Event Summary
The Rt. Hon. David Blunkett, MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions in Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet, presented an address on work and the welfare state at Brookings on September 12, 2005. Mr. Blunkett spoke about meeting the challenges of globalization and demography in building the future of welfare provision, touching on how Europe is responding to these challenges - through the debate about the European Social Model which is currently underway as part of the UK's Presidency of the EU.
Mr. Blunkett's remarks were followed by comments from the Hon. William Frenzel, a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution and a former member of Congress, and Isabel Sawhill, Vice President and Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, and then discussion with those in attendance.
Read Mr. Blunkett's remarks (PDF)