Social welfare paper sparks lively debate

Date: 26/09/1996

By Michael Mann

SOCIAL Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn has been forced to delay publication of a keenly-awaited follow-up paper on social protection policies until next spring because of the enormous response to his first consultation document.

The debate was launched last October to investigate ways of coping with an ageing population, while making

social welfare systems more “employment-friendly”.

A follow-up paper had been expected this autumn, but officials within Directorate-General V (social affairs) claim the initiative has been a “victim of its own success”.

Over the past 11 months, detailed papers have been flooding in from a majority of EU governments, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee, non-governmental organisations and the social partners.

The Commission has been surprised by the enthusiasm with which its efforts have been greeted.

Launching the consultation exercise last autumn, Flynn was careful to stress that it was “not an attempt to harmonise social protection in Europe, nor to cut standards”.

Officials reiterate that the Commission has no intention of straying into “legislative territory” on such a highly-sensitive issue.

“The object of the exercise is to keep everyone involved in talking about the challenges

we face, provide a forum to exchange ideas and experience, and discuss things in an informed and positive way,” said one official this week.

Given the current preoccupation with unemployment, most of the submissions have stressed the importance of making policies more employment-friendly by not discouraging people from re-entering the labour market.

A number have also suggested updating the coordination of different national systems. The last time this was done was in 1971, in a piece of legislation which, among other things, guaranteed mutual recognition of health care provisions for holidaymakers.

Another central theme of the exercise is how to make welfare provisions serve the long-term unemployed more effectively.

“No one has absolute answers on how to do this, but we want to provide a forum for discussion that has not existed until now,” said an official.

The final document will point to concrete examples of the approaches taken by various member states which might be relevant to the problems faced by other countries.

The Commission is keen for the debate to be viewed as a shared initiative to avoid charges that it is going beyond its remit.

The Irish presidency is planning seminars in the next two months on social security and gender issues and the future of the welfare state. Tomorrow (27 September), Flynn will attend a conference in Lisbon to gather ideas on how the Portuguese government can honour its electoral pledge to introduce minimum income legislation.

Flynn's staff claim the Commission's ability to offer such advice is a direct result of the social protection initiative.

Meanwhile, officials are trawling their way through a huge pile of paperwork in the hope of polishing up a final document by March.

Although they have already responded to the Commission's initiative, unions and employers have both asked to be consulted further on the Commission's follow-up before anything is released for public consumption.

Launching the debate last year, Flynn unveiled data suggesting that in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, there was “no guarantee of at least a minimum level of income support in all circumstances”.

The survey found that the Nordic countries tended to extend benefits to all citizens as of right, while the UK and Ireland were inclined to make flat-rate payments with a considerable use of means testing. Most other member states tended towards earnings-related insurance-based schemes.

It concluded that spending would continue to rise - although most member states were taking measures to ease the financial burden - because of “the impending demographic time bomb”.