Speech of
the Minister of Labour and Social Security of Greece Anastasios Giannitsis
June 27th, 2000

Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary General,
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour for me to take the floor at this Special Session of the General Assembly and I would like to congralate you, Mr. President, on your election as President of this Summit. I wish to assure you of my delegation's full support and cooperation for the successful conclusion of this very important meeting.

Five years ago, at the Copenhagen Summit we have reached a consensus to place people in the centre of our national policies regarding poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.
On behalf of my government, I would like today to reaffirm Greece's commitment to the goals and objectives of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action. Furthermore, we, as many others also came here to identify new challenges and trends. More importantly, we gathered here to agree upon further actions and initiatives and to ensure that further commitments for social development will be made and implemented.

The experience of all these years showed that social development is not a linear evolution. Progress in some issues is often accompanied by backwardness in other areas; such contrasting phenomena are observed both within societies and among countries.
In the new globalised international context, social developments and new technologies create new inequalities over and above older ones. For example, poverty, unemployment, immigration, violence, exploitation of women and children, unbalanced and often unfair conditions in the workplace, are taking new forms and become sources of concern for many countries.

As we enter the 21st century it becomes more and more apparent that a new economic and social reality is emerging. A reality to which our policy objectives and instruments have to be adapted. In particular, the effectiveness of power interventions is increasingly associated to more targeted and selective approaches concerning the social implications of unemployment, technical change and globalisation.

Turning specifically to my country Greece, let me highlight three major features of the last years, with a clear impact on social development.
a) Despite the fact that during these years we had implemented a very strict stabilisation program, our policy mix always included a distinct social agenda. Social expenditure as a percentage of GDP slightly increased during the period 1994-99. This combination had a favourable impact on the success of the macro-economic policy.
b) One important target of our policy agenda was to complement restructuring privatisation and in general structural policies with interventions concerning a balanced distribution of costs and benefits among involved stakeholders.
Besides its social effects, this aim facilitated the process of restructuring and its positive effects on growth. It finally contributed to the enhancement of the financial basis of our social policy itself. Social dialogue and participation mechanisms were an important element of our policies.
c) During the 1990's Greece was one of the countries experiencing significant influx of economic refugees mostly from the turbulent Balkan countries. Greece is a country with one of the highest percentage of immigrants to total population in the E.U. This is a de facto, yet significant contribution to the social as well as the economic stabilisation of the region.
The recent acceptance of Greece in the Euro-zone is a milestone not only for our economic policies but for our social policies as well.

Our social agenda in this new era has six main axes:
The first is to fight the roots of social exclusion, deep social inequalities and poverty, which are not only of an economic but also of a social and political nature as well.
The second more specific priority concerns policies to reduce unemployment. We currently consider unemployment to be the most significant source of social problems. Policies facilitating the diffusion of new knowledge and providing technological infrastructure to the young generation and in particular to unemployment persons are in the top of our agenda for the years to come.
The third priority is to sustain a safety net against social exclusion, especially for people with limited capabilities to respond to the changing environment.
Our fourth priority is to improve the institutional framework concerning gender issues and minorities.
Our fifth priority is to transform our social security system. It is our political obligation to reduce the risks of a growing social deficit as a result of the problems of our pension system. We aim to create a viable system ensuring employees stability and confidence about their future. Otherwise, inequalities, poverty and exclusion will gradually emerge and will create new pressures on our societies.

Finally, the shift to the New Economy requires the implementation of a compensatory mechanism to facilitate adaptation and social consensus. We believe that social inclusion and social stability in the New Economy are closely associated with policies aiming to widely spread the benefitsof development within our societies. Access to basic social goals and services needs to be a permanent concern of our policies.

Mr. President,
Greece, as a member state of the European Union, a founding member of the United Nations and other international organisations, supports the full implementation of declarations and international conventions for human rights.
It is absolutely imperative that we safeguard the principles of Copenhagen, we renew our firm commitment to them and that particular emphasis is put on the implementation of the Programme of Action. At the same time, in view of the challenges which confront humanity in the New Millennium, it is also essential to attain these goals in a spirit of constructive cooperation and of mutual respect and understanding of each others's specific needs and interests.

In this very spirit, it is our fervent wish and hope that the final documents of this milestone event be the product of general agreement and that they will be adopted by consensus.