Can the European Union 2020 Strategy Deliver on Social Inclusion?

In 2010, amidst the financial and sovereign debt crisis, the launching of a novel European strategy for “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” signalled a significant step in the European coordination strategies for tackling poverty and social exclusion. Crucial in this respect is the unprecedented prominence accorded to a quantified goal in poverty reduction across the EU, to be achieved by 2020, along a supranational governance process that sets the ambitious aim of bringing the social field within the framework of EU financial and economic governance. In this paper, I critically examine how this new strategy has fared so far and what the expectations are for its effectiveness in combating poverty and social exclusion within the set timeframe.publishedVersio

Challenges to Healthcare Reform in Crisis-Hit Greece

This paper critically examines the health reform trajectory in Greece in the last decade. The first part provides an overview of the Greek healthcare system shortly before the crisis, with an emphasis on the incomplete development of a national health system beset by inequalities in coverage and funding. At the backdrop of the crippling debt-crisis that engulfed the country in the late 2000s, the second part of the study tracks the major healthcare reforms under the successive bailout packages. These are examined from the point of view of whether they can secure the public system’s long-term viability and promote equity, or if they contribute to its withering away instead. The third part of the article looks at the impact of the austerity-driven reforms on inequalities in healthcare, highlighting some major findings regarding health outcomes.Este artigo analisa criticamente a trajetória da reforma da saúde na Grécia na última década. A primeira parte apresenta uma visão geral do sistema de saúde grego em vésperas da crise, com ênfase no desenvolvimento incompleto de um sistema nacional de saúde marcado por desigualdades na cobertura e no financiamento. No contexto da debilitante crise de endividamento em que o país mergulhou, no final da década de 2000, a segunda parte do estudo acompanha as principais reformas dos serviços de saúde sob os sucessivos programas de resgate. Estes são examinados da perspetiva da sua eventual capacidade de garantia de viabilidade do sistema público a longo prazo, questionando ainda se promovem a equidade, ou se, em vez disso, contribuem para o seu desaparecimento. Na terceira parte do artigo, analisa-se o impacto das reformas orientadas pela austeridade sobre as desigualdades nos cuidados de saúde e destaca-se algumas das principais conclusões sobre os resultados em matéria de saúde

Can the European Union 2020 Strategy Deliver on Social Inclusion?

In 2010, amidst the financial and sovereign debt crisis, the launching of a novel European strategy for “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” signalled a significant step in the European coordination strategies for tackling poverty and social exclusion. Crucial in this respect is the unprecedented prominence accorded to a quantified goal in poverty reduction across the EU, to be achieved by 2020, along a supranational governance process that sets the ambitious aim of bringing the social field within the framework of EU financial and economic governance. In this paper, I critically examine how this new strategy has fared so far and what the expectations are for its effectiveness in combating poverty and social exclusion within the set timeframe

Child Poverty, Youth (Un)Employment, and Social Inclusion

Worldwide child and youth poverty remain the biggest barrier to achieving a better life in adulthood. Progress in lifting children out of poverty in the last decades has been slow and limited in the developing world, while the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated child poverty, youth unemployment, and social exclusion in many developed countries. This book critically examines the long-term consequences of growing up poor, the close linkages between deprivation and human rights violations in childhood and adolescence, and their effects on labor market entry and future career in a number of developing and developed countries. Drawing on multiple disciplinary perspectives, it makes a forceful case for the eradication of child poverty to take center stage in the Sustainable Development Goals