On 25th October 2023, ATD Ireland community activist Christina presented at Social Platform’s annual conference; ‘Over the poverty line: The case for adequate minimum income for all’. For several weeks we prepared in the ATD Ireland office through discussions on the topic of minimum income with ATD Ireland community activists and Sister Bernadette who founded the MESL work. Christina used these insights and her own to write her insightful presentation.
The conference was in aid of the Social Platform ‘Over the Line’ campaign. Social Platform are calling for an EU Directive on Minimum Income. There has been some EU developments on this issue including the proposed council recommendation in accordance with the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Parliament’s Resolution on adequate minimum income. This event was co- hosted by MEP Estrella Dura of The Progressives and Sara Matthieu of Greens/ EFA.
The conference began in the morning with insights from civil society organisations. Social platform opened the event with an address from Laura de Bonfils- Social Platform Secretary General. She spoke on the upcoming 2024 European elections. “Now is the time for civil society to make our voices heard on what issues we want to see prioritised in the next mandate”. Social Platform and its members are calling for the next European Parliament and European Commission to show ambition and commitment to tackle this pressing problem through the strengthening of minimum income schemes across the EU, and this was the focus of the Over The Line Conference.
Robbie, Head of Policy and Advocacy facilitated the next portion of the session. Caritas Europa presented the main points from their position paper on minimum income. This paper was based on the extent to which member organisations experience financial benefit from minimum income schemes and how they support access to services beyond employment. Minimum income schemes need to be supplemented by a range of social policies. As of right now, adequate minimum income is a recommendation of the council and not a legal obligation. “Principles are good but rights are better”.
EAPN also presented their position paper on adequate income and their analysis of the council recommendation on minimum income. EAPN reiterated the need for a European framework directive on adequate minimum income. They say this has become increasingly urgent due to the rise of far – right movements across Europe and the threat this provides to human rights. For example, income benefit has been terminated in Italy. EAPN suggest that there is a lack of an explicit human rights – based approach to minimum income in the EU at present. Minimum income schemes need to be developed with people in poverty and address different households. Schemes often exclude refugees/ migrants but should be available to everyone regardless of legal residence.
There was an important discussion on access to minimum income, such as social welfare payments and the reasons behind non take up. ATD Ireland community activist Jimmy raised an important point about how this is related to the homelessness crisis in Ireland. Many people who are homeless and living on the street experience barriers to access to social welfare due to a lack of a fixed address. There are barriers to accessing all basic rights including the right to vote. We were very happy to see many of the other civil society organisation remain strong on the idea that poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue and that income- while extremely fundamental is not the only way to lift people out of poverty.
According to EAPN, a lack of ambition within the EU regarding the elimination of poverty can also be seen in relation to SDG targets. Targets are framed as a ‘reduction’ of poverty rather than complete eradication. Combatting this requires the political will of nation states. Comprehensive approaches to addressing poverty need to reach the grassroots level.
After a short break, Christina delivered her presentation. Christina spoke about what it is like to live below an adequate minimum standard of living in Ireland, the inadequacy of social welfare payments, the impacts on families and individuals and what needs to change.
“Hello my name is Christina, I am here from ATD Ireland to talk to you about minimum income. Thank you very much for having me here today. A minimum income should be an income which meets the cost of living. Social welfare in Ireland does not currently guarantee a minimum income which is above the poverty line and I will talk more about why this is today.
I spoke with some of the Activists from ATD about this and this is what was said; One of the Activists talked about his experience in childcare as he is a father two children and he was telling me about his difficulties being able to use childcare settings because he can’t afford the fees”.
See the video of Christina reading her presentation at the morning session below
Next was a presentation of a piece of research from the rEUsilience European research project. “Inclusiveness and Flexibility of Income Support Policies”; Mary Daly, university of Oxford. This research undertook a cross country analysis of minimum income schemes within different EU countries. The research discussed the strategies families use when they are faced with socio- economic shocks. It discussed how different countries define the term ‘household’. The importance that a ‘household’ does not necessarily equal was ‘family’ was emphasised. Minimum income schemes and social policy needs to greater recognise family diversity. The research also compares the requirements for legal residency to avail of minimum income schemes. The age individuals need to be, for example in many countries, the age of receipt is 18, but in Croatia there is no minimum age and in Spain it is 23. Further across countries there are varying incentives and disincentives for moving into employment. There was a discussion throughout the day about the role of minimum income schemes as something which should be a guaranteed right for everyone, but also something which should be coupled with labour market activation policies.
European Parents Association and ENSIE (European Network of Social Integration Enterprises) next presented. ENSIE discussed minimum income schemes and WISES (Work integration social enterprises). WISES are enterprises whose main objective is the social and professional integration of disadvantaged people. They discuss how minimum income schemes are not clearly defined in every country- there is a need for a better legal framework in the EU and implementation of common guidelines. They say, “no one is unemployable”. They suggest WISES can play an important role in the just transition, that there should be an improved use of state aid in WISES and they are asking for a member of the college of commissioners to take responsibility for the social economy. Through the impact WISE’s study they found that 61% had a positive outcome.
To end the morning session was a presentation from ERGO; the European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network. Many Roma and Travellers experience extreme poverty and exclusion across Europe. Anti gypsyism and socio- economic discrimination function as barriers to Roma take up of minimum income schemes.
At ATD Ireland we appreciated the frequent reference to socio- economic discrimination. We believe this is a key factor to understanding the non-take up of rights and to understanding the poverty experience overall. In Ireland #addthe10th can help combat discrimination which exists when obtaining social welfare and against social welfare recipients in general. Read more in our new Breaking Barriers report.
The afternoon session took place in the European Parliament, and involved presentations from ATD Ireland community activist Christina, civil society and trade union representations and Members of the European Parliament. Welcomes and introductions were made by MEP Estrella Ferrandis, S&D, MEP Sara Matthieu, Greens/ EFA and Heather Roy, Social Platform Vice President/ Acting President.
Christina then shared her powerful presentation again, which was strongly heard and warmly received from the representatives at the conference. Her speech ends on a timely question,
“Who decides what a minimum income should be and how is it decided?”
There was then an opportunity for social platform member organisations to share their insights. EAPN discussed the impact of strict cut off points for welfare and a lack of harmonisation for migrants. Those trying to access welfare are often treated with suspicion from the state- people instead need to be given support from state actors such as social workers who are often viewed ‘like the police’. ENCI set out the difference between minimum income and minimum wage. Minimum income schemes must be a guaranteed standard of income provided by the state. ERGO discuss further how minimum income recipients are plagued by stereotypes, stigmatisation and negative attitudes, that they are lazy, etc. For Roma, stereotypes are amplified further. Roma are seen as being a burden on social welfare systems but this is not reflected in the numbers. Compared to how many Roma are living below the poverty line, there is low take up. This is often due to strict eligibility and conditionality, discrimination and a lack of appropriate cultural training among social welfare staff.
There was further recognition that EU soft law since 1992 is not doing enough. There is a need for an EU directive on adequate minimum income. To make minimum income schemes impactful they should be coupled with other logistical support such as resourced childcare systems. Application systems need to be simplified and there needs to be people such as those working in social work to compassionately support people to access their rights.
There was then the political panel: Minimum income developments at EU level, moderated by MEP Estrella Dura Ferrandis, S&D.
Laura de Bonfils, Secretary General Social Platform details how inadequate minimum income leads to individuals and families having to make difficult choices to try and make ends meet and leads to little or no participation in society. Minimum income schemes across the EU have been largely unchanged since the last decade and in many countries are below the poverty threshold. Ultimately minimum income schemes should be seen as a human right and a worthwhile investment and not simply an added cost for states. They should be seen as a fundamental element of strong social protection systems.
MEP Sara Matthieu, Greens/ EFA thanks Christina especially for her work and reiterates the importance of hearing real life stories. She stated the greens commitment to keep this issue high on the political agenda and the importance of raising minimum income to the poverty threshold in every EU member state- 60% of the average income. She agreed that there is a need for a binding law in this area and a need for a paradigm shift. Minimum income should be based on a principles and rights based approach. She discussed a lot of the barriers to take up as discussed earlier, stating how means testing based on ‘household’ can create a cycle of dependency for women, advocating for instead ‘individual means testing’.
The first question – ‘How can the commission ensure this non-binding measure leads to implementation?’ is aimed at Jiri Svarc, Head of Social Inclusion, DG EMPL. She spoke on recommendation b on the council recommendation which addresses take up, adequacy and activation policies. She also spoke on the difficulty of applying a top-down approach. She discussed the concept of ‘active inclusion’ and how this should not be considered a passive instrument but a move towards encouraging employment and participation. She finishes by stating how we ‘need to do a lot of convincing- not just of policymakers but the general population need to be made aware of what we mean by minimum income’ in order to combat prejudice.
Milagros Paniagua, General Secretary of Objectives and Policies of Inclusion and Social Welfare, Ministry of Migration, Inclusion and Social Security, Spain discussed the Spanish experience in implementing their minimum income scheme. She was asked ‘What are the main challenges for Spain and how to advance minimum income at European level?’ This scheme came into place in 2020 and prior to this Spain had a very unequal way of covering the most vulnerable. They undertook three big projects to reduce non take up. SMS messages were sent out to eligible people, a bus was sent to municipalities with the highest rates of poverty, social workers and services had the role of supporting people in undertaking their applications. Policy lab was a set of pilots setting best practice around social inclusion. These projects will be evaluated at the end of this year. She states that overall this experience in Spain demonstrates that ‘things can improve’.
The next question went towards Giulio Romani, Confederal Secretary, ETUC, ‘How do you see strong minimum income schemes supporting your work?’ He spoke on economic development and the unequal distribution of wealth. He states that minimum income schemes are essential but not preventative. A guarantee of minimum income would allow workers and unions to be employed without the blackmail of absolute poverty. ETUC determine that minimum income schemes should be accompanied by three other policies; activation policies, the future of democracy- he states that minimum income schemes are ‘useful for economic growth and social cohesion and combat anti- democratic forces’- and taxation.
There was then time for some reactions to these answers from civil society representatives. They spoke on the need for adequate levels of taxation, how racialised communities need to be included within minimum income schemes, and how often there are too few spaces for people to be educated about their rights. Community activist Jimmy passionately reiterates the point that poverty is beyond financial, along with a minimum income we need to address the homelessness crisis, which is an ever-increasing issue in Ireland. He starkly compares how we are talking about poverty in a warm room while we just saw a homeless man sleeping rough just outside the European parliament building. He asks ‘what can the panel say to give us hope?’
The MEP representatives in response discuss how the EU parliament work on strategies to incentivise change and acknowledge how it can be difficult to see how measures are delivered on the ground. They also speak on Housing First schemes.
Summary and closing remarks were made by Heather Roy who strongly states the need for ‘ambition, adequacy and accountability’. Minimum income schemes must allow people to fulfil their needs and keep a sense of hope. It must allow people to ‘live empowered, choice- filled lives’.
Well done and thank you to Christina for her hard work and brave, important and necessary presentation at the social platform conference. Thank you very much also to Jimmy for his insightful and thoughtful contributions. Thank you very much to Social Platform and MEP’s Estrella Dura and Sara Matthieu for organising the Over The Line Conference and allowing us the opportunity to contribute. Thank you so much also to ATD team in Brussels for inviting us, supporting our involvement and their warm hospitality in Brussels! We join social platform in their call for an EU directive and look forward to hearing updates on this pressing issue.
