By Martin Banks - 19th July 2010
Social exclusion does not belong in the 21st century
Jose Manuel Barroso
Commission president José Manuel Barroso has said up to 80 million people in Europe are considered "at risk" from poverty.
Addressing a news conference in Brussels on Monday, he branded this as "unacceptable."
Barroso was speaking after meeting 20 senior figures from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions as well as from the Sikh and Hindu communities.
Also involved in the talks were parliament president Jerzy Buzek and EU president Herman Van Rompuy.
The meeting, the sixth in a series of annual meetings launched by Barroso in 2005, was aimed at debating ways of tackling poverty and social exclusion.
It comes in the wake of the launch of the EU 2020 targets one of which is to reduce by 25 per cent the number of Europeans exposed to poverty by 2020.
Barroso said the EU had included a "credible social dimension" in the 2020 strategy.
This year has also been designated "European year against poverty and social exclusion."
Barroso said the estimated 80 million Europeans currently "at risk" of poverty included children and the elderly.
"Social exclusion does not belong in the 21st century and the current situation is dramatic and unacceptable," he said.
Equal access to education and guaranteeing employment opportunities for the most vulnerable in society were among the issues discussed between the EU and religious leaders, he said.
He emphasised that Europe's religious communities had a "crucial" role to play in ensuring that "no-one is left behind."
His comments were endorsed by Buzek who said the meeting presented a "great opportunity" to debate the issue, saying all actors at local, national and European level had a role to play.
"The aim is to bring back hope for those who have lost it," he said.
Van Rompuy was in "no doubt" that the views expressed by the religious leaders at the meeting would be "taken into account" in future policy making.
