Europe is unique in the way it tries to combine a free market economy with social justice. But things are changing with globalization and our ageing society. Conservatives say we can no longer afford high standards of social and environmental protection. We say our welfare states are our strength, that a society in which everyone can participate, contribute and benefit will be a strong and prosperous society. We say our welfare states must be renewed - not dismantled: reformed to meet new challenges, not taken apart. The PES agreed 10 Principles for a New Social Europe at our Congress at the end of 2006. But what should be our priorities for 2009-14? What should be done at the European level in the years ahead?
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Published Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 14:34
by
uno.aldegren 
in New Social Europe (115 views and 0 comments)
Without improving the
position of women in the labour market, it is hard to create a
socially coherent Europe. A fundamental step in this direction is
the inclusion of women in the labour market. Today the employment
level of women differs across the Union, but the level is in
general lower than it is for men. That is why an increased
inclusion of women in the labour market must be an important
principle in the PES manifesto for the 2009 European elections. The
goal should be the elimination of differences in employment level
between women and men. During the last decades women in general
have gained a stronger economic position, but they have not
received the same economic independence as men. The social
environment in our society influences the economic equality between
women and men; this is in particular true when it comes to the
conditions in the labour market and in the educational system. The
design of the transfer system and the allocation of unpaid work (at
home) are other important influences.Tags: women
Published Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 10:56
by
asa.westlund
in New Social Europe (87 views and 1 comments)
Tags: blogger of the week, trade, welfare
Published Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:35
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (158 views and 1 comments)
For International Workers' Day Yourspace welcomes the European Trade Union Confederation - or ETUC in short - to have their say! Advisor Ronald Janssen shares ETUC's visions for the PES manifesto:
Read the written contribution from ETUC here.
What do you think is the most significant challenge for workers'
rights in Europe?
Published Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:30
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (114 views and 0 comments)
Here's another post from the Spanish PES
activists:
The expression of “the European knowledge society” has become
commonplace ever since the Lisbon and Barcelona Summits (held
respectively in 2000 and 2002). You hear it all the time and
almost in every context. But is it enough to talk about it to
make it a reality?
To reach this objective, we all have to take up our
responsibilities, not just the academic world or the companies.
Life-long learning in such areas as languages, information and
communication technologies, the environment or gender equality
will not only allow us to better know and use our civil rights
but it will also allow us to create the society we really want to
live in, beyond the limitations of a “knowledge-based
society”.
The PES should therefore fight for the goal of enhancing
life-long learning programmes, which lay special emphasis on
those groups of society that remain excluded for various reasons.
Our farmers, our elderly, our linguistic minorities, etc. ,
should be able to have access to this kind of training through
specific programmes. If we manage to reach this goal, the
European knowledge society will be a reality for all. And we
cannot be content with anything less than that.
A Spanish version is attached to this post.
Raul Canay... » read more
...
Tags: blogger of the week, education
File:
sociedad_ES.pdf
Published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 14:45
by
eromerof
in New Social Europe (228 views and 2 comments)
Nowadays, the panorama of the left in Europe does not seem to be very tempting. Only 7 out of 27 countries belonging to EU are ruled by socialist parties. These are: United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Cyprus. We could argue that there is a lack of real political leadership, a leadership that in other decades was embodied by politicians such as Francois Mitterrand.
The political victory of Zapatero in Spain last march gives the Spanish socialism a great opportunity to implement and develop politics that can be seen as an example for other European countries. It generates a new opportunity to take the initiative in the European context. Whereas the majority of countries in South America are governed by left parties, sometimes with a strong and questionable populist sense, and whereas United States are given an opportunity to give the power again to the Democratic party, regardless of whether Clinton or Obama wins, the European left movement needs to reshape its political agenda, taking the initiative and dismantling the demagogic and populist discourse of conservative countries, too much focused on very sensitive and easy to be manipulated issues such as security, migration, taxes...
From a Spanish perspective, I would... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, climate change, development, diversity, equality, welfare, women
Published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 14:33
by
raphi sternfeld
in New Social Europe (184 views and 2 comments)
Tags: elderly, welfare
File:
Hungerkrise_DE.pdf
Published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 09:30
by
Isabella_Frenning
in New Social Europe (111 views and 2 comments)
Tags: blogger of the week, education
Published Monday, April 21, 2008 at 16:05
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (292 views and 5 comments)
Published Monday, April 21, 2008 at 12:08
by
Duncan Anderson
in New Social Europe (226 views and 2 comments)
I know the British National Health Service can be improved, but I still personally believe that Free Health Service and Free Education from cradle to grave should be part of the fundamental human rights of every citizen, but let's start in the EU first.
Tags: education, health, human rights, public services
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 11:48
by
Salvador E. Becker
in New Social Europe (285 views and 1 comments)
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 10:13
by
brianfrombrussels
in New Social Europe (288 views and 3 comments)
For people who like to know
what their fellow earthmen think of the world's affairs, nothing
can match an elevator. Your local pub or the back seat of a cab
are close competitors for sure, but still they don't quite make
it in front of an elevator. Well, perhaps I'm biased, considering
that I happen to spend more time in elevators than in cabs or at
my local lately.
Anyway, every month around the 15th whatever elevator I take, the
conversation between commuters seems to roll over the same topic:
the rent is paid, electricity and heating bills are gone and
various other charges dealt with and... well, so is the month's
money. Gone, vanished, not a euro in front of them - not to
mention any to be put on the side in prevision of worth days to
come. It seems that the only power left to the working class in
our liberal society, that is the purchase power, is melting away
like wax under the sun. And the regulars of my elevator are
usually civil servants, mind you. I guess you'd hear less
pleasant stories from elevators with a very different attendance
- steel workers from Mr. Mittal's group, for instance.
Even from the most cynical point of view, this can't go on. The
driving force behind our western economies is consumption. If the
people don't have the money... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, wages, workers
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 16:35
by
martina
in New Social Europe (441 views and 6 comments)
According to Eurostat a woman in Europe earns, in average, 15
percent less than her male colleague. With 22 percent difference
Germany takes a sad lead when it comes to pay inequality – on the
management level it is even worse (33 percent). Only a few
countries have taken action against this inequity.
The purpose of the international action day for equal
opportunities and equal pay, which has already taken place in the
US and Belgium, is to create awareness of this problem – and soon
there will also be actions in Germany. The German Network of
Business and Professional Women has taken the initiative for the
Equal Pay
Day on 15 April 2008 where the network, together with many
other women’s organizations, will organize numerous actions.
One of the activities of the German Equal Pay Day will be
‘Red Bag’
– which was already put into practice last summer in connection
with the European year of equal opportunities. At that time the
initiative went rather unnoticed by the general public - I don’t
remember having heard about it before now.
» read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, equality, women, workers
File:
Equal Pay Day_DE.pdf
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 15:31
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (256 views and 0 comments)
Tags: citizens, democracy, diversity, equality, gay, immigration, LGBT, NGO
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 10:31
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (213 views and 0 comments)
However, the economic layers of governance have been eroded by
globalisation. There is an increased pressure on costs. If we
debate the reform of the European social model, we need to debate
the reform of globalisation. Economic globalisation increases
within and between countries.
How can we develop a politics of international
redistribution?
Henning proposed that we needed a politics of national and
international redistribution - we need to explore a global social
politics. This includes:... » read more ...
Tags: activists, activists, environment, equality, globalization, tax, welfare
Published Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 16:46
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (219 views and 0 comments)
See more of his... » read more ...
Tags: childcare, globalization, social dialogue, wages, welfare, women
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