The event, which brought together around 100 people, took place on the eve of the International Day Against Poverty. This date originated from a protest by over 100,000 people on October 17, 1987, in Paris's Trocadero Square to pay homage to the victims of extreme poverty, violence, and hunger. In 1992, the UN officially designated this date as the International Day Against Poverty.
Juan Luis Fuentes, president of EAPN, explained that “It is not a date to express compassion but to claim rights and reject the feeling of guilt that some people suffering from poverty have. Euskadi has built a social protection system that must be recognized and protected.” According to Fuentes, poverty is not uniformly distributed and can appear in households with unemployed individuals, families with minors, migrant populations, or young people. EAPN has requested a Basque Strategy Against Poverty, a task that, he added, “must be articulated by the Basque Government, the Foral Deputations, city councils, social organizations, and the rest of the citizenry.”
The Minister of Welfare, Youth, and Demographic Challenge, Nerea Melgosa, stated that “we must act on the causes of poverty and not just its consequences.” Melgosa detailed the Basque Government's latest measures to address the housing problem and reiterated the call for stable jobs and decent wages, especially for young people. She explained that benefits such as AES, the Minimum Living Income (Ingreso Mínimo Vital), RGI, the Thermal Bonus (Bono Térmico), or the Food Voucher (Bono de Alimentos) prevent a temporary or prolonged lack of resources from turning into food scarcity, loss of housing, extreme debt, or severe exclusion. "From the Basque Government, we continue to support them, and I give examples: we maintain the allocation for AES (41.5 million euros) without any cuts, and the Thermal Social Bonus has been received by 1,500 more families than the previous year. We want a Basque Country where asking for help is not a cause for shame, where that help arrives on time, and where, afterwards, there are real paths to regain autonomy,” she explained.
Following the opening of the conference, Jorge Aramendi, a technician from the Statistical Body of the Department of Welfare, Youth, and Demographic Challenge, analyzed the factors affecting poverty and presented its evolution in Euskadi, detailing the main contents of the latest Survey on Poverty and Social Inequalities (EPDS). This survey, which has measured poverty since 1986, has completed 40 years and has been conducted biennially over the last decade.
From the academic world, Mari Luz de la Cal (EHU) and María Silvestre (Deusto) shared various reflections on poverty in Euskadi. Subsequently, parliamentarians from EAJ-PNV, EH BILDU, PSE-EE, PP, and Sumar contributed their viewpoints on the current and future situation.
