The Parliament has adopted a report on the Europe 2020 Strategy’s poverty target of reducing the number of people living in poverty between 2008 and 2020 by 20 million people.
The Parliament paints a gloomy picture of the situation of people living in poverty: the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion is set at 122.6 million, the number of long-term unemployed reaches 12 million. The Parliament highlights the plight especially of groups at a higher risk: older persons, the unemployed, one-parent families, low-income families, widows or widowers, the permanently ill, young people, people with disabilities and minorities.
Considering that more people live in poverty today than in 2008 and that households costs have risen, the Parliament asks for more action and commitment to fight poverty.
What is there for older persons?
First, the Parliament acknowledges the work that has already been established on reference budgets and calls for these budgets to be sensitive to differences throughout the life cycle and for differences between men and women. It also calls for an impact assessment of minimum income schemes. In terms of pension reforms, the Parliament calls for reforms in pension systems with an aim to guarantee an adequate level of pension incomes to fight against old age poverty.
The Parliament also links the problem of poverty to health inequalities. Life expectancy is dependent on experiences of poverty, especially if experienced at a very young age, it says. In this context, the Parliament notes that access to affordable health services has become an issue in the context of the crisis and underlines its concern that financial restrictions in the health sector could harm the long-term financial and organisational viability of the sector. It reaffirms its commitment to universal health care as a fundamental right.
To bring long-term unemployed to the labour market, the Parliament calls for action on recognising skills acquired informally, so that the experience of workers can be taken into account by the labour market and avoid long-term unemployment. To avoid that the Digital Single Market Strategy increases inequalities, the Parliament reminds that equal access to new technologies should be allowed for people at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
AGE highly welcomes this report that pinpoints many of the difficult situations that older people are living every day, locked between inadequate pension entitlements and rising costs for health care and housing. Especially the recent reduction of healthy life years is very worrying, as many people have to advance out-of-the-pocket payments for health services. This leads to the postponement of important consultations and check-ups, which might avoid the disease and related healthcare costs of many older people.
The increase of rates of poverty and social exclusion should be used as a warning call and trigger a stronger action by the EU and member states to fulfil the promise of poverty reduction that they have embarked on. A coherent strategy is needed to ensure that people at risk of poverty and social exclusion are not further left behind by the evolutions in housing and new technologies.
Read the Parliament’s report here.
