“Right now we observe that, all of a sudden, there is €10 billion suddenly available and we are told ‘it costs what it costs,’” stated Robert Urbé of Caritas during an interview with RTL Radio on Saturday. He continued to say that he welcomed this approach, but also pointed out that it raised the question of why there were never funds available before to avoid people being pushed into poverty. According to Urbé, this was also due to the fact that low-wage earners are often not eligible to vote in Luxembourg.
Urbé and the director of the Chamber of Employees, Sylvain Hoffmann discussed the social dimension of the corona crisis. Urbé stated that new instruments are not necessarily what is needed at the moment, suggesting instead that child benefits, the social inclusion income (REVIS) and similar measures should be raised.
Sylvain Hoffmann stressed that it would make a big difference if the working conditions of so-called “essential workers” were improved. He pointed out that many of these workers do not earn much and are at risk of poverty despite having a job. In this context, Urbé also stressed the need for more collective agreements, stating that it was unacceptable that in a number of sectors over half of working people only earned minimum wage.
Both guests agreed that the measures announced up until now such as increases in expenses, grants and rent subsidies, were not enough to help people find their way out of social insecurity. Hoffmann and Urbé also both criticised the announced bonuses for house renovations: these would only support people who could afford renovations anyway, while poor people – who face much bigger challenges because of energy costs – cannot afford to upgrade their building’s energy performance. Urbé commented that the government was using a scattergun approach instead of targeted measures.
