I. To what extent should new elements, if any, be incorporated into cohesion policy to support the growth and jobs agenda and the Lisbon process? Cohesion policy = Reduction of disparities, inequalities and social exclusion A. Regional disparities The causes of inequality are: - handicaps imposed by geographic remoteness, historic and political reasons or by more recent social and economic change, or a combination of all. - Why the pre-accession assistance and transfer of acquis communautaire regulations do not provide enough support to cope with the consequences of the change? 1.Social pillar of Lisbon agenda has to be reinforced by introducing: - EU Charter of Fundamental Rights- European Year to combat poverty and exclusion in 2010 Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform) stated that the social agenda has fallen victim to the growth-first approach of the Lisbon agenda. "The Commission has abandoned the social pillar of Lisbon," the Platform stated. In particular, it attacked the lack of any reference to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and questioned the idea of a European Year to combat poverty and social exclusion in 2010. "... what happens to the EU's commitment to achieve a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty before that date?" asked the NGOs. - definition of productivity and evaluation whether productivity growth alone is enough to eradicate poverty in the future. Although the ILO's Global Employment Trends report shows a small decrease in the rate of unemployment in the EU-25 between 2003 (9.1%) and 2004 (9.0%) Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany warned: "We will pay a high price at the end of the day if we continue believing that economic growth automatically results in an expanding job market." Is growth with equity the key? This is the question that should be answered in order to provide policy-makers with a roadmap as to the best ways to address the problem of working poverty. It integrates employment into poverty. In fact, the majority of the poor of working age are not idle, but work. However, their income from work is below the poverty line and they usually do not benefit from the other items that define decent work: social protection or representation rights (voice). It is not necessarily the absence of work that is the major challenge for improving living standards, but rather the absence of work that is sufficiently productive for earning a decent income. B. Equal opportunities- inequalities - We need more refined data, by estimating of working poverty by sector, in rural versus urban areas, as well as estimates of the incidence of working poverty among different demographic groups such as women and youth. 1.Generation and women men -Youth employment- new element A particular concern is the high level of youth unemployment across the area of CEEC (28.6%), which increased further in 2001 to almost twice the EU level. Questions: -Do new strategic guidelines take into consideration this aspect? -Which are the appropriate instruments to deal with it? Young women and men are the world's greatest asset for the present and future, but paradoxically they also represent a group with serious vulnerabilities. In recent years increasing global unemployment has hit young people the hardest and todays youth are faced with high levels of economic and social uncertainty. Too often, their full potential is not realized because they do not have access to productive and protected jobs. Young people are more likely to find them selves working longer hours under informal employment, intermittent (temporary, part-time, casual) work and insecure arrangements, which tend to be characterized by low productivity, low wages and limited labour protection. There can be no doubt that there is a link between youth unemployment and vulnerability; an inability to find a job creates a sense of exclusion and uselessness among youths and can heighten the attraction of engaging in illegal activities. In addition, an individual's previous unemployment experience has been proven to have implications for his future employment chances. From lack of work experience, to a deficiency in skill-specific training and education, the result for youth is long average job search times and high incidences of temporary and part-time work, often in positions not covered by labour legislation Rural unemployment- low pension- low income- rural poverty In most CEE countries, agricultural income has declined significantly since the beginning of transition. This has been particularly marked in Poland, Slovakia and Romania. Farm incomes, which before transition were at or above national wage levels, are now in many countries considerably lower than national wage levels. These low levels of agricultural income per labour unit translates into significant rural poverty. Recent research from the World Bank suggests that poverty as defined by the population below the poverty line is considerably more concentrated in rural areas in Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria. Particularly in Poland and Romania, reflecting very high levels of employment in agriculture combined with low productivity. In all candidate countries, current evidence would suggest that agricultural labour incomes are considerably lower than in the European Union, even when adjusted for purchasing power. C. Social exclusion Long term unemployment- migration Asociatia/The Association"Proeducatia Rromilor Europeni in Contextul Integrarii Euro-Atlantice si Mondiale"Vizitati pagina http://www.geocities.com/survivor1977roVisit the web page http://www.geocities.com/survivor1977ro __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpgUKB/pzNLAA/cUmLAA/RR.olB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 1% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/unulasuta.php *** Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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