BRUSSELS (Parliament Politics Magazine) – This winter, one expert predicts a big increase in poverty in the capital city of Belgium. President of the Public Centre for Social Welfare (CPAS) in Brussels, Khalid Zian told Euronews that many of the poorest people could find themselves in a tough situation as a result of rising energy costs.
Since they actually did have qualities unique to the region, they expected a wave of poverty to sweep across Brussels over the region, Zian remarked. There were a lot of tenants and homes that were energy sieves, inadequately insulated, or where energy use was unchecked.
The president of CPAS recently began a campaign to alert shoppers at neighbourhood markets about their options for aid, noting that so far, requests for support from families have increased two times.
A social energy tariff for the poor, a reduction in the VAT on electricity and, and enhanced help for home renovation are just a few of the measures the Belgian federal government has already announced as part of a strategy to try to contain the crisis as it grows.
However, Zian claims that these steps are insufficient and that a new European market legislation is needed to make energy a necessary good.
They saw energy as a necessary good. It had to escape the rules of the traditional market. They required a regulated market where European nations or perhaps the entire continent could impose ceilings. Everyone needed energy, he said.
Quentin Spitaels, a Belgian, told Euronews that his gas and electricity expenses have skyrocketed this year.
He used to spend €200 each month for utilities for his four-bedroom home near Namur, but now he shells out €659 each month. The father of four argues the Belgian government’s initiatives to address the social crisis are not enough.
Given the number of households in this circumstance, Spitaels said, he didn’t believe it was enough. They were unsure if they would need to take comparable action as in Great Britain, where there was a movement urging people to stop paying their bills. Politicians might then respond more forcefully as a result of that.
The safety nets in many European nations, according to secretary general of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), László Andor, are insufficient.
Andor said that it was a major task for a social safety net in nations where the social safety net was not strong enough, they needed to fortify it. And this might be the time to give out new forms of basic services.
It may be the moment now for universal basic services to implement programmes that made the situation manageable for those social groups that were most vulnerable. Heating was one crucial area where some form of intervention was necessary. It could differ from country to country.
He continued by saying that a more progressive income tax system may be used to pay for this.
In Europe, some seven or eight countries still had flat income tax, personal income tax, so that might be reconsidered. Those that were maintained flat in context could introduce progressive income taxation and then help finance the necessities and strengthen the social safety nets. That was also the time when governments could reform tax systems, he added.
