Social inclusion is one of the declared objectives of the European Union (EU). When, at the Lisbon Summit of March 2000, EU Heads of State and Government decided that the Union should adopt the strategic goal for the next decade of becoming “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy […] with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”, it was important that the phrase “social cohesion” appeared in the same sentence as “most competitive economy”. The interpretation became clear when common objectives in the fight against poverty and social exclusion were set at the December 2000 Nice European Council. Key social ambitions of the EU were subsequently embodied in a first set of indicators of social performance adopted by EU leaders at Laeken (Belgium) in 2001. The importance of social inclusion policy, which “should be pursued by the Union and the Member States”, and of a “multifaceted approach”, were confirmed at the European Councils in March 2005 and March 2006.

The aim of this book is to describe the progress made since Lisbon with the EU Social Inclusion Process and to examine the challenges faced in taking forward the Process in new circumstances. Its central subject is the future implementation of the Social Inclusion Process. As explained in the Preface, this book is based on a report which was designed in the first instance to provide an input into the 2005 official mid-term review of the Lisbon Agenda, and specifically into the evaluation by the Commission and the Member States of the operation of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in the field of social policy. (This evaluation resulted in the revised objectives and new working arrangements for a streamlined OMC on social protection and social inclusion that were subsequently adopted at the European Council in March 2006, as we will see below.)

If the EU is to make significant progress towards reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, then we need to know much more about “what actually works” in terms of social inclusion strategies.