21/03/2012 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 20.03.2012 – The danger of austerity measures for democracy and social rights will be a major theme of a hearing of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on overcoming the economic crisis and its effects, taking place in Paris on 22 March 2012.
Other topics at the hearing, organised by PACE’s Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, include the consequences of the financial crisis for young people and its impact on local and regional authorities. All three issues will be dealt with in separate reports for the Assembly, to be debated at its June 2012 session.
As well as parliamentarians, participants at the hearing include a German academic who published a major study on the impact of austerity measures on social security systems in 2011, a senior official from the OECD who will talk about growing inequalities in society, a British representative of the European Economic and Social Committee who will speak on opportunities amidst the crisis from the employers’ perspective, and an Italian leader of Europe’s main youth organisation who will look at its impact on younger people.
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The hearing, which is open to the press, takes place on Thursday 22 March from 2.30 to 5.30 p.m. at the Council of Europe office in Paris (55 Avenue Kléber, Paris 16ème, Metro Boissière).
Contact:
Micaela Catalano, Head of the Communication Division, mobile: +33 6 08 56 40 65.