madam president i think we are all aware of the importance of minimum income schemes across the european union although not all member states have them in place yet
we also know that there are very big variations in effectiveness that there is often no clear basis for the amounts that are paid and that the amounts paid do not necessarily keep pace with rising costs
some member states have a very poor take-up so people are not getting their entitlements and some also time-limit these income schemes which seems very bizarre for something that is meant to be a safety net
i believe very strongly that we need a common framework across the european union that gives clear principles for how we develop these schemes and a clear methodology for working on them
we are not talking about the same level of payment in each member state and to keep saying this is to perpetuate something which is deeply untrue
we do need to develop these schemes so that everybody in the eu can live in dignity
