Press Release: EU: European Economic and Social Committee, biennial meeting, Florence, 20-22 May 2010 – New European legislation to combat social exclusion

In Florence on 20 May 2010, president Mario Sepi called on President Barroso to promote a green paper putting education at the heart of anti-poverty action in Europe.

In Europe, social exclusion stops one person in four from exercising their fundamental rights: a quarter of Europeans are denied access to work, housing, healthcare, education, culture and sport. This is not just an outrageous injustice: it is also an unpardonable diseconomy for both the European economic system and the individual national systems. What country can do without a quarter of its population, especially at a time of economic crisis?