Blatant infringement of children’s rights in Greece by the Commission, a member of the Troika, under the terms of the Memorandum

20 November has been designated as Universal Children’s Day, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the UN International Convention for Children’s Rights on 20 November 1989.

According to the findings of the Unicef report of 28 October 2014, median household incomes for families with children has sunk to 1998 levels, with child poverty rising from 23% in 2008 to 40.5% in 2012. Furthermore, Greece is now in the penultimate position among the OECD countries regarding the number of young people between the ages of 15 to 24 not in education, employment or training.

At the same time, the research findings released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (Elstat) in its Income and Household Living Standards Survey of 18 November 2014 indicate that, over the five years from 2009 to 2013, there was a significant increase in the number of households that were unable to offer their children the basic necessities, the problems being particularly acute in families with three or more children, 7.4% of households being unable to offer their children a meal with red meat, chicken or fish on a daily basis.

In view of this:

Will the Commission, a member of the Troika, continue to impose harsh conditions under the Memorandum, which has already impoverished the Greek people, thereby trampling on the rights of children?

Source: European Parliament

Answer given by Mr Moscovici on behalf of the Commission

The conditionality of the adjustment programme is agreed with the Greek authorities and pays particular attention to the fight against poverty. It includes measures to improve the Greek social protection system aiming to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of welfare spending and enhance expenditure control, creating for the first time an integrated, cost-effective and modern welfare system in Greece. This is urgently needed to reduce poverty and support the most vulnerable people, while providing incentives to work.

A guaranteed minimum income (GMI) scheme will be at the core of the new system. The GMI will provide a comprehensive social welfare benefit based on social assistance and social activation. To ensure proper targeting and fighting poverty traps, it is intended that the GMI will be tested on a pilot basis in municipalities with the objective of a later phased-in rolling out. The government launched 13 such pilot schemes on 15 November 2014.

These measures are expected to have an impact on poverty reduction, in particular for children. In addition, a single allowance child support was instituted on 1/1/2013 of EUR 40 per month for each first dependent child of the family. Measures have been put in place to provide healthcare access to the uninsured ensuring, for the first time universal healthcare, including primary, hospital and pharmaceutical, to the entire Greek population.

The Commission’s EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child(1) highlights that children growing up in poverty and social exclusion are less likely to do well in school and enjoy good physical and mental health. This is addressed in the recommendation ‘Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage’(2). The state of play in Greece was analysed in a 2013 report(3).

(1) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0060:FIN:EN:PDF (2) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013H0112 (3) http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1025&langId=en&newsId=2061&moreDocuments=yes&tableName=news

Source: European Parliament