News

The Enlargement Process - Citizens are Asking for Social Change

Representatives from the region stressed that to avoid mistakes from past enlargements, the overall approach towards the region should be more integrated and good progress should be rewarded according to the more-for-more principle. In these difficult times of crisis, when the social agenda easily falls victim to austerity measures, the EU needs to keep combating poverty and social exclusion through a more sectoral focus and to push for a more inclusive approach to policy-making on all levels.

This is why the DWBN insists on the full implementation of the provisions in the "Acquis Communautaire" and its social chapters and keeps advocating for the promotion of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Network supports greater participation of civil society organisations and social partners in the various stages of the accession process and calls for the Civil Society Facility to be geared towards strengthening the implementation of social reforms and combating social exclusion. Further, the issues of a growing informal sector, high unemployment and integration should be addressed through specially targeted programmes for the most vulnerable and those at most risk of poverty and/or social exclusion.