The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organized a hearing on January 30 to discuss the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on the EU Program for Social Change and Innovation. This is the successor of Progress, which has funded projects with social aims and a number of social NGO networks, including many of our members.

Pierre Baussand, Director of Social Platform, attended the hearing and highlighted the following messages:

• The social and political context has completely changed since 2007 (the Progress program covers the period from 2007 to 2013): the new Lisbon Treaty with transversal social clauses, the adoption of the Europe 2020 strategy with poverty, education and employment targets, the biggest economic and social crisis since the 1930’s.
  
  We encourage facilitating coherence and complementarities between the EU Program for Social Change and Innovation and the ESF.
  We call for a specific priority on social protection, social inclusion and combating poverty, to be separated from employment policies and working conditions policies and legislations: this would facilitate the attainment of the poverty target; guideline 10 is also on combating poverty.
  
  The allocation of funds to social protection, social inclusion and combating poverty should be clear.
  
  We call for the program to be accessible to NGOs at all levels: European, national, regional and local.
  
  We recommend replacing the wording “social policy” with “social protection and social inclusion”, as it is in the Progress program.