Brussels, 10/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Have the European Commission and member states forgotten that the fight against child poverty is one of the objectives of EUROPE 2020 strategy? That at any rate is the impression held by Eurochild, the European network of organisations and partnerships that lobby in favour of children's rights, given the latest national reform programmes (NRP 2013).
In their latest report which analyses these programmes from the angle of the importance given to child poverty, published in August, Eurochild notes that only half of the member states see this problem as a priority. The most severe examples are found in the United Kingdom, Poland, Sweden and Slovenia. More often than not, child poverty is indeed tackled, which is after all quite logical given the country-by-country recommendations made by the European Commission and the objectives of EUROPE 2020 strategy. All the same, it is not adequately tackled. Such, for example, is the case in the United Kingdom which “makes no reference to the negative impact of benefit policies on child poverty, the weak UK jobs market and the fact that the majority of poor children in the UK live in households where at least one parent works”.
Examples of significant progress on combating child poverty compared to 2012 are noted in Bulgaria, Spain, France, Romania and Hungary. These do not, however, alter the overall picture as, as Eurochild comments in a press release on Monday 9 September: “Governments are dragging their feet when it comes to investing in children”. Jana Hainsworth, Eurochild Secretary General, denounces the paradoxical situation, saying few things are achieved at European level when “we know what works, and we know what we want to achieve”. This lack of achievement can be seen by the almost ubiquitous absence of concrete objectives and targets for reducing child poverty in national programmes, the failure to “develop a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach”, and the little success enjoyed by the Commission's recommendation entitled “Investing in Children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage”, presented in February 2013.
Eurochild's list of recommendations is long: (1) all member states should make the fight against child poverty a priority, with clear objectives; (2) an assessment of the impact on children of all austerity measures and all NRP measures should be made; (3) the use of structural funds should be increased to support the social inclusion of children; (4) non-governmental organisations should be more involved in application of the EUROPE 2020 strategy; and (5) an action plan should be set up for applying the recommendation on investing in child welfare. (JK/transl.jl)