EU chief kicks off anti-poverty drive
(MADRID) - EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday launched a drive to fight poverty on the continent, which affects close to a fifth of its 500 million people.
"The fight against poverty and social exclusion is a political necessity of the highest order," he said, underlining that the current figures are "intolerable."
Barosso was launching the European year against poverty and social exclusion.
According to EU figures, some 80 million people live under the poverty line in Europe, of whom 19 million are children.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the head of the Spanish government, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, stressed the need to focus on the more marginalised sections: the elderly, the handicapped, women, and minority ethnic groups such as the Roma.
The drive will see awareness campaigns in the bloc's 27 member nations.
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