Kommentar von Franz Küberl
Kommentar von Franz Küberl
Franz Küberl, President of Caritas Österreich about the social and economic development of Central Europe in the years to come.
Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz once said: "Growth does not means that everybody automatically profits from it. Nor is it correct to say that a rising tide lifts all boats. Very often, when the tide rises quickly, particularly in bad weather, the weakest boats are hurled against the rocks where they break apart."
The most recent round of expansion of the European Union has shown all of us the enormous challenges facing Central European countries. Among the most important questions is the path that the social and economic development of Central Europe will take in the years to come.
Particularly in a phase of upheaval and development that represents an enormous chance for large sectors of the population, we must pay particular attention to the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society.
The expansion of the EU is the greatest challenge to the European social model since the founding of the Union. The basic values of equal rights and integration of all citizens in society and the guiding principles of justice and solidarity will be put to a severe test.
The temptation, when taking a difficult path, to leave the weakest behind in order to advance more quickly is a strong one.
But this temptation is deceptive. It is not dissimilar to mountain climbing. Naturally the slowest member of the group is always a burden and hinders the progress of the faster ones but the code of honour forbids leaving anyone behind. But even if one were to decide to leave the slowest member behind, there would always be another slow member of the group and this cruel game would start again until at the end only the fastest survive. This is not a worthwhile perspective – apart from the unanswered question about who provides security on the downhill path, which inevitably comes.
This means that the central question confronting us is how we can preserve the possibility of socially integrating all persons. Or to put it more dramatically – and this affects a number of the new member countries in a particularly dramatic way, I refer here to the question of the Roma – how can we give excluded groups in society a perspective in the new Europe? I believe there is no avoiding this question. The example outlined above shows: once we begin with the spiral of excluding certain persons or groups, there is no way back.
Our society is starting to fray at the edges. The boundaries, which no one can any longer clearly see, are moving in the direction of the politically focussed centre and more and more people are finding themselves "outside the door" again, without ever having noticed leaving the "social room". The question of being inside or outside is reflected in the socio-political discussion. Well-secured and represented groups are contrasted with groups with inadequate security and no voice in the political discussion. Refugees and migrants, single parents, the unemployed and children have no strong lobbies in contrast to integral families, employees represented by trade unions, and pensioners. As poverty statistics in social reports show, it is precisely these groups that need the strongest lobbies to allow them make their way back from the edge into the centre.
It is up to all of us to form an alternative image to a Europe of social extremes. To do this requires not only the efforts of state institutions and social organisations such as Caritas but, increasingly, also the active support of committed business people and businesses. They shape the social climate of society through their different roles e.g. as employers, producers of goods and services and political protagonists in the context of the social partnership. A socially balanced and stable Europe can be achieved only as the result of joint effort on the part of the state, civil society and business. Companies will increasingly have to face this responsibility. Restricting themselves to short-term profit-making and share prices will no longer suffice.
Several companies have already recognised the situation and have expanded their own goals by incorporating social aims. They have recognized that they can only be successful when as many boats as possible rise with the tide and when their growth is not achieved at the cost of social balance and stability but rather supports and encourages these aims.