Year at a glance, PROGRESS in 2011.
Date: 2012-09-10
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU employment policy, EU programme, European social policy, welfare

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… BRINGING GREATER CAPACITY 
OF NATIONAL AND PAN(cid:5)EUROPEAN 
NETWORKS

As the Progress programme has a key role in pro-
moting  the  involvement  of  civil  society  through 
ﬁ nancial  support  to  key  EU-level  networks, 
it   contributed  to  strengthening  their  capacity  to 
participate  in  and  inﬂ uence  policy-making  and 
policy implementation at EU and national levels. In 
2011 Progress supported the operation of 32 EU-
level NGOs and networks active in the ﬁ elds of the 
ﬁ ght  against  discrimination  on  grounds  of  racial 
or ethnic origin, disability or age; the integration of 
people with disabilities; the promotion of gender 
equality, women in decision-making, active inclu-
sion, and non-discrimination law and policies. The 
number  of  such  Progress-supported  NGOs  has 
 increased (from 24 in 2010 to 32 in 2011).

Progress-supported  EU-level  networks  and 
NGOs  were  instrumental  in  disseminating  the 
messages agreed at EU level to Member States 
through their national organisations, as well as 
other  network  structures.  The  supported  NGOs 
also  organised  national  campaigns  to  raise 
public  awareness  about  common  European 
challenges, and advocated solutions to the sys-
temic social injustices. The results of the annual 
survey  indicate  that  the  Progress-supported 
EU-level  NGOs  are  perceived  as  an  important 
source  of  information  for  policy-making  and 
advocacy,  although  non-governmental  stake-
holders  share  somewhat  more  positive  views 
on that than the representatives of the national 
and  regional  authorities.  Importantly,  similar 

surveys  in  the  previous  year  revealed  that  the 
most  prominent  EU-level  NGOs  are  known  by 
the stakeholders across the EU to the same ex-
tent as the EU agencies active in the ﬁ eld (such 
as Eurofound, in Dublin, or the  European Agency 
for Fundamental Rights, in Vienna).

The  Progress  annual  performance  report  2011 
gives a full account of the programme’s contri-
bution  to  the  achievement  of  its  mission,  over-
views  the  deliverables  produced  in  2011  and 
their  use  by  and  beneﬁ ts  for  policy-makers, 
social  partners,  NGOs  and  other  stakeholders 
across the EU. The graph below summarises the 
variety and key types of deliverables (presented 
as  a  share  in  total  commitment  appropriations, 
which  amounted  to  EUR 91.37  million  in  2011) 
produced by Progress:

2 %

20 %

23 %

11 %

44 %

  Evidence-based policy

  Information sharing and learning

  High-quality and participatory debate

  Greater capacity of networks

  Integration of cross-cutting issues

Year at a glance

PROGRESS
2011

in

The  European  Union  programme  for  em-
ployment and social solidarity — Progress 
(2007–13) is a key instrument to support 
the  modern,  eﬀ ective  and  innovative  EU 
employment,  social  and  equality  policies. 
The  programme  helps  the  Commission 
to  fulﬁ l  its  tasks  both  in  the  ﬁ elds  of:  (a) 
law-making,  to  ensure  that  evidence-
based   legislation  meets  all  the  principles 
of smart regulation; and (b) policy coordi-
nation  among  the  Member  States,  where 
the  Commission  serves  a  critical  role  of 
the facilitator and the broker. Progress fo-
cuses  on  transnational  aspects  of  the  EU 
employment,  social  and  equality  policies, 
the  promotion  of  which  requires  a  con-
certed  action  across  all  Member  States, 
and actively supports collective and mutu-
ally   reinforcing  actions  of  Member  States 
which consolidate EU cooperation and bring 
 mutual learning and social  innovations.

In  2011  the  core  of  analytical,  mutual  learn-
ing,  awareness  and  dissemination  activities 
funded  by  Progress  focused  on  the  contribu-
tion to the Europe 2020 strategy. The produced 
deliverables (such as studies and reports, con-
ferences  and  seminars,  statistics  and  similar) 
were driven by the inclusive growth objective of 
the Europe 2020 strategy and related headline 
targets,  and  also  of  the  ﬂ agship  initiatives  on 
youth,  new  skills  and  jobs,  and  the  European 
platform  against  poverty  and  social  exclusion. 
They  were  also  highly  appreciated  by  the  sur-
veyed  relevant  stakeholders  (national  oﬃ  cials, 
social partners, NGOs and others) across Europe 
(the  extensive  list  of  deliverables  produced  in 
2011  is   provided  in  the  annex  to  the  annual 
 performance report).

MORE SPECIFICALLY, IN 2011 PROGRESS 
CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACHIEVEMENT 
OF EU GOALS BY …

This leaﬂ et is available in printed format in English, French and German.
The full text of the report in English, French and German can be 
downloaded at http://ec.europa.eu/progress (Publications)
(This report was ﬁ nanced by and prepared for the use of the European 
Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Aﬀ airs 
and Inclusion. It does not necessarily represent the Commission’s 
oﬃ  cial position)
© European Union, 2012
Reproduction is autho rised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium
Printed on elemental chlorine-free bleached paper (ECF)

ISBN 978-92-79-24816-0
doi:10.2767/65551

Social Europe

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YEAR AT A GLANCE: PROGRESS IN 2011

YEAR AT A GLANCE: PROGRESS IN 2011

… MAINTAINING AND DEVELOPING 
A ROBUST EVIDENCE BASE NECESSARY 
FOR THE EU EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL 
AND EQUALITY POLICIES
Progress  assisted  the  Commission  in  its  commit-
ment  to  ensure  better  compliance  and  more 
eﬀective  application  of  EU  law  in  Member 
States.  It  supported  studies  aimed  at  analysing 
the application of EU law, monitoring the transposi-
tion of EU directives into national law and their im-
plementation, and relevant legal developments in 
Member States. It also produced non-binding good 
practice  guides  as  practical,  easy-to-understand 
tools to be used in speciﬁc work environments.

For  example,  the  Non-binding  guide  to  good 
practice  for  understanding  and  implementing 
Directive  92/57/EEC  —  ‘Construction  sites’ 
was  helpful  to  more  than  three  ﬁ•hs  of  the 
stakeholders responding to the annual survey.

Progress  also  helped  the  decision-makers 
across the EU to be better informed on new 
challenges and possible solutions by providing 
thorough  situation  analyses  and  policy  response 
alternatives to current challenges. Over four ﬁ¦hs 
of the stakeholders across the EU responding to 
the  annual  survey  were  of  the  opinion  that  the 
EU  social,  employment  and  equality  policies  are 
grounded  in  a  thorough  analysis  of  the  current 
situation.  Speciﬁc  examples  of  policy  evidence 

 produced  by  the  programme  in  2011  which 
were assessed to be the most helpful in various 
Progress policy ﬁelds include those listed below.

In  2011  Progress  also  supported  selected 
 social  policy  experimentation  projects  to  de-
velop,  test  and  disseminate  innovative  so-
lutions  and  approaches  to  delivering  social 
policy  priorities  (social  inclusion  of  vulnerable 
groups, quality of childcare services, active and 
healthy ageing, and the transition from educa-
tion  to  work  for  youths)  in  the  context  of  the 
Europe  2020  strategy.  While  the  ﬁrst  results 
of  these  projects  on  policy-making  are  still  to 
materialise,  the  importance  of  social  policy 
experimentation and innovation projects in the 
 programme is steadily increasing as each year 
the number of projects funded and the Member 
States involved is growing..

… SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE INFORMATION 
SHARING AND LEARNING ON EU LAW 
AND POLICY

Progress-funded  information  sharing  and  (mu-
tual)  learning  practices  serve  as  a  means  to 
transfer knowledge and provide guidance at both 
national and European levels so as to make pol-
icy-making  and  policy  implementation  eﬀective 
and in line with common EU objectives, policies 
and laws. More than 7 500 participants have at-
tended  Progress-funded  conferences,  seminars, 

Employment: ‘Labour mobility within the EU — 
The impact of enlargement and the functioning of 
the transitional arrangements’ (about 80 % of the 
respondents saw this study as helpful).

Social inclusion and social protection: Missoc 
database: comparative tables on social protection 
covering 31 countries and 12 main areas of social 
protection (over 85 % of the respondents saw it 
as helpful).

Non-discrimination: How to present a 
discrimination claim — Handbook on seeking 
remedies under the EU non-discrimination 
directives (about 70 % of the respondents saw 
this as helpful).

Gender equality: Database on women and men 
in decision-making: data covering 34 countries on 
the numbers of men and women in key decision-
making positions in politics, public administration, 
the judiciary and various other key areas of the 
economy (almost 90 % of the respondents saw it 
as helpful).

peer  reviews  and  other  learning  events  which 
were commissioned directly by the Commission; 
another  estimated  30 000  people  have  been 
reached by the beneﬁciaries of actions’ grants.

Albeit with varying levels of intensity, 
in 2011 all Progress participating countries 
have been involved in 39 mutual learning 
and transnational exchanges of good 
practice organised as a part of a mutual 
learning programme in the employment 
ﬁeld, social protection and social inclusion 
peer reviews, and good practice exchange 
seminars on anti-discrimination and 
gender equality.

Over  four  ﬁ¦hs  of  responding  participants  in-
dicated  that  in  their  attended  Progress-funded 
conferences,  seminars,  peer  reviews  and  other 
similar events they gained better understanding 
of EU policy objectives, and also that they gave 
an opportunity to align their policy activity with 
EU  objectives.  The  representatives  of  national 
authorities noted that the events they participat-
ed  in  presented  them  with  policy  practices  and 
tools  which  can  be  transferable  and/or  in  dem-
onstrating results. Over 80 % of the responding 
national actors conﬁrmed that they intend to use 
knowledge acquired during the Progress-funded 
events  for  policy-making  or  policy  advocacy  at 
national  settings,  mentioning  such  uses  as  dis-
cussions about policy improvements, developing 
new  social  services  or  elaborating  the  need  to 
initiate a systematic statistical data collection.

… PROMOTING HIGH(cid:5)QUALITY 
AND PARTICIPATORY POLICY DEBATE 
AT EU AND NATIONAL LEVELS

In 2011 Progress supported the Hungarian and 
Polish  presidencies  in  steering  towards  com-
mon goals, in making coordinated eﬀorts by all 
Member  States  and  the  European  institutions, 

and in involving all relevant stakeholders in an 
inclusive policy debate. To ensure that EU em-
ployment, social and equality policies are inclu-
sive  and  fair,  these  have  to  take  into  account 
the  impact  on  and  meet  the  needs  of  all  peo-
ple directly or  indirectly aﬀected by them. As a 
result,  the  close  involvement  and  mobilisation 
of all key stakeholders — from public authori-
ties  to  social  partners  and  NGOs  representing 
civil  society  at  large  —  and  growing  partner-
ship becomes crucial for the  development of EU 
 objectives, policies and law. 

In  2011,  35  high-level  events  attracted  more 
than  5 000  participating  stakeholders;  the 
events  included  both  the  presidency  confer-
ences  and  high-proﬁle  regular  events  such  as 
the  annual  EU  Meeting  of  People  Experiencing 
Poverty,  the  European  Equality  Summit,  the 
biannual  meetings  of  the  European  Platform 
for  Roma  Inclusion,  and  restructuring  forums. 
Almost  9  in  10  of  the  responding  participants 
positively  assessed  the  clarity  of  issues  pre-
sented  for  the  debate  and  the   involvement  of 
all relevant  actors and stakeholders.

Progress  also  helped  to  build  more  eﬀective, 
inclusive  and  stronger  partnerships  around  EU 
objectives and priorities. Over 90 % of oﬃcials 
working  in  national,  regional  or  local  govern-
ment institutions who responded to the annual 
survey  reported  the  sense  of  positive  collabo-
ration  and  partnership  between  the  Member 
States  and  the  Commission  (an  increase  com-
pared  to  2009  and  2010).  The  contribution  of 
Progress to strengthening of partnership among 
the  Member  States  and  their  authorities  was 
equally  acknowledged.  Progress-funded  an-
nual  meetings  of  public  employment  services, 
of  the  Senior  Labour  Inspectors’  Committee 
(SLIC),  occasional  workshops  of  the  European 
Employment  Observatory,  of  the  Mutual  Infor-
mation  System  on  Social  Protection  (Missoc) 
network meetings and similar initiatives played 
an  important role here.

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