Platform of European Social Ngos

PLATFORM OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL NGOS

(SOCIAL PLATFORM)

FINAL ACTIVITIES REPORT
1 JANUARY – 31 DECEMBER 2005

1. INTRODUCTION

The Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform) is funded by the European Commission on the basis of the Grant Agreement VS/2005/0073 between the European Commission and the Social Platform for a period running from the 1 January to 31 December 2005.

This final report on the Social Platform’s activities is submitted together with a financial report covering costs incurred, and an independent audit report.

The Platform of European Social NGOs performed its activities according to the work programme annexed to the contract. This report covers the period from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2005, and is structured according to the work programme, including the objectives and the action points from the programme.

2. THE SOCIAL PLATFORM’S SPECIFIC AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The Social Platform’s specific aims and immediate objectives are focused around shaping policy, facilitating civil dialogue, disseminating knowledge and exchanging experience, andbuilding alliances with other groups on common issues.

3. CAMPAIGNING

N.b. All policy-related activities are listed under the heading ‘Campaigning’ for simplicity. However, many of the activities described in this section inter-relate with capacity-building and civil dialogue activity headings

3.1 Lisbon Agenda

Objective: advance the views of social NGOs that a balanced approach to Lisbon must be maintained.

The Social Platform was very active in bringing the concerns of social NGOs into the policy-making domain in relation to the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy. Building upon its position paper on the subject, adopted in October 2004, the Social Platform advanced the views of its members through high-level meetings and campaigns, and kept its members informed of developments in relation to this important policy area with regular briefings and meetings.

On 9 February the Social Platform issued a response to the Commission Communication "Working together for growth and jobs: A new start for the Lisbon strategy" (2005 COM 24) in the form of a press release which argued strongly against the downgrading of social objectives and the narrowing of the Lisbon strategy towards a jobs and growth alone approach.

On 10 February, a delegation from the Social Platform comprising of Anne-Sophie Parent, Social Platform President, Claire Roumet, member of the Management Committee, Simon Wilson, Director, and Karin Manderscheid, from Luxembourg EAPN (Social Platform member) met with the President of the European Council, Luxembourg Prime Minister Claude Juncker. The meeting allowed the Social Platform the opportunity to discuss the concerns of social NGOs regarding the risk of downgrading EU action on social cohesion in light of the European Commission’s ‘Jobs and Growth’ Communication.

This meeting was followed on 21 February by a resolution from the Social Platform for the Spring Summit, entitled "From a strategy totragedy: Social NGOs call on political leaders to reject theBarroso approach to Lisbon and reaffirm the Europeanmodel of society". The resolution was sent to all members of the European Council in advance of the Summit, in order to present the coordinated reaction of social NGOs to the Commission’s proposals. The resolution was adopted by a meeting of the Social Platform’s Steering Group on 21 February.

In order to inform members of the developments on the mid-term review, the Social Platform also provided briefings to members on the ‘Jobs and Growth’ communication in March.

The Platform then developed an action plan for NGOs around the Spring Summit, published on 1 March, which gave ideas for European and national actions, many organised by Social Platform members, including SOS Europe, an on-line petition calling for the social dimension of Lisbon to be maintained. This campaign was supported by the Social Platform, and successfully engaged many European and national NGOs in support.

A delegation from the Platform then met with Commission President Barroso on 15 March, to discuss the concerns of NGOs with the new approach to Lisbon. This marked a significant advance for NGOs, who had successfully collaborated to present unified positions, and then secured, through the Social Platform, opportunities to present these views to the President of the European Council, and the President of the European Commission, in successive months.

The Social Platform also presented its views to other stakeholders, including speaking at a conference organised by Small Business Europe on 17 March.

In order to emphasise that there was a wide degree of agreement between different civil society actors on the issue of Lisbon, on 9 March the Social Platform, European Trade Union Confederation, and European Environmental Bureau issued a joint statement to the European Council. This document contained proposals, agreed by the three organisations, on how to make Lisbon work for sustainable development. The common action built upon work undertaken in common by the organisations over the last three years, and was supervised by the ‘Spring Group’ of representatives from the three organisations, meeting regularly to exchange information and develop common actions. Fintan Farrell represented the Social Platform within this group, with the support of the Secretariat.

After the Spring Summit, the Social Platform informed its members of the implications of the conclusions, producing a briefing for members entitled, "Lisbon strategy: how the conclusions of the Spring Summit 2005 affect the EU social policy architecture", which was disseminated to all members in order to inform their work on the issue.

The Platform also issued a press release giving the reaction of social NGOs to the Summit Conclusions on 23 March, entitled "Social cohesion: The commitments are there, but where is the action?".

Also after the Spring Summit, a meeting took place with the Social Protection Committee bureau and the Director-General of DG EMPL on 13 April, to analyse the impact of the mid-term review upon the social agenda, and in particular to discuss how the mid-term review would impact upon existing EU processes such as the streamlined Open Method of Coordination.

This campaign proved effective in informing and mobilising NGOs on the Lisbon strategy, as well as in bringing the views of social NGOs to the attention of policy-makers. During the period around the Spring Summit, the Platform attracted a large amount of press and media coverage for its views, and the traffic on its website approached 750 individual visitors per day.

The Social Policy Working Group meeting on 14 June included a discussion on the implications of the ‘Growth & Jobs’ strategy and the links with the social protection/social inclusion OMC and Sustainable Development Strategy for social policy. An update on the Lisbon process was given to the Working Group at its meeting on 17 November.

During the course of the rest of the year the Social Platform maintained a series of regular exchanges with the ETUC and EEB via the meetings of the ‘Spring Group’, constituted by those organisations for this purpose. Meetings took place on a bi-monthly basis to discuss developments in relation to the Lisbon Strategy, and to plan common actions. These meetings focused upon exploring the links between the Lisbon Strategy and the Strategy for Sustainable Development, the development of the National Reform Plans by Member States during the second half of the year, and more general issues around governance and the involvement of civil society within the various processes.

In a letter sent to Heads of State and Government ahead ofthe Hampton Court Informal Summit Meetingof 27 October, the Social Platform recalled the important role played by the European social model, and called for it to be safeguarded, and for its key elements to be mainstreamed within the EU’s work. The letter also included a position of the Platform on the European Social Model, adopted by the Steering Group on 10 October, following discussions in the Social Policy Working Group on 6 September, and a final drafting meeting on 4 October.

A ‘process tracker’ on the Jobs and Growth strategy was established for members in December 2005, to facilitate closer involvement of NGOs in the process.

3.2 Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development

Objective: develop the knowledge of social NGOs on the use of impact assessment by the European Commission, and facilitate the contribution of their expertise to such assessments.

On 30 June, the Social Platform held a capacity-building seminar for its members on ‘Tools to promote fundamental rights at EU-level: what about mainstreaming and impact assessment?’. The aim of the seminar, attended by representatives from 20 Social Platform members, was to develop the knowledge NGOs have of the tools that can be used at EU-level, including impact assessments. The seminar was prepared by the Fundamental Rights and Non-Discrimination Working Group, to ensure that it responded to the needs of members.

The seminar involved expert contribution from Olivier de Schutter (Coordinator of the EU network of independent experts on fundamental rights), and was organised to allow NGOs to develop the ability to engage with mainstreaming and impact assessment through their membership networks. The Platform provided a comprehensive tool-kit to accompany the seminar, including key EU documents, briefings from the Platform, reports on impact assessment, and academic analysis.

The issue of impact assessment was further discussed within the FRAND Working Group during the year, and was on the agenda at meetings of the ‘Spring Group’ (see above), which allowed the Platform to draw upon the expertise of the environmental NGOs in relation to this tool.

3.3 Public Procurement

Objective: work with other stakeholders to develop knowledge on the inclusion of social clauses in public procurement contracts

No activities were undertaken during this period, as the the multi-stakeholder group on public procurement, within which the Platform has been active, did not undertake any common activities in 2005. The main reason for this decision to defer common action was the particular legislative stage of the public procurement directives, which are at the transposition stage. The group is likely to become active once again in future.

3.4 The Future of Cohesion Policies in Europe

Objective: provide input from social NGOs to the debate on the financial perspective

The Social Platform brought the attention of policy-makers to the concerns of social NGOs in relation to the future of cohesion policies in Europe in light of the discussions on the new financial perspective for the EU from 2007-13. The Platform acted with the Civil Society Contact Group in sending joint letters to the European Council on 14 February, and to the European Parliament Budgets Committee on 11 March, outlining the concerns of six major sectors of civil society in relation to the financial perspective.

In April, the Contact Group followed these actions with proposals to the Members of the Temporary Committee on Policy Challenges and Budgetary Means of the Enlarged Union 2007-2013 for amendments to Parliament’s draft resolution on the issue.

In all of this joint work, the Contact Group advanced the views of civil society organisations that the budget of the EU should reflect the values and objectives determined by the Union, and that social cohesion objectives should be central.

In relation to the European Parliament vote on Structural and Cohesion Funds Regulations in July 2005, the Social Platform worked in an informal coalition with environmental NGOs to prepare a letter which was emailed MEPs regarding the partnership provision in the Funds, based upon the work of a small group of Social Platform members in this area.

Further to this, the same informal coalition issued a joint statement to the Council before their discussions on the general regulation for Structural & Cohesion Funds, October 2005. The statement was entitled ‘Cohesion Requires Partnership’ (with BirdLife International, CEE Bankwatch Network, Friends of the Earth Europe, WWF, European Environmental Bureau, Milieukontakt Oost-Europa), highlighting the views of NGOs on this issue.

During the year, the Social Platform circulated briefings from the Civil Society Contact Group on progress in relation to the financial perspective to its members (via the weekly mailing).

3.5 Corporate Social Responsibility

Objective: brief members on developments in CSR at EU-level; coordinate responses from members to Commission initiatives

Following the ending of the CSR EU Multi-Stakeholder Forum in 2004, the Social Platform continues to wait for the Communication from the Commission in response to the conclusions of the Forum, before engaging its members on this issue again. During 2005 the Platform was invited to participate in a number of CSR-related conferences, and was able to advance the views of its members within these events. The Working Party on CSR did not meet during this time, since the Commission did not produce proposals arising from the CSR EU Multi-Stakeholder Forum. Similarly, the cross-sectoral NGO grouping was not active in 2005 for the same reasons, although members remained in contact to exchange information about initiatives in the field.

3.6 Social Policy Agenda

Objective: produce an evaluation of the Social Policy Agenda 2001-2005 as it reaches its end;advance the proposals of social NGOs for the next Social Policy Agenda; support an effective and ambitious five-year plan for EU social policy.

The Social Platform campaigned during the early part of 2005 to bring its proposals for a new Social Policy Agenda to the attention of a wide range of policy-makers and stakeholders. This document, launched in October 2004, provided a detailed list of proposals for reinforcing social policy over the following five years, and continues to drive the Platform’s proposals on social policy reform.

Following the publication of the Commission’s Social Agenda, the Platform provided a briefing for members analysing the proposals. In May 2005, a letter was sent to Commissioner Spidla in response to the Social Agenda, outlining a number of concrete proposals for action by the Commission to ensure a strengthened EU social policy. These proposals were based on the October 2004 document mentioned above.

3.7 Open Method of Coordination

Objective: develop the capacity of social NGOs to engage effectively with the OMC in various policy areas; propose the views of social NGOs to the EU Institutions on how to strengthen this policy tool.

In Spring 2005, the Commission published a Questionnaire aimed at different actors who have been involved in the OMC on social protection and social inclusion (including governments, NGOs, and local authorities), in order to evaluate the process and content of the OMC so far.

The Social Platform provided a forum for members to discuss their contributions towards this process, in particular in the Social Policy Working Group meeting of 4th April which had a particular focus on the OMC (following an initial discussion during the 25 January meeting). An external expert was invited to give his views to members on the OMC, and Social Platform members presented their views to others. The Platform also promoted exchanges of positions between member organisations on its website, and produced a document in April to support members’ internal discussions on the issue.

A meeting was held on 22 June to discuss a common response from the Social Platform to the questionnaire, which was agreed in July by the Social Platform’s Management Committee.

The Social Platform took part in the Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion in Glasgow on 17-18 October. It advanced the views of its members at this meeting, through a statement which focused particularly in regard to the proposed common objectives for the streamlined OMC. Social Platform members were then briefed upon the outcomes of the Round Table, including at the meeting of the Social Policy Working Group on 17 November. A detailed discussion of the ongoing revision of the streamlined OMC took place during the same Social Policy Working Group meeting.

A process tracker on the OMC was established for members in the autumn.

3.8 Demographic change and the modernisation of social protection

Objective: build the knowledge of members in relation to the impact of demographic change upon their issues of concern.

The Social Platform produced a briefing for members on the Commission’s Green Paper on Demographic Change, which was published in March 2005.

An exchange of views of Platform members took place in the 14 June meeting of the Social Policy Working Group, following an initial discussion in the meeeting of 4th April. At this meeting it was decided that the broad scope, and lack of specificity within the Green Paper was not conducive to a common response from the Platform.

Following this, the Platform participated in the conference on demographic change organised by the European Commission on 11 July, in order to develop its members’ knowledge on this issue. The Social Platform also disseminated the responses of its members to the Green Paper via the website.

The Platform organised a capacity-building seminar for its members on demographic change on 16 November. The aim of this seminarwas to develop our knowledge about the impact of demographic change on the funding and modernisation of European social protection systems. The seminar dealt with following questions: What is the link between demographic change and the funding of social protection systems? How are social protection systems funded in different Member States? What reforms are being discussed? How do states measure the financial sustainability of their social protection systems? How to judge the political discourse about demographic change and social protection from a gender perspective? Speakers included: Professor Jos Berghman, K.U. Leuven; Nicole Fasquelle, Belgian Planning Bureau; Pascale Vielle, Institutpour l’égalitédes femmes et des hommes, Belgium.