The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the EU Neighbourhood Policy

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the EU Neighbourhood Policy:

Poverty Policy Strategies and Priorities in the Mediterranean

Dr. Deniz Ilgaz

Bogazici University

Istanbul

“Poverty has a face and that face is the face of man.”

“Poverty is pain; it feels like a disease. It attacks a person

not only materially but also morally. It eats away at one’s

dignity and drives one into total despair.” Voices of the

Poor. Volume I, Can Anyone Hear Us? World Bank, 1999.

Poverty is said to be “not only wicked in itself, but

immeasurably damaging to the fabric of society for everyone

else.” Polly Toynbee, Making Welfare Work, 111.

Abstract

The study questions to what extent the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) and the new European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) with its Action Plans for voluntary EMP countries involve a strategy to combat poverty in the Mediterranean region. Countries bordering the Mediterranean display an extraordinary range of conditions; thus exact comparisons between different countries regarding the severity of the poverty conditions cannot be drawn easily. Nevertheless, Turkey as a country having qualities comparable to both the EU member states and non-EU member states of the EMP, is presented as an example/model in its fight against poverty. Turkey, a member of EMP but not involved in the ENP has benefited from the enlargement policy of the European Union (EU) as a candidate for membership, a process which promises to lead to indirect yet structural and lasting poverty-alleviating measures in the long run.

Poverty does not appear to be a direct concern of the overall strategy of neither the EMP nor the ENP in the countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) where poverty is most pronounced; however, the economic, social and cultural measures included in the EMP and ENP programs can be interpreted as capable to contribute to the elimination of poverty, since poverty alleviation is strongly bound with establishing a human rights framework, a dynamic and organised civil society, creating tolerance for pluralism, freedom of expression and association, fighting against over-centralization, corruption informal economy and lack of transparency in the SEMCs. Drawing on the historically successful social transfers of EU member states, the EMP and the ENP can also place the poverty elimination issue within the Union’s enlargement policy to bring security and prosperity to the whole region of the Mediterranean and meet its larger economic and social interests.

I. Introduction

As we near the end of the first decade of the 21st century, about twenty percent of the world’s population (1.3 billion people) lives in absolute poverty, constituting the most devastating socio-economic problem of the least developed and developing countries.[(] The dramatic growth in global poverty especially over the last two decades implies a loss of freedom, both in the sense of ‘freedom from’ (disease, hunger, need, housing, etc.) and ‘freedom to’ (participate in public life, travel, have hobbies, express one’s opinions). Thus, far beyond its major economic dimension, poverty has various implications of wasted human potential. A United Nations report has commented that poverty is about the lack of human capabilities, and ‘is almost synonymous with powerlessness.’[2]

This study refers first to some concepts and understandings of measurement of poverty on the international scale. The study emphasizes the contemporary validity of ‘relative poverty’ as differentiated from ‘absolute poverty,’ and substantiates the relatively new concept of ‘social exclusion.’ The study concentrates more specifically on the Mediterranean, a special region which constitutes an important part of the European Union’s (EU) near abroad. Historic achievements and failures of European welfare state model is presented as a likely model/lesson for the vulnerable populations of the Mediterranean. Some light is shed upon the conditions of poverty in Turkey, with an effort to find similarities in the quality, scope, and historic background of deprivation in the region.

Lack of political will globally parallels the lack of a common Euro-Mediterranean strategy to combat poverty. This study questions how far the eradication of poverty is explicitly included or implicitly excluded as one of the aims of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) and the New/European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The extension of these policies from the EU, leads to the assumption that it would be helpful to look at the general welfare policies of high-income, high human-development EU member countries, and their approach to poverty so far.

The EU member states have realized to various degrees the redistributive transfer schemes that have greatly reduced poverty and enhanced social stability in their history. Their relatively favourable position with respect to poverty can be attributed mostly to the convergence policies of the EU. How then do EU policies compare to the EMP launched in Barcelona in 1995 and to ENP which falls in the frame of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)?[3]

Countries bordering the south and east of the Mediterranean display an extraordinary range of conditions. Therefore exact comparisons between different countries regarding the severity of the poverty condition cannot be drawn easily, and thus it is equally difficult for any international agency to discern and demonstrate strategic and policy priorities. Does the EMP recognize the need for an objective and scientific core meaning of poverty for every country composing the region, and also try to find common cross-cutting similarities? Is there an effort in EMP and ENP to set common aims regarding basic needs, education, employment, social protection for the individual and the family, exploitation of women and children, measures taken to help persons with disability and the elderly, concern with the promotion of citizenship of the poor, comprising the civil and political rights as well as the economic, social and cultural rights? What measures are taken for effective participation of the poor in the society, as well as provision of examples of good governance?

What is done in order to overcome over-centralization, informal economy, corruption, and lack of transparency in the interaction between public and private actors? The development of a dynamic organised civil society, freedom of association, and tolerance for pluralism are also important factors in combatting poverty. Is the EMP capable of establishing a human rights framework for developing anti-poverty agreements among the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMCs), drawing on the historically successful social transfers of EU Member States?

II A General Overview of Poverty

Poverty is a relative concept; there are different conceptions of poverty. Definitions and methodologies abound. There is no universally accepted definition of poverty. Poverty has both subjective and objective dimensions. One concept relates this phenomenon to subsistence; it may mean hunger and death.[4] Is there an irreducible absolutist core in the idea of poverty? Is it a state of hunger when one has nothing to eat except what is thrown out by others? From the point of view of subsistence needs, Sen moves to freedom-centered view of poverty. Individuals’ having self respect is important as the satisfaction of their hunger, and they need to be given a chance to shape their own destiny and help each other.[5]

There is on the one hand an absolutist concept of poverty, which is a condition characterized by hunger and deprivation.[6] On the other hand, poverty may also be interpreted according to disproportionate levels of wealth and income. In the 1990 World Development Report, the World Bank defined poverty as ‘the inability to attain a minimal standard of living.’ This minimal standard consisted of ‘two elements: the expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition and other basic necessities and a future amount that varies from country to country, reflecting the cost of participating in the everyday life of society.’[7] UN Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, defines poverty as “a human condition characterized by sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.”[8]

UNDP’s research work serves one general purpose in relation to poverty: to help countries expand capacities for development that is inclusive, and that advances people’s options to create better lives.[9] The World Bank however reduces poverty to a meaningless empirical measurement of one or two dollars of daily expenditure. This is to ignore the political economy analysis of the processes that generate poverty. Absolute poverty is measured roughly as subsistence on an income of less than US $ 1 er day. Survival on less than US $ 2 per day is a reality also for almost half the people on the planet. Just as the World Bank measures poverty as a Dollar or two a day per person, in the European Union poverty is defined as the line of 50 percent of median household income. Both figures are objects of criticism. Poverty to such an extent means exclusion from many of the benefits of economic development, new technologies and advances in human health that have occurred in the twentieth century.

Eradicating poverty implies implementing a programme of social security for all citizens, in accordance with the basic human rights approach. With the addition of ‘social exclusion,’ ‘social deprivation,’ and ‘social inequality’ perspective, poverty is seen in a multi-dimensional framework. Definition of poverty then can no more be static, as merely ‘lack of income and expenditure,’ but involves a search for forms, causes and processes of social exclusion. Such an effort links economic and social aspects of disadvantage and marginalization to political ones, such as political rights and citizenship. A relationship is thus formed between individuals, the state, government and the civil society.[10]

Some indicators and measures of absolute poverty commonly used are income differences and related levels of food/caloric intake or the sectoral distribution of employment. Duration of poverty among different groups may also be measured; whether poverty is experienced as chronic or transitory. Special programs may be devised for women who are a specific risk group with regard to many social issues related to poverty. Socio-demographic profiles of poor households may be drawn, but the concept of a ‘culture of poverty’ cannot be captured quantitatively. ‘Culture of poverty’ claims that people are poor because their work ethic is not adjusted realistically to the contemporary requirements; that they cannot develop coping strategies on account of their life views, attitudes and belief systems about work; thus, they end up in chronic poverty. There are also some social and cultural dimensions of poverty that cannot easily be measured; such as equality of life chances and human rights.[11]

On the international scale, poverty is seen as an issue closely related with development. The Vienna Declaration (World Conference on Human Rights, 1993) declared development as an inalienable human right. Thus poverty, which is the root cause of many social problems in the world, turns into a violation of human rights when ignored by governments. It is an issue intertwined with national growth, economic development strategies, quality of life, health status of the people, literacy rate, gender discrimination, use of improved water resources, and loss of other kinds of environmental resources. Moreover, peace cannot be sustainable and just in a context of poverty and exclusion.

Poverty reduction has climbed up on the agenda of sustainable and equitable development schemes, as part of the major shift in the perception of development which had been equated only with economic growth figures until quite recently. It was assumed that growth would effect the poor strata of the population and translate into well-being for all. However, benefits of economic growth do not trickle down “to the poor, as it was generally assumed within the framework of the modern free-market economy. Now we realize that economic growth must be complemented by policies aimed at distribution and sustainable ‘human development,’ defined as “the process of enlarging the range of people’s choices; increasing their opportunities for education, health care, income and employment, and covering the full range of human choices from a sound physical environment to economic and political freedoms.”[12]

There needs to be specific programs devised for the delivery of welfare to the poor in the forms of improvements in health and livelihood, social services, and benevolent governance. This major shift in perception is reflected in the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations with the target of halving by 2015 the proportion of the population living in extreme forms of poverty. MDGs, an expression of humanitarian concern and a call for investment in health and human well-being, were adopted unanimously by all countries of the world in September 2000. Resolution of poverty is foremost among the eight Millenium Development Goals 2000-2015 (MDGs). The first of the eight MDGs is to “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.”[13] October 17 was originally proclaimed in 1996 as the ‘International Annual Day for the Eradication of Poverty,’ by the UN when it urged all governments, international community, and all other stakeholders in society, to seriously address and pursue the main objectives of the decade of 1990: “to achieve the goal of eradicating poverty.”[14]

The subject of poverty on the international scale first needs political recognition and it should enter the fields of scientific research and discourse. There should be concerted effort on how to combat poverty and approach its structural character and historically rooted causes. Studies have been carried on, analyzing the dynamics of the state of poverty. Among the main findings is the fact that poverty is often an impermanent situation. The majority of poor people are poor for relatively short periods that may be termed as ‘poverty spells.’[15] The deprivations which people experience in poverty are not constant or consistent: vulnerability to poverty has been expressed in the idea of a “web of deprivation.”[16] “This is a changing set of conditions, in which people may solve one problem or escape from another only to find themselves enmeshed yet in another.” However, the few people who end up with very long spells of poverty account for the bulk of all poverty and represent the majority of the poor at any given time.[17]

The weak regulation of international trade worldwide is one of the issues that trigger poverty, due to increasing debt spiral less developed countries fall prey to. The international law fails in regulating relations between creditor and debtor countries. “The problem is not with globalization, but with how it has been managed.”[18] Foreign debt should not be considered solely in technical-financial terms. The coordination of financial, commercial and cooperation policies and their effective implementation is needed, in order to relieve debtor countries from the vicious circle which they find themselves trapped in. Debtor countries fail to provide the fundamental social services for their peoples since they have to use most of their GNP to pay a debt that never extinguishes. In this way, fundamental human rights, the rights to life, to economic, social and cultural rights are jeopardized, and human solidarity is destroyed.