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Employment social affairs KE-AQ-04-001-EN-C 0405 European Commission Joint report on social inclusion Social security & social integration 2004 Joint report on social inclusion 2004 T409701ENrefl 22/11/04 13:32 Page 1 Joint report on social inclusion Social security and social inclusion European Commission Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs Unit E.2 Manuscript completed in May 2004 2004 Document drawn up on the basis of COM (2003) 773 final. If you are interested in receiving the electronic newsletter "ESmail" from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs, please send an e-mail to empl-esmail@cec.eu.int. The newsletter is published on a regular basis in English, French and German. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004 ISBN 92-894-7989-2 © European Communities, 2004 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium P RINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE - FREE PAPER 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive summary 5 Introduction 9 PART I – The European Union 15 1. Social Inclusion – the EU situation 15 2. Key trends and new and emerging challenges arising from the NAPs/Inclusion 31 3. Strategic approaches adopted in the NAPs/inclusion (including targets) 39 4. Key policy approaches for objective 1.1. 'Promoting employment' 45 5. Key policy approaches for objective 1.2. 'Promoting access to resources, rights, goods and services' . 53 5.1. Social protection systems . 53 5.2. Housing and basic services 59 5.3. Access to health care 64 5.4. Access to education 67 5.5. Access to culture 72 5.6. Access to justice . 74 5.7. Access to sport and leisure . 75 5.8. Access to transport . 77 6. Key policy approaches for objective 2. 'Preventing the risks of exclusion' . 78 6.1. Promoting e-inclusion 78 6.2. Preventing and tackling over-indebtedness 82 6.3. Preventing and tackling homelessness . 84 6.4. Preserving family solidarity . 86 7. Key policy approaches for objective 3. 'Helping the most vulnerable' 90 7.1. Promoting the integration of people facing persistent poverty 90 7.2. Eliminating social exclusion among children 105 7.3. Promoting comprehensive actions in favour of areas marked by exclusion 109 8. Key policy approaches for objective 4. 'Mobilising all relevant bodies' . 112 8.1. Promoting the participation of people suffering exclusion 112 8.2. Mainstreaming the fight against exclusion 114 8.3. Promoting dialogue and partnership 122 4 9. Gender mainstreaming . 126 10. Use of indicators 131 11. Identification of examples of good practice . 136 PART II – The Member States . 149 BELGIUM 150 DENMARK 154 GERMANY 158 GREECE 162 SPAIN……………………………………………………………………………………….167 FRANCE 172 IRELAND 177 ITALY……………………………………………………………………………………….182 LUXEMBOURG 187 THE NETHERLANDS 192 AUSTRIA . 196 PORTUGAL . 200 FINLAND 205 SWEDEN . 210 UNITED KINGDOM . 214 Statistical annex to the Joint report on social inclusion . 219 5 E XECUTIVE SUMMARY Overall assessment and key conclusions A renewed political commitment The Lisbon European Council of March 2000 asked Member States and the Commission to take steps to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by 2010. It also agreed that Member States should co-ordinate their policies for combating poverty and social exclusion on the basis of an open method of co-ordination combining common objectives, national action plans, common indicators with the aim of promoting more ambitious and effective policy strategies for social inclusion. In this context Member States have prepared a second generation of National Action Plans against poverty and social exclusion (NAPs Inclusion). These constitute a strong political acknowledgement, three years after the Lisbon Summit, of the continuing challenge to ensure social inclusion across the European Union. They represent a renewed commitment to the Union's social goals and a reiteration by Member States that modernisation of the economy should go hand in hand with efforts to reduce poverty and fight against exclusion. They underline that this should be the case even at a time of economic constraints and difficulties. The NAPs inclusion are an important contribution to the modernisation of the European social model. In this approach, relatively high levels of investment in policies to promote social inclusion and social cohesion are recognised as also making an important contribution to achieving sustainable economic and employment growth. This view is reinforced by the fact that the most socially progressive countries within the Union are also among the most economically advanced. However, in pursuing economic growth, it is clear from the NAPs/inclusion that those countries starting from a lower level of development are also giving priority to social development and recognise this as an integral part of achieving economic as well as social progress. Thus it is clear that relatively high levels of social investment are making and will continue to make a significant contribution to the achievement of the Union's overall strategic goal of becoming, by 2010, "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion". This emphasises the mutually reinforcing role of social, employment and economic policies, the importance of which is highlighted by the Lisbon Strategy. A still worrying background of poverty and exclusion Despite an overall improvement since 1995, the numbers affected by relative income poverty are still very significant with more than 55 million people or 15 % of the EU population living at risk of poverty in 2001. More than half of them lived persistently on low relative income. Across the Union there are considerable differences in the severity of the problem. For instance, the overall risk of poverty ranged in 2001 between 10% in Sweden and 21% in Ireland. In Southern countries, as well as in Ireland, poor people not only benefit comparatively less from the overall prosperity of their respective countries, but also are more likely to be subject to more persistent forms of poverty and deprivation. The risk of poverty tended to be significantly higher for particular groups such as the unemployed, single parents (mainly women), older people living alone (also women mainly) and families with numerous children. A particular risk of poverty and social exclusion is faced by young people deprived of sufficiently solid skills to get a firm grip on the labour market. In 2002, almost 19% of the 6 people aged between 18 and 24 had exited the school system too early and were not following any training. Also children are in a vulnerable situation. They tend to experience levels of income poverty that are higher than those of adults (19% in 2001), and material deprivation in the early years may affect negatively their development and future opportunities. A particular concern arises when children are living in jobless households, without almost any links to the world of work (10% of all children in the Union, in 2002). The eradication of poverty and social exclusion requires further steps Given this context of continuing high levels of poverty and social exclusion the importance of achieving the Lisbon aim of making a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by 2010 should not be underestimated. What has already been achieved by some countries in terms of social development needs to be built on even further. Other countries need to aspire to the benchmark set by the most successful and to progressively close the gap. The commitment to make such progress is evident from a number of positive strategic developments in the second generation of NAPs Inclusion.: • The new NAPs are generally broad in scope, reflecting the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and exclusion and covering a wider range of policy fields, notably the provision of basic services like lifelong learning, health, and housing. They also better reflect the diversity of national strategies and the different degrees of development of social protection systems. • There is a clear effort on the part of a majority of Member States to set quantitative targets for the reduction of poverty and social exclusion. Others have set quantified intermediate targets which nevertheless can serve to lend more ambition to policy and to facilitate monitoring of the NAPs. • Many Member States have significantly strengthened their institutional arrangements for mainstreaming poverty and social inclusion into national policy making. There is also much greater emphasis on extending this process to regional and local levels. • The process of encouraging the participation of key stakeholders of civil society (NGOs, social partners and business community) in the preparation of the NAPs has been improved. This should strengthen the relevance of the NAPs and the Nice objectives as a reference tool for national policy making. However, while real progress has been made, it should also be noted that more needs to be done, in particular: • A truly multidimensional approach will require further attention to issues such as housing, lifelong learning, culture, e-inclusion, and transport. • The setting of targets needs to be developed further so that targets are increasingly specific, quantified and ambitious. • More emphasis should be put on achieving and monitoring the efficiency and quality of measures designed to tackle poverty and social exclusion. • The progress made in mainstreaming social inclusion through strengthening institutional arrangements needs to be further deepened, particularly to ensure that social inclusion goals be borne in mind in setting overall expenditure priorities. 7 • The increased participation of civil society must be extended beyond the preparation of the NAPs to their implementation and monitoring. • More needs to be done by Member States to ensure that there is a consistent link between social, economic and employmentl policies so that they are mutually reinforcing. Overall, progress will critically depend on how Member States translate the strategic ambitions set out in their NAPs/incl into concrete actions to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable people. It is also crucial that the EU economies return fast to a trajectory of sustainable economic growth. Six key priorities Taking into account the diversity of the NAPs Inclusion 2003-2005, the Member States are urged to give particular attention, over the course of the next 2 years, to the six following key policy priorities. These are especially relevant in the context of a continuing uncertain global economic and political climate: 1. Promoting investment in and tailoring of active labour market measures to meet the needs of those who have the greatest difficulties in accessing employment; 2. Ensuring that social protection schemes are adequate and accessible for all and that they provide effective work incentives for those who can work; 3. Increasing the access of the most vulnerable and those most at risk of social exclusion to decent housing, quality health and lifelong learning opportunities; 4. Implementing a concerted effort to prevent early school leaving and to promote smooth transition from school to work; 5. Developing a focus on eliminating poverty and social exclusion among children; 6. Making a drive to reduce poverty and social exclusion of immigrants and ethnic minorities To ensure progress on these policy priorities and towards the overall objectives, it will be essential to strengthen the evaluation procedures by further developing indicators and other monitoring mechanisms at the national and EU levels. In this context, it is important to continue to develop both the EU and the national statistical capacity in order to support the measurement and analysis of all key dimensions of social inclusion. Keeping the momentum ahead In order to keep up the momentum of the positive developments evident in the NAPs until the assessment of the open method of co-ordination for fighting poverty and exclusion, which will take place in 2005, Member States and the European institutions should: • continue to promote the mobilisation and participation of all stakeholders from civil society as well as the marginalised persons themselves in the implementation and monitoring of the NAPs/inclusion 2003-2005 and ensure greater visibility of the NAPs/inclusion as a tool for encouraging political debate and support for national strategies 8 • ensure that the inclusion and employment strategies are implemented in a consistent and mutually reinforcing way and that a good interaction is ensured between the different components of the upcoming streamlined social protection process ; • ensure that the social inclusion priorities identified in the NAPs are reflected in the mid-term review of the Structural Funds and in the strategic orientations for their future after 2006; • take full account of gender issues and the increasingly significant issue of exclusion among immigrants and ethnic minorities; • maintain the efforts to develop the commonly agreed indicators or, where appropriate and with a complementary role, national indicators for the monitoring of national policy targets, with a view to facilitating the assessment of the achievement in reducing poverty and exclusion in 2005 • make full use of the pool of good practices already displayed by the NAPs/inclusion, by intensifying the process of exchange of best practice by ensuring effective dissemination of learning and by supporting this through by EU funding programmes such as EQUAL or the Community Action Programme to combat social exclusion; • promote the progressive phasing in of the candidate countries into the overall process, based upon the forthcoming Joint Inclusion Memoranda (JIMs) and upon the adoption of national action plans for the new Member States in 2004; • ensure that the Union's social inclusion goals are reflected during the course of the preparation of and the follow up to the next Spring European Council, and in particular that there is consistency between such goals and the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines and the European Employment Strategy. The future of the social inclusion process This report, on the basis of an analysis of the NAPs Inclusion, identifies key trends and challenges across the Union and good practice and innovative approaches of common interest. It assesses progress made towards meeting the Lisbon objective for poverty eradication and maps out the policy agenda for the future EU social inclusion process in a context which is set to change radically. The process will, from 2004, have to take account of the accession of 10 new Member States where the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion are often sharply different. By 2005, the social inclusion process will have reached its mid-point and an evaluation of the work carried out up to that date will be undertaken as part of the preparation for the streamlining of EU-level social protection/social inclusion processes. From 2006 onwards, it will form part of the new streamlined approach as proposed by the Commission in May 2003 and endorsed by the Council in October 2003. 9 I NTRODUCTION Purpose and structure of the report The present report assesses progress made in the implementation of the open method of co- ordination, sets key priorities for urgent action and identifies good practice and innovative approaches of common interest to the Member States. It aims at promoting more ambitious and effective policy strategies for social inclusion through mutual learning. It draws extensively from the National Action Plans for social inclusion 2003-2005, that all Member States submitted in July 2003. The report is intended to provide the basis for the Joint Report on social inclusion that the Commission and the Council will present to the Spring European Council of 2004, as a key step in the periodic assessment of progress towards the social and economic goals defined by the Lisbon strategy. The focus of the report is on policies and strategies implemented by Member States in combating poverty and social exclusion, and therefore promoting greater social inclusion. It highlights examples of good practice in several policy domains, on the basis of indications and information provided in the NAPs/inclusion for the period 2003-2005. It is not the purpose of this report, nor of the NAPs/inclusion, to present a general description of how national social protection systems are organised or what impact such systems as well as policies in other domains have had on social cohesion. Therefore, the report will tend to privilege recent action and may neglect more structural policies or institutions that concur in a decisive manner to promote social inclusion. For this reason, references to Member States in the text of the report cannot be interpreted as exhaustive, in the sense that they will highlight examples of recent policy action, while disregarding those cases where similar policies exist for long. In order to provide the necessary context information, the report starts by analysing the key features and trends as regards social inclusion in the EU. This analysis is carried out in a comparative framework, on the basis of the set of commonly agreed indicators endorsed by the Laeken European Council. The report then moves to a description of the main challenges as perceived by the Member States in their NAPs/inclusion, on the basis of which it is possible to set a policy agenda for the Union over the period covered by the Plans (2003- 2005) in the form of a concise list of six key priorities, taking into account the diversity of initial situations and of social systems. The report further assesses how Member States are translating the EU common objectives into national strategies to combat poverty and social exclusion. This role of the report is of special significance given that the NAPs/inclusion 2003-2005 were expected to bring out significant improvements as regards the multidimensionality, the coherence and the ambition of national strategies. The experience gained with the first series of NAPs/inclusion as well as the setting of national targets, as requested by the Barcelona European Council, should be of considerable help here. Throughout the report, frequent use is made of the expressions "poverty", "social exclusion " and "social inclusion". For ease of reference, the following definitions are given 1 : 1 These definitions are intended to complement and reinforce the understanding of poverty and social exclusion which is reflected in the common objectives and commonly agreed indicators which under pin the open method of co-ordination. . Employment social affairs KE-AQ-04-001 -EN- C 0405 European Commission Joint report on social inclusion Social security & social integration 2004 Joint report. in July 2003. The report is intended to provide the basis for the Joint Report on social inclusion that the Commission and the Council will present to