Social Inclusion and the European Union.

The European social agenda has developed significantly as a result of the process initiated at the Lisbon Council in March 2000. The first part of the article examines the challenges for Member States, and for the EU as a whole, to develop the next national action plans and promote social inclusion at a European level. The second part seeks to place the discussion in a wider context, stressing the integration of social and economic policy, and the impact of the EU world-wide