Brussels, 08/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - In 2010, 23% of the population, 115 million people, were living under the threat of poverty or social exclusion in the EU. Levels were highest in Bulgaria (42%), Romania (41%) Latvia (38%) and Hungary (30%), while at the other end of the table were to be found the Czech Republic (14%), Sweden and the Netherlands (15% each), and Austria, Finland and Luxembourg (all with 17%). These figures come from a report published by Eurostat on Wednesday 8 February.
Children are at greater risk of poverty or social exclusion than the rest of the population within the EU. In 2010, 27% of children under 18 were affected by at least one of the three forms of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 23% of the working age population (aged 18-64) and 20% of the elderly (aged 65 and over).
Reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion is one of the key objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy. The issue was also discussed at a seminar, EU citizenship, homelessness and EU free movement, organised by the ALDE Group represented by Niccolo Rinaldi (Italy) and Cecilia Wikstrom (Sweden). FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless) and Eurodiaconia, organisations which work with the homeless, also took part in the debate.
Under substantive law, every EU citizen has the right to move freely within EU borders, and many undertake a journey towards a life which they hope will be better but end up on the fringes of society in the host country, FEANTSA said. They are homeless and jobless, receive no emergency assistance in terms of accommodation or health and no social care services. Eurodiaconia said that it was an affront to human dignity when migrants from inside the EU do not have access to services to meet their essential needs.
This phenomenon, like others, is linked to European legislation on the free movement of persons which, these associations argue, lacks clarity and interpretation of which on rights of residence is left to member states. The consequence of this, in extreme cases, is their being returned to their country of origin.
FEANTSA and Eurodiaconia, backed by Rinaldi and Wikstrom, were united in their call to the European Commission to clarify the rules governing freedom of movement in the EU so that every European citizen is assured of access to decent social, housing and healthcare services as a step on the way to eradicating homelessness in Europe. (Stagiaire/transl.rt)
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