SOC: Dauderstädt on the annual review on Employment and Social Developments

“The developments of the past months and years are very threatening. If the gulf between the rich and the poor continues to widen, social peace will be in jeopardy”, declared the President of the CESI-Social Affairs Committee SOC Klaus Dauderstädt on December 19th in Berlin as a reaction to the European Commission’s first annual annual review on employment and social affairs. Dauderstädt warned the states against pursuing one-sided policies. ”It will not be helpful should governments drive their economies too hard. A high unemployment rate will only intensify the problems still further,” Dauderstädt warned. The report had shown that, in many countries of the European Union, particularly in North and West Europe, social inequality was on the increase and only being reduced in a few countries.

On the occasion of the presentation of the report, which appeared in this form for the first time and is based on two reports on employment and the social situation, Employment Commissioner László Andor had called for an integrated approach towards economic, employment and social policy. “The states must see to it that everyone who goes to work is able to live off what he earns. The Commission is right to demand 'more and better jobs‘. It is not just a matter of quantity but also one of quality“, said Dauderstädt. It would not exactly improve the social situation if an ever increasing number of jobs subject to social insurance contributions were dispensed with in favour of ones offering precarious conditions.

The European Commission is also demanding - not least in view of the extra burdens resulting from the crisis - carefully-targeted and efficient measures from its member states. “Such measures are, however, only possible if the governments continue to have the necessary leeway for taking appropriate decisions. If individual countries are condemned by the European Union and the IWF to undertake enormous endeavours to cut back on spending without a political girdle to provide those countries with support and a perspective for the future, then even the most well-intentioned advice is useless,” according to Dauderstädt. The countries in the South of Europe in particular need to be shown by the Union a path by which their debt problems may be overcome and, at the same time, a greater social balance can be created. Further information and the full report may be found on the websites of the European Commission.