Brussels, 19 March 2014 – Yesterday, the European Minimum Income Network (EMIN) a two-year project led by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), presented its first results on how to ensure adequate minimum income schemes in all EU Member States, at an event in the European Parliament organised by MEPs, Frédéric Daerden and Pervenche Berès from the Socialists and Democrats Group.  Millions of Europeans should know that it is possible that EU Member States could cooperate, through a European Directive, to ensure the progressive realization of adequate Minimum Income Schemes in every EU country.  The EMIN project shows growing support for such a directive.

Ms Berès, who is also chair of the Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, spoke about the possibility of an EU Directive as “an exciting development that needs to be part of the discussions in the European Election campaigns and which should be brought quickly on the agenda of the newly elected Parliament”.

“The position taken by National Governments, by Political Groups in the Parliament and National Political Parties, by the EU Institutions, to support or to block this development is information that all EU citizens should have”, added Fintan Farrell, coordinator of the EMIN project.

All major political Groups in the European Parliament were invited to participate and the following Groups responded and made interventions: Marian Harkin (ALDE – Liberal Group), Elisabeth Schroedter (Green Group) and Gabrielle Zimmer (GUE – United European Left Group).

What are Adequate Minimum Income Schemes?

• Minimum Income Schemes: “income support schemes which provide a safety net for those who cannot work or access a decent job and are not eligible for social security payments or whose entitlements have expired”
• Adequate Minimum Income: income that is indispensable to live a life in dignity and to fully participate in society

What do Adequate Minimum Income schemes bring to society?

• Ensure that people who need to receive them can remain active in the society, help them reconnect to the world of work and allows them to live in dignity.
• Are good for the whole of the society as they are indispensable for more equal societies and more equal societies are better for everyone.
• As the base for high-level social protection systems act as ‘economic stabilisers’, as was demonstrated with the countries with high-level social protection systems being best able to resist the negative impacts of the crisis.
• Are a very small percentage of the Government’s social spending and represent a huge return on the investment as the cost of non-investment has enormous immediate impacts for the individuals concerned and long term costs for the society.
• Must ensure a positive hierarchy with minimum wages and thus help to reverse the destructive trend of rising numbers of working poor in Europe.

For further Information:

• Follow the European Minimum Income Network (EMIN) and see the outputs and follow the work of the project http://emin-eu.net. This blog also has easy access to useful related documents, facts and figures. The hashtag for EMIN tweets is #eminetwork.
• Contacts for EMIN,  Fintan Farrell, Project Manager Fintan.farrell@eapn.eu  or Anne Van Lancker, Project Policy Coordinator vanlanckeranne@gmail.com
  • Contact any of the Partners of the EMIN project (further contact details on the EMIN blog):