New report addresses growing inequality between rich and poor in EU
According to a recently published background note on poverty and inequality in the EU by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), the gap between the rich and the poor is steadily growing, with more than 80 million people at risk of poverty. In light of these developments, the problem of growing social polarisation has to be addressed more sufficiently if further damaging effects are to be avoided, the report points out.
Despite EU commitments to eliminate poverty by 2010, “the number of people experiencing poverty has remained persistent over the past decade”, the report reads. With the ‘number of millionaires’ steadily growing, wealth and income inequalities further aggravated in recent years, displaying a ‘growing social polarisation’.
EAPN further notes that with the new 2020 strategy, a clear poverty reduction target has been set for the first time. According to the respective clause, the EU committed itself to reduce the number of “people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 20 million by 2020.” However, in the context of the recent economic and financial crisis, the achievement of these targets remains doubtful, the report warns. “In fact there is not one country in which effective and serious measures to reduce wealth and income inequality have been implemented as a consequence of the crisis” and the current recovery measures are likely “to increase the gap between rich and poor even more”.
The lack of the EU to ensure social equality and justice is also addressed in the recently published 2010 European Social Watch Report, which focuses on poverty in the EU and neighbouring countries. Following the launch of the report, Fintan Farrell from EAPN called upon the EU to establish “a consistent approach to social protection, both inside and outside the European Union”.
However, the EU fails to live up to its poverty eradication commitments within the EU, the report warns. Moreover, contributors identified inequality of distribution as one of the main causes for the crisis in Egypt. European aid has been insufficiently targeted towards ensuring the inclusion of marginalised people living in poverty, commented Lebanese activist Kinda Mohamadieh, spokeswoman from the Arab NGO Network for Development.
The 2010 ESW report can be found here: socialwatch.eu (pdf)
Read the EAPN background note here: EAPN - The European Anti-Poverty Network (pdf)
Source:
- Eurostep (pdf)
