The 11th European Meeting of People Experiencing Poverty takes place this 10-11 May in Brussels

The meeting attempts to reflect on this growing concern under three sound headings – (1) the impact of the crisis; (2) practic examples; (3) and policy recommendations.

The delegates exchange views with representatives from national ministries, the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee and Social NGOs.

In order to enable everybody to follow this happening, the 11th People Experiencing Poverty Meeting is webstreaming in four languages (EN,DE,FR, and IT).

 Ahead of the meeting, the delegates issued a moving statement of which we have compiled here the central messages:

. Ever greater numbers of people are homeless and living in precarious conditions (there’s no need to cite official statistics; just look around, just ask the staff in the shelters) - ever greater numbers are losing their home because they can’t afford to pay their rent or their mortgage, ever greater numbers are without a home because they are discriminated against.

. Everywhere unemployment is mounting, workers are increasingly insecure, young people cannot imagine a future.

. Governments of the member states … are allowing the burden of the crisis to fall fully on the poor, the vulnerable, who bear no blame for it.

. We too have rights, and not just on paper - to an adequate minimum income, to a quality job, to efficient and affordable social services, to water, electricity and a dignified place to live in, to health.

. As people directly impacted we want to be part of deciding the actions to be taken and to be involved in the delivery and evaluation of these actions. We want financial investment to support such actions.