Press Release: EU: European Economic and Social Committee: 2010 biennial conference on education to combat social exclusion

In Florence on 11 May 2010, president Mario Sepi called on President Barroso to produce new European legislation to combat social exclusion through education and training.

In Europe, social exclusion stops one person in four from exercising their fundamental rights: a quarter of Europeans are denied access to work, housing, healthcare, education, culture and sport. This is not just an outrageous injustice: it is also an unpardonable diseconomy for both the European economic system and the individual national systems. What country can do without a quarter of its population, especially at a time of economic crisis?