Round table held on social inclusion

A round-table conference on social inclusion in the EU was held in October 2004, bringing together a range of interested parties. Participants exchanged views and good practice in areas such as labour market participation, income, social protection, education, social exclusion among children, immigrants, ethnic minorities and rural poverty.

A round-table conference entitled 'Social inclusion in an enlarged EU: new challenges, new opportunities' was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 18-19 October 2004. It was jointly organised by the current Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission and examined progress on achieving the goal set by the EU's Lisbon strategy (EU0004241F) of reducing poverty and social exclusion by 2010. This is the third such conference to have taken place and the first to be held after enlargement of the EU to 25 Member States in May 2004.

Delegates at the conference, who included representatives of policy-makers at EU, national, regional and local level, of the social partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), researchers and those affected by poverty and social exclusion, took part in panel discussions and workshops where exchanges of views and information took place.

The main focus of the conference was exchange of good practice and policy strategy in the following priority areas:

• participation in the labour market;

• income and social protection schemes;

• homelessness;

• preventing young people from dropping out of school early;

• social exclusion among children;

• immigrants and ethnic minorities; and

• the rural dimension of poverty.

Key recommendations in all of these areas were made following workshop discussions.

During the conference, the Commission outlined the main preliminary findings from its analysis of the 2004 national action plans for social inclusion drawn up by the 10 new EU Member States.

One of the main messages from the conference was that poverty and social exclusion remain major challenges for the enlarged EU. Delegates agreed that the priority now must be to build on and consolidate the progress that has been made so far, with a view to further increasing efforts to advance the process launched in Lisbon.

In the conference conclusions, the Dutch Secretary of State for Social Affairs and Employment, Henk van Hoof, stated that: 'It pays to invest in people who are at a great distance to the labour market ... work is the best remedy for poverty ... It is therefore essential that the EU provides tailor-made solutions vulnerable groups that lead them towards employment opportunities. On a local level, where organisations have one-on-one relationships with the people concerned, authorities should receive the necessary responsibilities and competences. The EU has to offer income security to those who need is most, but also wants to prevent people from becoming independent on benefits for long periods. Financial incentives can serve to stimulate local organisations, which implement labour politics, to get more people to work.'.

The next round table on social inclusion is to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in October 2005.