The significance that the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare attaches to the integration of beneficiaries into society through the Social Intervention Mechanism, which is already in operation, was stressed by the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Marilena Evangelou during her participation on Thursday, at the Belgian EU Presidency’s Ministerial Conference in Brussels, on “Investing in an inclusive and fair future for Europe – Minimum Guaranteed Income: Towards a safety net for all”.
According to an official statement, in the framework of the Conference, the perspectives and challenges at European level were discussed regarding the design and implementation of an effective and adequate Minimum Guaranteed Income (MGI).
The Deputy Minister briefed her counterparts on the achievement of the modernisation and upgrading of the Minimum Guaranteed Income in Cyprus, making the time of processing applications faster, more efficient and fairer with a significant reduction in the average time by 75%. She also referred
to strengthening the Control Team for the immediate termination of the benefit when fraud or attempt to defraud the system is detected and the strengthening of the Social Intervention Mechanism for the integration and inclusion of all of MGI beneficiaries into society as a whole by integrating them into the labour market, education and training programmes, or into psychosocial support programmes.
During the Conference, particular emphasis was placed on the third pillar, as the decoupling of beneficiaries from the benefit and their inclusion in society as a whole is a priority at European level, it is added.
At the same time, the importance that the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare attaches to the integration of beneficiaries into society through the Social Intervention Mechanism, which is already in operation, was also underlined.
Views were also expressed on the role that the European Commission can play in strengthening the MGI, whose philosophy is not only to provide subsidies but mainly to tackle soci
al exclusion and isolation, and good practices were exchanged on both efficient internal management using technology and digitised procedures, as well as to provide a better and faster service to citizens.
Source: Cyprus News Agency