“The high risk of poverty is a disgrace”, declared the Social Affairs Minister Erwing Buchinger, speaking in Vienna in recent days at a round table on poverty in Austria. Other participants were the director of the evangelical charity (Diakonie), Michael Chalupka, and Christa Ellbogen, spokeswoman of the forum “Labour, Economy and Society” of Austrian Catholic Action. “In the medium term, the high risk of poverty can only be reduced if those who are able to do so make a bigger contribution to solidarity”, said Buchinger, who added that the State must assume the task of child assistance “only where families are unable to do so”. Chalupka described the figures for poverty in Austria: 460,000 persons, of whom 113,000 are children and 100,000 are “working poor”, i.e. those on low paid jobs caught in the poverty trap. “Christians are especially called to combat poverty”, said Chalupka, since “when we speak of poverty, we speak of the meeting of God himself in the poor”. Addressing himself to the political world, Chalupka asked for a “unified approach in combating poverty” and pointed out the “need to tackle questions of a financial, healthcare and social nature, as well as the need for social integration”. For her part, Christa Ellbogen placed the emphasis on the causes of poverty and especially on the “conditions of part-time work. This form of ‘precariousness’ concerns all social levels”, she observed, “but especially women who fail to find full-time work and are therefore more exposed to the risk of poverty”. Ellbogen expressed a positive view on the fact that poverty is a publicly discussed question and praised the work of the NGOs. “But everyone is called to help”, she urged: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and do something. There’s so much to do”.
