“One of us”: hearing at the European Parliament A public hearing of the Committee for the Citizens’ Initiative One of Us will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels on April 10. The initiative, promoted by citizens and pro-life organizations, collected over one million 900 thousand endorsements, 1 million 721 thousand of which have been validated by national authorities and subsequently submitted to the European Commission. The procedures envisage that having exceeded the requested quorum of one million signatures from 18 EU member countries, now the next step is a public hearing to explain the details of the proposal requesting the European Union to put an end to “the financing of activity implying the destruction of human embryos, notably in the field of research, development and public health”. The Commission will then be called to respond to the promoters on whether it intends to present a legislative proposal (to be subsequently examined by European Council and Parliament) or if it doesn’t intend to do so, motivating its decision. The role of local authorities and Roma inclusion Ensuring inclusive local policies for all Roma; facilitating access to EU funding for local and regional bodies to support integration; to make integration “a reality at local level in enlargement Countries”. It is the focus of the third European summit to evaluate the progress made in the inclusion of Roma populations scheduled to take place in Brussels on April 4. Participants include policymakers, experts, social and cultural workers, representatives of the Roma community with panel speeches by the President of the EU Commission José Manuel Barroso, president of Romania Traian Basescu, Vice Prime Minister of Bulgaria Zinaida Zlatanova. Zoni Weisz, Roma Holocaust survivor, will share her experience. In the presentation of the summit, the Commissioner for Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor said: “Member States must act to improve the daily lives of Europe’s Roma communities in terms of education, employment, healthcare and housing”. The Commission “will continue to closely monitor Member States’ concrete actions and work with them to ensure the best use of EU money available over the next seven years to reach this objective. This summit is a good opportunity to discuss with many of those directly involved in efforts to make a real difference to Roma communities”. Commission: slow recovery, but no jobs The slow economic recovery, registered in several EU countries, has not yet been able to create new jobs, increase family incomes nor avert poverty-risk for European families, according to the European Commission’s latest Employment and Social Situation Quarterly Review, published March 31. “Employment showed the first signs of stabilisation in 2013, with a 0.1% growth in the second half of the year”, the survey points out. Positive growth was recorded in the service sectors while job destruction in the construction and industry sectors has slowed down. According to the Commission, “figures from the third and the fourth quarters of 2013 show that in an increasing number of EU Member States a growing economy has not been accompanied by job creation. It is therefore too early to assess if the current recovery will be able to bring new jobs”. Commissioner László Andor remarked: “The EU economy has returned to growth at a slow pace but the situation of many households and individuals is not yet improving, with ever growing numbers suffering from financial distress. Inequalities have risen and there is a risk that the current fragile recovery is not going to improve the situation of many lower-income groups”. For Andor, the European Union “is still far from having secured an inclusive and job-rich recovery: Member States and the EU should further step up their efforts to ensure that nobody is left behind as we try to exit the crisis”. In particular, “we should focus our efforts on investing in people”. The Review outlines the “worrying trend” of “the continuous increase in financial distress since 2010, with more and more of the population reporting the need to draw on their savings and, more recently, even to run into debt to pay for everyday living costs”.
