On Thursday 3 April the Commission organised, with the presence of the Greek Presidency of the European Council, an important conference on Minimum Income Schemes under the title “Addressing Social Divergence in European Societies – Improving Minimum Income Supports”.   The Conference had important presentations on the developments with Minimum Income Schemes in Greece, Romania, Cyprus, Barcelona, France, Netherlands and Latvia.  Reflections were also made on the role of Business and presentations were given from relevant projects and reflections in the academic community.  To know more about the Conference see  http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=88&eventsId=982&furtherEvents=yes

Mr Micel Servoz, the new Director General of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion in his presentation on a way forward on Minimum Income Schemes stressed the importance of ensuring that the topic is treated as part of the Europe 2020 strategy.  Fintan Farrell, Coordinator of the EMIN project, presented the road map emerging form the project on the progressive realisation of adequate Minimum Income Schemes. See his input here EMIN Input Commission Conference 3 April 2014