Social Europe – Current challenges and the way forward – Annual Report of the Social Protection Committee (2012)

The present report has been prepared as part of the mandate given to the Social Protection Committee (SPC) by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to monitor the social situation in the European Union and the development of social protection policies (art. 160 of TFEU). The Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion provided the necessary analysis and calculations used in the report with the extensive assistance and data provision of Eurostat.

This is the first annual report prepared by the Social Protection Committee (SPC) in the context of the reinvigorated social open method of coordination (OMC). It follows 12 years of active SPC work which produced a number of joint reports on social protection and social inclusion with the European Commission and advanced the mutual learning and policy exchange in the field of social protection and social inclusion.

This report makes use of a new instrument called the 'Social protection performance monitor' (SPPM) adopted by the SPC in October 2012 following the political endorsement of the EPSCO Council in the same month. One of the monitor's main objectives is to help the Committee identify the main social trends to watch and key positive social developments in the EU as part of its mission to monitor the social situation in the EU. These trends are identified on the basis of a dashboard of main social indicators which are monitored annually for statistically significant changes in the most recent year and with respect to 2008 as the base year for monitoring progress of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

After identifying the 'trends to watch', the SPC will implement an in-depth review (thematic review) of the leading causes and possible policy solutions on each trend