European Pillar of Social Rights Contribution to the consultation process Combat Poverty, Insecurity and Social Exclusion Service Veerle Stroobants Veerle.stroobants@cntr.be 02/2012.31.62

Combat Poverty, Insecurity and Social Exclusion Service an independent service established by all governments and parliaments of Belgium in order to evaluate the effective exercise of the fundamental rights, also for people living in poverty based on a profound dialogue process with people living in poverty and professionals in various domains which results every two year in a report with conclusions, analyses and policy recommendations for which a legal follow-up is ensured www.combatpoverty.be - www.luttepauvreté.be

Fight against poverty, social exclusion and inequalities = guaranteeing the effective exercise of fundamental rights the fight against poverty is more and more about obligations and conditions, favours and inferior/derived rights. f.e. the attribution of the subsistence allowance is linked to a contract evaluate the impact of policy measures on the respect of fundamental human rights, especially for people living in poverty: horizontal social clause (article 9 of the Treaty of the functioning of the EU)

Social policy should be strengthened: social protection should be seen as an investment and not as an economic cost European budgetary policy is having a major impact on national spending policies, including in social matters within the European semester related to the EU2020 Strategy, the country specific recommendations for Belgium were critical of the social protection system support the Turin Process and existing instruments (f.e. SIP) the European Pillar of Social Rights as a part of the frame of reference to evaluate the National Reform Programs

Only quality employment is useful in the fight against poverty unemployed people have a higher at risk of poverty rate than employed people Belgium has nearly 3,5 % ‘working poor’ (some 220.000 individuals) who combine multiple conditions of precarious employment: temporary jobs, low wages, involuntary part-time hours, odd working schedules... Laken Indicators for high quality jobs to allow people to improve their living conditions in a sustainable way publication of the ILO: Building a social pillar for European convergence

Merci pour votre attention! Thank you for your attention! www.luttepauvrete.be – www.combatpoverty.be Service de lutte contre la pauvreté, la précarité et l’exclusion sociale – www.luttepauvrete.be Combat Poverty, Insecurity and Social Exclusion Service – www.combatpoverty.be