Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-13-Speech-2-730-000"
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"en.20110913.45.2-730-000"2
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"Madam President, Europe suffers from a solidarity deficit. I believe that, until this is really turned around, this can not only destroy the European social model, but can also destroy the European Union itself. I think this has to be taken very seriously. Without much greater solidarity, we will not be able to end the financial crisis. It is true that, until this financial crisis is over, Member States – especially those on the periphery of the European Union – will continue to drift towards social crisis and potentially social catastrophe. Homelessness is one aspect of this very negative tendency.
I am grateful to the honourable Members, because this debate confirmed that the House is committed to addressing homelessness and housing exclusion. So is the Commission. The Europe 2020 strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion covers homelessness and housing exclusion. This problem is not about an absolute shortage of housing in Europe. This is mainly a distributional question. Homelessness has increased in Member States which experience population decline, so it is not about an absolute shortage of housing. It is wrong to consider poor or homeless people as criminals. Member State governments and local governments have to intervene to correct this very severe market failure.
Homelessness and housing exclusion are primarily Member State competences, and some are very jealous of this. EU housing markets differ significantly in terms of tenancy conditions, quality of housing, services for the homeless, and so on. What we need is more policy coordination, as Liz Lynne pointed out, information exchanges and statistical evidence, and also a better exchange of best practices.
Nevertheless, the Commission has already embarked on working along the lines which have been proposed, such as striving to improve the knowledge base, supporting and promoting innovation, and the housing-led approach. More is planned. I believe that priority must be given to the integrated approaches which Mr Őry explained. I would like to open doors for this under the new umbrella of social innovation.
This problem also connects with human rights, or the lack of respect for human rights. This has to be looked at from various angles and also from the legislative side. It is truly unacceptable if, for example, as a result of the financial crisis, people who took out a mortgage loan lose their apartment or house, and then still owe money to the bank after losing the house. We have to look at what can be done in this area to improve the legislative framework in Europe.
Furthermore, the Commission is in dialogue with stakeholders to ensure that the profile and framework of work in this field is suitable. We have to continue working with the Member States. Some of them, instead of working on a social housing strategy, open the way for evictions. I will have an opportunity in Kraków in October, at the Convention of the European Platform against Poverty, which is part of the Europe 2020 strategy, to continue this dialogue and to mobilise the Member States, as requested by the honourable Member, and also other stakeholders in working together in this area.
We will also continue working with the NGOs. However, I am sure you are also aware that not all NGOs share the approach of the Consensus Conference. In this continued dialogue, I therefore very much count on the support of this House in order to address homelessness and improve housing conditions in the European Union."@en1
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