Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-13-Speech-1-031-000"
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"en.20120213.14.1-031-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, naturally, my colleagues and I in the Commission — particularly President Barroso and Commissioner Andor — share your concern regarding the situation of the homeless in Europe during this spell of cold weather.
European funds must also be used to evaluate and test operational solutions and research new approaches through work on social innovation. We are thinking about housing policy in particular.
My colleague, Commissioner Andor, presented an innovative approach that was launched by railway companies and set in stone, for example, by the European Charter for the development of social and societal innovation in train stations. Thus, the railway companies which are signatories to this Charter declared their intention to share their action programmes in order to contribute to raising corporate awareness of extreme social inclusion at European level. This work has received support from the European initiative for social innovation and experimentation through funding for the recently completed ‘Hope in Stations’ project, which will be extended by the ‘Work in Stations’ project. We want to welcome the establishment of this Charter, which is a positive step at the very time when, as we know, other methods of withdrawal or even stigmatisation are being applied.
The Charter and its ethics illustrate the Commission’s vision of action in the economic and social area. This is a broad vision of social needs, which should take into account the added value and responsibility of all the agreements by the actors and, in particular, the associations and non-governmental organisations which play an exemplary role. Day by day we, the companies, governments, regional and local authorities and civil society representatives are each in our own way giving shape to this social Europe. We are being called up for the battle, which today calls for solidarity with the homeless, as your debate shows.
We have taken action but there is still much to be done. The Commission, for its part, is looking to provide the greatest possible support from the Union for the Member States’ efforts on this issue of the homeless. We are relying particularly on Parliament’s work as laid out in its resolution of 14 September.
Finally, honourable Members, with the initiative for social entrepreneurship, which was published in October and which I, for my part, have been following very closely, the Commission proposed new tools, which should allow social enterprises to better carry out their mission and we know that some of these social enterprises are involved with the homeless, especially when they aim to respond to the needs of vulnerable people, as is the case of the homeless.
I would like to cite three examples: better signposting of Structural Funds, simplified rules and fewer controls on State aid intended for social services for vulnerable people and, lastly, public contract rules which lessen obligations for social services and allow certain markets to be more easily preserved or reserved for start-up companies.
That is all I can say on behalf of Commissioner Andor and I thank you, Mr President, honourable Members, for turning your attention to this issue, which is extremely serious at this time.
No one could remain unmoved by the situation of people sleeping rough on extremely cold nights and, even more tragically, by the death of many people all over Europe.
You therefore have every right to wonder what is being done to remedy this situation and that is what we can do together faced with what is one of the most extreme and most unacceptable manifestations of social exclusion.
Of course, the main actors involved in the fight to improve the situation of the homeless …
Thank you, Mr President. I was saying that, as we all know, the main actors involved in the situation of the homeless and housing exclusion are the Member States and local actors. Here in Strasbourg, like in other EU cities, local and regional authorities and non-governmental organisations respond to the situation by offering emergency shelter. Local authorities and civil society everywhere are taking the initiative and joining forces.
The 2010 Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion calls on the Member States to develop and further the development of national, regional or sometimes local action plans to tackle the problem of the homeless, and identifies the areas where action is needed. It is literally vital that the Member States continue in this effort. They are well aware of that and are acting accordingly. I believe that it is very important for Parliament to remind them of this demand by including this urgent debate in the agenda.
Although the European Union’s capacity for direct action may be limited, we too have a role to play. Firstly, we must remind the Member States of their responsibilities and support them in their efforts. In the longer term, we must improve our understanding of the problems, particularly by improving our instruments for measuring the scale of this phenomenon, which will then make us better able to act.
For example, through the PROGRESS programme the European Union is helping to fund a new study on the links between the homeless and migration and is supporting the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless. Furthermore, the Commission is proposing that the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund should respond more efficiently and in a more targeted way to the issue of housing for the homeless in the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework."@en1
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