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“We want Europe to become again a symbol of hope” said President Van Rompuy on December 9, the day before receiving the peace Nobel Prize.

The word “again” is elephant in the room. Has Europe now become a symbol of despair? At least it is not wrong to say that Europe is associated with harsh austerity measures which are leading to increased inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. 25 million Europeans are unemployed and 116 million are living in poverty. These numbers continue to increase as the situation worsens since the beginning of the crisis in 2008. These trends are not really a source of hope.

Hope rises when we address people’s concerns and difficulties. Last week at the second convention on poverty and social exclusion we said that to restore hope the EU needs to act concretely to end poverty and to reduce inequalities. Combating poverty cannot wait for growth and employment to improve again since this might take several years. It has to be a policy priority on its own. The EU and its member states need to develop an integrated poverty and social exclusion strategy to ensure an immediate reduction of poverty. And this is not enough. To counter the rise of inequalities, we also want people to live in a society where wealth is better shared and access to quality and available services for everyone ensured. In times of crisis and of austerity policies, social cohesion and wellbeing are under threat, but they are the heart of our European social model – and are not up for bargaining (see the last ILO report on growing wage inequalities). This is how we get hope again.

Hope takes also its roots in the demand to have a strong social dimension in the current economic priorities. This was clearly stated by one of our member, the President of the European Network Against Poverty, Sergio Aires who said at the convention that “if we have to accept a fiscal compact we also absolutely need to have a social compact. We need a “Golden Rule” to protect our social protection systems. It was the kind of growth (unequal growth and wealth distribution) we chose that led us to this situation. Our governments must become more honest about the real causes of this crisis and the enormous rise in poverty”.

Finally, hope rises when our concerns are seriously tackled by our leaders. The convention on poverty hosted the President of the European Council and the President of the Commission Mr Barroso who stated again that Europe was facing social emergency.

Yet what are the current priorities of the two presidents? The Commission published two weeks ago its annual growth survey that leads the economic policies of the members states. It failed to acknowledge that austerity measures aggravate inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. No substantial or concrete proposals were formulated to address the on-going increase in inequality and poverty.

And in the European Council next Thursday? The main topic will be “towards a genuine economic and monetary union (EMU)”. President Van Rompuy states that “the euro area needs stronger mechanisms to ensure sound national policies. This is essential to protect citizens from the effects of unsound economic and fiscal policies, and to ensure high level of growth and social welfare.

If hope cannot be given by our leader, it has to be nourished within ourselves. Great leaders from the past have told us how to do so. Martin Luther King Jr said in 1967: “Yes, I am personally the victim of differed dreams, of blasted hopes, but in spite of that I close today by saying I still have a dream, because, you know, you can’t give up in life. If you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of all. And so today I still have dream”.