Dramatic impoverishment of European citizens
8.11.2012
Question for written answer E-010203-12
to the Commission
Rule 117
Konstantinos Poupakis (PPE)
At a time when the number of Greek households which are unable to afford decent basic living conditions is dramatically increasing, being forced to do without food and essentials, the findings of a survey carried out by the Greek Statistical Authority confirm the bleak prospect of further impoverishment and destitution facing Greek citizens. The following findings of this survey tell their own story:
- —42.7% of poor people state that every second day they do without a meal consisting of chicken, meat, fish or vegetables of the same nutritional value;
- —69.5% of poor people and 24.9% of non-poor people have financial difficulties in meeting extraordinary but necessary expenditure, worth approximately EUR 600;
- —The percentage of the total population that states it cannot afford adequate heating is 18.7%, broken down into 38.9% of the poor population and 13.7% of the non-poor population;
- —38.8% of those who have contracted a consumer loan to buy goods and services say that they have great difficulty in repaying it or the instalments thereof;
- —41.4% of the poor population report difficulties in paying regular bills, such as electricity, water, etc.
These findings are made even more worrying by the fact that they are based on statistics on income and living conditions for 2010. Given that two years later the situation in Greek society has dramatically worsened, and is expected to deteriorate further in 2013, as the recession is set to continue (by an estimated -4.5%, according to the Finance Ministry), will the Commission say:
- 1.How does it view the data contained in this survey? What are the corresponding statistics for the rest of Europe?
- 2.What is the average monthly household expenditure per Member State over the last 3 years in the eurozone?
- 3.What is the percentage of the population per Member State lacking basic food items and decent living conditions such as housing and heating?
- 4.What stage has the Commission's proposal for a ‘Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived’ now reached?
OJ C 320 E, 06/11/2013