Changing poverty

The archbishop of Malta, President of the Maltese Bishops’ Conference Msgr. Paul Cremona entrusted the national Caritas with the task of “Exposing the face of poverty in Malta”. A few days ago Caritas Malta held a Forum to launch its programme of activities for the year 2010, which has been designated by the European Commission as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion (EY2010).Christian humanism. “Caritas Malta is the official voice of the Church on the social reality” of the Country, said Msgr. Cremona, expressing appreciation over the analyses and proposals for combating poverty and exclusion on the island presented by Caritas director Msgr, Victor Grech. The archbishop of Malta said that as stated in “Caritas in Veritate” it is necessary to address “the present socio-economic situation through Christian humanism” and underlined that “families must help families in need, especially those who find it difficult to ask for help”. Msgr. Victor Grech said it is important to “raise awareness” over hidden poverties, notably after “the failure of the Lisbon Strategy objective of eliminating poverty from Europe by the year 2010” , and recalled that in Europe there are currently 80 million poor people. “A new approach to achieve this objective has to be based on a strong political will by EU Member States, and by putting at the centre of our strategies the human person in the context of its needs and responsibilities in relation to the family”, stated the director of Caritas Malta, which encourages “the adoption of policies which strengthen the economic sustainability of the family”.Eight recommendations. According to the national Statistics Bureau, figures for 2007 showed that 14 per cent of the Maltese population were at risk of poverty and those most affected were children under 17 years of age and senior citizens over 65. “This social bracket expanded further as a result of rises in the cost of living including higher prices for medicines, utilities including gas, water and electricity, and rent”, remarked Msgr. Grech. To this regard Caritas developed eight recommendations. First and foremost, the director pointed out, lies “a redefinition of the national poverty line to take into account the changes of the past three years”, along with “the adjustment of minimum wage”, a revision of social benefits – particularly those for persons with special disability or chronic disease who cannot work”, and the creation of cooperatives “where the unemployed could be given work to the benefit of society”. Msgr. Grech invites to draw attention “to secondary school dropouts”, who account for 42 per cent of all secondary school students, and calls for measures to cater for poor families along with guarantees “of legal, economic and social protection to the family”, and for “immediate action” for those living “on the fringes of society”.The “new poor”. “The poor workers are the new Caritas clients, – added Caritas Europa Secretary General Marius Wanders, and pointed out that “poverty is soaring across all of Europe and its face is changing too”. Increasing numbers of people in employment “can no longer afford to pay the rent, heating and food”. “We are coming to realize – Wanders explained – that some of the traditional middle classes will become poorer” and that “this crisis is the product of systematic injustice and of weak policies that characterised the past 20 years”. Wanders said that some politicians’ response to the crisis are “disgraceful”, as they further worsen the condition of the weaker brackets. Wanders claimed that Caritas “must actively combat all attempts to resolve budgetary deficits by cutting social protection”. The Director of Caritas Europe voiced his perplexity over “the modest ambitions of the new EU strategy for the next decade aimed at the establishment of a more prosperous and socially inclusive society”. Since if even it should prove successful, “At the end of its 10-year run, this strategy would leave Europe with the same number of poor people as in 2007, before the outbreak of the crisis”, while “the target of Caritas Europe is Zero Poverty” , he underlined. Edwin Vassallo M.P., Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Social Affairs stressed the importance of strengthening the family and combating the social exclusion of Maltese children “21% of whom are living in relative poverty”. Poverty, he said, must be combated especially “with education and by raising awareness on social accountability”.