The year 2010 has been designated the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, This will provide an opportunity for Governments and all stakeholders, EU wide, to review progress made since 2000 and plan for a further decisive impact on poverty in the decade ahead.
Ireland has had a leading part in the development of this EU role. The EU Poverty programmes were initiated by the first Irish commissioner, Patrick Hillery in the 1970s. Ireland put forward proposals, accepted by all Member States, on policy coordination and exchanges of knowledge, experience and best practice, in relation to social inclusion (Treaty of Amsterdam) and the modernisation of social protection, and for the Social Protection Committee that oversees the process (Treaty of Nice).
The “open method of coordination” process is greatly assisting all Member States, including Ireland, in modernising their systems, within their own economic, social and demographic constraints, but coordinated on the basis of common objectives, sound analysis, comparative evaluations of progress, and EU wide best practice.
The open method of coordination as it applies to social protection involves developing clear analyses of the nature of current challenges and emerging issues, data bases and surveys to measure progress being made in meeting the common challenges in relation to social protection being faced by Member States, a strategic framework for National Action Plans that set down the objectives to be achieved and the type of measures required to achieve them, a set of common indicators to measure progress in achieving the intended outcomes, comparative evaluations of the progress being achieved by Member States, exchanges of best practice so that Member States can learn for each other the most effective ways of achieving real progress
Each Member States on the basis of the agreed framework draws up a report every 3 years on strategies for social inclusion, pensions, health and long term care, which includes a report on progress made during the previous 3 year period. The reports are geared towards assisting Member States in meeting the commitments made by the European Council at Lisbon in 2000 to work to achieve greater social cohesion and to make a decisive impact on poverty by 2010. A Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion is prepared by the EU that analyses progress being made across the EU and in each Member State.
These policy developments have resulted in major gains for Ireland. These include a better trained/educated workforce (European Social Fund) and substantially increased employment participation.
The modernisation and simplification of the EU regulations for social security which is currently underway, underpinned by a system of electronic data exchange between Member States, will ensure speedier processing of claims and will benefit citizens and administrators alike. The open method of coordination and, in particular, the EU Year (2010) for combating poverty and social exclusion will greatly assist Member States, including Ireland, in modernising systems of social protection and promoting social inclusion, especially in meeting the challenges that arise from the current severe recession.