The President of the Republic, Michelle Bachelet, visited the National Congress of Chile to inaugurate the First Latin American Conference on Social Cohesion, organised by the Chilean Senate with the collaboration of EUROsociAL cooperation programme of the European Commission. The objective of the workshop is to strengthen a shared Latin American view of the challenges of social cohesion and to exchange viewpoints and experiences with the aim of building a common agenda, not only as a domestic challenge at the country level but also as a regional integration need.

In her speech, the Head of State pointed to “regional integration as a path of shared learning and experiences, as a joint effort to face common challenges, with full respect for our respective identities and unique features. The presence of so many friends from the European Union shows me that persevering in this direction is worth the effort”.

The country's highest authority stressed that “the issue of social cohesion has become inescapable; we see it in the discussions stimulating reflection in Europe in these weeks, in the speech made a couple of days ago by President Obama, and in the impact of the recent book by Thomas Piketty, who recently visited Chile, has had by placing inequality at the centre of the economic debate”.

Bachelet also had words of thanks for the organising institution, for the importance of having “the Senate be the hosting institution and the fact that numerous parliament members are with us, because this brings us face to face with the original meaning of legislative assemblies, which is to host the debate, represent the visions that inhabit a society and supply responses through deliberation”.

She also recalled that in her first government she hosted the Ibero-American Summit on Social Cohesion, which brought together rulers and ministers from Ibero-American countries to address the challenges of poverty and inequality, as well as that of access to essential social rights. “The concern we shared then regarding political, economic and social problems gave rise to the Santiago Declaration, signed by the rulers of some 20 countries in November 2007 and recognised the need to articulate economic and social policies with expanded spaces for democracy and participation”, she elaborated.

In this period, she explained, “Latin America has demonstrated its willingness to reverse social exclusion. Poverty has been declining in a sustained manner. Millions of citizens on our continent have made the transition from unacceptable living conditions to more dignified and just ways of participating in their respective societies. We have met, ahead of schedule, the Millennium Development Goals in terms of overcoming extreme poverty and the worst forms of exclusion”.

However, the President asserted that “we continue to be trapped by severe and profound social gaps. We have the sad record of being the region with the greatest inequality in the world, which is manifested in the family incomes of so many households and in the great number of precarious jobs, with this lack of protection persisting up to the age of retirement”.

As a result, stressed the Head of State, “the enormous inequality we see in our societies is an urgent problem that we must confront in all sectors, without exception. There is only one possible reading of the situation: not acting now would be a serious error and a failure to take responsibility for the present and future of our countries and our people. Inequality reduces opportunity, creates unrest, and can weaken the legitimacy of our political and economic system if we do not act decisively and at in time. And that time is now”.

The First Latin American Conference on Social Cohesion continues these days in Santiago, Chile and is organised in two sessions. On the first day the discussion will be in plenary and revolve around "reforms for quality of democracy and social cohesion" as a framing theme. On the second day, two parallel round tables will be formed to address various thematic axes—a) proposals for inclusive and sustainable development: taxation and institutions, the environment, and the construction of identity in diversity"; b) "policies for social cohesion: social protection, employment and education.

Image: Michelle Bachelet inaugurates the First Conference on Social Cohesion. Chilean Government