At the Lisbon European Council, the European Union set itself the strategic goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.
The European Social Agenda adopted in Nice now makes social cohesion one of the three key elements of economic and social progress, along with economic competitiveness and employment. The aim is to bring the employment rate up to 70% by 2010.
The European Union is now increasingly engaged with social policy, which has come to be seen as a productive factor, and is attempting to steer the economic and social dimensions away from their traditional opposition and unite them within a virtuous circle focused on the transition to the knowledge society, with the European social model as one of the key elements.
One of the common challenges recognized by the European Social Agenda in addition to that of creating more and better jobs is how to deal with population ageing. Increasing the level of female employment, and facilitating that by combatting discrimination and adjusting social protection systems to promote employment and reinforce the relationship between working life and family life are seen as ways of addressing this dual objective.
COFACE means to work to ensure that the European Social Agenda's aims do not go ignored, and that the social and family dimensions of European policies are not left tagging on behind employment and especially economic policies.
