Press Release of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children[i] ahead of the
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) 18-19
June 2015 and in view of their expected approval of the Country-Specific
Recommendations, as a reaction to the 2015 National Reform Programmes
On 13 May, the European
Commission published its proposals for Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs).
The partners in the EU Alliance for Investing in Children are deeply concerned
that the Commission’s fewer, but targeted, priorities fail to address the needs of children in the EU, in particular over
26 million children[1]
who are at risk of poverty and social exclusion.
A lack of investment in
children, especially the most disadvantaged and those who are left behind by
the crisis, is putting at risk not only the rights of children today but also
their future, and the future of their communities and the EU as a whole.
The 2015 CSRs comprise
a return to the old ‘jobs and growth’
paradigm’ and put the EU even further off-track to deliver an inclusive,
sustainable and equal Europe. The number of CSRs addressing child poverty decreased dramatically from six and seven in 2013
and 2014 to only one (Ireland) in 2015. There are no CSRs this year on the transition from institutional to
community-based care, although significant progress is still to be done
across Europe. We welcome the references to education for disadvantaged groups, including Roma, and as well the development
of skills. However, we are concerned that in many cases the recommendations
take a narrow approach by only focusing on employability and do not acknowledge
the critical importance of education in developing non-cognitive “life” skills.
We are also concerned that these proposals only take a reactive and not a
preventative approach. Tackling disadvantage in early years, for instance
through early childhood education and
care, is often the most effective way to ensure employability and full
inclusion in society at later stages in life.
The CSRs’ narrow focus
on jobs and the labour market does
not tackle the staggering rate of child poverty and social exclusion in the EU.
Evidence shows that investing in
integrated strategies, which promote access to adequate resources and
affordable quality services for all children and ensure children’s consultation
and participation, are the most effective way to enable children and young
people to reach their full potential. The European Commission Recommendation “Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of
Disadvantage”[2] provides useful policy guidance to put
these principles into practice. The EU Alliance for Investing in Children and
its partners are willing to contribute to the implementation of this
Recommendation by providing the expertise of their members at national level, both
in the annual country review processes and the implementation of the CSRs.
Therefore,
the EU Alliance for Investing in Children requests Ministers to:
·
Ensure
that Member States commit to achieve their goals to tackle (child) poverty and
social exclusion. Member States are obliged to meet their
targets and commitments under Europe 2020, even if these are not explicitly
mentioned in the CSRs.
·
Give
priority and urgency to the implementation of the Investing in Children
Recommendation by ensuring National Reform Programmes
reflect its priorities. There should be a systematic monitoring process of the
situation of children in Member States by using and further developing the
indicators based on the Recommendation. It would be advisable to compare the
outcomes for children across the EU as a result of Member States’ policy
choices. We call on Member States to collect data on child-specific deprivation
in the annual EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and to approve an
official child deprivation indicator. We also call for the inclusion of the
indicator of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the scoreboard
of social and employment indicators; and request that the scoreboard becomes
binding in order to deepen the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary
Union.
·
Strengthen
the governance and reporting mechanism of Europe 2020
by ensuring more transparent and direct involvement of stakeholders including
children, young people and those working with or for them. More meaningful stakeholder
engagement will bring greater coherence between and within CSRs so that
children’s well-being becomes a core priority of the EU, which would be
enhanced by including a specific sub-target on the reduction of child poverty
and inequality in the Europe 2020 strategy.
Europe
needs investments in jobs and growth, but also in children, families and
communities. There is no more effective and sustainable way of overcoming
economic and social inequalities in the long-term.
Further
information on the EU Alliance for
Investing in Children: http://www.alliance4investinginchildren.eu/
Contact: SOS Children’s
Villages International, eu@sos-kd.org - Rue de l’Industrie
10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
[1] Source : EUROSTAT, SILC, available at ILC_peps01 (Accessed 12 June
2015)
[2] European
Commission Recommendation of 20 February 2013 Investing in Children: Breaking
the Cycle of Disadvantage (2013/112/EU) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:059:0005:0016:EN:PDF
[i] The
EU Alliance for Investing in Children brings together over 20 European networks
sharing a commitment to end child poverty and to promote child well-being
across Europe. At a time when over
a quarter of children in the EU face poverty and social exclusion, the
added-value of this Alliance is to remind of the importance of thefull
implementation of the European Commission Recommendation “Investing in
Children – Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage”. The Alliance partners
believe the EU policy framework and funding opportunities can catalyse
political commitment and policy reform within Member States, thereby improving
the quality of life of children and young people in Europe.
Partners of the EU Alliance for Investing in
Children include:
·
Alliance for Childhood
·
ATD Quart Monde
·
Caritas - Europa
·
COFACE –
Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union
·
Dynamo International
– Street Workers Network
·
EAPN – European
Anti-Poverty Network
·
EASPD – European
Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities
·
ECSA - European Child
Safety Alliance
·
ELIANT Network
·
ENSA – European
Network of Social Authorities
·
EPA - The European Parents
Association
·
EPHA - European Public Health Alliance
·
ESN – European Social
Network
·
Eurochild
·
Eurodiaconia
·
EuroHealthNet
·
FEANTSA – European
Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless
·
ISSA - The International Step by
Step Association
·
Mental Health Europe
·
PICUM – Platform for
International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants
·
Save the Children EU
Office
·
SOS Children’s
Villages International
·
UNICEF EU Office
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