UN rapporteur: EU recovery money should help fight poverty

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top U.N. official urged the European Union to ensure that the huge amount of money set aside for pandemic recovery will benefit the many European citizens who have been plunged into poverty by the economic crisis triggered by COVID-19.

EU member states agreed last year on a long-term coronavirus recovery fund worth 750 billion euros that should help member nations bounce back from Europe’s most brutal economic crisis since World War II.

Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, noted that large swaths of the package will be dedicated to digital projects and the green transition. He regretted the lack of quotas for social cohesion to guarantee that investments will be made to reduce poverty.

In order to receive support from the recovery fund, member states should submit their plans by the end of April. According to De Schutter, many of the drafts already presented have been “improvised."

“The risk is that many of these plans will be ill-informed and not necessarily consistent with the expectations of people in poverty," he said. “There is no clear methodology to assess that the investment made shall effectively reduce poverty and reduce inequality."

De Schutter added that the crisis, with an expected 7% fall of the bloc's GDP in 2020, should lead EU leaders to rethink their strategy to fight poverty and make it less dependent on growth.

During his two-month visit to the EU institutions, De Schutter met numerous officials but also people affected by poverty including Roma populations, migrants, children and people with disabilities.

“I have spoken with people who have experienced hunger for the first time, who have been exposed because they are homeless, and who are maltreated and abused because...