot imagine a constitutional Treaty that fails to advance from the current status quo on social rights and on the protection of the environment”. Anne Van Lancker, what mandate should be assigned to the work group? “It’s important that the Presidium of the Convention should confer a wide mandate on it, even though it should be pointed out that every work group so far established has gone far beyond its initial remit, both in the debate and in the final reports. Undoubtedly Giscard intends to concentrate the tasks of the work group on constitutional questions: on values and principles, functions and instruments. And that’s what more or less all the members of the Convention want. It’s as well in any case to start out with prudence and see how the debate will develop. Its points of reference will be the European Charter of social rights and the Charter of the fundamental rights of the EU, whose incorporation into the Treaty now seems certain. Even though we still don’t know for sure the scale of the mandate assigned to the work group or the outcome of the discussion within it, what matters today is the fact that the question of social Europe is now firmly on the agenda and was not exhausted in the one-day debate at the last plenary assembly”. Secretary Gabaglio, is the decision to set up a work group on social policy now definitive or does the possibility of a change of mind still exist? “Commenting in the course of the plenary debate on the eventuality of a work group on social policy being set up, the president of the Convention Valéry Giscard d’Estaing declared: ‘I recognize the existence of broad consensus’. That’s seems to me a very clear statement. The members of the Convention representing the European People’s Party have been equally clear in supporting the need for the work group. In contrast to the work group on ‘Economic Governance’, where the opposition between left and right is clear-cut, convergence of views does exist on social questions. So broad a consensus has been registered on the establishment of this work group that I would be very surprised if the Presidium were now to oppose it. I believe that the social Europe has entered the Convention’s debate through the front door. It’s a good point of departure. The task now is to fill this space with contents so that the future Constitution may reflect the basic values and founding principles of the European social model”. The European churches are following with great attention the debate that will develop in the European Convention on “Europe’s social dimension”. We asked Father David Lassaule , coordinator of the welfare and social assistance centres of the region of Brussels for his opinion on the matter. How do you evaluate the creation of a work group on social Europe within the Convention? “Undoubtedly the hope is that the principles of solidarity and assistance to the less fortunate may find their rightful place in the future European constitutional Treaty. For citizens, the right to be protected and assisted in moments of economic difficulty, in illness or also in old age undoubtedly has a greater practical and psychological value that common foreign policy or the single currency. Defence, currency and economic progress would serve no purpose if they were not to be founded on respect for man and a willingness to use the gifts of the mind and the resources of money in favour of the person. If the Convention were to succeed in guiding governments in this direction, it would be a fine demonstration of true civic sense and citizenship”. What could Europe do in practice to advance social policy? “When we speak of social policy, we often fall into the error of considering the problems as general or generalized. On the contrary, the most effective approach is that at the local, municipal or even district level, aimed at the identification and solution of the problems of each individual citizen. There are problems, e.g. equal opportunities or living conditions in prisons, which could be improved by national strategies coordinated at the European level. But other questions, such as poverty, mental illness, the deepest and most hidden forms of social exclusion, must be tackled case by case, with as direct and expert a contact as possible between the person who needs help or advice and the social worker. Only if Europe and her member states succeed in creating the legal and financial conditions for reinforcing local actions, public or private, secular or religious, voluntary or not, would it serve any useful purpose to speak of a ‘social Europe’ or a ‘Europe for social questions'”. What measures does social work in the private sector most need today? “To answer ‘money’ may seem banal but is a large part of the truth. So many activities could be undertaken, in cases where interventions and beneficiaries have already been identified, but then have to be put on hold due to lack of funds. The other part of the truth is the lack of a mentality of solidarity: often solidarity fails to be properly coordinated, either in time or in place. It’s a question of attention and capacity: a question that the European Union could help to revive thanks to the renewed interest in social policies expressed by the Convention on the future of Europe”. G.A.G.