The Social Platform, of which AGE is a member organisation, has addressed a letter to Commisison Vice-President Kyrki Katainen to inquire about the future of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Social Platform raises its concern that the Europe 2020 Strategy will only be reviewed by the Commission after finding ways of bringing it in line with the Commission’s proposed investment plan. The Social Platform considers that this should be the other way round.
The European Commission launched a mid-term evaluation of the Europe 2020 Strategy in March 2014, followed by a public consultation in which AGE, AGE members and the Social Platform took part. The results of the consultation were published in March 2015, but the announced discussion on how to align the Europe 2020 Strategy and the European Semester on the social objectives was postponed until the end of 2015. However, the commitments on poverty reduction and inclusive employment are not fulfilled and the corresponding indicators are below their 2009 level. Therefore, the Social Platform considers that a review of the Strategy’s methods and functioning is urgently needed.
In the letter, the Social Platform asks three questions on the rationale behind the postponement of the Europe 2020 review, the path that the Commisison intends to follow on the social objectives of the Strategy and the inconsistencies of the Strategy with the proposed investment plan.
For more information, please contact Philippe Seidel at the AGE Secretariat: philippe.seidel@age-platform.eu
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