Reactions to the Commission

1

• Reactions to the Commissions Report and
  proposals for the December Council
• Roshan Di Puppo, Director of the Social Platform
• EEB seminar Reviewing the EU Sustainable
  Development Strategy
• Brussels, 16 November 2007

2
Reactions to the Progress Report

• Not a strategy but a catalogue of existing
  policies
• The report for the social objectives is
  incomplete and does not add anything to the work
  already done in the social field (i.e. open
  method of coordination on social protection and
  social inclusion)
• Multitude and unclear objectives makes it
  difficult to assess progress
• Ideally a progress report should identify the
  objectives, assess progress made (or not),
  provides analysis and make recommendations
• Lack of recommendations
• The December summit should have helped preparing
  the Spring Summit but the report does not make
  any link to the Lisbon strategy
• No evaluation of stakeholders participation
• ? The report confirms the weakness of the EU SDS

3
What is the added value of the strategy?

• Promoting a new ethic in policy making?
• growth and jobs as dominating dogma (i.e.
  Lisbonisation of all EU policies and of
  national policies)
• A missed opportunity for the EU (internationally
  and nationally)
• Strengthening social objectives?
• Risk of oversimplification of social challenges
• Stimulating an integrated approach?
• Lack of transversal approach (i.e. services of
  general interest, public procurement)
• Mobilisation of actors to deliver on objectives?
• Social actors are working less on sustainable
  development since 2005
• Too little links and references to known
  processes (i.e. agenda 21, ecological footprint,
  index of human development, alternative to GDP
  etc)

4
Social Platform's approach to the Dec/Spring
Summit

• Content The Lisbon strategy needs to be revised
• Support of recent presidencies and of the EP
• Campaign targeting heads of state and of
  government and starting in December
• Annual conference Social NGOs (getting) ready
  for the post-Lisbon (Brussels 26 November 2007)
• Process More works needs to be done on the
  governance side of European strategy
• Soft policies coordination v.legislation
• Democratic challenges what role for parliaments?
• Multi-level of governance how to mobilise civil
  society at all levels?
• ? Common campaign with ETUC and EEB ?

5

• www.socialplatform.org