The fight against poverty and exclusion is still a key challenge for EU. The Member States are committed to reinforcing the institutional mechanism adopting an integrated system, considering themes on social inclusion in national-level policies.

Promoting inclusion means to work in order to assure equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation and to guarantee unquestionable dignity and participation opportunities to all. All the citizens should not be left apart in the personal life and work but actively involved in their community and in the European context.

It also means to act with the aim of making the society truly inclusive and capable of adapting to correspond to the citizens’ concrete rights.

Even if there is an intrinsic solidarity which fully acknowledges the need of adaptations for people with mild disabilities in European societies, people with severe or multiple disabilities need more help in terms of human rights and inclusion. Many disabled people continue to suffer discrimination with regard to the lack of equal recognition before the law and justice. Member States have to remedy these deficiencies including electoral rights.

Compared to the average, people with disabilities have more chance of being poor; around 80 million people with disabilities are poor, including one million deaf people.

In line with what emerged during the European Year for Combating Poverty and social, we need to consider that it is impossible to reduce poverty without integrating people with disabilities in the labor market and to adjust policies supporting incomes in case of disability.

The current systems of education and training do not prevent the dropout among people with disabilities. Its high rate leads to greater social disadvantage and employment especially in this time of economic crisis.

Succeeding in the workplace is still very difficult for people with disabilities, but there are good examples that could show the possibility of a change involving all the EU countries in implementing non-discriminatory and inclusive policies.

An example of this success is the experience of Hungarian Ádám Kósa EPP deputy who oversaw the report on "European strategy on disability 2010-2020. 

An example of this success is the experience of Ádám Kósa, MEP of  PPE, author of the report on EU’s disability strategy 2010-2020.

An interesting interview with Ádám Kósa on problems that disabled people face is published on the European Parliament website here.

European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus

The publication gathers the results achieved by the trans-national staff of Italian, Bulgarian and Romanian researchers. It focuses on the activities held by the European Parliament and other EU institutions in relation to the main social problems in Italy, Bulgaria and Romania and the role of European parties through the study of the campaigns promoted on the occasion of the European elections.

This publication enables to deepen the new tool of democratic participation that from April 2012 will allow the citizens to directly begin the European legislative process: the "European Citizens’ Initiative".

For further information and for a copy of the book, plaese email: g.fiaccarini@sturzo.it.

Copertina

It can be read and downloaded here:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:065:0001:0022:EN:PDF

The year 2011 is dedicated to the people that give their spare time to others, to those working unpaid to improve the life of a person or the community, to all the people hoping for a more democratic and inclusive growth.

After long debates and thanks to the requests made by the associations working in the volunteering field, on 22nd of January 2010 the European Council published on the Official Journal the decision that stated: “Volunteering is one of the most important dimensions of democracy and active citizenship, where the European values such as solidarity and not-discrimination become a reality and for that reason will contribute to the harmonious development of European societies. "

More of 20% of European citizens are involved in volunteering activities and they consider it as a basic element of democratic life, that enables to foster social connections, to make a contribution to the welfare and, at the same time, acquiring new skills.
The European Year of volunteering aims at increasing the relationship between the organizations working on local and European level, in order to create a stronger and a larger network of solidarity, able to involve new sectors, such as, for example, sports.
A National Agency will coordinate all the planned activities, and will be the reference for any kind of information for the volunteer and the people who wish to undertake a volunteer experience.
The programme of events planned in the European offices and major cities of Member States, is crowded with appointments.
A team of volunteers along with a group of shifting volunteer reporters, like in a relay race, are going to spend 10 days meeting social operators and politicians in each country of the Member States. At the end they will publishing all articles and audiovisual services done around Europe on the media.
Four thematic conferences will be organized on the key issues of volunteering.
(The program is available at http://europa.eu/volunteering/it/home2).
Although the lack of social policies, the economic crisis involving all member states and the impact that this had on the citizens’ life and on the social organizations, the 2010 European year combating poverty and social exclusion and 2011 Year of Volunteering, demonstrate the will and the need, at European level, to fill a void of conscience and to restore a shared sense of cohesion and solidarity for the common wellbeing.

Elena Kirova (Bulgaria): "Sofia is a beautiful city. The streets are often covered with holes (that become craters in the winter months), traffic jams during business hours on Mon-Fri can be real bad, parking spots are a scarce, but what really makes it a horrible experience when driving on the streets of Sofia are the people who stay at the traffic lights waiting for the red signal to ambush your car and racket you for your money.
In this article I’m going to open a topic for a debate on an issue that affects a large percent of the drivers in Europe. It may at first sound insignificant, but as we go further into the issue, I believe we could find some general problems with social integration rooted in the following scenario.
This is how it usually happens:
1. A driver stops at an intersection.
2. A windshield cleaning “professional” comes to offer the service.
3. The driver politely or not so politely declines the service.
4. The cleaning professional performs the service.
5. The driver feeling intimidated and not wanting to enter a confrontation gives a small amount of money in return.
6. Cleaner accepts and repeats.
Many cities are already taking action against what is seen as pure form of racket and exploitation of minors. In Florence it is now illegal to clean the windscreens of cars waiting at traffic lights. The act of Florence city officials was prompted by citizens’ complaints of window-washers "becoming more aggressive, especially to women alone in their cars." The first patrol which resulted in 15 people being charged was led by Florence police Chief Alessandro Bartolini. "There are no more on the streets. Word has got around, apparently," Bartolini said.
The people that are performing this type of cleaning service fall in the poor and socially excluded category. In Bulgaria, the majority of them are Gypsies. For most of them it is their only source of income. If we take this venture out of their hands does it mean that we will exclude them even more from the society and make them poorer? 

Federica Chiezzi (Italy): As in Florence, also in Rome, from the 1st of November 2009, window-washers, jugglers and hawkers are strictly forbidden to walk through the city streets and offer any kind of services. The “first citizen” Gianni Alemanno issued and signed new measures to eliminate illegal services performed by those people which can both disturb and bother drivers. Alemanno set the imposition of a fine of 100 euro for those who don’t respect that ordinance.

Recently, the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights found Italy to have violated the rights of its Roma population. The Committee found Italy in violation of the prohibition on discrimination and violations of the rights of Roma people to adequate housing; social, legal and economic protection; protection against poverty and social exclusion; and the right of migrant Roma families to protection and assistance. The Committee said that Roma camps have been destroyed and their inhabitants illegally evicted and expelled from Italy, often without notice and without the option of alternative housing. Many camps in various regions throughout Italy have also been the target of arson or vandalism based on racial hatred. The perpetrators of these crimes are rarely prosecuted or even investigated by local authorities.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe announced the ruling in the case brought against Italy by the Geneva-based international human rights organization the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the Italian organization OsservAzione. The organizations accused Italy of violations of the Revised European Social Charter. The ground-breaking decision in COHRE v. Italy finds Italy guilty of policies and practices that have left Roma residents living in segregated and grossly inadequate housing conditions. The mass expulsion of non-Italian Roma who are citizens of other EU countries has increased dramatically in Italy since following the formation of a new national government in 2008.

Roma settlement in Torino, Italy (2008 © COHRE)

This decision will reverberate throughout Europe, as it establishes new jurisprudence confirming that the mass expulsion of migrants is a violation of the Revised European Social Charter,” said Bret Thiele, COHRE’s Senior Expert for Litigation and Legal Advocacy. “This is very relevant to the current situation of Roma in France, and the French government needs to take serious note of this as the recent evictions and deportations of Roma in France place the government in violation of the European Social Charter too.”

The Italian delegation to the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council reacted to the ruling, pledging to the Committee to “ensure the effective implementation of the rights deriving from the Revised European Social Charter for every individual, including for persons belonging to the Roma communities.” Salih Booker, COHRE’s Executive Director, said that “COHRE and its Italy-based partner, OsservAzione, will continue to monitor the housing rights situation of Roma in Italy to ensure that the Italian authorities live up to this commitment.”

France and Italy seem to be countries “under surveillance” in this period. A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Italy from 21 to 26 November 2010 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During its visit, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on the implementation of the recommendations it made to the authorities in its previous report of 2006 and discussed new issues that had emerged since. The delegation held meetings in Rome, Venice, Padua and Naples with representatives of all relevant ministries, public officials, human rights NGOs and minority groups. Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report in which it will make a fresh set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in the country. Among these, three will be revisited two years after the publication of the report as part of an interim follow-up procedure.

In the meanwhile the European Parliament – the elective institution of the European Union with a much higher level of political representation than the Council of Europe – is expressing a very similar position. The hearing by the Civil Liberties Committee on 30 November – 1 December brought together all those involved and affected by the EU's "Strategy on Roma inclusion". Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka has just drafted a report on the strategy and the issues involved. It formed a basis for much of the debate. France and Italy were criticised by Lívia Járóka herself and civil society organisations for their treatment of the Roma. Ms Marilisa Fantacci from French organisation "Collectif des Roms en Europe" reported that nothing had changed since the summer and Roma are still being expelled from France. "We wonder how in these conditions France can develop an inclusion strategy" she asked.

The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion is going to be concluded but the strategy on Roma inclusion will remain in the European political agenda.

Sources:

COHRE

Council of Europe

European Parliament

"Freedom is involvement" Italian folk-singer Giorgio Gaber used to sing. Involvement could also mean freedom and wish to play an active role within the public European sphere thanks a new participatory democracy tool. Our vote to the European Elections won't be anymore the exclusive way to participate to the European institutions’ life. The Lisbon Treaty (article 11 TEU and article 24 TFEU) introduces a new form of public involvement in European Union, the so called "European citizens initiative". This tool enables at least one million citizens who are nationals of a still undetermined number of Member States to call directly on the European Commission to bring forward an initiative of interest to them in an area of EU competence. The right to petition to the European Parliament differs substantially to the new "initiative". European citizens will be able to sign a political document to urge European Commission to prepare a law proposal.
It is now necessary to wait that European Institutions will define the operational aspects of this new instrument. Considered the importance of this new tool for citizens, civil society and stakeholders, the Commission carried out a broad public consultation on the basis of a green paper in order to seek the opinions of all interested parties on how the citizens' initiative should work in practice. The Commission adopted a proposal on March. This is the basis to begin negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council. The goal is the adoption of a specific Regulation. The effectiveness will also depend on the answers of this Regulation to various points that are still object of negotiations: minimum number of EU countries, minimum number of signatories per country, minimum age of signatories, form and wording, rules on collecting, verifying and authenticating, time limit for collecting, rules on transparency and a possible time limit for Commission response. The citizens initiative system should become operational during the first six months of 2011.

Waiting for a more detailed knowledge of the initiative and to its area of application, we would like to pay attention to the effects of this new tool on the European social issues. The aim of widening the European sphere of public debate is a priority. This aim could also be reached through this new participatory democracy tool. It could allow citizens to participate more intensively in the democratic life of the Union. European social issues are not really object of a political debate. Neither during the European Elections, as our previous researches underlined. And if social issues enter inside the electoral debate, they are treated in a negative way (immigration problems, xenophobic contents). There is not a constructive approach. To underline the absence of involvement and the gap between EU Institutions and citizens is not enough. It is necessary to change approach and to look for new tools of participation.
One of these could be, in a framework not so far from the direct democracy, the European citizens initiative. It is important for citizens, stakeholders, Ngo's and political European parties. Too many times the European political parties have demonstrated to be more national tan European. This is one of the weakest points of our European policy. As MEP Roberto Gualtieri said during a meeting with EMERGE researchers in May 2010, European political parties are just a little more than a sum of national parties. In his opinion, the initiative, that will probably collect signatures in at least nine Member States, could help European parties to create a trans-national debate that until now has been quite weak.
This is a wishful thinking we share, but other protagonists that stay outside of the EU institutions and that have less means and instruments than MEP, could become key actors. Ngo's, that in some cases have a strong network of members, could play a leading role mobilising people through the European citizens initiative. This method opens important opportunities for Ngo's or citizens movements facing social issues. It could be a starting point of a political debate that could also develop dialogue on common issues with European political parties. Social themes could become a confrontation ground between Ngo's and political parties. Also through the medium of the press, Ngo's and political parties – in some cases maybe together, in other cases maybe not – could fix the goal to make the European public opinion aware of specific issues and to urge citizens to sign.
European citizens initiative can really be a way to establish a better dialogue between citizens and EU institutions. The role of citizens and stakeholders of social milieu could in some particular key-moments increase their role. And European political parties, if they decide to transform themselves and to play a different role, could also have a benefit in terms of European added value.
This democratic instrument can be used as a strong invitation to propose law as European minimum social income in all 27 Member States. This reform, already approved by the European Parliament, could be supported with new strength through one million of signatures. We would like to quote Zero Poverty and Stand Up 2010, the European campaign lead by Caritas Europe, that is already acting using this new future tool.
One could ask if this instrument will be actually exploited by the European citizens. We can mention one Member State recently entered in the EU, Bulgaria. Given the relatively wide popularity of the right to petition in Bulgaria (for example, the website http://bgpetition.com, where different petitions are initiated), the EU citizens initiative is likely to gain strength as well. However, the initiative is still unpopular and ordinary people are unaware of its potential and difference with the petitions tool. In addition, a look at http://bgpetition.com shows that most petitions are signed by quite a low number of people (except for the petition in defense of Bulgarian education – more than 174 000 signatures).  The idea to collect signatures means to come back, although in different forms, to the idea of politics as involvement and participation. The word participation reminds us the referendum experience. In Italy, for instance, there is a strong tradition that continues, even if it is continuing with different participation degrees. In Bulgaria, the other European state mentioned, there is no tradition of holding referendums and, in fact, some political parties are currently raising the issue in the Bulgarian Parliament, claiming that referendum should become a popular tool in order to increase citizens’ participation and amend policies where necessary. Generally, referendums are not popular in the country and people are either unaware of their importance (even just as a way to express approval/disapproval of a given policy or proposal) or unwilling to participate (due to their perception that their opinion does not matter and does not actually affect policy-making). A referendum was held in the region of Burgas in 2008 on Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, which had met wide public disapproval before that, but the referendum itself failed and the turnout was extremely low (less than 30%). These experiences are an important term of reference because European citizens initiative requires a bottom-up approach. The declaration is expression of thousands of European citizens. That's why it will probably bring a major political strength. The effect of this tool could be positive to give nourishment to the civil society, but also for the European institutions often accused to deal only with technical regulations and financial issues. Europe could more and more become key reference for citizens rights, if Europe will be ready to listen and to properly transform into law the wishes of European citizens. The success of this instrument will depend on the political aptitude of the European Commission to listen and to fairly adopt the main contents of the "initiative". Even if we have to wait to evaluate the political aptitude of Barroso Commission in relation to this new instrument, European citizens initiative could be one of the factors offering an important contribution to face the democratic deficit that is still characteristic of the architecture of the EU institutions.

She has achieved a lot in raising awareness of the needs of disabled people and in putting their issues on the social agenda. In her capacity of goodwill ambassador of the campaign she says: "For now I’m an unprofessional volunteer, ambassador of the idea for social inclusion as a good tool to fight poverty. I’m doing this because during the past 20 years, if I’ve done something consciously, purposefully and using my full potential, it has been the fight for social inclusion of the social groups at risk. Fortunately, what is called social inclusion is the only viable option for the future. I think I have more to say and that I can help more people understand what it means to be socially excluded, to not have a deserved role within society. The most important message is that social inclusion is not a matter of charity, not a matter of good intentions, it is a matter of state policy.” 

What is Bulgaria doing in order to overcome poverty and to improve the inclusion of social groups at risk into the labor market?
The National action plan on employment 2010 pays special attention to the policies directed to social integration and active inclusion of the most vulnerable social groups into the labor market. The most significant governmental social program “From social aids to employment” of the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs will continue. The same holds for another quite popular program “Assistants to disabled people” , which aims at improving quality of life of people in disadvantaged position. The program provides employment opportunities for unemployed people who can take care of people in disadvantaged position in home environment. The institutional structure related to social protection of lowest-income and risk groups is also improving. For example in order to encourage Bulgarian employers to hire people with disabilities, the state subsidizes employers hiring people from this social group. One of the main measures to fight poverty is to continue encouraging the representatives of the Roma minority, the main group suffering from long-term unemployment, to enter and stay in the labor market. A number of programs exist targeting this social group n the field of improving qualifications and acquiring skills that help these people adapt more easily to the requirements of the labor market. The “Human Resources Development” Operational Program, one of the EU funded programs that are implemented in Bulgaria, also provides significant opportunities for funding similar activities.

He said that Romania and France have a special economic, social and political relation, but he also presented the Government's position against the policy of repatriation of Roma citizens initiated by France.
“Our position is very clear and simple. Without deviating from the obligations that Romania has for its citizens, there is a shared European responsibility to solve the Roma problems” said the premier, quoted in a Government’s press release.
The premier noted that it is important to observe the principle of free movement of European citizens within the Community and the European legislative framework that governs it and insisted that a European approach to Roma problems requires complementary national efforts in order to ensure social inclusion.
According to the quoted source, the Romanian government is considering an action plan for the social inclusion of Roma population, mobilizing European funds available for this purpose.
The press release states that the French Minister for Immigration, Integration and National Identity, Eric Besson, presented France's readiness to help solving Roma problems through a common approach at European level and to provide Romania with expertise in social inclusion projects for Roma.

The year 2010 is an important year in reforming the European policies on social inclusion. O series of instruments are reviewed giving an important role of social inclusion on the whole of social policies.
The New Revised European Social Agenda sets out the main initiatives and political actions which the EU is considering, and one of the priorities is "Fighting against poverty and social exclusion".
The fundamental instrument of social inclusion policies is the "EC Recommendation on active inclusion" that addresses the member states the recommendation to consider the following three complementary pillars in their strategies:
- policies of integration on a sustainable and qualitative labour market of all vulnerable people who can work;
- to provide an income sufficient for a decent life;
- to assure access to social services.
The period 2010 – 2012 will be based on the reconsideration of social policies to fit EU recommendations on the development of integrated programs for the development of social inclusion policies.