EURO-MP STEPS UP HOMELESSNESS CAMPAIGN

8.01.00pm GMT Sun 20th Jan 2008

A campaign to end street homelessness across the EU stepped up a gear when a striking exhibition on the subject was launched by European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering at the European Parliament last night. Local Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Liz Lynne, who was part of the launch, was praised by the President for her recent report on poverty and social exclusion and her work on social policy.

The exhibition is intended to highlight to MEPs the harsh realities of living on the streets in modern-day Europe and gather their support for a Written Declaration, which if signed by enough Members within the next month, will be followed by a formal Parliamentary debate on the subject. The campaigners are calling for closer EU cooperation by sharing data and best practice to end sleeping rough across the 27-nation bloc by 2015.

Speaking after the event, Liz, who is also Vice President of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, said:

"I am delighted that this campaign has attracted the support of so many of my colleagues as it is vital that we get the opportunity to debate this subject in the European Parliament as soon as possible.

"So many of the factors behind street homelessness are common to all EU countries so we should be learning from each other by exchanging ideas and experience on how best to deal with issues such as a lack of decent affordable accommodation or local employment.

"The sooner we have this debate the sooner we can start to build new initiatives to ensure that better services are available to help people at a local level turn their lives around and get off the streets and I would relish the opportunity to discuss how we can get moving on this."