Up to 150 million in Europe threatened with poverty By Stefan Steinberg 17 September 2013 In a report released September 12, the Oxfam aid agency warns that the poverty trap in Europe, which already encompasses more than 120 million people, could swell by an additional 25 million if austerity policies continue. The report, A cautionary tale: Europe’s bitter crisis of austerity and inequality, notes: “The European Union is in a bitter crisis of unemployment and inequality that is driving economic instability and social despair,” adding that “One in two working families has been directly affected by the loss of jobs or reduction of working hours.” The report continues: “Already by the end of last year, more than 24 percent of Europe’s population, 121 million people, were living at risk of poverty. We predict that number could rise by up to 25 million by 2025 unless austerity policies are scrapped and an alternative course set.” The report compares the austerity policies introduced by the European Union (EU) and IMF in the wake of the Lehman Brothers crash in 2008 to “a medicine that sought to cure the disease by killing the patient.” The Oxfam report then goes on to identify the manner in which austerity policies have resulted in a massive redistribution of wealth within the past five years. The wealthiest layers of the European elite and finance world have been able to profit mightily from the same crisis that has cast tens of millions into poverty. “Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK—countries that have pursued budget cuts most aggressively—are soon reaching the rank of most unequal countries in the world”, the report declares. According to Natalia Alonso, the head of Oxfam’s EU office: “The gap between rich and poor in the UK and Spain could soon become the same as in South Sudan or Paraguay”. The effect of austerity policies has been to devastate the economies of many countries across the continent, in particular those situated in southern Europe. A separate study states that the relative share of southern Europe in the global economy will halve to about 6 percent by 2018 compared to around 12 percent in 1980. Parallel to the process of soaring profits for the banks and stock markets, the wages and purchasing power of working families in Europe have been slashed.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 06:11:11 +0000
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