Regarding International Day Combating Poverty, October 17, Anti Poverty Network Serbia – member of European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN), want to pooint to  a need that reform measures in Serbia should stay within the social sustainable development.

Poverty in Serbia is multiplying since global economic crisis and in front of Serbian citizens are hard period and there is a risk that the burden of crisis will still be unfairly distributed. This is based on experience of countries which passed similar reform processes, not just Greece but many others represented in  EAPN (Hungary, Portugal, Romania etc.) Serbian Government should learn on their mistakes done in creating reform programs.

Europe lags behind its goals – what should we  expect?

EAPN recently published the assessment of national reform programs for 2013. EAPN members stated that there are no progress in poverty reduction and inequality and that many of European development strategy aims 2020 not far from their realisations. Briefly, national reform programs neglect social dimension of reforms and suffer from serious democratic and participative deficit. Continuing with drastic measures of savings and inconsistency this measures with measures ov macro-economic policy will not be minised but maximised poverty and social exclusion. In these programs banks have advantages over people and many countries continue emphasising drastic savings, which endanger social state and care about pure basic of sustainable developmet – as education and health care system.

What are our suggestions?

These experiences lead us to ask Serbian Government and other decision makers to stand with following principles:

1.       Measure in savings should be clearly and precisely connected with measures for increase the investments and employment.

2.       Investment in human capital and social cohesion is substantial for sustainability of any developmental program. Social investments should be important part of total investments.

3.       Reform measures and policy of developent should be a result of wider social agreement. Therefore in this process should be involved more citizens and different social groups, through engagement civil society sector and all other actors which represent citizens and their interests.

Belgrade, October 17,  2013.

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More information on scvejic@f.bg.ac.rs and scvejic@sbb.rs , Mr Cvejic Slobodan +381 63 343 747

List of organizations, members of APN Serbia: