minimum income – ERGO Network

Council Recommendation on Minimum Income – What’s in it for Europe’s Roma?

On 28 September 2022, the European Commission proposed a Council Recommendation on Adequate Minimum Income, aimed at making minimum income schemes more effective at lifting people out of poverty, while promoting the labour market integration of those who can work. It is accompanied by a Communication on better assessing the distributional impact of Member States’ policies and providing guidance on how these can be better targeted to address existing inequalities.

ERGO Network has closely engaged with the run-up to these initiatives. In 2021, we prepared a comprehensive research report on Roma access to adequate minimum income schemes in five countries. In 2022, we responded to the European Commission call for evidence on this Council Recommendation. We equally provided input to the similar call for evidence on distributional impact assessments. We have subsequently reviewed the proposed Council Recommendation on Minimum Income and accompanying Communication on distributional impact in light of the key messages of our own positions.

Read our full response here!

Overall, we welcome the Council Recommendation as a significant step forward in strengthening the adequacy, availability, coverage, and take-up of minimum income schemes in the European Union. Thirty years after the previous Council Recommendation of 1992 on sufficient resources for a life in dignity for all EU citizens (which the current proposal replaces), it was high-time that the coordinated access was undertaken by Member States to address existing gaps in provision and access inequalities and to ensure dignified lives and wellbeing for all.

We equally welcome the accompanying Communication and efforts to conduct more and better impact assessments of distributional policies, both by Member States and the European Commission, in order to capture the impact of reforms and investments on the income levels of the population, particularly the most disadvantaged. The document acknowledges that income inequalities undermine European values as well as endanger economic growth, echoing concerns expressed by over 80% Europeans even before the pandemic.

We further appreciate that the Council Recommendation includes explicit references to Europe’s Roma and the multiple disadvantages they face when trying to access their minimum income entitlements, as well as puts forward positive proposals to combat them. Additionally, the document makes the link to the EU Roma Framework on Equality, Inclusion and Participation and the related Council Recommendation. Disappointingly, the same does not hold true for the accompanying Communication.

ERGO Network had called for an explicit end to the culture of blaming benefit claimants as abusers of the welfare state, as well as for widespread antigypsyism to be combatted in all aspects of daily life. Sadly, this call was insufficiently heeded by the Council Recommendation, and we find it a missed opportunity that discrimination (on all and any grounds) is not listed as one of the main challenges described. There is nothing about discrimination in the Communication, and no mentions of racism or antigypsyism or the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan in either of the two documents.

ERGO Network expresses its hope that these gaps will be remedied through implementation, lest Europe’s Roma be left behind once more, and stands ready to support these efforts at both EU and national level.

For more information about our work on minimum income, please contact Amana Ferro (a.ferro@ergonetwork.org), Senior Policy Adviser with the ERGO Network staff team.

ERGO Network launches its research report on Roma access to adequate minimum income schemes

The European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network is holding today, 23 November, its annual Policy Conference, entitled “Implementing the EU Roma Strategic Framework. Roma access to adequate minimum income.”

Europe’s Roma experience some of the worst social inclusion indicators, with over 80% living in poverty, only 43% in paid employment, and 41% experiencing antigypsyism. This situation worsened significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Roma communities being disproportionately hard hit. In a cash-based economy, providing people with adequate financial resources is a necessary pre-requisite for fighting poverty and social exclusion, as well as for enabling individuals to reach their full potential and to access rights and opportunities on the labour market and in society.

Access to adequate minimum income and social protection is the cornerstone of the European Social Model and our welfare states, and it needs to be guaranteed also for Europe’s Roma. The EU Council Recommendation of 24 June 1992 on Common criteria concerning sufficient resources and social assistance in social protection systems clearly urges Member States “to recognize the basic right of a person to sufficient resources and social assistance to live in a manner compatible with human dignity as part of a comprehensive and consistent drive to combat social exclusion.” This commitment is reaffirmed in the EU Active Inclusion Recommendation (2008) and the European Pillar of Social Rights (2017).

During 2021, ERGO Network conducted in-depth national case studies in five countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia), looking at existing minimum income schemes and assessing to what extent they are accessible to Roma applicants, and whether they are adequate for promoting Roma inclusion and dignity. The main findings and recommendations were brought together in an EU synthesis report, launched today in the framework of the above-mentioned event.

With this research, we aim to kick-start a debate with policy makers on how to improve the adequacy and take-up of minimum income and social protection by Roma in Europe, including in the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, and the foreseen Council Recommendation on Minimum Income (2022). Access to sufficient financial resources is also a key element of reducing Roma poverty and social exclusion, which is one of the three horizontal objectives of the EU Roma Strategic Framework on Equality, Inclusion, and Participation.

Read the EU synthesis report here!
Read the national case studies: Bulgaria – Czech Republic – Hungary – Romania – Slovakia

For more information about ERGO Network’s work on adequate minimum income and social protection for Roma, as well as on Roma poverty and social exclusion (European Semester, European Pillar of Social Rights, etc), please contact Senior Policy Adviser Amana Ferro.