Tag: poverty

The European Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today (10 June) pledged to pool resources for research into HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and other poverty-related diseases.

Poverty is aggravated by the absence of peace and security, so the EU should not only provide development aid to but also get actively involved in negotiating solutions to conflict, said the EU special representative to the Horn of Africa.

The World Food Programme is UN’s front-line agency in disaster and conflict areas. Its new director in the Horn of Africa, Valerie Guarnieri, says the European Union’s recent crisis response in sub-Saharan Africa should set a new standard for financing humanitarian action.

The European Union could help reduce entrenched poverty by supporting social insurance systems in developing nations, says a new European Parliament study.

Europe’s new overseas aid policy, the Agenda for Change, calls for giving the world’s most fragile nations more help through what Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs calls “more strategic, targeted and results-oriented” assistance. But some anti-poverty campaigners say there is a risk that the agenda could end up neglecting impoverished people in emerging and middle-income nations.

The livelihood of millions of vulnerable communities already depends on the availability of simple foodstuffs, and now climate change is further threatening that precarious existence, say four top opinion-makers.

While Europeans’ cradle-to-grave social benefits are increasingly facing the budget axe, the European Union and other big donors are being asked to help the 5.1 billion people worldwide who lack basic social safety nets.

Eurostat issued its first analysis of the 'Europe 2020' strategy, which underpins the EU's evaluation of national budgets – giving the latest statistical trends in a range of areas such as the employment rate, R&D spending, CO2 emissions and renewable energies as well as education, poverty and social exclusion.

SPECIAL REPORT / Governments' inability to address energy poverty in Southeastern Europe is increasing the threat of deforestation, as illegal timbering is seen by needy people as their only chance for survival through harsh winters.

A cash-strapped Greek pensioner shot and killed himself outside parliament in Athens today (4 April) saying he refused to scrounge for food in rubbish, touching a nerve among ordinary Greeks feeling the brunt of the country's economic crisis.

As Turks prepare to go to the polls on Sunday (12 June), all eyes are on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AK Party, which is expected to win close to 50% of the vote and should be able to form a government single-handedly. EurActiv Turkey reports.

Austerity measures and public spending cuts are making life worse for the poorest members of society, whose plight is being "systematically ignored" by national and EU policymakers, according to anti-poverty campaigners.

Growing fears about the negative social impacts of austerity measures being implemented across Europe dominated discussions at the Citizens' Agora, held at the European Parliament last week (27-28 January).

Looking beyond the 2010 European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, Employment and Social Policy Commissioner László Andor says the EU and its member states must keep working to find new and more effective ways to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged groups. He spoke to EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Poverty reduction should be one of the main priorities of the EU's regional policy in the coming decade, according to László Andor, the EU commissioner responsible for employment, social policy and inclusion. Meanwhile, NGOs are concerned that member states' efforts to balance national budgets are pushing more Europeans into poverty.

A new survey measuring public perceptions of financial difficulties, the affordability of health care and future employment and pension prospects has revealed that 30% of Europeans believe that around roughly one-third of the their country's population is edging towards poverty.

After months of controversy between Eastern and Western EU countries, it appears increasingly likely that EU leaders will lower their ambitions on poverty reduction during a summit in Brussels on 17 June, diplomats said.

While EU-funded projects look nice on paper, the money has little real effect in addressing social issues in Hungary. The huge subsidies could be a strong weapon in the fight against poverty, but EU funds barely reach their target groups. EurActiv Hungary reports.

According to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the goals of the 'Europe 2020' strategy – including that of reducing poverty by 25% – are ''illusory''. So too is the notion that the social situation of all Slovak citizens has improved in the decades since 1989. EurActiv Slovakia reports.

Poverty reduction targets in the EU's 'Europe 2020' strategy will have no real impact in France, while the country's efforts as part of the 2010 European year against poverty are proving a disappointment, officials told EurActiv France.

The fight against poverty, one of the five priorities of a draft ten-year economic plan to be unveiled this week by the European Commission, is creating tension both inside and outside the EU executive, EurActiv has learned.

To help households struggling to pay their energy bills, a group of NGOs has urged the  EU to create strategies to combat fuel poverty in its energy legislation by improving efficiency and building social support structures.

Development NGOs such as Oxfam have largely welcomed an agreement reached by EU budget ministers and MEPs on 21 November to provide €1 billion to the world's poorest farmers, but urged the EU to address the "structural problems" that fuelled the food crisis.