Dear President, Honourable Members,
“End poverty in all its forms everywhere” is the first of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
According to the United Nations Global Compact, more than 700 million people — or 10 per cent of the global population — still live in extreme poverty.
I am glad that Parliament decided to remind everyone that today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and I very much welcome this debate. To fight against poverty effectively we need a strong commitment and a coordinated approach.
Poverty is the root cause of many human rights and labour rights violations. For example, child labour, forced labour and human trafficking are each deeply connected to poverty.
When it comes to the European Union, according to Eurostat figures, in 2021, there were an estimated 95.4 million people in the EU at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) which was equivalent to 21.7 % of the total population. A really frightening figure.
According to AROPE rates, up until last year, relative poverty — linked to insufficient income – has been declining from 2016 to 2018 but picked up again in 2019 and 2020.
When it comes to adequate income, having a job is increasingly not necessarily a viable route out of poverty. In 2019, almost 1 in 10 workers experienced in-work poverty, a situation that is absolutely unacceptable.
The COVID-19 pandemic halted the positive trend in poverty reduction over the past 25 years. The combined impacts of the Russia’s war of aggression to Ukraine and of climate change may be further detrimental if we do not take bold measures to support the most vulnerable but also those households that are suffering from skyrocketing price increases of energy without seeing their income being adapted to this evolution.
The Union strategy to address poverty is reflected in the European Pillar of Social Rights and its principles whose objectives are providing equal opportunities for all, fair working conditions and social protection to fight against poverty and inequalities.
Lifting at least 15 million people, including at least 5 million children, out of poverty and social exclusion is our joint European target, proposed by the Commission in its Action Plan for the implementation of the Pillar and welcomed last year at the Porto Social Summit and endorsed by the European Council. We have to stick to this objective because poverty is hitting more and more families.
All EU Member States have set their own national targets to reduce poverty, adding up and exceeding the EU target.
Prior to the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, social indicators for 2021 mainly flagged up positive changes. This was thanks to the contribution of social protection and social inclusion systems.
The at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate for children remains higher than the rate for the general population. This is a real challenge, as children growing up in poverty or social exclusion are less likely to do well in school, enjoy good health and realise their full potential later in life. This is something we just cannot accept.
Young people have been strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, young people are generally less well covered by social protection systems, resulting in a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion for 16-29 year olds. They often face job precariousness and lack of affordable housing.
While latest data confirm an improvement in the poverty and relative income situation of older people, older women face a significantly higher poverty risk and lower pensions than men do.
Women’s lower earnings and under-representation in the labour market translate into their higher risk of poverty. Other factors make women more vulnerable such as single parenthood, disability, migrant background. Women also very often are overrepresented in sectors where wages are low and precariousness high. And they are often obliged to work part time.
Now, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has dramatically altered the macroeconomic and geo-political environment. It has caused a clear deterioration of the socio-economic outlook. And it has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with millions of Ukrainians having fled their country.
At the same time the criminal destruction of mainly civil infrastructures has dramatically increased poverty in this country.
Against this critical context and key challenges strong action is needed.
We need to continue to tackle the source of soaring energy prices which is driving high inflation.
We need to avoid that households fall into a precarious economic situation, in particular the lower income families.
We need to review the adequacy and coverage of social safety nets, in particular minimum income benefits and access to enabling services,
Wage policies and adequate minimum wages are key to counter poverty, in particular in-work poverty, and to protect purchasing power of households.
I call on all Member States to swiftly transpose and implement – even before transposition – the directive on minimum wage since low earners must be protected the most if these difficult times. I notice that in some Member States minimum wages have been increased or indexed in order to adapt them to cost of living.
To effectively fight against poverty and inequality we need an integrated approach based on the coordination of different measures and policies.
The Commission has recently adopted a Communication that provides guidance to Member States on making greater use of distributional impact assessments to better target the measures.
Concrete initiatives put forward through the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan do support EU Member States action to fight against poverty and inequality.
The objective of the European Child Guarantee is to break the vicious circle of intergenerational poverty by supporting children in need. Now it’s time to implement it.
The recently adopted European Care Strategy proposes a holistic and life-long approach that starts with early childhood education and care and supports long-term care systems.
The Council Recommendation on Adequate Minimum Income Ensuring Active Inclusion Education and skills are key in finding a good job with a decent wage and help to reduce poverty.
Addressing energy poverty is key part of the approach to fight against poverty. With the European Parliament we are working on combatting homelessness which is a form of extreme poverty affecting more than 700,000 people in Europe.
The Commission has recently put forward a Regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices which sets a revenue cap on companies that produce electricity at a low cost. We propose that excessive profits should go to support households and companies.
A holistic approach is key for tackling poverty and inequalities. We have to make sure social is considered on an equal footing as other policies, be it economic, fiscal or taxation.
Fairness is one of the four strands of this Commission economic strategy. These are constituent elements of our unique social market economy.
But we Europeans cannot ignore the millions of people that live in extreme poverty outside Europe. They are often struggling to survive. This year about 5 million children have already died from poverty. Today on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty more than 11,000 children will have died from hunger, absence of healthcare, and disastrous living conditions.
This is not fate. This could be avoided. Our commitment has to be clear and solid. Social justice is the condition and foundation of peace. The EU should be in the forefront of building a fair, just and sustainable world economy that eradicates poverty.
Thank you.