Beggars’ Opera: Poverty in Europe's Streets

From the desk of Alexandra Colen on Wed, 2006-06-07 08:16

I had expected that travelling from Turkey to Greece would be like travelling from a poor country to a richer one. After all, Greece is part of the European Union (EU), while Turkey is not. Hence, taking the ferry recently from the Turkish town of Bodrum (the ancient Greek city of Halicarnassos, birthplace of Herodotos, the “father of history”) to the Greek island and town of Kos (birthplace of Hippocrates, the “father of medicine”) I was struck by a phenomenon in Kos which I had not seen in Turkey the previous week. Both Kos and Bodrum are affluent tourist resorts, but whereas in Bodrum one does not meet any beggars, one is accosted by them whenever one visits a church in Kos or walks through the ruins of the forum in the town center.

Turkey is not richer than Greece, so I wondered where the Turkish beggars are. Perhaps, because Turkey is outside the EU, it has more of a capitalist, entrepreneurial spirit. Perhaps there are fewer beggars in Turkey because the Turkish poor, who would be begging in Greece, try to earn money by selling goods or offering services which other people might want. Along the street women sell sage which they have picked and dried, men sell fruit or souvenir trinkets or bottles of water, others offer to polish your shoes. None of this in Greece, where, as elsewhere in the EU, the entrepreneurial spirit is discouraged. Anyone who wants to sell goods or perform services has to register and fulfill administrative and bureaucratic requirements.

In my own country, Belgium in the EU heartland, no-one is allowed to start a business – however small (such as shoe-shining or selling fruit) – if they do not hold a high school degree or a “certificate of business administration.” People who try to sell fruit, drinks, or trinkets in the streets get into trouble with the police. Even busking is not allowed without a municipal permit. Beggars, however, are left alone.

Yesterday, while walking the short distance from the Meir, Antwerp’s main shopping street, to the Central Station of this town of half a million inhabitants, I counted four beggars. During a three day stay in Istanbul two weeks ago I met exactly two beggars in this city of 15 million inhabitants: one woman by the gate of the Blue Mosque and a woman and child on a pedestrian bridge near the Golden Horn ferry port. But I encountered hundreds of people who wanted to polish my shoes, sell me a bottle of water or a souvenir.

While in Turkey the poor try to improve their lot by selling me something that might be useful to me, the EU is inundated with beggars. The latter are not allowed to do anything useful, not allowed to sell, not allowed to clean my shoes, not even allowed to sing me a song. Their misery and deprivation is displayed in the streets of Europe’s towns. And, as always, the state is to blame.

Hopeless

Submitted by Dan on Sat, 2006-06-10 17:13.

One of the more troubling things about this is that there is no hope. A man selling fruit can or a boot black strive move into more profitable ventures; while a beggar is going nowhere.

Confusion

Submitted by marcfrans on Thu, 2006-06-08 16:39.

@ A.N.

I agree that the high degree of labor market INflexibility, as well as other manifestations of excessive regulation, do raise serious issues of (lack of) freedom.   They will also over time make Belgians on average relatively poorer than others in less 'socialistic' societies.  But one canNOT claim, on A BROAD BASIS, that the social welfare policies of the "self-appointed democratic politicians" make "the gap between rich and poor bigger" in Belgium itself.  

Belgium generally rates well according to statistical measures of income distribution, but it does not when it comes to measures of 'individual freedom' (among democracies at least) and of long-term economic growth.  

There is no doubt, however, that IN AND OF ITSELF increased labor market flexibility would tend to lower the number of beggars.  At the same time, other factors (e.g. immigration law enforcement and the like) might well outweigh that effect in any given time period.  It is equally likely that increased social welfare payments could also lower the number of beggars, but its long term effect (via increased 'dependancy') might well be the opposite.   

Beggar Land

Submitted by Xavier Meulders on Wed, 2006-06-07 18:35.

It is indeed scandalous that a state that pretends itself to have one of the most "social" models in the world, generates that much beggars and poor in its society. The Flemish weekly Trends has written a worth-reading article on this issue, which can be still read integrally on http://www.trends.be/CMarticles/ShowArticleZoek.asp?articleID=39835&sectionID=1400 .

In this article there's one passage I certainly want to quote here, because it illustrates perfectly what the consequences of our social - though overregulated - model are. Because there are a lot of readers on this website who don't speak or understand the language of Vondel, I'll quote this passage in English (Please not that it's an instant translation, and that even I can't write perfectly Shakespeare's language):

"Sometimes the overregulation is ridiculous. It is the state that defines on an exhaustive list what could be considered as a snack. For Africans, rice and a meatball or fried fish are also snacks, but this isn't mentioned on the list, and as a result it is forbidden to sell it in a snackbar. An African snackbar keeper has resolved this problem on a creative way. He now stings a small stick through his African snacks, and names them "skewer". Now it is all right for the inspection."

I think that any extra comment is unnecessary...

Freedom?

Submitted by A.N. on Wed, 2006-06-07 16:32.

It's funny to see how the self-appointed "democratic" politicians, who pretend to "guide" the Belgian economy, are making the gap between the rich and poor bigger.

Begging in Europe

Submitted by flynn on Wed, 2006-06-07 11:27.

I will never return to London again due to the Muslim beggars there. They are 'in your face' and stand outside the shops, begging to everyone. The great cities of Europe have gone and they are starting to look more and more like the middle east. Brussels is just as bad. Add the robbery and crime in the Brussels train stations to the beggers and it is no longer a city to be visited. Tourists who are seeing and experiencing this will not return!!!