SOLIDAR, in partnership with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), has launched its Social Rights Monitor 2020. This second edition of the publication sheds light on the state of social rights in 17 European countries, both EU and non-EU Member States. It aims to examine specific social categories such as equality of opportunities, fair working conditions, and social inclusion.
This publication exposes how the previously existing inequalities have worsened with the ongoing pandemic. It also warns about the increased limitations on civil-society freedoms and attacks on the free press over the last year. Finally, it examines the extent to which these issues are addressed by the 2020 Country Specific Recommendations of the European Semester process and calls for a socially sustainable recovery for Europe.
The authors advocate for the health and care systems of the examined countries be developed and coordinated at European level, starting with access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments – which would serve as the founding act of a European Health Union. This is also a crucial initiative to ensure greater gender equality, as care work remains mainly an invisible and vital contribution provided by women. Social protection against disease, against unemployment and in retirement must be provided as a universal right for European citizens. Hunger and housing deprivation cannot be allowed to return to European societies.
For more information, please visit the website of SOLIDAR, where the full version of the Monitor, as well as separate country-specific reports, are available for download.
To know more about Eurodiaconia’s recommendations for a fairer Europe, please check our latest publication on the European Semester.