However National Governments seem ready to reject this proposal. EAPN coordinating the EU Money for Poverty Reduction NOW!’ campaign has written to the Ambassadors of the Member States to ask them to be transparent on the position taken by their country in this negotiation and to back the position of the European Parliament.
MEP Elisabeth-Chartier, Rapporteur on the Regulation for the next round of the European Social Fund (ESF) has signalled, in an interview with EAPN, the determination of the European Parliament to support the Commission’s proposal: “As parliamentarians, representing the European citizens, we want and we’ll fight for this 20%, ring-fenced for the fight against poverty”.
The strong endorsement of the European Parliament gives a new impetus to the Campaign of Social NGOs to achieve increased ‘EU money for Poverty Reduction’ as a concrete follow up to the target set to reduce poverty as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy and their conclusion at the June European Council where they assigned a clear role to the European Social Fund to develop and implement “effective policies to combat poverty and support vulnerable groups”.
In light of the reality that many Governments seem set to reject the proposal for increased funding to fight poverty, EAPN has written to the Member States negotiators to ask them to back the Parliament’s position and to be transparent on the position being adopted by their Government in this negotiation. EAPN intends to make the positions adopted by the Governments known at the end of September. In addition, Social NGOs will continue with their petition to bring pressure on the Governments to support increased funding for fighting poverty.
“This is a key test to see if Member States are ready to respond to their commitments and secure the necessary budget to the fight against poverty and social exclusion, as a follow up to their agreed poverty-reduction target!”, says Sergio Aires, President of EAPN.
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- Sign Social NGOs campaign’s petition: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/EU_Money_for_Poverty_Reduction_NOW_1/
- See webpage EU Money for Poverty Reduction NOW! Campaign: http://www.eapn.eu/eu-money-for-poverty-reduction-now
- Already on this webpage: EAPN interviews MEP E. Morin-Chartier, Rapporteur in the European Parliament: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h1wp-7rcJo&feature=em-share_video_user
- EAPN’s letter to Member States representatives http://www.eapn.eu/images/stories/docs/campaigns/2012-Letter-COREPER-31-08-12.pdf
- Background note for Journalists
This Autumn, 2012 key decisions will be made on the Structural Funds’ Regulations for the next programming period (2014-2020). The Members of the EU Campaign ‘EU Money for Poverty Reduction, NOW!’ want to increase the pressure on the Member States to defend the minimum shares for the European Social Fund (ESF) as proposed in the draft regulation by the European Commission (i.e. at least 25% of the Cohesion Policy’s budget for the ESF, and, at least 20% of the ESF earmarked for social inclusion and poverty reduction). This proposal has been severely undermined by the Council during the June General Affairs Council meeting. Key dates for final decisions about the next round of the ESF will be the General Affairs Council meeting (late November) and the extraordinary European Council meeting on the (22-23 November).
Prior to these meeting the organisers of the Campaign will send a joint letter to all the Prime Ministers, along with the list of signers to our petition.
For further information, contact Fintan Farrell (Director) fintan.farrell@eapn.eu, Sian Jones (Policy Coordinator), sian.jones@eapn.eu, Vincent Caron (Policy officer) vincent.caron@eapn.eu or Nellie Epinat (Communications officer) nellie.epinat@eapn.eu. Tel: +32 (0)2 226 58 50.