| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
|---|---|
| Series Title | COM |
| Series Details | (2012) 617 final (24.10.12) |
| Publication Date | 24/10/2012 |
| Content Type | Policy-making |
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Within the framework of its Europe 2020 strategy, the European Union has set itself the objective of reducing by at least 20 million the number of people in or at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2020. Yet the economic crisis has exacerbated poverty and social exclusion, raising concerns over the social consequences for individuals and society at large. In 2010, nearly one quarter of Europeans (116 million) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This is about 2 million more than in the previous year and the first figures available for 2011 confirm this trend. The Union's main instrument for supporting employability, fighting poverty and promoting social inclusion is and will remain the European Social Fund (ESF). This structural instrument invests directly in people and their skills and aims at improving their labour market opportunities. Yet some of the most vulnerable citizens who suffer from extreme forms of poverty are too far removed from the labour market to benefit from the social inclusion measures of the ESF. The EU's Food Distribution programme for the Most Deprived People (MDP) has for more than two decades provided food aid for those persons. It was created in 1987 to make meaningful use of agricultural surpluses, which might otherwise have been destroyed, by making them available to Member States wishing to use them. Over the years, the scheme became an important source of provisions for organisations working in direct contact with the least fortunate members of society, providing them with food. The expected depletion and high unpredictability of intervention stocks over the period 2011-2020, as a consequence of successive reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, has deprived the MDP of the original rationale underpinning it and it will be discontinued at the end of 2013. However, material deprivation still causes serious problems and there continues to be a need for EU assistance to the society’s most deprived persons. In its proposal for the next multiannual financial framework the Commission has reflected this and reserved a budget of €2.5 billion for a new instrument designed to fight extreme forms of poverty and exclusion. Against this background, the proposed Regulation establishes for the period 2014-2020 a new instrument that will complement the existing cohesion instruments and notably the European Social Fund, by addressing the worst and most socially corrosive forms of poverty, food deprivation as well as homelessness and material deprivation of children while supporting accompanying measures aiming at the social reintegration of the most deprived persons of the Union. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0617:FIN:EN:PDF |
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| Subject Categories | Employment and Social Affairs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
