Question for written answerE-005341-17to the CommissionRule 130Dimitrios Papadimoulis(GUE/NGL)(29 August 2017)Subject: Increase in income inequality in the European Union

According to Eurostat

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1050&intPageId=1870&langId=en

, international organisations and research centres such as Eurofound

https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1663en.pdf

, the OECD

https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/cope-divide-europe-2017-background-report.pdf

and FES

http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/13354.pdf

, income inequality in EU Member States is either increasing or has remained at the same disappointing levels as it has been since 2009 and the start of economic crisis.

Income inequality arises as a result of many different variables, such as annual income, the consumer index and the growth or decline in purchasing power relative to an increase or decline in income.

In the poorer EU and eurozone Member States, such as Bulgaria and Romania, and in Member States that have been or are subject to a Memorandum regime and increased budgetary supervision, such as Portugal and Greece, income inequality has also led to an increase in the percentage of immigration to other, wealthier EU Member States, thereby further increasing income inequality and, consequently, social and regional inequality.

In view of the above, will the Commission say:

How does it assess and interpret the rise in income inequality in the EU Member States?

What action does it intend to take in order to tackle the growing income inequality in many Member States?