Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU anti-poverty plan lacks substance, says civil society

  • A beggar in Italy (Photo: .craig)

The European Commission unveiled on Thursday (16 December) a ten-year plan to combat poverty in the bloc, aiming to cut the number of people living in poverty by 20 million by 2020.

Social affairs commissioner Laszlo Andor and the document outlining the strategy both condemned the state of poverty in the bloc: "Combating poverty is both a moral duty and an economic necessity. With millions still living on the margins of society we are wasting our human resources."

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

According to commission data, some 84 million Europeans live in poverty.

The document noted that the poor have borne much of the impact of the economic crisis and that as a result, the situation of those earning the lowest amount has continued to deteriorate.

In particular, young people, migrants and the low skilled, have experienced the greatest increases in unemployment. One in five young people in the labour market is jobless; the unemployment rate for non-EU nationals is more than 11 percentage points higher than for nationals and the low skilled are experiencing an increase in unemployment twice that seen by the highly skilled.

"This is unacceptable in the 21st Century Europe," declares the paper. "The European Union and its member states must do more and do it more efficiently and effectively to help our most vulnerable citizens."

Civil society groups however worry that for all the positive language and good intentions contained in the plan, there is little of substance.

With social policy jealously guarded by member state governments, the EU level has very little it can do in the area.

However, under the new plan, the 'EU Platform Against Poverty' the commission aims to at least co-ordinate the various national anti-poverty efforts.

Countries have to set their own "ambitious" national targets and report annually on how close they are to achieving these goals.

Brussels will be monitoring success rates, although it has no power of sanction to pressure laggards in the same way that it does with fiscal policies or state-aid scofflaws.

The strategy will also see the creation of a microfinance programme that aims to help vulnerable groups access loans to set up their own business. The programme will be up and running by early 2011, although the project comes just as some international opinion on microfinance has begun to turn from celebratory to sceptical.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, whose countryman Mohammed Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on microcredit, recently slammed the concept for its high interest rates, saying: "Micro-lenders ... are sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation."

Elsewhere, the EU strategy aims to encourage member states to innovate in social policy and employ an "evidence-based" approach to its anti-poverty work and assess success rates.

Anti-poverty campaign groups cautiously welcomed the plan, but said that the EU needs to go further than "good intentions" with "urgent actions."

However, Ludo Horemans, president of the European Anti-Poverty Network, a group of NGOs working on poverty issues, said that the austerity measures being imposed by governments undermine any efforts to alleviate poverty: "Given the reality of the austerity measures taken in most member states, which impact on people living in poverty and exclusion the most, urgent actions will be needed if the good intentions and commitments in the platform are to be convincing."

He said that the introduction of a minimum income scheme across Europe would go far toward bringing millions of citizens above the poverty threshold, an idea already proposed by the European Parliament.

How the strategy will be implemented was also a key concern of civil society.

"The governance of the strategy remains unclear," said Fintan Farrell, the group's director. 

"If the strategy is to be a truly EU-wide strategy and not just a Brussels-based exercise, then local and national action plans for inclusion, as well as follow up of distinct thematic areas, will be essential to deliver on the promise."

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us