European Pillar of Social Rights – Page 2

ERGO Network Annual Policy Conference 2022

IMPLEMENTING THE EU ROMA STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK. ROMA ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE AND LONG-TERM CARE

This past 23 November, ERGO Network organised its Annual Policy Conference, for the first time in person since 2019 but also fully streamed online for remote participants. This year’s event was dedicated to exploring how to improve Roma access to adequate, affordable, and inclusive healthcare and long-term care services, as well as to taking stock of the implementation of the EU and National Roma Frameworks.

A significant health inequality gap exists between the Roma and the majority population, across every area of physical and mental health and wellbeing, including rates of suicide, disability, life expectancy, and infant mortality. The Covid-19 pandemic laid bare and worsened a pre-existing dire situation. Ensuring access to healthcare and long-term care is a key topic under the European Pillar of Social Rights, the compass for Europe’s recovery, while it is also supported by Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. It is high time the European Union and national governments delivered.

First panel – Susanna Ulinski, Philippe Seidel, Marine Uldry, Kumar Vishwanathan, Tomas de Jong, Camille Butin

The first part of the event served to launch ERGO Network’s research report on “Roma access to healthcare and long-term care”, based on six national case studies carried out in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain. The main findings and recommendations fed into a dialogue with key decision-makers and stakeholders, aimed at identifying positive solutions to support better health inclusion for Roma and inform the delivery on the EU Roma Strategic Framework and the Social Pillar, as well as on initiatives such as the European Care Strategy.

The Key Messages of the report are:

In all 6 countries, social determinants greatly influence a poor Roma state of health.
High costs of healthcare and long-term care and gaps in health insurance coverage are significant deterrents for the Roma to seek care.
Limited healthcare and long-term care infrastructure and staff shortages are prevalent in rural and remote Roma communities.
Roma health mediators play a key positive role which deserves better support.
The Roma continue to face widespread antigypsyism in healthcare and long-term care.
Roma communities and their civil society organisations must be involved in a bid to build trust and improve take-up.

With the adoption of the EU Roma Strategic Framework up to 2030, governments were asked to develop national Roma strategic frameworks both in EU Member States and Western Balkan countries. In addition, civil society in EU Member States received funding from the European Commission to engage in monitoring the elaboration and adoption process of these national frameworks. In order to ensure their effective implementation, a robust and continued monitoring of the entire policy process should be ensured.

Second panel – Zuzana Havirova, Sia Sararu, Adriatik Hasantari, Abriel Schieffelers

The second part of the event assessed the state of play of the newly adopted national Roma strategic frameworks in both the EU and enlargement countries and their alignment with the EU Roma Strategic Framework on Equality, Inclusion, and Participation and linked Council Recommendation, as well as of the Roma involvement in the drafting process. In addition, it discussed the follow-up steps in the implementation of the national Roma stratetic frameworks at EU and national levels.

The event ended with concluding remarks from the Czech Presidency of the European Union on the importance of dedicating more policy attention to access to healthcare, particularly for vulnerable groups such as the Roma, which should be seen in conjunction with the overall delivery on the EU Roma Framework and its objectives on housing, employment, education, and poverty, while closely associating Roma communities and their representatives to these efforts.

The conference was very well attended with over 70 on site and online participants, and it brought together ERGO Network national members from the grassroots level in many European countries, as well as other national practitioners, European civil society organisations, policy-makers from the EU and national levels, and other stakeholders.

If you attended this event, or watched the recording, don’t forget to let us know what you thought about it by filling in this brief Evaluation Form (project reference: 101051359; event title: ERGO Network Annual Policy Conference). Thank you!

See more:

Agenda of the event
Recording of the event: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Report on Roma healthcare and long-term care (for the national case studies, see here)
Photo album
Conference Report

Graphic facilitation provided by Ale Listens and Draws.

For more information about this event, please don’t hesitate to contact us: info@ergonetwork.org

Research report: Roma access to healthcare and long-term care

ERGO Network launches its research report on Roma access to healthcare and long-term care

The European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network held its annual Policy Conference on 23 November, entitled “Implementing the EU Roma Strategic Framework. Roma access to healthcare and long-term care.” A significant health inequality gap exists between the Roma and the majority population, persisting across every area of physical and mental health and wellbeing, including rates of suicide, disability, life expectancy, and infant mortality. The Covid-19 pandemic laid bare and worsened the pre-existing dire situation of Roma health in Europe.

The EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion, and Participation 2020 – 2030 includes as one of its four sectoral objectives “Improve Roma health and increase effective equal access to quality healthcare and social services”, while the Council Recommendation on Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation features a comprehensive section on “Health and access to quality healthcare and social services”, calling on Member States to “ensure equal access without barriers to quality healthcare and social services, especially for those groups that are most at risk or those living in marginalised or remote localities.” Ensuring access to health and long-term care is also extensively covered by the European Pillar of Social Rights, the compass for Europe’s recovery, while it is also supported by Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

During 2022, ERGO Network conducted in-depth national case studies in six countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain), looking at the main determinants of Roma health as well as at the key barriers the Roma face when trying to access healthcare and long-term care services in these countries. The main findings and recommendations were brought together in an EU synthesis report, launched today in the framework of the above-mentioned event.

Key messages:

1. In all 6 countries, social determinants greatly influence a poor Roma state of health.

Tackle unsanitary dwellings and living conditions, exposure to environmental hazards, lack of adequate nutrition, dire poverty and material deprivation, and unhealthy working conditions.

2. High costs of healthcare and long-term care and gaps in health insurance coverage are significant deterrents for the Roma to seek care.

Support access to universal health insurance for all including the Roma and make healthcare and long-term care free or affordable at the point of use, including specialist care.

3. Limited healthcare and long-term care infrastructure and staff shortages are prevalent in rural and remote Roma communities.

Invest in an adequate supply of medical and care facilities, as well as qualified personnel, making healthcare and long-term care available to people where they live.

4. Roma health mediators play a key positive role which deserves better support.

Health mediators must be Roma themselves, anchored in the communities they serve but formally employed by the national health system with adequate pay, ongoing training, and due recognition.

5. The Roma continue to face widespread antigypsyism in healthcare and long-term care.

Combat prejudices and stereotypes within medical services and care facilities, ending segregation and ensuring anti-bias training and compliance with anti-discrimination legislation.

6. Roma communities and their civil society organisations must be involved in a bid to build trust and improve take-up.

Policy-makers, as well as healthcare and long-term care professionals, must cooperate closely with Roma stakeholders and their representatives, to ensure evidence-based solutions.

With this research, we aim to kick-start a debate with policy makers on how to improve the availability, accessibility, affordability, quality, inclusiveness, and take-up of healthcare and long-term care services by Europe’s Roma, including in the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the European Care Strategy, and the announced European initiative on Mental Health in 2023, among others.

Read the EU synthesis report here!
Read the national case studies: Bulgaria – Czech Republic – Hungary – Romania – Slovakia – Spain.

For more information about ERGO Network’s work on Roma access to healthcare and long-term care, as well as on the European Care Strategy and related fields, please contact Senior Policy Adviser Amana Ferro.

Council Recommendation on Minimum Income – What’s in it for Europe’s Roma?

Council Recommendation on Minimum Income – What’s in it for Europe’s Roma?

On 28 September 2022, the European Commission proposed a Council Recommendation on Adequate Minimum Income, aimed at making minimum income schemes more effective at lifting people out of poverty, while promoting the labour market integration of those who can work. It is accompanied by a Communication on better assessing the distributional impact of Member States’ policies and providing guidance on how these can be better targeted to address existing inequalities.

ERGO Network has closely engaged with the run-up to these initiatives. In 2021, we prepared a comprehensive research report on Roma access to adequate minimum income schemes in five countries. In 2022, we responded to the European Commission call for evidence on this Council Recommendation. We equally provided input to the similar call for evidence on distributional impact assessments. We have subsequently reviewed the proposed Council Recommendation on Minimum Income and accompanying Communication on distributional impact in light of the key messages of our own positions.

Read our full response here!

Overall, we welcome the Council Recommendation as a significant step forward in strengthening the adequacy, availability, coverage, and take-up of minimum income schemes in the European Union. Thirty years after the previous Council Recommendation of 1992 on sufficient resources for a life in dignity for all EU citizens (which the current proposal replaces), it was high-time that the coordinated access was undertaken by Member States to address existing gaps in provision and access inequalities and to ensure dignified lives and wellbeing for all.

We equally welcome the accompanying Communication and efforts to conduct more and better impact assessments of distributional policies, both by Member States and the European Commission, in order to capture the impact of reforms and investments on the income levels of the population, particularly the most disadvantaged. The document acknowledges that income inequalities undermine European values as well as endanger economic growth, echoing concerns expressed by over 80% Europeans even before the pandemic.

We further appreciate that the Council Recommendation includes explicit references to Europe’s Roma and the multiple disadvantages they face when trying to access their minimum income entitlements, as well as puts forward positive proposals to combat them. Additionally, the document makes the link to the EU Roma Framework on Equality, Inclusion and Participation and the related Council Recommendation. Disappointingly, the same does not hold true for the accompanying Communication.

ERGO Network had called for an explicit end to the culture of blaming benefit claimants as abusers of the welfare state, as well as for widespread antigypsyism to be combatted in all aspects of daily life. Sadly, this call was insufficiently heeded by the Council Recommendation, and we find it a missed opportunity that discrimination (on all and any grounds) is not listed as one of the main challenges described. There is nothing about discrimination in the Communication, and no mentions of racism or antigypsyism or the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan in either of the two documents.

ERGO Network expresses its hope that these gaps will be remedied through implementation, lest Europe’s Roma be left behind once more, and stands ready to support these efforts at both EU and national level.

For more information about our work on minimum income, please contact Amana Ferro (a.ferro@ergonetwork.org), Senior Policy Adviser with the ERGO Network staff team.

ERGO response to EC call for evidence on strengthening social dialogue

ERGO Network responds to the European Commission call for evidence on strengthening social dialogue

As announced in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the European Commission will present in 2022 an initiative to support social dialogue at EU and national level. As part of this initiative, the Commission will put forward a proposal for a Council Recommendation to promote and strengthen the conditions for social dialogue, including collective bargaining, at national level. In the context, the European Commission invited stakeholders to submit their views in the framework of a call for evidence, to which we responded.

Overall, we welcome the European Commission’s commitment to improving social dialogue and particularly to strengthening the role, coverage, and leverage of trade unions and collective bargaining. However, it is regrettable and inaccurate that the background document underpinning the call for action uses the word “companies” in an interchangeable way with “employers”, thus completely overlooking labour relations in the public and the third sector, where adequate social dialogue to protect workers’ rights is just as needed. The current choice of language displays an undue bias towards the private sector, which will hopefully not be reprised in the initiative itself.

Unfortunately, there is a striking lack of data regarding the degree of representation of Roma workers in trade union structures. Neither the main trade union umbrella organisations that ERGO Network reached out to (ETUC, EPSU, CESI, UNI Europa), nor Roma and (pro-)Roma civil society organisations are aware of such statistics. However, the consensus was that there seemed to be low coverage of trade union membership among Roma workers. The lack of Roma workers in trade union structures leads to less visibility of the specific issues Roma workers have, such as the ethnic pay gap or discrimination in the workplace.

This situation is even more serious when we consider that evidence from all countries shows that the Roma are over-represented in exploitative forms of employment (including the informal economy), because of a lack of knowledge of their rights. The Roma overwhelmingly work in jobs that are low paid, on zero-hours contracts, often in factory-based environments or others that require hard physical work.

The consequences for large numbers of the Roma community are inconsistent working hours and, therefore, unpredictable income. Insecure contracts lead to vulnerability and to abuse, as Roma in these working environments are often asked to work extra unpaid hours and are too scared to make complaints, even in cases of sexual harassment or unfair / unlawful dismissal. The Roma might be a desirable workforce at busy times, but in lulls they are also the first to be dropped off. The Roma working in the “grey” economy continue to be vulnerable – even invisible – workers, finding it very difficult to assert their employment rights.

The upcoming European initiative should:

Recommend sound public investment in specific provisions to protect the most vulnerable workers, such as seasonal, migrant, and minority workers, and those in the informal economy who are not covered by standard employment contracts.
Explicitly support the collection of disaggregated data in trade union membership, in order to have a clearer picture of how the different concerns of vulnerable workers, including but not limited to Roma workers, are taken up in collective bargaining.
Encourage and support, including financially, anti-bias and antidiscrimination trainings for social partners, to build better awareness of the specific issues faced by minority workers and other vulnerable groups on the labour market, so that these issues can become a part of social dialogue.
Support information campaigns for workers about their employment rights, including in the Romani language, and put in place specific outreach measures for Roma workers.
Ensure that Labour Inspectorates and the European Labour Authority protect and promote a work environment where recourse and appeal are available to all without prejudice or discrimination.

See ERGO Network’s full input here!

For more information about ERGO Network’s work on employment, as well as on the European Pillar of Social Rights, please contact Amana Ferro, Senior Policy Adviser in the ERGO Network Brussels team.

ERGO Network responds to the EC call for evidence on framework conditions for the social economy

ERGO Network responds to the European Commission call for evidence on framework conditions for the social economy

As announced in the Social Economy Action Plan published on 9 December 2021 by the European Commission, a Council Recommendation on framework conditions for social economy is planned to be released in 2023, aimed at supporting Member States to better adapt their policies and laws to the specific needs of the social economy and unlock its untapped potential. A call for evidence was launched, in order to gather stakeholder views, and ERGO Network responded to it based on our own position paper on social economy, as well as our original response to the Social Economy Action Plan.

We welcome the recognition of a holistic approach required for social economy, spanning social and employment policies, education, taxation, public procurement, competition, industry and SMEs, circular economy, and local development. However, while harnessing the potential of the social economy is deemed key to meeting a number of challenges, several elements are missing: combatting poverty, ensuring community-based services, providing goods and services in an affordable way, and contributing to active citizenship and stronger democracies. Social economy is a substantive, integral part of economic activity, not a charitable, short-term intervention. Sustainability is not the same as commercial viability, as it is connected instead to the wellbeing of beneficiaries and the positive social impact.

We further support the explicit objective of adapting policy, legal, and regulatory social economy frameworks. However, the positive social and societal objectives of social economy must be sufficiently emphasised when these frameworks are defined. It is imperative that the Council Recommendation also calls for the close involvement of beneficiaries and their civil society organisations. A partnership approach needs to be embedded when legal, regulatory, and funding frameworks are built or revised, involving key stakeholders, including Roma communities and their representatives. The role and potential of these communities must be acknowledged and supported, through enshrining a broad bottom-up approach, based on real community needs and grassroot input, giving the Roma a voice in the process.

It is essential that non-Roma-led social enterprises work alongside Roma people or Roma organisations, to make use of the full pool of skills and talents already present in the communities. Correcting a staggering oversight in the Action Plan, we hope to see the Roma (and other minority-led social enterprises and racialised beneficiaries) explicitly catered for in the Council Recommendation. If Roma inclusion is not spelled out as an objective, mainstream approaches will leave them behind. Clear indicators that monitor Roma participation in social economy, the level of ownership, number of Roma staff etc are needed. Social economy actors (including the central and local authorities supporting them) must be mindful of deeply rooted discrimination and antigypsyism and make conscious efforts to combat any such tendencies.

Roma are drivers and beneficiaries of change, but more targeted support is needed to build the capacity of Roma to become social entrepreneurs themselves. The existence and potential of social enterprises need to be better promoted in Roma communities, alongside specific training and capacity-building, social enterprise hubs, mentoring, peer learning, financial and in-kind support. The Council Recommendation must also recognise that marginalised and racialised communities face additional barriers in accessing mainstream funding. Dedicated public funding schemes and private funding should support minority-led social enterprises regardless of their market performance, given their public utility. Other useful tools included soft loan conditions, state-provided guarantees for bank loans, free premises, free expert support, tax deductions, fiscal incentives.

Social economy offers great potential to address Roma poverty, employment, health, education, accommodation, nutrition, and to keep alive Roma culture and crafts. It is encouraging that contributions received in the run-up to the Social Economy Action Plan will be used in the elaboration of the Council Recommendation, as significant input was left out of the Action Plan. We hope the upcoming Council Recommendation tackles these oversights and creates fruitful synergies with the EU Roma Strategic Framework and with the European Pillar of Social Rights in a comprehensive way.

Read our full response to the consultation here!

For more information about ERGO Network’s work on social economy, please contact Amana Ferro, Senior Policy Adviser in the ERGO Network Brussels team.