Spidla: Nordic social model should serve as an example for Europe

Date: 17/03/05

The commissioner in charge of employment and social affairs has rejected criticism that defending Europe's social cohesion will hinder economic growth. Vladimír Spidla said that a good social policy would help the EU become more competitive, not prevent it from becoming so.

"People say very often 'yes, social policy is good, but first we need to make some money'," Spidla said. "But without a good social policy, there will be no money in Europe, no real competitiveness, because social policy is not a passive part of society, it is an active instrument."

Defending himself also against criticism from the left, the Czech commissioner insisted that the revised version of the Lisbon Agenda, which puts growth and jobs at the centre of EU's efforts to become more competitive, still has a strong social pillar - despite claims from centre-left European parties that it sacrifices social objectives in favour of the economy.

"The Lisbon Agenda has its social component," he said. "When we speak about jobs, this has a very important social component. In order to achieve the Lisbon targets - for instance 70% employment for certain categories - we need good social policies."

He said that although the centre-left deputies in the European Parliament had strongly criticised the revised version of the Lisbon Agenda for being too liberal-minded, their position had now evolved. "Last week the Socialists voted in favour of the Lisbon Agenda. It was supported by a large majority in Parliament so one can say that opinions have developed."

He insisted that the revised Lisbon Agenda maintained the equilibrium between economic and social concerns. "There are some very important problems to tackle and we need to concentrate at this stage on fewer objectives. The main ones on which we concentrate now are growth and - that has been stressed very strongly - employment. And that does not mean just jobs, but 'good jobs'."

Spidla said economic growth was not the final aim of the Lisbon Agenda. "Clearly, growth is important. Without growth, we have big problems. But in addition to this, we need good quality jobs, social cohesion and environmental standards.

"Our concept is not growth and poverty, but growth with which we want to eradicate poverty."

Spidla added that economic growth would not be possible without taking in immigrants. "Europe has always had immigration: what would Germany have been without the guest-workers? When four million men were killed in the war, four million others were mutilated and two million injured, without guest-workers, there would have been no economic miracle in Germany."

But he said immigration alone would not be sufficient to reverse the present demographic trend. "Even taking immigration into account, in 2030 we [EU] will have 21 million fewer workers."

Spidla acknowledged that the EU needed qualified workers but poured cold water on suggestions of setting up a system of green cards under which specialised immigrants would be brought in according to member states' needs.

Germany's plans to introduce such a green card system for IT specialists had failed, he said. "As a Czech politician at the time I was afraid that many of the Czech specialists would go to Germany. But they did not go."

Spidla said that "some people with good qualifications would still come to Europe, but this is not the solution". He added that what Europe needs is "an education system which is good and flexible. Talent and imagination are the most important elements for competitiveness in the long run". Europe could not resort to taking talents away from developing countries. "That would be a catastrophe [for these countries]. We need to improve and develop the qualifications of our own citizens," he said.

In addition, "some [countries] have no possibility to use immigration to compensate for the low rate of births, because they would simply need too many immigrants", he said, adding that such a massive intake of foreign workers could open other complicated societal problems. "It is very important to integrate them in our societies quickly, to put their skills to good use."

He said Europe needed to achieve a better balance between family life and work life and any solution to the ageing society challenge must combine immigration with higher birth rates in Europe.

Commenting on Europe's low birth rate, the commissioner said that, "in our society, having children involves a social risk. We need to change this situation".

He stressed that the situation was better in the Nordic countries, where professional and family life have been better reconciled, and that had led to "relatively higher birth rates".

The commissioner said he wanted to see the Nordic countries' achievements in social matters exported to the rest of Europe.

"Cannot the kindergarten system be exported? It can. Is it not possible to export a system for women to have the same level of education as man? It is. Is it not possible to eliminate any remaining indirect discrimination? It is. At the end of the day, Italians now produce cars as good as the Swedes…"

The European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír Spidla on EU social policy, the social component of the Lisbon Agenda and the Nordic social model.