Unelected bureaucrats in the European Central Bank and the European Commission, who have no mandate, are undermining the European Social Model, the Director of Social Justice Ireland (SJI) warned at his organisation’s annual policy conference at Croke Park.
Describing the situation as, “unjust, unfair and indefensible,” Fr Sean Healy said it is wrong that, “a core element of the EU should be undermined in this manner by people and institutions with no mandate to do so.”
Acknowledging that the European Social Model must be adjusted to make it more appropriate for the 21st century, he said that is, “no justification for it to be undermined.”
The SJI conference was attended by more than 100 people from all over Ireland and it addressed the topic, Does the European Social Model have a future?
Speakers from Ireland, Belgium and the UK addressed the challenges that are currently faced by this model and identified where it might be more appropriately developed or strengthened for the needs of the 21st century.
One conference contributor called for a basic income, that he warned is necessary if the Eurozone is to secure a just and fair future for all its citizens.
Another contributor warned that pro-cyclical policies that serve to deepen the recession and undermine the European Social Model are being promoted.
The SJI presentation called for a national debate involving all stakeholders on the level of services and infrastructure Irish people want, and on how such development could be financed and delivered.
Sean Healy, Brigid Reynolds and Michelle Murphy of Social Justice Ireland argued in their paper that, “The primacy given to the market by so many politicians, analysts, policy makers and commentators has led to the present hugely unbalanced development which undermines the European Social Model by paying billions to unsecured unguaranteed bondholders while essential services are eroded and infrastructure is being run down.”
They also outlined proposals to ensure the European Social Model should develop in a manner that is fit for purpose in the 21st century. These proposals covered areas such as income, work, participation, sustainability, education, health, accommodation, culture and social capital.
In her address, Professor Ide Kearney of the ESRI suggested there are two key challenges that must be addressed if Ireland is to have any positive outcome to its present difficulties. These are its very high levels of debt, and unemployment.
“Ireland is being forced to implement pro-cyclical policies which serve to deepen the recession. If growth were to prove less than assumed by the Department of Finance, it would not be sufficient to stabilise the Debt to GDP ratio before 2015. Ireland is in danger of a lost decade,” she warned.
Professor Tony Fahey, Head of Social Policy at UCD, underlined that the Beveridge Report had first been published in Britain in 1942, in the middle of a war.
“Yet Beveridge was convinced that what was needed at that time was radical change. What he presented was a noble but attainable vision of how peacetime society should be organised. Today we are at a very difficult moment but perhaps it is the opportune time to re-imagine the European Social Model,” Professor Fahey suggested.
Professor Philippe Van Parijis of the University of Louvain argued that if Europe, especially the Eurozone, was to reject a race to the bottom, then it would have to introduce a guaranteed basic income for all its citizens, which, he indicated would be set at appropriate levels in different countries.
This, he claimed, would eliminate dependency traps and ensure that work always paid.
He emphasised the need for all groups in society to develop a common ethos of contribution to the common good.
Anna Coote from the New Economics Foundation in London outlined the need for a major transition to an economy that serves the interests of people and the planet, rather than the other way around.
She identified three key areas in which Europe needs major change:
- Growing the core economy; the human resources that comprise and sustain people's everyday lives but which for the most part are unpaid and undervalued;
- In the organisation and distribution of paid and unpaid work; and
- In moving from cure to prevention in order to ensure the development of a just and sustainable world.
This would enable services to be delivered in a much more sustainable manner that would involve all service providers and users in securing their development together.