The EU should act boldly, changing course to put people’s rights above economic considerations. Watch @srpoverty present the conclusions of his recent visit to the EU in this event organised by the Portuguese Presidency on May 3: https://t.co/J4oTSv1RAt #PortoSocialSummit pic.twitter.com/XFYfBBKpi8
— UN Special Rapporteur on poverty and human rights (@srpoverty) April 30, 2021
Institutionalized pullbacks
Despite being employed, nine million workers remain in poverty because of expanded non-standard forms of employment and low wages, said Mr. De Schutter, calling it an “institutionalized race to the bottom” among Member States, which “in the name of competitiveness” is leading to lower wages and worker protections.
“The EU must address this harmful competition as part of its efforts to fight poverty and protect social rights”, he said.
And since 2009, the bloc’s members had decreased social protection, health and education investments, which left them ill-prepared for the pandemic.
Until very recently the EU itself had recommended many of these budget cuts to ensure compliance with its own budgetary rules, he added.
EU must use the COVID-19 crisis to rethink its fundamental economic rules -- UN expert
Stand up for social rights
Although these rules have now been relaxed, the UN expert expressed concern that countries that utilize a new EU recovery fund to increase social investments may, in effect, be punished once the Union’s rules on maximum deficits are reinstated.
“This would be a defeat for social rights”, he said. “The EU must use the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to rethink its fundamental economic rules".
Mr. De Schutter hoped that the upcoming summit would generate “a broad consensus for an EU-wide anti-poverty strategy that strengthens public services, combats homelessness, addresses in-work poverty, and ensures greater progressivity in taxation”.
Appointed as by the UN Human Rights Council on 1st May 2020, Mr. De Schutter and all other human rights experts are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
SOURCE ; UN NEWS
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