The social impact of all the economic measures that have been taken due to the crisis were the biggest concern of EU citizens that participated in third Citizens' Agora, on various forms of poverty, that took place in the European Parliament on 28 January.

The citizen at the centre of all European policies should be the proper approach to face nowadays progressive increase of social exclusion and the new forms of poverty that proliferate in our society.

Emphasizing the great importance of the citizens’ consultations to put more pressure on the European Commission to table legislative initiatives on key issues such as minimum income, participants, MEP’s and members of the Economic and Social Committee opened the floor to three different debates but that make part of the same reality: the economic crisis and poverty.  

The first workshop, on the economic and financial crisis and new forms of poverty, defended that EU Institutions should observe the social impact of budgetary austerity policies and that bureaucrats of EU Institutions should undertake training on the issue of poverty.

The second group debated the migration flows and integration processes. The single permit directive was pointed out as a basis for assuring the protection of migrants’ fundamental rights and to promote an open concept of citizenship which includes all residents. Participants supported the recognition of the academic qualifications and professional experience of third-country nationals and the necessity of establishing a regular network of civic platforms in the field of immigration and integration at European level.

Finally, the third workshop discussed the access of persons in situation of precariousness to a decent and sustainable way of living. This workshop was attended by Marie-Christine Vergiat, GUE MEP and member of the Committee on Culture and Education, who emphasised the common institutional will to fight poverty. The overall discussion stressed on the cross-cutting nature of poverty: since there is not only “one” type of poverty, a holistic approach has to be envisaged. Women, young people, the elderly, people with disabilities and immigrants should be taken into a special reflection, and be considered by a concrete roadmap for combating poverty, with annual progress evaluations. From a practical point of view, real steps have to be taken in order to guarantee early and lifelong education and to create high-quality jobs. Nevertheless it is true that culture and employment are not the only means to the eradication of poverty, and this is why all participants expressed their need to recognise the profound link between poverty and human rights: people have to be granted access to their rights for decent standards of living.

In parallel, the citizens’ Agora also comprised a consensus conference, which has put together 20 people over 60 years old who are in a situation of precariousness, to analyse and propose specific measures concerning the effects of the crisis and the cultural and digital division that brings today a generational gap, provoking other form of exclusion with the elderly.

Poverty is now affecting 20 million inhabitants in Europe and it is not conceivable to win this condition in a few weeks, let alone after a two-day meeting. If ad-hoc measures can be taken, we should also remember that some radical change is needed: it might then be useful to shift from the “money model” back to a “social model”, making thus the citizen the real focus of all concerns and policies.