Friends and relatives provides invaluable informal care in all European countries. But what support do they get to balance care with work? Which recognition do they get in terms of financial and practical help? And what rights do they have independently of the person cared for to respite offers, advice, training, and to be included and heard in the formal care system?

Answers to such questions can be found in the ESPN 2016 report “Work-life balance measures for persons of working age with dependent relatives in Europe” which got renewed importance yesterday as the work-life balance is part and parcel of the European Commission proposal for a European Pillar of Social Rights. If in a hurry you may consult this op-ed for the Danish daily Politiken.

At the same time as the EU revises the social rights of migrant workers, national governments contemplate reforming their national social security systems to lower their use by migrant workers. If the European Parliament and the EU countries does not agree on a system that is perceived as fair and just by national populations, then national governments may addres popular anxieties of unintended use of benefits – real or not – by reducing access and generosity, of, minimum income benefits thereby making Europe less social, click here for the analysis.

Celebrating the 60 years birthday of the Treaty of Rome 21 Danish policy-makers, artists and scholars give their take on what the EU is the answer to. In “The Paradox of the EU Social Dimension” I argue that a stronger Social Europe call for less hard law and more soft policy making.

Poverty can effectively be reduced through social investments. Social investments refer to policies designed to strengthen people’s skills and capacities in order to enable them to participate fully in education, employment, and social life. These policies aim not only to improve the life of individuals but also the economic prospects of countries through more tax revenues from work and lower social and health expenditures. Based on insights from 20 EU research projects I argue for adopting a life course perspective on social investments to fight poverty and social exclusion in Europe. For details and recommendations check out this policy review for the European Commission.

The economic crisis has hit youth harder than any other group. The European Commission wants the EU Youth Guarantee to change this. But is that feasible?  With extra money and improved schemes the guarantee will help many more young people. Paradoxically, however, the guarantee face the biggest problems getting implemented in those countries where youth have the biggest needs for help and where the institutional conditions in are worst. Despite the relative success of the youth guarantee and its continuation there will still be pockets of youth unemployment and inactivity. Also tomorrow some of the important factors of success in life will be when and where you were born in Europe. For more see my op ed in Politiken.

Lower social security benefits undermine evidence based measures aimed at inclusive growth. Lower social security benefits are often ineffective against many claimant groups and harm children and their social mobility. In short the current Danish make work pay strategy can have unintended adverse effects that jeopardize inclusive growth and is  a move away from the Nordic welfare model. For more see my op ed in the daily newspaper Politiken.

“Minimum income (MI) schemes play a vital role in alleviating the worst impacts of poverty and social exclusion in many countries. However, in too many countries MI schemes still fall short of ensuring a decent life for the most vulnerable in society. The most common weaknesses include inadequate levels of benefit; failure to cover all those in need; low levels of take-up; a limited impact in reducing poverty. Despite some improvements, in many countries there is still not sufficient emphasis on developing an integrated and tailored approach to support those receiving benefits and to help them integrate into society and, as far as possible, into the labour market.” This is the main conclusion of a new major study by the European Social Policy Network.
In the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) we are 35 independent experts who have written the country reportsthat highlight and assess the contribution of minimum income schemes to both preventing and alleviating poverty and social exclusion, and fostering an active inclusion approach to promoting social investment.
These country reports and the related synthesis report prepared by the ESPN overall coordinators are now available from the ESPN web-page, see ESPN Thematic Report on minimum income schemes. For the Danish country report see Kvist 2016 Danish minimum income schemes.