Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-19-Speech-2-116"
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"en.20101019.6.2-116"2
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"Madam President, poverty and social exclusion are violations of human dignity and fundamental human rights, yet well into the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, we are sadly running the risk of reaching a record number of people living in poverty.
In this context, minimum income schemes are an effective tool for ensuring people’s security and reducing the effects of exclusion and unemployment. This supports access to decent work, combating the insecurity and poverty wages which are leading to a growth in the percentage of poor workers. These minimum income schemes play an important role in redistributing income, and they ensure solidarity and social justice, particularly in a time of crisis, as they act in a counter-cyclical way as social stabilisers, providing additional resources to strengthen demand and consumption in the internal market, and thus combating the recession.
Consequently, minimum income schemes based on at least 60% of the median income in each country should be an integral part of a strategy aimed at social integration, involving both general policies and specific measures for society’s most vulnerable groups in terms of housing, healthcare, education and training, and social services. This would help people out of poverty and act as a means of social inclusion and access to employment for all those who are in a position to do so, with decent working conditions, not modern slavery, as is the case with the unstable and poorly paid work that is affecting millions of workers, especially women and young people.
The challenge facing the Commission is to present an initiative and action plan on minimum income schemes with a view to getting children, young people, adults and the elderly out of poverty and putting them on the path to social progress.
This is a shocking step backwards for rich Europe, where the profits of the financial sector and economic groups continue to grow, and be secreted away in tax havens. As a result, there is a growing wave of indignation among millions of workers, women, young people, victims of salary cuts and precarious, poorly paid work, the unemployed, and retired people with pitiful pensions.
At the end of 2008, Eurostat said that, even after welfare contributions, around 85 million people would be at risk of poverty, but the situation will be all the worse with further neoliberal EU policies and the so-called austerity measures that are being taken by several Member States. These measures involve salary cuts and cuts in public health services, education and other areas, reductions in social support and tax increases on essential goods, including foodstuffs, as is now also happening in Portugal, following Greece, Ireland and other countries.
It is unacceptable for the Commission and the Council to continue to put pressure on Member States due to the irrational criteria of the Stability and Growth Pact. They are looking only at financial, not social, issues, having given all the funds for public support to the banks and the financial system, with complete disregard for the public. Worst of all, they are now forcing workers and poor people to pay for the urgent public subsidies that the governments gave to the banks, with the backing of EU leaders and applause from financial groups.
It is therefore necessary to change policies in order to tackle poverty and social exclusion, as demanded by the millions of demonstrators across Europe, including here in Strasbourg.
The objectives and guiding principles of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion cannot be mere words in the wind. The commitment that the EU made to realise the UN’s Millennium Development Goals cannot be forgotten.
Policies should recognise rights and sharing of responsibility, promote cohesion and the participation of people at risk of or living in poverty, take concrete measures and implement them in order to effectively prevent and eradicate poverty, and integrate the homeless and immigrants, not to mention people with disabilities, and they should not jeopardise the future of young people and children.
Unfortunately, the Europe 2020 strategy is limited to indicating the way out of poverty for 20 million people by 2020, which represents a step back from the initial objectives of the so-called Lisbon Strategy.
The multifaceted nature of poverty and social exclusion calls for a social dimension to macro-economic policies as an integral part of overcoming the crisis. This means a change in priorities and policies, especially monetary policies, such as the Stability and Growth Pact, budgetary and fiscal policies, and competition and internal market policies. Priority needs to be given to economic and social cohesion and the defence of human rights. This means that at the very least, there should be a balance between economic policies, employment, social and environmental policies, and fair distribution of wealth and income."@en1
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