Ronde tafel conferentie over armoede en sociale uitsluiting, 16-17 oktober 2007 (en)

«Social cohesion is one of the founding features of the European social model and of the actual project for building Europe. Poverty and exclusion are the most radical forms of the breakdown of social cohesion, since they imply the existence of individuals or groups that do not even have access to minimum resources, to elementary forms of social belonging or to basic conditions for participating at the various levels of social life.

In this context, the promotion of an inclusive society and the study of the basic conditions for this to become a sustainable reality is a problem that concerns not only the most disadvantaged in our societies but the whole architecture of our economic and social models.

Guaranteeing the conditions and opportunities for inclusion for all must be, for these reasons, a decisive issue for the European agenda. It represents better citizenship, cohesion and equal opportunities while having positive productivity effects at all levels of our societies and economies.

This is the core objective of this Round Table: promoting discussion on the positive effects of the concept of minimum social standards as a foundational element of strategies for overcoming poverty and exclusion, bearing in mind the need to adapt it to the realities and options of each country. In fact, this issue does help forge important links to other areas of the fight against poverty and social exclusion, particularly to the agenda for «active inclusion», incorporating the dual perspective of protection and empowerment. We hope that this forum, bringing together public authorities, European institutions, NGOs and academics, will add to the work of previous annual round table meetings, so that visible, sustainable progress can be achieved in dealing with social inclusion on a European scale.»

Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity

José António Vieira da Silva

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