Record poverty amid record military spending in EU

Homeless people sleep under a roof the the new opera next to the Euro sculpture in central Frankfurt, 11 May 2021. (AP)

The EU spends a record amount of money on deadly weapons for Ukraine, despite growing poverty and homelessness affecting more than one in five within the bloc.

A record number of EU citizens are homeless, seeking emergency accommodation and rely on charities for hot meals. The bloc's legislators say fundamental rights are being flouted.

We are talking about 100 million people who are affected by poverty and social exclusion here, on one of the richest continents in the world, more than one in five in the EU.

We need a strategy against poverty.

Gabriele Bischoff, German MEP

• Record poverty, record military spending in EU 
  

The cost of living crisis persists in the 27-nation EU as economic activity in the Eurozone continues to slow down.

34% in the EU do not have medical care.

Many young people are suffering. Our nations are becoming third-world nations.

Hospitals cannot look after their patients, and every country in the EU has poverty.

Malika Sorel, French MEP

Despite this, the EU has committed €118 billion to Ukraine in just the past two years and eight months, while sanctions against Russia have caused a spike in energy prices and inflation.

So at some point, Zelensky and Vladimir Putin have to be together and figure out some kind of peace deal, because otherwise, the European Union will have more problems.

Johann Weick, EU Policy Consultant

Since early August, as the bloc's citizens struggle, the EU's economic powerhouse, Germany, has sent military equipment to Israel worth €94 million. Instead, many argue, the EU should be sending severe economic penalties.

What more will it take for the EU to sanction Israel?

Israel has turned Gaza into a sea of rubble. It is engaging in the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon.

Now, it has threatened UNIFIL mandate in Lebanon and even attacked UN troops and property.

Aodhan O Riordan, Irish MEP

Analysts suggest the EU's economy is under threat because the bloc's leaders are blindly following America's foreign policy.

The growing strength of BRICS also has the potential to seriously undermine the euro.

As things stand, the failure to address growing inequality in the EU is already resulting in serious political consequences for the establishment.

Anti-EU sentiment is on the rise as frustration mounts among those feeling left behind by the system.