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 Costs”. EAPN called for the poverty target to be confirmed and implemented, putting Europe 2020 at the heart of the Semester, with an explicit integrated strategy for delivery based on integrated active inclusion and social investment in social standards, particularly by supporting a framework directive on minimum income and an EU framework on minimum living wages.
In the process of preparing the draft report on Meeting the Anti-Poverty Target in the Light of increasing Household Costs, the committee invited – on the Rapporteur’s initiative – representatives of the European Commission, the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), BPIE (Building Performance Institute Europe), and FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless) to discuss experiences with them and share their views on the issue. The aim of this discussion was also to feed into the draft report which will be presented at a later stage.
Energy poverty was a clear priority for action in order to support low-income households facing rising prices and demands with action on energy efficiency in housing offering a win-win. Pro-active measures should be based on a 3-pillar approach, addressing adequacy of income through the life cycle, affordable pricing and reducing consumption through energy efficiency measures. The investment package linked to the energy efficient regulation could make a real difference by agreeing that a fixed percentage of retrofit proposals should be focussed on promoting energy efficiency in housing for low-income households.
See here.
Please contact sian.jones@eapn.eu for more information.