EU MUST ELEVATE THE ISSUE OF POVERTY TO THE VERY TOP OF ITS POLITICAL AGENDA

Europe is sinking into a protracted period of deepening poverty, mass unemployment, social exclusion, greater inequality, and collective despair as a result of austerity policies adopted in response to the debt and currency crisis of the past four years. Mass unemployment – especially among the young, 120 million Europeans living in or at risk of poverty – increased waves of illegal immigration clashing with rising xenophobia in the host countries, growing risks of social unrest and political instability estimated to be two to three times higher than most other parts of the world, greater levels of insecurity among the traditional middle classes – all combine to make a European future more uncertain than at any time in the postwar era.

As the economic crisis has planted its roots, millions of Europeans live with insecurity, uncertain about what the future holds. This is one of the worst psychological states of mind for human beings. There is quiet desperation spreading among Europeans, resulting in depression, resignation and loss of hope. Millions in Europe find themselves queuing for food, unable to buy medicine nor access healthcare. Millions are without a job and many of those who still have work face difficulties to sustain their families due to insufficient wages and skyrocketing prices. The jobs crisis is one of the most debilitating issues facing the EU and the eurozone. Of more than 26 million unemployed in the EU, those out of work for longer than a year stands at 11 million, almost double the level of five years ago when the international financial crisis broke out in the US.

The rate at which unemployment figures have risen in the past 24 months alone is an indication that the crisis is deepening, with severe personal costs as a consequence, and possible unrest and extremism as a risk.

Just as an illustration, let us consider the case of Spain. Last year the Spanish Red Cross launched a national appeal to help people in Spain, the first ever, and the Council of Europe indicates that there is a worrisome development of poverty in Spanish families. The Red Cross stresses that the situation of families has become more and more precarious because they can no longer rely on their relatives and unemployment benefits and other types of assistance are nearly exhausted.

• Over 1,4 million persons in Spain have received food, 352,000 health products, clothes and assistance to pay bills, 40,000 have received assistance for access to employment, 55,600 have received school support (food and school supplies) from the Red Cross and in 2013 the trend is up.
• The rate of poverty among children is alarming (30.6%) notwithstanding the development of  health problems and malnutrition.
• The crisis is having a severe impact on handicapped persons which represent 3.8 million people in Spain.
• Over 3 million live in Spain with less than € 300 per month. The rate of poverty in Spain is 21,1 % including persons with revenues below € 7,355 per year.
• Record  rate of unemployment 26,3%

Europe  must elevate the issue of poverty to the very top of its political agenda. The common good  is the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment fully and more easily. There are three elements in the common good: respect for the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person, the social well being and development of society, and the stability and security of a just order. The common good is primarily accomplished by the variety of social institutions—family, religious communities, economic enterprises, labor unions and service organizations—that lie outside of government. But a crucial element of the common good falls to government for its realization “the public order.”

The core teaching of the church on the role of government in combating poverty declares that in addition to promoting conditions that provide meaningful jobs for their citizens, nations must provide a humane threshold of income, health benefits and housing. So it is with the issue of poverty. Just as important, as Pope Francis has repeatedly taught, wealthy nations must work ardently to reduce gross inequalities of wealth within their borders and beyond. Accomplishing these goals requires a series of complex prudential decisions about financial structures, incentives for wealth creation and income support programs that enhance rather than undermine family life.

But choices by citizens or public officials that systematically, and therefore unjustly, decrease governmental financial support for the poor clearly reject core church teachings on poverty and economic justice. Policy decisions that reduce development assistance to the poorest countries reject core church teachings. Tax policies that increase rather than decrease inequalities reject core church teachings.