Group slams ‘intolerable’ state of poor in Europe

Date: 05/06/1997

EUROPEAN governments must take concrete steps to end the “enforced uselessness” of the Union's desperately poor, representatives of the 'fourth world' will argue at a conference this week.

The term fourth world was coined to describe the growing underclass of extremely poor people in developed nations.

“The situation of very poor families in Europe is absolutely intolerable,” said Olivier Gerhard of anti-poverty pressure group ATD Fourth World, which is holding its biennial conference in Brussels tomorrow (6 June).

A recent report by the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, found that one in six families in the Union were living below accepted levels of poverty, even though at least some family members were working in a third of such households.

ATD Fourth World warns that the very poor can quickly become isolated by the prejudices and entrenched attitudes of society.

Once out of the mainstream job market, they find it increasingly difficult to get back in again.

The organisation argues that these problems are often exacerbated by national legislation which obliges people receiving unemployment benefit or a minimum wage to be inactive and feel useless.

The group is calling for a dialogue “between those most directly affected and those who take responsibility for the construction of Europe,” in order to tackle what it calls an “intolerable and tragic situation”.

Representatives claim that one way forward would be for member state governments to make a specific commitment to fighting poverty in the updated Maastricht Treaty which is due to be agreed at this month's summit in Amsterdam.

ATD Fourth World would also like to see ten seats on the EU's Economic and Social Committee reserved for representatives of the very poor.