Social Issues

Towards a future European Parliament report on violence against women with disabilities?

During a meeting organised of the European Parliament Disability Intergroup, the Intergroup (composed of MEPs) announced it will consider a report on Violence against Women with Disabilities. MEPs also called for a Directive on male violence against women. On 28 March, EPHA attended a hearing in the European Parliament (EP) organised by the European Disability Forum (EDF) and the EP Disability Intergroup. The meeting focused on the violence experienced by women with multiple disabilities, (...)

Eurostat statistics published: 23% of EU population, including 27% of children in poverty in 2010

In 2010, 115 million people, ie 23.4% of the population of the EU27, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The figures published by Eurostat mean that these people were in at least one of the following three situations: at risk of poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity. A reduction in the number of persons in the EU at risk of poverty or social exclusion is a key objective of the ’Europe 2020’ strategy, as stated by (...)

Impact of the crisis on men’s mental health: Starking evidence

The European Men’s Health Forum (EMHF) - EPHA member - has recently brought to light the issue of the recession threatening men’s mental health with an increasing number of male suicide rates in Ireland and the UK. The EMHF also made reference to the report published by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) in Ireland on the impact of the recession and unemployment on men’s health in Ireland. The repercussions of current economic crisis vary and affect different spheres (...)

A European Tax on Financial Transaction would save countries €81 billion

Most EU Member States Fail to Ensure the Right to Housing - FEANTSA Press Release

FEANTSA has issued a Press Release titled "Most EU Member States Fail to Ensure the Right to Housing", reacting to the Council of Europe European Committee on social rights, which issues its annual conclusions: most EU Member States fail to ensure the right to housing. The Council of Europe’s European Committee on Social Rights (ECSR) released its annual conclusions at the end of January. This year they looked at whether countries live up to their responsibilities to ensure the right (...)

European Parliament condemns austerity policies and call for more social inclusion

During its plenary session on 15 February, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the current austerity driven policies followed by the EU and Member States. The Parliament urged the Spring European Council (1-2 March 2012) to take up key recommendations to ensure coherence and increased ambition to achieve the Europe 2020 objectives in its decisions on the guidance for the European economy that the Council will take. The resolution is an answer to the employment and (...)

EPHA Report on Beyond GDP

2012 is the year the European Commission will conduct an assessment of its roadmap on “GDP and beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world.” With this in mind, EPHA undertook an assessment of progress made at the EU level since 2008, and how progress is measured as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

Commission proposes a European Statute for Foundations

The European Commission on February 8 proposed a new statute for European Foundations. It is hoped that this new statute will give increased visibility and increase uniformity of conditions to European foundations working in the public interest. Foundations raise money, give grants and run projects in a number of areas of public interest, including education, research, the arts, health and social services, culture or protection of the environment. Increasingly foundations are working (...)

Applications opened for two-year Roma health fellowship/mentorship at EPHA

The deadline to apply was the 12 March 2012. With the support of the OSI Roma Health Project (Open Society Institute), EPHA launches a two-year programme (2012 - 2014) to train and mentor two Roma health EU advocates. The fellowship aims to increase the capacity of the Roma community for leadership on Roma health at EU level. Deadline to apply: 12 March 2012 With the support of the OSI Roma Health Project (Open Society Institute), EPHA (the European Public Health Alliance) – (...)

European Parliament elects a new President, new Bureau and new committee chairs

In the January Plenary, the European parliament elected its new President and Vice Presidents, and afterwards the Committees elected new Chairs and Vice-Chairs, below are the results of the elections. At the Plenary in Strasbourg from 15-19 January, Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, was elected the new President of the European Parliament from 2012-2014. Receiving 387 votes, Mr Schulz obtained the absolute majority of votes needed. Mr Schulz was previously the head of the S&D (...)