BRUSSELS – Belgium is failing to tackle the problem of poverty, according to a report made public on Wednesday.

Dailies Le Soir and De Morgen both published extracts of the study, drawn up by Belgium’s official Service for the fight against poverty.

According to the study thousands of Belgians remain locked in poverty and lack proper access to education, health care and the job market.

The study said that in many cases Belgian legislation actually contributed to keeping people in the poverty trap.

The report did however that efforts to eradicate poverty had had some positive effects.

Not least of these, said the authors, was the fact that the Belgian public was now aware of the problem and that poverty was no longer a taboo subject.

By the end of this year the Belgian government says it plans to produce a major report on poverty, which will be based on the new study’s findings.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news