Brussels, 13/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption on Thursday of the report by Csaba Öry (EPP-ED, Hungary) on "social inclusion in the new Member States", the European Parliament calls upon the governments of the new Member States to consider social inclusion based on solidarity as a social phenomenon coming under the Lisbon Strategy, in all the policies they draw up. The EP also calls upon them to: -extend their education measures and attack illiteracy (particularly among the Roma populations) and eliminate segregation in the education sector; -increase the range of services offered to families in order to improve the situation of workers having to take care of children or parents; -develop voluntary policies to guarantee the inclusion of immigrants experiencing particular difficulties or threatened by poverty; -mobilise NGOs, associations, unions and employer organisations in the fight against poverty; -make sufficient financial means available to guarantee access to quality, life-long education for all. The Parliament also calls upon the Commission to create a common framework, a kind of "red line, which is legible and shared by all the Member States", to guarantee the rights of fragile and minority populations, and regularly to review provisions to fight discrimination on the basis of article 13 of the EC treaty.
"I am impressed by your commitment. I feel that we are sharing a common approach. Poverty and social exclusion remain urgent challenges", said Commissioner Neelie Kroes. We must speed up efforts to create genuine equality, she recognised, welcoming the fact that "a great many of the new Member States are already applying the strategy on equality". Ms Kroes also stressed the need to attack child poverty, stating that the Commission would continue its efforts to this end, but she warned: "we have significant budgetary constraints which limit our room for manoeuvre. Let us be brave and realistic". British Conservative Philip Bushill-Matthews congratulated the rapporteur on "his wisdom", Czech Socialist Richard Falbr said: "if we compare the 10 new Member States of the EU with a 15 old ones, the task is Herculean!". Latvian Green Zdanoka Tatjana noted that since enlargement, "the gap between the rich and poor has widened in the new Member States". "There is now a certain social disintegration, the responsibility of which lies with the national political and economic authorities, but also with the EU, which has ignored changes underway in our countries", she said, and Konrad Szymaski (UEN, Poland) agreed. "The single most important weapon to fight social exclusion is employment", said Sophia in 't Veld (ALDE, the Netherlands), calling upon the "EU to get active in the fight against social exclusion and poverty and the fight against inequality".