The beginning of 2011 coincided with the inauguration of the «European semester», one of the main novelties of the economic and social governance of the European Union, and with a further acceleration in view of the reorganization of the public accounts and the introduction of structural reforms. In many respects it suggests a potential «Germanization» of the Eu and its member countries. In the present number of Observatory Europa attention is given to these first steps of the new European strategy in economic and social matters (under the name of «Europe 2020»). It is followed by references to other central themes in the European debate: the revision of the Lisbon Treaty with the aim of institutionalizing the European Financial Stability Fund (Efsf); the state of the process for putting into law the new policy on working hours and the policy on parental leave; and the most important passages of the European agenda for the coordination of schemes of social protection and protection of the Roma. As always, we indicate a series of readings for those who want to know more about social Europe.only subscribers can see the full article

In June 2010, the Council of Europe adopted the Strategy Europe 2020, the new ten-year plan for creating an «intelligent», «sustainable» and «inclusive» growth in the member countries of the Eu. The article recalls the recent developments in the implementation of the new governance. In the social sphere, the overall picture seems alarming. With the crisis, all the Council of Europe’s priorities and the legislative agenda of the European Commission seem concentrated on economic governance. This number of the column recalls the features of the new Pact for the Euro plus, and the European Parliament’s intervention on the coordination of economic policy. The Eu’s action is taking form in a context of union resistance to the multiplication of austerity plans in the Eu. At the same time, fundamental rights too are frequently at the centre of debate. This number of Observatory Europa underlines the evident risks of the European institutions, and so the national governments too, entering a spiral of austerity policies that may already be leading to a further reduction in social rights, with the risk of worsening the outlook of a feeble economic recovery.only subscribers can see the full article

The European Union’s new strategy, Europe 2020, offers an integrated and innovative response to the economic and social challenges that the economic crisis has highlighted or worsened. Proposed and adopted during the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, Europe 2020 places the reduction of poverty and exclusion as one of the Union’s priorities and defines a quantitative aim to be reached before the end of the decade. To support this commitment and make it credible, the European Commission has proposed a flagship initiative, the European Platform to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, one of whose tasks will be to appeal to social innovation to find adequate responses to social risks old and new. only subscribers can see the full article