Recent EU statistics indicate that 17% of people across the EU (almost 80 million Europeans) currently live below the poverty threshold. This alarming fact resonates strongly with European citizens, a recent Eurobarometer survey on attitudes to poverty revealed.
As unemployment continues to rise across the EU, the timing of this particular special year seems apt, a point emphasised by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero yesterday when he told the European Parliament that his EU presidency was "very aware of the serious effects [the crisis] has caused in the world and in the European Union: eight million more people without jobs, many of them, as a matter of fact, in my own country".
In fact, the decision to make 2010 the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion was taken before the economic downturn.
Nevertheless, "combating poverty and social exclusion is an integral part of getting out of the crisis," argued European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. "It is too often the vulnerable in society who end up being hardest hit by the impacts of a recession," he said.
Fight against poverty enshrined in 'EU 2020' blueprint
Barroso went on to claim that the fight against poverty would continue beyond its year in the spotlight, and would in fact be incorporated into the EU's long-term thinking.
"The European Year 2010 should act as a catalyst to raise awareness and build momentum for a more inclusive society which is part and parcel of the EU's future 2020 strategy that I have proposed," he argued.
Vladimír Špidla, outgoing commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, pointed out that "one in six people in Europe face a daily struggle to make ends meet, but poverty can also affect the rest of us – and our societies as a whole".
He went on to note that "while most of the tools for tackling poverty are at national level, three-quarters of Europeans also expect the EU to help".
"The European Year puts this issue at the top of the agenda so that Europe as a whole can join forces to fight poverty and social exclusion," he concluded.
17m euro campaign to promote awareness
The Year's activities will be largely decentralised across each of the 29 countries taking part (the 27 EU countries plus Norway and Iceland). A €17 million budget will support awareness-raising campaigns at European and national level, as well as hundreds of national projects linked to different national priorities.
The European Year's communication campaign will include two 'focus weeks' in May and in October, when various national events around the EU will be staged in a coordinated manner. The Year will end with a closing conference on 17 December in Brussels, under the Belgian EU Presidency.
Organisations like the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) will take part in the European Year. "Combating poverty means not only finding remedies but also intervening beforehand by reinforcing and improving social protection systems," said Józef Niemiec, confederal secretary of ETUC. "It also means providing a decent income to everyone irrespective of their social, professional and personal situation," he added.
