The Policy department of the European Parliament provided a study to the Employment and Social Affairs committee of the European Parliament. The study, released in September 2014, aims to provide the Committee for Employment and Social Affairs with an analysis of the speed and composition of fiscal consolidation strategies. It describes major social developments in Europe, with a focus on poverty, and considers and interprets the links between fiscal consolidation measures and social developments.
Some of its conclusions include that:
- the severe material deprivation rate, has increased somewhat in the EU from 9.1 % in 2007 to 9.9 % in 2012.
- within Europe, the degree of polarisation between the South and the North in terms of social indicators has widened.
- within social spending, the elderly were favoured over families and children.
- social expenditure has increased more or been cut by less than other current expenditure, including in countries that implemented the most severe public expenditure cuts, which might have mitigated the negative social impacts of the crisis.
For more information, you can consult the Study on Austerity and Poverty in the European Union.