04/11/2015 – EAPN participated in this important conference organized jointly by EESC and the ESC of Luxembourg on “Common social values and principles & social governance”. The aim was to promote dialogue with decision-makers and stakeholders on key new inputs aiming to influence the Commission’s upcoming proposals for the EU’s Social Pillar or “Social Triple A’ as proposed by President Juncker.
23/10/2015 – The Intergroup organized a special meeting to celebrate the world day, linked to the Global Day to eradicate poverty, to which EAPN participated. The key speaker was Mario Monti, followed by a panel debate, including the intergroup chair, Caritas Secretary General and ATD activists with direct experience of poverty. The session closed with the traditional Ceremony at the stone in the Parliament forecourt.
The European Meeting of People experiencing Poverty takes place this year on 19-20 November 2015 in Brussels as a consultation with people experiencing poverty to gather their input on policies to foster social convergence in Europe and to strengthen the participation of people experiencing poverty in policies that affect them. Delegations of people experiencing poverty from 30 countries in Europe exchange with EU officials and other policy makers. It is expected that the outcomes of this Year’s meeting will feed into the Annual Convention on Poverty and Social Exclusion that is likely to take place early 2016.
12/10/2015 – Sian Jones, EAPN Policy Coordinator spoke as expert witness in the Employment Committee Hearing for Tamas Meszerics’ own-initiative report “Meeting the Anti-Poverty Target in light of increasing Household…
On the eve of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October 2015) EAPN issues this open letter to the heads of States and Governments in the European Union.
Since 1987, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty invites states to “present and promote concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution”. The Europe 2020 Strategy commits Member States to achieve a poverty-reduction target. The newly adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals commit governments to take action to “end poverty”. It is now time for the EU to bring coherence to all these commitments and adopt a comprehensive and integrated strategy to eradicate poverty, which is built with and for people experiencing poverty.
14/10/2015 – EAPN and EPSU sent a joint letter to the cabinet of the Energy Union Commissioner and Vice President, Maroš Šefčovič as a follow up to a dialogue meeting held on the 11 September. The meeting and letter highlighted EAPN and EPSU’s joint concerns about growing Energy Poverty, with an estimated 54 million (10.8%) of EU citizens affected by energy poverty in 2012 (See Insight-E study). Yet despite this failure, only 12% of the most vulnerable consumers are put on the lowest energy tariffs.
02/10/2015 – Fintan Farrell, Coordinator for the EMIN Project and European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Project officer is attending today the 13th ETUC Congress #ETUC15. On behalf of the EMIN Project, its partners and EAPN, he congratulates the organisation for adopting an action plan in favour of an EU Framework Directive on Adequate Minimum Income Schemes. “This is great step forward. Congratulations to Claudia Menne for her careful and considered handling of this issue. It is just one of her legacies from her time as Confederal Secretary“, he said.
01/10/2015 – On 29 September 2015, the researchers of the FP7 funded SOPHIE Project held a Conference during which they presented key findings of the research through moderated discussions with representatives of the European civil society and EU Institutions. The Project evaluated the impact of current social and economic policies on health inequalities in Europe with focus on the following areas: macroeconomic policies, welfare state, labour market, built environment, housing, gender and migration. The conclusions of the project bring data-based evidence reaffirming that restrictions and liberalisation of the EU economic and social policies in times of the recession and austerity measures have negative impact on the well-being of people. Sian Jones, Policy Coordinator at EAPN, discussant on the Panel on ‘Crisis, Austerity, Welfare and Employment’, welcomed the findings that good-quality social protection systems mitigated the impact of austerity and reduced health inequalities.
In 2015, as part of the ‘DRIVERS for Health Equity’ project, EAPN published a report and synthesis of case-study evidence on income and social protection, which is a joint EAPN and Centre for health Equity Studies (CHESS) work. Authored by Fiona McHardy with Olle Lundberg, this research undertook a case study approach exploring in a comparative country context, the impact of social protection system, both operations and provisions, on health inequality, in Hungary, Poland, UK, Sweden and Portugal. The publication also includes a very useful EAPN toolkit on how to develop focus groups (Annex 2 – Page 31). Open the Report and Toolkit here.
EAPN sends its contribution to President Juncker on Annual Growth Survey
22/09/2015 – EAPN sent yesterday its contribution to the Annual Growth Survey to European Commission President Juncker. As the letter highlights, EAPN has been engaged in the European Semester process from the start in 2011, showcasing the experience and knowledge from its members on the impact of EU policies on people’s lives. EAPN strongly hopes to meet with President Juncker to discuss the network’s contribution to the European Semester as well as adequate solutions for people’s well-being.