Permanent Forum of European Civil Society. Working Group 4. Growth and Jobs : A New Start for the Lisbon Strategy. The Euro

Table of content.
 Which role for the Forum
 Draft note to the Economic and Social Committee
 Proposal to host a special event for the Civil society of the Euro Zone.

1. Quel rôle pour le Forum ? (PROJET)
 Tenant compte que la Constitution fixe pour objectif "le bien-être des peuples"
 Considérant que la mission que le Forum s’est fixée consiste à développer la citoyenneté européenne et la démocratie participative, deux éléments clefs d’une stratégie européenne pour la croissance et l’emplois,
 Dans l’attente d’une éventuelle Convention III pour un Contrat social Européen,
 Pour veiller à la mise en oeuvre des valeurs que le Forum defend telles que l’élimination de la pauvreté, la paix, le développement, la co-opération, conditions nécessaires de la prospérité.
 En relation avec la stratégie européenne "croissance et emplois" (stratégie de Lisbonne) et
 Afin de peser sur les choix pour une nouvelle compétitivité au service du modèle social européen et de nos valeurs.

Le Forum veut inciter chaque citoyen à faire usage de son second "droit de vote” , le droit de vote monétaire" dans une économie globalisée.

Ce "vote monétaire" par chacun et chacun dans la société civile, agissant comme citoyenne/citoyen responsable qui est à la fois-travailleur-investisseur-consommateur, doit conduire à favoriser les investissements éthiques et solidaires et les achats responsables.

Cette action de chacune et chacun, permettra de "lier éthiquevaleurs et compétitivité" et de faire émerger une nouvelle compétititvité dans une nouvelle économie.

L’objectif est d’envoyer des signaux forts aux pouvoirs publics et aux entreprises, de transformer le marché existant en marché équitable des marchés de niche en marchés majoritaires, de faire basculer l’économie vers une économie du développement durable qui est la "nouvelle économie" et la "nouvelle compétititvité" dont a besoin l’Europe dans l’économie globalisée de ce XXIème siècle, et pour ce faire de soutenir les entreprises et les emplois de la "nouvelle économie",.

Une telle action est, selon le Forum,
 Un moyen nouveau de défendre les travailleurs et un nouveau mode d’action pour les syndicats
 Une chance et un soutien attendu par les entreprises qui offrent les produits de la "nouvelle économie" et ont besoin de plus de "clients"
 Une chance pour le développement d’un nouveau tissu industriel, financier et de PME compétitives dans les nombreux secteurs de l’éco-innovation
 Une opportunité pour développer, avec les autorités régionales et locales, une "compétitivité responsable" en mettant l’accent sur l’importance des RSE (CSR)
 Un levier de nouvelle compétitivité internationale en partenariat avec les producteurs des pays en développement désireux de s’appuyer sur les normes publiques et privées en matière environnemental et social.

Le Forum invite le groupe de liaison du Comité Economique et Social et de la Société Civile à favoriser un débat entre Société Civile et Partenaires Sociaux sur l’utilisation par chaque citoyen de son “vote monétaire” .

2. Note au Comité de Liaison entre le CES et la Société civile. (Projet)

The Permanent Forum is inviting the joint European Economic and Social Committee and Civil Society Liaison Committee to establish a “European Roundtable on the New Competitiveness Tools”.

Whereas

 The Commission communication addressed to the Spring European Council COM (2005)24 refers to a “partnership for growth and jobs”
 The Social Partners are invited to develop a joint Lisbon action programme ahead of the Spring 2005 European Council. This strategy must be taken forward through a renewed partnership between the Member States and the Union - with the full involvement of the social partners.
 “Everyone with a stake in Lisbon’s success and at every level must be involved in delivering these reforms”. (…) The Lisbon agenda must be owned by all stakeholders at EU, national, regional and local level.”
 The Union Action Programme and National Action Programmes should build on 3 central concepts including “to mobilise support for change”
 As noted in the European Economic and Social Committee’s October 2004 Opinion on ‘Improving the Implementation of the Lisbon Strategy’ “a major weak spot in the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy is the failure to adequately involve civil society players”(§6.3).

Convinced that :

 1. The support of workers and civil society organisations will not be obtained if Europe would be paying for its improved short-term economic performance by borrowing against the future, create greater inequality, increase poverty, lawlessness and incarceration, force millions of people into long-term debt and bankruptcy. The most important step for all policy-makers to ask is “what would policy look like if it were seeking to promote well-being” , one of the objective of Europe as defined by its Constitution.
 2.“ There is a growing realization in the NGO community of the power of markets. Leading NGOs have concluded that the change to create a sustainable world will not come from governments. It can only come from making markets work to support sustainable development. However, that also means that we will see the NGO community utilizing the power of markets to a higher degree via campaigns, via demands for internalising of environmental costs to get the prices right and other similar actions” Bjorn Stigson, WBCSD President.
 3. European competitiveness depends on the South desirably catching up with the North in terms of environment and well-being standards, It is vital, for our own competitiveness, to help our South partners to set the bar of their own expectations higher about finding products that are good for health, employment and the environment on their own domestic markets. It is through a rapid convergence of the South that the good stand currently made by Europeans in top-of-the-range products can be maintained.
 4. With successful “socially responsible investments (SRI)” and “sustainable consumption and production” initiatives, European niche markets of today are paving the way for a new “sustainable single market” of tomorrow and new joint ventures with the South. It is in the direct interest of many companies offering high-added value products or services in the social, ecological or cultural fields to exercise collective leadership with the other stakeholders to transform the niche markets of today in mainstream markets by 2012, enhancing European competitiveness, creating new business models, working for a good health for everyone in a healthy environment, favouring social cohesion and sustainability.
 5. The key is innovation - product innovation, technological innovation, business model innovation, social innovation (e.g. leapfrogging) and communication innovation.

Underlining that :

 6. Conclusions made by the writers of the Eurobarometer Report are shocking when they state that “Quality of life is the indicator for which the verdict of European Union citizens is the most positive. The countries where the quality of life seems to be the highest are generally the northern European countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden), but also certain Mediterranean areas (Cyprus, Malta in particular). Overall, therefore, respondents are more positive regarding the areas which concern the more personal aspects of their life as opposed to those concerning their country. In other words, it seems that the vast majority of European Union citizens do not make a connection between their quality of life and the economic situation in their country. It is therefore necessary to eliminate this discrepancy, otherwise it may eventually create a problem when it comes to explaining certain public policies.” This quote on page 9 is naive about people’s quality of life and somewhat disconcerting that the Economic model comes first whatever the data is saying !! ie the assumption is that what people are saying is wrong not the policies !
 7. « Policy makers have failed to work out how best to exploit the potential synergies between economic growth and competitiveness, and business strategies and practices that factor in social and environmental performance » (Responsible Competitiveness Index. AccountAbility. UK)
 8. The Lisbon II should be build on the concept of “innovation by agreements”, designed by the Feira European Council Summit to “promote innovation and organisational learning in the context of negotiating consent for change” needs to be expanded to a broader European, Business and Civil Society agenda. « Flexibility by consent and innovation-by-agreement are the keys to global competitive success
 9. Today, the challenge is to create a critical mass and a “scale effect” for successful new businesses, social enterprises included, and niche markets towards a « close the loop economy », « sustainable trade » , « solidarity and equity ». It is a key leverage of European competitiveness in a new world requiring a strong involvement of citizens on the market, as consumers, investors, workers. By doing so we will as well contribute to human security and the design of the “European Social Model” needed to secure European social cohesion.
 10. En réalité, la “nouvelle compétitivité” se construit d’ores et déjà à partir d’une multiplicité d’initiatives - qui sont des succès trop peu connus par les institutions, les pouvoirs publics et le grand public - prises au sein des États de l’Union par de multiples acteurs économiques, sociaux, associatifs.

The Permanent Forum is inviting the European Economic and Social Committee to establish a “European Roundtable on the New Competitiveness Tools” in order to :

 Débattre avec les partenaires sociaux de l’usage du “vote monétaire” comme levier d’action des ‘citoyens responsables’ pour une nouvelle compétitivité dans un monde globalisé
 présenter des initiatives porteuses de nouvelles formes de compétitivité
 rassembler des porteurs d’initiatives exemplaires, soit ces « champions », l’avant-garde d’une société plus solidaire
 donner un plus grand effet multiplicateur à leurs actions en les faisant participer à l’élaboration du plan Européen et des plans nationaux pour “croissance et emplois”.

La table ronde

 présenterait des etudes de cas, des « champions », les initiatives qui mériteraient d’être reconnues sur le plan européen et qui pourraient jouir d’un effet multiplicateur grâce à un contrat pour une société du bien être
 diffuserait l’information au niveau Européen et dans les Etats Membres..

The Permanent members of the Roundtable on the “New Competitiveness Tools” would be :
 the Social Partners
 Civil Society
 Commission Directorates
 National “Growth and Jobs” platforms.

3. The Euro Zone

The Euro is and will remain a great advance if, and only if, those responsible for it can more clearly explain to the peoples the choices that are made. There are two question to which the European “elites” provide no reply :
 Public opinion does not understand why the mandate of the European Central Bank cannot be as wide as that of the Federal Reserve of the United States. An economist of Natexis Banques Populaires has written : “It is time to change the statutes of the ECB so that they take into account growth and employment more explicitly”.
 The people notice a reduction in their purchasing power. (According to some sources, a European’s purchasing power in 1990 was 80% of that of a citizen of the USA, while today it is only 64%.) Is this really the case ? And if so what conclusions should be drawn ?

The Forum would organise a meeting to allow an exchange of views with representatives of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and economists supporting a widening of the ECB’s mandate.

Raymond Van Ermen