the government “is doing all it can to eradicate it”, assures Olivier Véran

“We are chasing the fight against poverty by investing more each year, we must do even more”, concedes Olivier Véran Tuesday November 14 on France Inter. The government spokesperson reacts after the publication of the annual report of Secours catholique. The association there “points to a worsening of poverty” in 2022, “unsurprisingly, in a context of high inflation in food and energy”.

Secours catholique analyzed data from 49,250 forms filled out by its beneficiaries. 95% of them live below the poverty line and “three quarters even live in a situation of extreme poverty compared to 65% in 2017”. According to this report, the median income of beneficiaries was established “at 538 euros per month in 2022, compared to 579 euros the previous year”.

A policy of “emancipation” which “bears fruit”

Olivier Véran ensures that the government “has always chosen to implement policies that aim to reduce inequalities.” To support his point, he emphasizes that France has “reaches the record for the number of emergency accommodation available in our country, i.e. 200,000”.

Olivier Véran states that “during the Covid period, the protection tools put in place for the most precarious groups made it possible to avoid increasing poverty, even though it was the opposite in many European countries”.

The government spokesperson praises the employment policy carried out by the executive, a policy of‘”emancipation” Who “bears fruit despite the numbers” given in this Secours catholique report. “Obviously and unfortunately, we have not eradicated poverty. Nobody has eradicated it in the world”, defends Olivier Véran. But he assures that the government “will do everything possible to do so”.