Brussels, 24/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The fight to reduce child poverty is expected to be one of the priorities in the annual examination of growth in 2016, together with a binding target for member states in this respect and the creation of an EU guarantee for childhood together with a specific fund.
This is the appeal launched by the European Parliament, which, on Tuesday 24 November, during the plenary session in Strasbourg, adopted the own initiative report of Inês Cristina Zuber (GUE/NGL, Portugal) by 569 votes in favour, 77 against, with 49 abstentions. This report is based on a simple observation: over a number of years, there has been a clear rise in child poverty in Europe, particularly in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Spain. One of the main causes identified are the austerity measures.
Member states are therefore requested to increase in quantity, amount, extent and efficiency of universal support policies specifically designated for children. Policies should be based on prevention, in an effort to break the intergenerational circle of the danger of falling into poverty.
The European Commission should target the fight against child poverty and exclusion in all the different stages of the “European Semester” budget process and in the programming and execution of cohesion policies, whilst increasing budgets focusing on this issue during the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework. A specific indicator involving child poverty should also be included in the social dimension of Economic and Monetary Union. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)