The government aims to tackle poverty. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Family Minister Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said yesterday that the Green Paper on the eradication of poverty sought to lift more than 13,000 children and more than 8,000 elderly people above the poverty line.

The number of people living in poverty was unacceptable to the Labour government.

Speaking during a stormy debate during the House Social Affairs Committee, Ms Coleiro Preca said the government wanted to generate a discussion and also to set up a robust and ongoing monitoring system to eradicate poverty and keep it at bay.

As a result, one of the main government targets was to decrease poverty by 22,000 by 2015.

Approximately €10 million would be spent on measures aimed primarily at children, families with low income and the elderly. Some of these measures have already been put into place such as free day care centres.

Ms Coleiro Preca warned that poverty could manifest itself in different ways across time; hence, a structured monitoring system was required. The Labour government was committed to working on eradicating poverty over a span of time, once and for all.

The Green Paper addresses a 10-year strategy which provides an insight into research on poverty, providing a number of policy options.

The two most vulnerable groups at the risk of poverty in Malta were children and theelderly, she said. One in three children and one in five elderly people were at risk.

A number of initiatives that build on each other would be announced in the coming weeks and discussions would centre around helping the most vulnerable.

The minister insisted that the problem of poverty belonged to everyone in society: taxpayers, employers and business owners. Eradicating poverty necessitated an integrated approach and a concerted effort.

The meeting started with chairperson Deborah Schembri and Opposition MP Clyde Puli hotly disagreeing over the questions to be asked by the Opposition, leading to Mr Puli challenging Dr Schembri that if she wanted to censor him, “go ahead”.

Mr Puli accused the family minister of having no concrete plans to achieve its aim of eradicating poverty. He insisted it was quasi impossible to help so many persons exit poverty in the space of a few years.

He repeatedly asked whether the electoral pledge to eradicate poverty was a gimmick. Did the government have a plan on how it would eradicate poverty by 2018? What were its annual targets?

Ms Coleiro Preca repeatedly explained that the Green Paper aimed to establish a policy framework while acknowledging that the reduction of poverty is an “ongoing process.”

Mr Puli complained that the paper gave the impression the PN administration did not have any plan to eradicate poverty.

However, statistics showed the average income increased despite the international economic and financial crisis.

Ms Coleiro Preca said that the Green Paper was not an official government document but a collection of studies carried out by experts and stakeholders.

Opposition MP Robert Cutajar said that the way the EU Commission was going to gauge poverty would go a long way towards helping the government reach its targets.

The minister said that the government was not after playing with numbers, and was committed to actively fighting poverty and improving people’s living conditions.