What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 EU 2020 Strategy in Poland Three processes with different institutional structures and mixed results Ryszard Szarfenberg EAPN POLAND

National Reform Programme – The Past What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 National Reform Programme – The Past NRP Main characteristics NRP 2011 Consultation without any institutional structure Joint statement signed by 7 ngos (incl. EAPN PL) No response and no effect at all NRP 2012/2013 Institutional structure was established - Interministerial Group for Strategy Europe 2020 with partners and ngos representation (incl. EAPN PL) Two ngos submitted detailed proposals and amendments NRP 2013/2014 Two ngos submitted detailed amendments Some were accepted, but majority was rejected First time we got official response with reasons why our proposals were not included Still very little impact on content IG started in March 2012 only one meeting just before adoption of NRP in late April

National Reform Programme – The Present What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 National Reform Programme – The Present One of the ngo members of Interministerial Group sent an official letter with one question on the role of social and economic partners in that group – only consultative or participative? In response coordinating ministry answered that Group works in two phases: 1) participatory, 2) consultative Coordinating ministry proposed new procedure in participatory phase – partners first propose themes and recommendations for NRP and ministries respond to partners’ input Partners accepted that and proposed six themes and recommendations to three of them (more on the way) Participatory – partners and ministries working together on the content of NRP; Consultative – when the first draft of the NRP is ready and the deadline is close; Six themes supported and agreed by partners are: employment of young people, cooperation between education and business, in-work poverty, energy and climate policy, disability pensions reform, good governance;

National Reform Programme – Summary What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 National Reform Programme – Summary From being outside of the process => being inside it as a one of the partners in Interministerial Group From being totally ignored => being heard and recognized as deserving official response and having active role in the process From having no effect on the content at all => having some effect on the content From having no influence on the process => having some impact on the process The future is uncertain: 1) risk of not achieving consensus between partners; 2) risk of not enough expertise for specific and realistic recommendations extensive work on consensus (employers organizations vs trade unions and ngos between them); Formulating specific recommendations requires much more expertise than preparing general statements

National Antipoverty Programme – The Role of Ex-Ante Condition What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 National Antipoverty Programme – The Role of Ex-Ante Condition Adoption of national antipoverty strategic framework is a ex- ante condition for ESF in new budgetary period EAPN PL in its amendments to NRP 2012/2013 proposed preparation of National Antipoverty Programme as an new task That task was not included until the next update (April 2013) but the process started from January 2013 There were no institutional structure at all, informal coordinator only (EAPN PL member) After designing structure of the document (goals and priorities) several ministries and ngos sent their input Working version was presented for official consultation Coordinator of the process was a person with very extensive experiences as an parliament member, social ministry official, and ngos activist (he is also a member of EAPN PL executive council) Official consultation which ended recently (EAPN PL sent 140 comments, amendments, proposals)

Social Inclusion and Antipoverty Goal in the next ESF Period What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 Social Inclusion and Antipoverty Goal in the next ESF Period Government set up Interministerial Group (without partners and ngos as a members) for coordinating work in the process of designing Partnership Agreement and Operational Programs Federation of Polish Ngos with several other federations and ngos (incl. EAPN PL) established Permanent Conference with a goal of improving ngos position in the next EU budgetary period (started in 2012 with document consisting 12 demands) For each OP Interministerial Group established working groups with a ngos as members We were member of the working group responsible for OP with a social inclusion and antipoverty goal Coordinating ministry responded to 12 demands with some ambiguity but ready to more open cooperation; In participatory phase of OP with antipoverty goal we sent 53 amendments, got response (18 were adopted fully or partially); We prepared and promoted guidelines for regions in the area of social inclusion and antipoverty goal, it is a part of Permanent Conference package of guidelines for regions

What Progress on Participation? What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 What Progress on Participation? National Reform Program – testing new institutional structure for participation, some successes but very limited results so far National Antipoverty Programme – process without institutional structure, informal coordination by EAPN PL member, very extensive participation, huge impact on content but unclear future after open consultation New Operational Programme with antipoverty goal – institutional structure designed for participation (working groups) and strong ngos mobilization (Permanent Conference), some promising results so far Participation of social ngos visible, but participation of people experiencing poverty and social exclusion very limited and only indirect (by some EAPN PL members) National Antipoverty Programme – informal coordination has drawbacks, especially when it comes to cooperation between ngos and ministries; they sent their input without cooperation, so some of ngos proposals might be rejected by ministries We put voices of the PEP in National Antipoverty Programme, but it was rather very small part of it.

What Progress on Poverty? What Progress on Poverty and Participation? EAPN WORKSHOP ON EU 2020 STRATEGY – 30/09/2013 What Progress on Poverty? Trends are clear – huge improvement from 2005 to 2009 and stagnation afterwards, but some worring increase in severe material deprivation from 2011 to 2012; 0,5% of total Polish population could means up to 190 thousand