Presentation
by Mr. Theodoros N. Tsekos
General Secretary of Management of European Funds,
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Greece
to the
Closing Conference of the European Year for Combating
Poverty and Social Exclusion
Dear Ministers, Dear colleagues
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for me to be here today on the occasion of this
closing event of the European Year for combating poverty and
social exclusion. And I would like to stress how this year has
been on the one hand a real challenge for us and on the other
hand, a good opportunity which we learnt and benefited from.
I do believe that the Year 2010 has been a turning point
regarding fighting social exclusion in Europe as well as for us in
Greece. The Year 2010 has been a positive experience for it has
helped all stakeholders in the fight against poverty to cement a
new relationship. Year 2010 has helped to provide a new
impetus in our efforts to eliminate poverty, to provide decency
for people at the risk of poverty. I think that this has been
encapsulated in the fact that Europe, for the first time, has had a
clear and ambitious target for the year 2020.
1
On our part, since the beginning of the Year 2010, our aim has
been the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social
Exclusion not to have a plain ceremonial character. We intended
- and I do believe that we have achieved - to ascertain that the
Year is an occasion or a motive to initiate a more thorough
approach to the issues of poverty, to launch new initiatives by
all stakeholders for the fight against poverty.
In this effort, all concerned parties are needed. Central
government, local government, the church, civil society, NGO’s,
enterprises, mass media, academia, all of the above when
working in a concerted effort, can have a real effect, can make a
difference.
Our actions have aimed to:
 Increase the awareness and the visibility of the problems
that our co-citizens who live at the risk of poverty face;
 Reach out, by our calls for action, every part of the
society;
 Strengthen commitment for more effective policies in
combating poverty;
 Safeguard that the society, a society that now is
experiencing a time of severe crisis, will be able to reap
the fruits for its current sacrifices;
2
 Ensure that Year 2010 will leave impact or a legacy, for
the people experiencing poverty.
That’s why we chose the opening of the Year in Greece to take
place in a de-industrialized area, an area with many problems of
social exclusion, yet an area where local authorities are taking
initiatives to deal with the many faces of social exclusion. In
Elefsina, the city that our opening ceremony took place, all
concerned stakeholders participated.
During the Year many other initiatives took hold. One major
aspect of our actions was to focus on initiatives that raise
awareness in different sectors of society. For instance, one of
our events focused on pupils who sang, drew, performed, and
created films on issues related to poverty.
We mobilized national TV stations as well as public
broadcasting corporation to present spots and reports on poverty
issues.
We mobilized social partners and in collaboration with the
National Confederation of Greek Traders, we presented the
initiative “Cooperation”. That is an ongoing initiative, by which
unemployed people are entitled to discounts at shops just by
showing their unemployment card.
In many occasions, initiatives were carried out by raising
awareness on issues related to poverty. I will mention a few, in
which I have participated myself. In Kavala for instance, a city
in the north of Greece, an event took place regarding local
3
development and the role of ESF. In Athens, last month, an
international workshop was organized regarding voluntary
action, thus paving the way for the year 2011.
In addition to these, we proceeded on a public call for
programmes related to the Year 2010. Six projects have been
approved, and we took caution that these projects cover all
aspects of the European Year 2010. One of these projects, which
is also presented here, is of an innovative character in the
context of Greece. It aims at the creation of a local time-bank. It
is a project that belongs to the social economy sector, a sector
which we are determined to develop as one of our tools in order
to help people to get out of poverty.
Another project, which aims at creating an infrastructure which
will be maintained even after the programme will be completed,
is an initiative by the Perfecture of Hrakleion in Crete. The final
aim of the project is the creation of a social grocery. The project
includes consultation with the concerned stakeholders to
implements festivals for the European Year 2010, radio
messages, activation of the local press, study for social situation
in the prefecture of Hrakleion, and training for the running of
the social grocery. Let me mention here that the idea of the
social
grocery
is
spreading
throughout
Greece.
Many
municipalities are setting up social groceries or social
pharmacies. Actually a second project funded by us in Ierapetra,
4
a city in south Crete, aims at raising awareness on social
exclusion, yet the final aim is to set up and run a social grocery.
Other projects deal with combatinng poverty, especially on the
local level. This project comprises of a study of the local
situation, workshops on how to network local actors, activation
of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and other actions that
will culminate in a ‘Local Action Plan for Fighting Poverty’.
Two other projects deal with issues affecting people with
disability and the distribution of information on access to public
services of socially excluded people who live in the centre of
Athens.
On the central governmental level, the Year 2010 has also been
a source of inspiration. It has provided us with the opportunity
to delve into issues that the social protection system faces in our
country. As you know, recently we organized a conference on
issues of poverty. The conference was organized around three
themes. The first was the “face of poverty” in Greece. The
second dealt with policies that we are implementing or we are
planning to implement in the near future. And the third was the
voice of the NGOs that are active in this sector.
Our main aim has been to mobilize any available resource in
order to confront - in an environment that does not facilitate
such issues - the difficult problems posed by social exclusion. In
parallel with the formation of the Greek strategy for Europe
5
2020, Greece has set an ambitious target for people getting out
of poverty. That is, we will place any effort needed so as by
2020, four hundred fifty thousand people are targeted to escape
poverty. Moreover, the aim is to help 100.000 children to avoid
the risk of poverty and to improve access to basic services such
as health, shelter and education.
Our policies revolve around three axes. First, is to coordinate
social policies in Greece so as to increase their effectiveness and
their reach to the people who are in real need. Second - which is
also my area of responsibility – is to mobilize in full the
available resources by ESF on targeted actions in order to
maintain employment, to fight unemployment and to fight
poverty. Two key initiatives here will be the local action plans
for employment and the local action plans for social inclusion.
Third, is to launch a long-term initiative for the promotion of
social economy as a tool for improving access to employment
for people in need.
If there is a legacy of the Year 2010 this has been the awareness
that poverty is an issue of relevance to all of us. That poverty is
an issue that touches upon all of us. And, finally, that fighting
poverty is an issue that needs the participation and coordination
of all of us. The lesson so far has been that a dynamic society is
a society that aims at including each one of its members in it,
that a society that fights actively poverty is a better society for
all of us, that a society that includes every one single member is
6
a smart, sustainable, and competitive one. Thus, the legacy of
the year is
“Together against poverty- together building a society for all”.
7