Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, author of the draft opinion of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. − (PL) Mr President, raising the quality of life of the citizens of EU Member States lies at the heart of European integration. Despite this, statistics show that 78 million people in the EU are below the poverty threshold, and the majority of these are children, women and the elderly. This means that, in addition to economic measures, the European Union must also undertake social initiatives, which is something that the European Parliament has noted on many occasions. In its resolution of 15 November 2007, Parliament emphasised that strengthening social cohesion and the elimination of poverty and social exclusion must become political priorities for the European Union. The Commission’s initiative to make 2010 the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion fits perfectly into this context and could make a significant contribution to directing political attention and encouraging widespread activities to further strengthen social protection and social integration.

The budget that has been allocated for this initiative – 17 million euro – is a record amount, but it is the implementation of projects on the national level that is a key element to making this initiative a success. For this reason we need to call on Member States to participate in this initiative and to allocate appropriate human and financial resources for this purpose.