Looking forward to 25 more years of improvement
21 September 2000 - 21 September 2000
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions can look back on 25 years of effort into improving the lot of European Union citizens. But the Dublin-based body set up by the EC Council of Ministers in 1975 faces ever more significant challenges over the next quarter century with the accelerating changes in technological, social and economic conditions.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Foundation held a conference on September 21 in Brussels. The director Raymond-Pierre Bodin said the Foundation would have an important role in future years in monitoring and predicting the direction that society is moving.
'Over 25 years, we have seen an enormous transformation in working and living conditions but not all changes have resulted in improvements. Of equal significance is the sharp increase in the rate of change,' he said. 'In order to manage these changes most effectively, both in terms of a strong and stable economy and also a cohesive social Europe, there must be direction from the centre and that direction must be based on the best possible analysis of medium and long term developments. That is why the Foundation still has such an important contribution to make in Europe.'
Ms Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for Employment and social affairs, emphasised the central role of social policy within the European Union's economic and political goals. She praised the work of the Foundation in helping to fashion EU policy but warned that the organisation would be kept even busier in future years. 'Economic and social change is something which must be understood and managed, not feared and avoided. Change has been the keyword, and perhaps the only constant of the last quarter of a century.'For further information, please contact:
Wyattville Road
Loughlinstown
Co. Dublin
Ireland
Tel: +353-1-204 31 00
E-mail: postmaster@eurofound.ie
URL: http://www.eurofound.ie(opens in new window)
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Foundation held a conference on September 21 in Brussels. The director Raymond-Pierre Bodin said the Foundation would have an important role in future years in monitoring and predicting the direction that society is moving.
'Over 25 years, we have seen an enormous transformation in working and living conditions but not all changes have resulted in improvements. Of equal significance is the sharp increase in the rate of change,' he said. 'In order to manage these changes most effectively, both in terms of a strong and stable economy and also a cohesive social Europe, there must be direction from the centre and that direction must be based on the best possible analysis of medium and long term developments. That is why the Foundation still has such an important contribution to make in Europe.'
Ms Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for Employment and social affairs, emphasised the central role of social policy within the European Union's economic and political goals. She praised the work of the Foundation in helping to fashion EU policy but warned that the organisation would be kept even busier in future years. 'Economic and social change is something which must be understood and managed, not feared and avoided. Change has been the keyword, and perhaps the only constant of the last quarter of a century.'For further information, please contact:
Wyattville Road
Loughlinstown
Co. Dublin
Ireland
Tel: +353-1-204 31 00
E-mail: postmaster@eurofound.ie
URL: http://www.eurofound.ie(opens in new window)