2004

3^rd European Meeting of People Experiencing Poverty:

“Participation is a two way street” The theme of the 3rd European Meeting of People experiencing Poverty held in Brussels on 28-29 May 2004 focused on the importance of Governments at national and EU levels actively engaging with people experiencing poverty on their situations.

Enlargement of the EU to ten new member states:

Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia.

15^th GA – Groningen (Netherlands):

“The EU we want – Strengthening the EU Social Model.”

EAPN “EU we want campaign” for the EP elections:

The European Parliament Elections 2004 provided a valuable opportunity for having a democratic debate about what kind of European Union we want. EAPN’s key message was that ‘A European Union close to its people must not only be about economics and technical regulations but must be based on social values and democratic participation.’ These elections came at an important moment in European history with the Enlargement of the European Union to a Union of 25 and in the process of establishing a Constitutional Treaty for the European Union. In order to reverse this trend and to develop the EU we want, EAPN called on decision makers in Europe to:

• Promote a European Union based on effective access for all to fundamental rights within a sustainable development model aimed at social solidarity that guarantees a balance between social, environmental, employment and economic objectives.
  Restate the role of fiscal policy, and rehabilitate the role of public expenditure which should be regarded as an investment and not as charges to be reduced to the minimum possible;
• Ensure that the approach to tackling poverty and social exclusion addresses the multi dimensional nature of poverty and social exclusion. Poverty implies issues such as access to decent housing, quality health care, access to child and elder care, employment and lifelong learning opportunities, and access to culture…
• Ensure that social protection systems, including individualized minimum income schemes, are implemented and adequate in all Member States, for all to have a sufficient income to live life with dignity.
• Ensure that the European Union effectively tackles discrimination and gender inequality that are causal factors of exclusion.
• Develop a coherent EU immigration policy that is based on the respect of individuals and their fundamental rights, that is open to immigrants fleeing poverty and people seeking asylum, that is non discriminatory and addresses the reality of undocumented persons already present in the European Union territory.
• Defend the existence of quality services of general interest which allow fundamental rights to be accessed by all, for which a specific legitimacy should be defined.
• Develop and disseminate regular, systematic research on the distribution of income and wealth within the EU and within the Member States as well as research on effective access to fundamental rights.
• Strengthen participatory democracy approaches and in particular to ensure that the voice of those experiencing poverty, exclusion and inequalities can be heard in the development, implementation and evaluation of all relevant policies.