The European year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion had many state presidents wondering how to go about the issue of poverty, since they could not decide how the legal possession of a home counts in the assessment whether a person is considered poor or not. Because of this, the presidents have not been able to find a method to reduce poverty. Moreover, education and poverty were the only issues that the state presidents of the 27 EU member countries could not agree upon.
Romanian president Traian Băsescu urged the Romanian people to stop lamenting, because they are not the only ones experiencing the aftereffects of the crisis, and start working hard instead.
But despite the view of the Romanian president, Romanian city halls are fighting against poverty in their own way: by reducing social exclusion.
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Initiatives and projects with Bulgarian participation in regard with the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion
After the official launch of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion on 22nd February in Sofia, Bulgaria has been relatively proactive in its agenda for raising awareness of the issues of social exclusion and dynamic promotion of ideas concerning projects related to the Year. Since the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is the institution responsible for implementation of activities in regard with the Year, its Minister – Totyu Mladenov presented the specific national goals in the context of the main European common objectives and principles of the Year. The amount of over € 500,000 for the Year is provided by the state budget and the budget of the European Union. The priority thematic areas for Bulgaria during the 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion are: fighting child poverty; promoting inclusive labor market; equal access to services, culture and sport; overcoming the discrimination of vulnerable ethnic groups; social inclusion of people with disabilities; and gender mainstreaming.
One of the most recent projects advertised by the Bulgarian Ministry of labor and social policy is the “In Search of Solidarity” photo competition which is devoted to combating poverty and social exclusion in 2010. The aim of this contest is to promote a society which supports and improves the quality of life, social well-being and equal opportunities for every single person. Every contestant has to put together a documentary containing 3 to 6 images illustrating the initiatives taken in order to help and improve the condition of the most disadvantaged groups of the population. That is how the ordinary citizen can contribute to the fight against poverty and social exclusion in his area, town or region in the scope of this photo competition.
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A well-known phenomenon in a slightly modified form
2010 is the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Poverty and social exclusion are two interconnected, interdependent and extremely complex social phenomena that cannot be comprehensively defined within a whole book, not to mention within a single article. Poverty is the more traditional term, commonly perceived in strictly economic sense, which seems to constantly evolve and include more aspects. Social exclusion is a relatively new concept that has a multidimensional nature, including, again, a focus on the economic status of the individual. Even after recognizing the complexity of the two issues, we still need to admit the priority of the economic aspects in both phenomena. In this line of thinking, we also need to recall another social-economic phenomenon that has been widely discussed at EU level and that is still observed, especially in times of crisis. This phenomenon is directly linked to social exclusion in its definition as “each type of societal disadvantage” and is definitely related to poverty. Formulation of the cause-and-effect links, though, would be far more difficult. This phenomenon is traditionally known as “gender discrimination” and it can also be widely discussed in view of the various aspects of its manifestations. However, having in mind that 2010 is announced the year to fight poverty and social exclusion, let us concentrate on one single, but significant enough, aspect of gender inequality, which has evolved and been defined as a separate phenomenon itself – “feminization of poverty”.
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An affliction spreading across Europe
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social issue of considerable importance is the threat of poverty among children in the EU. In the past years, the percentage of people living in poverty has steadily risen, having a severe impact on several social branches, children being amongst the worst affected. This consequently has a disastrous impact not only on the normal physical and psychological growth and development of those children, but also on their chances of completing their schooling and integrating smoothly into society. As a result, it affects our entire future society.
Before the crisis erupted, a European Parliament report warned that 19 million of Europe’s 78 million poor were children. That number is now even higher and the scourge of poverty is growing in proportion by the day. This is nothing else than an imperative call for change. There must be found a way to resolve the sad paradox of a rich continent which has children in poverty, children that are nothing else than innocent victims of our society.
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People with disabilities are full citizens who have equal rights, are entitled to dignity, equal treatment, independent living and full participation in society as non – disabled people. Despite equal rights for non – disabled people, they have more difficulty in finding a job with a decent income. Reaching a good level of education is another problem they have to face; even when they reach high education studies they are much less employed in high level jobs. People with disabilities represent one sixth of the overall EU working population but their employment rate is comparatively low.
2003 was the European Year of People with Disabilities and one of the main objectives was achieving equal rights for people with disabilities and since this year the Commission’s disability strategy has been to make equal opportunities a reality. The Commission’s strategy is to integrate the disability issues in all UE policies: this is made since 2003 through the EU Disability action plan (DAP), a “mainstreaming” strategy. The DAP is developed in 2 years phases. Each phase is focused on one special issue – the 2008-2009 DAP focus is accessibility. The Commission is preparing the new strategy for 2010-20201.
The aim of DAP strategy for 2003-2010 was to enable disabled people to play an active role in society, improving employment and education prospect to increase their access to goods and services. Member States design their own strategy for the inclusion of disabled people in the labour market, in educational initiatives and in all other initiatives that can help disabled people living independently, get transportation, access to information, access to buildings and infrastructures. European Union is committed to respect the Human Rights of all people, but the fundamental rights of millions of disabled people (disabled people in the EU are 65 million) are regularly violated in many Member States2.
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A debate on the consequences of Greece crisis between Bulgarian researcher Nikolay Anachkov and Italian research coordinator Pietro Celotti
Eurozone represents the second largest economy in the world. On the first decade of existence Euro became the second largest reserve currency after the U.S. dollar and surpassed the U.S. dollar’s circulation. The Euro appeared to be very strong, so it is understandable that when the debt crisis started to affect the Eurozone, Member States' citizens reacted differently. If some of them truly believe that European Union is a powerful organisation and the crisis will pass, others can already see the end of the Union.
Nikolay Anachkov: In 2009 it became clear that something in the Greek financial system is not so all right. Actually, Greece’s economy has not been in balance for years, but everyone in the European Union preferred not to raise this question, maybe hoping that it should solve all by itself. It would be very nice if that happened, but as we know, in real life things like this never happen. If you want to cope with some problem you should try hard to solve them. But what European Union did was just the opposite.
Pietro Celotti: I catch your personal disappointment but it seems necessary to focus on the actual institutional responsibilities. It is right that Eurozone was seriously affected, but Greece’s debt crisis was produced mainly because for some years they have covered up their bad economic performances by officially presenting better economic figures than it was the case. Although the Commission has the responsibility for monitoring statistical data, they do not directly compile statistics or control their production, but it depends largely on the data compiled and reported by the member states, as well as the administrative ability, good will and loyal co-operation of the respective national authorities. In this sense, European Union could not intervene with objective measures, even if the reliability of Greek government deficit and debt statistics has been the subject of continuous and unique attention for several years.
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Included in the country partnership and summing 58.5 million dollars, borrowed by the Romanian Government from the World Bank to meet the commitments of the (JIM) Joint Inclusion Memorandum signed by the Romanian Government with the European Union in June 2005, the social inclusion program stipulates the improvement of living conditions and social inclusion for some of the most disadvantaged population groups, including Roma minority.
Project Description
The project aims to improve living conditions and social inclusion of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people from Romania and has four components.
1. Priority intervention program summing 11 million Euros, will be implemented by the RSDF (Romanian Social Development Fund) in collaboration with the National Agency for the Roma, which will award grants to fund small projects in poor Roma localities in order to improve living conditions and social inclusion of Roma population from about 100 (one hundred) poor localities by: (i) the financing of sub-projects of priority interventions granted awarded under competitive conditions, (ii) the promotion, information and education campaigns and by monitoring the evaluation activities, as well as by training the local authorities, the community groups and NGOs, (iii) by providing assistance for the development of the capacity at the level of the communities, through preparation, facilitation, evaluation and supervision of priority intervention sub-projects and by providing training and instruction in this regard, including training granted by RSDF, and (iv) by providing technical assistance to poor Roma communities to prepare their projects funded from EU funds.
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2010 European Awards for Lifelong Learning and a new European Legislation for combating poverty and social exclusion.
The Spanish Presidency of the European Union has placed, in 2010, an emphasis on more education and training, better quality and comprehensive inclusion.
One of the priorities of the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion relates to the importance of facilitating access to education and training to all, regardless of age or social group.
To prove how important is the education in supporting social cohesion, active citizenship, intercultural dialogue and equality between men and women, six EU-funded education projects aimed at promoting social inclusion were named on May, 19 as winners of the 2010 European Awards for Lifelong Learning. The winning projects are from Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom and involve partners in several European countries to demonstrate that important goals can be achieved by working together across borders.
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The employment and social committee at the EP votes on the draft proposal in June
In March 2010, members of the European Parliament, after discussions with employers’ and workers’ organizations agreed on studying the possible impact of the introduction of uniform minimum income level across the EU. The Employment and Social Committee at the European Parliament is going to vote on the draft proposal in June. In case this proposal is approved, it means that a new EU Directive will be developed which will guarantee that Marco from Italy, Bogdan from Romania and Ivan from Bulgaria will get the same minimum salary, in relative terms. Will this really be the end of poverty across Europe?
The EU is often perceived by EU citizens as a distant structure that does not have an impact on their daily lives. Many people, especially in new member-states, are not aware of the activities of the European Commission and Parliament and do not understand how the actions of EU institutions can improve their lifestyles. The introduction of a Directive establishing a minimum income would help fill in the gap. It will demonstrate a strong political commitment of the EU to social cohesion. Such a measure would also give a tangible meaning and content to the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, apart from awareness-raising campaigns. It will be a more “visible” step towards the achievement of the “Europe 2020” Strategy document, aiming at removing the risk of poverty for 20 million people in EU and also for better protection of fundamental human rights.
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“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.”
On 9 May 1950 Robert Schuman, french foreign affairs Minister, laid the foundations of the European Union calling for a Europe built on concrete results, starting with solidarity. A few years later, Schuman became the first president of European Parliament.
In spite of all the efforts that the European Union, its institutions and the stakeholders involved in the construction of a European identity (Member States, national regional and local authorities, political parties, NGO’s and organised civil society) have made throughout the years to involve European citizens and to stimulate «feelings» of belonging, the Europe of today cannot yet consider itself the Europe of the citizens.
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The European year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion had many state presidents wondering how to go about the issue of poverty, since they could not decide how the legal possession of a home counts in the assessment whether a person is considered poor or not. Because of this, the presidents have not been able to find a method to reduce poverty. Moreover, education and poverty were the only issues that the state presidents of the 27 EU member countries could not agree upon.