Brussels, 20/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) suggests that a European poverty monitoring centre be set up and it should focus on energy poverty. In an own-initiative report adopted on Wednesday 20 September, the EESC calls for a European commitment to security and energy solidarity, particularly important at a time when Europeans are facing growing social and economic precariousness and rising energy prices.
The EESC says that a first step towards a “commitment” to this on the part of the EU would be to set up a poverty monitoring centre that could draw up clear European energy poverty indicators and harmonise statistics. Existing figures talk of between 50 million and more than 125 million people affected by energy policy, depending on how the figures are drawn up, which makes it difficult to assess the real scale of the problem, defined by the EU as inability to pay for proper heating for one's accommodation at a reasonable price. Other figures are more precise, explaining that the cost of fuel has risen in Europe in 2011 and 2012 with an average increase of 6.6% in electricity prices and 10.3% for gas in the EU. The price rises have had particularly negative effects on people living in Cyprus, Latvia and Greece (figures from Eurostat).
The idea of the European poverty monitoring centre is explained in the opinion prepared by French rapporteur Pierre Jean Coulou: “It would provide a report on the impact of energy market liberalisation on vulnerable individuals, propose energy poverty indicators and put forward recommendations, methodologies and options to be explored at European level on the basis of best practices identified at local and national levels.” (JK/transl.fl)