Commitment means everything

June 19th 2009  

Each year the European Union dedicates the year to a specific theme. 2010 will be the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. We are hoping that Welcome HomeLess will become an important part of the process of raising the debate around Europe concerning homelessness and social exclusion.

It seems that some EU years are making a huge impact on the Member States and the way the civil societies are included in the process of debating the theme.
The European Year of Equal Opportunities for All in 2007 was one those years.
The overall objectives for the EU Year were to make people more aware of their rights to enjoy equal treatment and a life free of discrimination – irrespective of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation, but also to launch a major debate on the benefits of diversity for European societies.

June 19th 2009 the European Commission adopted a communication on the implementation, the results and the overall assessment of the EU Year of Equal Opportunities for All, and the communication shows that the reason why the year was such a success was the political commitment of the Member States, the European Institutions and civil societies.

The Member States made sure that the matters concerning discrimination in their countries were discussed openly and that public strategies for tackling the problems were identified. To include the European civil societies are really important.

Equal opportunities are always important

When the communication was released, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír Spidla said: “Equality and non-discrimination are not luxuries reserved for times of economic growth. With unemployment rising and the risk of poverty and exclusion increasing in the current economic recession, the EU and the Member States need to strengthen their commitment to equal opportunities more than ever”. 

The 2007 EU Year was a great success, and the implementation of a strategy concerning the matter is even better.

By including Welcome HomeLess in the EU Year 2010 concerning poverty and social exclusion, we hope that we can include the civil societies around Europe as much as possible.

Read the Press Release form the European Commission here.