From 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion to 2014 Year of European elections
giovedì, March 31st, 2011The full text of the E.M.E.R.G.E. publication can be read here:
European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus
Exchange of ideas between E.M.E.R.G.E. researchers Elena Kirova and Federica Chiezzi
giovedì, December 9th, 2010
Elena Kirova (Bulgaria): "Sofia is a beautiful city. The streets are often covered with holes (that become craters in the winter months), traffic jams during business hours on Mon-Fri can be real bad, parking spots are a scarce, but what really makes it a horrible experience when driving on the streets of Sofia are the people who stay at the traffic lights waiting for the red signal to ambush your car and racket you for your money.
In this article I’m going to open a topic for a debate on an issue that affects a large percent of the drivers in Europe. It may at first sound insignificant, but as we go further into the issue, I believe we could find some general problems with social integration rooted in the following scenario.
This is how it usually happens:
1. A driver stops at an intersection.
2. A windshield cleaning “professional” comes to offer the service.
3. The driver politely or not so politely declines the service.
4. The cleaning professional performs the service.
5. The driver feeling intimidated and not wanting to enter a confrontation gives a small amount of money in return.
6. Cleaner accepts and repeats.
Many cities are already taking action against what is seen as pure form of racket and exploitation of minors. In Florence it is now illegal to clean the windscreens of cars waiting at traffic lights. The act of Florence city officials was prompted by citizens’ complaints of window-washers "becoming more aggressive, especially to women alone in their cars." The first patrol which resulted in 15 people being charged was led by Florence police Chief Alessandro Bartolini. "There are no more on the streets. Word has got around, apparently," Bartolini said.
The people that are performing this type of cleaning service fall in the poor and socially excluded category. In Bulgaria, the majority of them are Gypsies. For most of them it is their only source of income. If we take this venture out of their hands does it mean that we will exclude them even more from the society and make them poorer?
Federica Chiezzi (Italy): As in Florence, also in Rome, from the 1st of November 2009, window-washers, jugglers and hawkers are strictly forbidden to walk through the city streets and offer any kind of services. The “first citizen” Gianni Alemanno issued and signed new measures to eliminate illegal services performed by those people which can both disturb and bother drivers. Alemanno set the imposition of a fine of 100 euro for those who don’t respect that ordinance.
2010 was announced by the European Commission as Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. This is the year, during which European citizens should pay special attention to social groups at risk, groups that are deprived of active social life and/or active participation in the labor market. These groups most often include disabled people, people suffering from long-term unemployment, ethnic minorities. The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion aims to raise the awareness of society regarding the groups at risk and to contribute to increasing social tolerance and improving of policies targeting those groups. 2010 is a call for decisive measures in order to fight the causes of poverty in order to secure a respected active role of each individual in society.
The faces of the campaign in Bulgaria and goodwill ambassadors who will promote the concepts of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion include popular people, as well as people who belong to social groups at risk. The popular faces of the campaign include the pop singer Vladimir Ampov-Graffa, as well as the frontman of the popular pop group D2 Deyan Kamenov. “My goal is to inform people that need help about how the state can actually help them, because everyone deserve to get education, to work and sustain their families”, Deyan says. Little Dzhem from a small village near Plovdiv is also one of the faces of the campaign. Kapka Panayotova, chairman of “Center for Independent Life” Foundation has been working in the field of protection of human rights and rights of people in disadvantaged position, a representative of whom she is herself, for many years.
An affliction spreading across Europe
giovedì, July 15th, 2010
A 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.A debate on the consequences of Greece crisis between Bulgarian researcher Nikolay Anachkov and Italian research coordinator Pietro Celotti
venerdì, July 2nd, 2010
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.
The new Italian approach on combating poverty and social exclusion…
venerdì, May 7th, 2010
Lorenzo Malagola, a representative of the Italian Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Policies presented the National Campaign for the aid against the solitude and poverty during a meeting with the researchers of E.M.E.R.G.E. project on Tuesday, 4th of May 2010 at Luigi Sturzo Institute in Rome.
The National Campaign is complementary to the European year for combating poverty and social exclusion. The government has developed a new approach to combat poverty and social exclusion, based on the new perspective that poverty is the result of a weak framework of family and community relationships. The aim of the campaign is to place the individual in the core of the society by boosting people’s responsibility so that they come out of poverty. In order to do that as effectively as possible, the Ministry involves volunteer associations and other non-profit organizations that work directly with people on the ground.
