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A Social Contract for the 21st Century: Reform Leaders at Work
MODERNIZING THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL INITIATIVE
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Pro-Reform NGOs and other Civil Society Leaders
Launch Broad Debate on European Social Model
Meeting in Brussels, the heads of 10 groups from seven EU countrie issue a
Manifesto outlining ‘A Social Contract for the 21 st Century’
Brussels, 28 September, 2004
Meeting in Brussels, the heads of 10 pro-reform, pro-growth NGOs from seven European Union member states endorsed reform efforts underway in Germany and the Netherlands and called on European leaders to take urgent steps to prevent the European Social Model from collapsing under mounting demographic and economic pressure.
Lisbon Council Executive Director Ann Mettler says “The fact is, our social model isn’t very ‘social’ any more. Look around and what do you see? Nineteen million unemployed in the EU-25, a disproportionate number of whom come from underprivileged groups: the old, the young, women, low-skilled workers and immigrants. Nowhere in the developed world are so many groups of people so consistently discriminated against and prevented from participating in the labour market.
“Public finances are rudderless in many countries, with our politicians recklessly and opportunistically piling on more debt in order to service the ever-growing caste of people who have become dependent on government handouts. They are seemingly oblivious to the intolerable burden they are imposing on future generations. Why are we aware of environmental sustainability while ignoring the need for fiscal sustainability? Do we care more about our trees than about our children? How can we pretend we are building a knowledge-based society while watching silently as our under-funded schools and universities drop dramatically in international rankings?”
Adds Paul Hofheinz, president of the Lisbon Council: “It’s not enough to tell people they are going to have to work longer and can expect fewer handouts, though this is true thanks to demographic and other trends. Instead, we need to re-open the whole question of the social contract, looking courageously at the way we define the rights and responsibilities of the individual to the government and of governments to individuals. We need to define a new social contract, one based on 21 st century economic reality and reflecting 21st century economic opportunity. We need to acknowledge that our current social model – and the mountain of assumptions that comes with it – has grown hideously out of date and desperately needs to be modernized. Special interests need to recognize that asking for more and more will only give them less and less. We call on all Europeans who believe in a better future to openly support governments that stand up for sustainable finances, full employment and a healthy economy. We all have a stake in seeing our children well educated, our pension system properly funded and our job market healthy enough to provide work for all able-bodied citizens. It’s time that we come together to modernize the social model we cherish – not to destroy that model, as some say, but to preserve it so that it might be there for future generations to enjoy as well.”
As a first step towards defining a new social contract, the Lisbon Council convened an extraordinary summit on 28 September of pro-reform leaders in Brussels. In a series of meetings, the participants analyzed the unfolding social situation in Europe, and jointly signed a decree setting out the principles for A Social Contract for the 21 st Century.
The manifesto sets out four key principles around which a renewed social contract could be written: 1) full employment and job creation, 2) life-long learning and improved education, 3) innovation and opportunity and 4) sustainable public finances.
Panelists were Francesco Grillo of Vision, Martin Jahn, Deputy Prime Minister of Czech Republic and Tjark de Lange, President of Young Entrepreneurs of Europe, Netherlands.
Among those taking part as observers in the Modernizing the European Social Model Initiative were Berglind Asgeirsdottir, deputy secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, and several top EU diplomats and journalists, as well as analysts from the European Commission and leading public figures committed to reform in EU member states.
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