Commission bids to combat social exclusion

Date: 08/06/2000

By John Shelley

SOCIAL Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou will unveil plans next week for a €70-million programme to help Europe's poor get better access to basic social services such as quality education and healthcare.

The planned scheme to combat 'social exclusion' is Diamantopoulou's response to the call made by EU leaders at their Lisbon summit in March for measures to help the poor escape from the poverty trap. Summiteers expressed particular concern about the danger that the less well-off could be left further behind in a world increasingly dependent on the Internet.

If approved by EU governments, the programme will be the first involving Union money designed to tackle problems caused by poverty since the European Court of Justice forced the Commission to axe a series of social aid packages in 1998 because it was acting beyond its legal powers.

The new programme, made possible by provisions in the Amsterdam Treaty, is geared towards persuading member states to cooperate and steer them towards using money from state coffers, including EU structural funds, to combat social exclusion. "Now we can have a proper programme and none of the member states will be able to say it is illegal," said one official.

The relatively small budget would not be spent directly on projects to alleviate poverty, but would go instead to governmental and non-governmental schemes which encourage policies and projects to tackle social exclusion. "It is a programme which tries to reach to the political level," said the official. "It will be trying to provide the necessary information to encourage good policy."

The programme is divided into three 'strands'. The first, which would be implemented with help from the EU's statistical office Eurostat, would promote research into social exclusion, as well as developing common standards for measuring the problem.

Officials say this would be invaluable in helping member states devise social 'inclusion' policies. "We do not currently have the indicators and bench marks to know the extent of the problem," said one. "We will find in the process of this programme what it is we do not know and what it is we need to do."

The second strand encourages member states to exchange information and best practices, with cash allocated to policy workshops and meetings, while the third would provide funds for non-governmental organisations involved in combating poverty and an annual conference on social exclusion.

Officials admit that the planned budget is not very large, but say it is the most they can ask cash-concious EU governments for. "It is a beginning. We would have hoped for a bigger budget, but in the current climate everyone is looking to save money," said one.

Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou is to unveil plans for a €70-million programme to help Europe's poor get better access to basic social services such as quality education and healthcare.