During a plenary debate on Thursday 14 March, MEPs once again discussed the living conditions of Europeans, and in particular their deterioration as a result of the financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation in food and energy prices.
After debating the ‘European Semester’ the previous day and the need to strengthen social priorities, the MEPs expressed particular concern about the phenomenon of the working poor and problems of access to housing.
Taking part in the debate, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Affairs, Nicolas Schmit, acknowledged that the EU has “not seen a reduction in poverty” in recent years, despite the fact that this is one of Porto’s major objectives and that one person in five in the EU is currently at risk of poverty.
“We need to show that we take these concerns very seriously”, said the Commissioner, pointing out that in one household in 10, rent represents 40% of income.
Part-time workers and single-parent families must also be given attention by legislators, as must housing, a policy where there is “a very strong demand for the EU to play a role”.
The Commissioner called on the Member States to increase wages, particularly minimum wages, and to promote social dialogue while improving social protection systems to encourage convergence.
In the Hemicycle, however, the Commissioner and left-wing MEPs in general were taken to task by some of them, such as Markus Ferber (EPP, German), who accused them of having promoted policies that increased the administrative burden on businesses and thus hampered their productivity and competitiveness, with negative economic consequences.
The EU’s economic situation is “bad because of those who called for this debate”, he said.
“When growth is less good and we spend more and more on social spending, that restricts our room for manoeuvre”, added the German. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)