Two social urgencies

Although the economic and financial crisis and the definition of the EU budget for 2012 play a primary role, the European Parliament gathered in plenary meeting October 24-27 addressed many other items that tackle important social issues. These include social mobility, the placement of people with disabilities in the work environment and the situation of “single mothers”.People with disabilities: stepping up their rights. “The most marginalised groups in society are those hardest hit by crisis,” and “people with disabilities are one of the groups most affected by the impact of the financial crisis in Europe”. 80 million people in Europe are living with disabilities, (including physical and psycho-social disabilities), states a report submitted to the European parliament by Adám Kósa, Hungarian, first deaf MEP, in Strasbourg. Kòsa is actively present in the commissions and in the European Parliament, whose sessions he always attends with the help of a sign language “interpreter”. The report presented in Strasbourg affirms that having a job “is a fundamental aspect of people’s lives”. But “people with disabilities face additional difficulties as students, and educational systems should recognize their special needs”, so they may find job opportunities. Access to services must equally be improved, and adapted (the proposal is to introduce Braille labels for the blind. The general goal is to remove all barriers, including “architectural barriers” which prevent people with disabilities from moving about freely. According to the report small and medium enterprises could play an important role for the job placement of people with disabilities. It encourages “full participation of people with disabilities in public and political life”. “The rights of people with disabilities must be upheld”, Kósa declared. Single parents. MEPs were also called to vote a proposal on the situation of “single mothers”. The report “encourages the Member States to adopt public policies, including educational policies, care provision, health policies, employment policies, social security systems, and housing policy, to support the needs and realities of single-parent families, taking particular account of the reality of single-mothers families”. It calls for financial support to mothers with low salaries or unemployed and the setting up “of family centres providing temporary accommodation”. The report proposes tax cuts and courses “enabling them to deal more effectively with the job of raising a child”. The report provides a snapshot of the conditions of single mothers – separated, divorced, unmarried or widowed – that varies according to the EU country in which they live. It underlines, “women are the great majority of single parents in Europe”; single mothers, most of whom are adults (those under 25 are less than 15%) represent 5% of the overall female population. In some Member States, as in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia, single mothers account for 6 to 7.5% of the overall female population, and in others even for 9 % (Estonia, Latvia). Reconciling private and professional lives. The parliamentary report underlines that “all across Europe one can see a difference in the perceptions and policies towards of Single Mothers. In the Northern and Nordic States government welfare systems are in place to offer single mothers benefits and social assistance policies, while in the Southern Mediterranean States (Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece) it is generally accepted that extended family will assist in the raising of single parent children, and in the Eastern European Member States there is a general mix of policies”. The European parliament addressed various aspects of daily life. As regards the question of employment the report “Underlines the need to facilitate access – by funding through the European Social Fund and Member States – to training, vocational training and specific scholarships for single mothers”, and underlines especially the importance “of encouraging young pregnant women not to stop their education, since it will enable them to obtain qualifications and maximise their chances of having decent working conditions, getting well paid jobs and gaining financial independence, this being the only guarantee of escaping poverty”. EU states are thus encourage to pursue the target of reconciling private and professional life, “with working arrangements that promote family life, such as flexible working hours, tele-jobs and e-jobs, nursery facilities and other dedicated services.