Redefine poverty now

Caritas yesterday called for the urgent and more realistic redefinition of the national poverty line, which stands at an annual income of €5,477.

The redefinition was required due to the major changes in society over the past three years as a result of the recession, Caritas director Mgr Victor Grech said.

The poverty line was fixed in 2007 at 60 per cent of the national average annual income - €5,477 - meaning 14 per cent (57,444) of the population were at risk of poverty, with the most vulnerable being children under 17 and people over 65.

But the cost of living, new water and electricity tariffs and more expensive medicine, gas and rent have pushed those at risk of poverty into poverty, Mgr Grech said.

The problem was that poverty was hidden and no one wanted to admit it, but Caritas frequently received people whose cooker or fridge had broken down and they could not afford to replace them.

"Today, these are essential items, not luxuries," he continued. "They come to us with electricity bills, saying they have no choice but to let these services be cut off."

Mgr Grech said a national minimum wage that was more adequate to today's cost of living had to be established. He pointed out the need to review social benefits and protection schemes for persons with disability, or chronic illness, who were unable to work.

He also suggested giving the unemployed work that would benefit society.

Mgr Grech described as "embarrassing" the fact that 42 per cent of students ended up on the streets, doing nothing, when they finished secondary school. The problems resulting from such people, who had nothing to do but still wanted money, were already being felt.

He recommended more serious measures for the poor to have access to adequate accommodation, with a rent that was adjusted to the family's economic situation.

He was speaking at the launch of a series of initiatives to eradicate poverty in collaboration with Caritas Europe on the occasion of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.

Mgr Grech said the Lisbon Strategy, which aimed to eliminate poverty in Europe within 10 years, had failed. About 80 million people (16 per cent) were still at risk of poverty in the EU 10 years later and the figure was likely to be 100 million, following the economic crisis.

Nevertheless, Mgr Grech maintained that poverty could be eased if there was the total political will of all member states and if the individual within the context of the family was placed at the heart of the strategy.

Caritas Europe secretary general Marius Wanders, who devised the Zero Poverty campaign, spoke about its new clients: the "working poor", who simply could not afford their bills any more.

He said the crisis was the result of systematic injustice, wrong decisions and weak politics over the past 20 years.

"Caritas must vigorously fight against any attempt to resolve budgetary deficits through cuts in spending on social security," he said.

Archbishop Paul Cremona entrusted Caritas, the official voice of the Church on social realities, to uncover the face of poverty as it had highlighted other social situations, including drugs in the past.

Among the initiatives Caritas would be embarking on throughout the year were pilot projects in the diaconia commissions of three parishes to identify where and who the poor are and also establish their real needs.

Caritas was also considering launching educational programmes for couples, with a focus on how to manage their finances.