Homeless not engaging with state web site

Photo: sxc.hu

Critics have stressed that the homeless and Poland's poorest citizens lack ready access to the internet.

“This is a glaring example of a project that was only created so as to pull in EU funds” claimed Your Movement MP Wincenty Elsner, deputy head of the parliamentary committee on innovation, in an interview with the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.

A sum of 49 million zloty (11.6 million euro) was spent on setting up the Ministry of Labour's web site empatia.mpips.gov, and it is understood that another 2 million zloty (477,484 euro) will be needed for running the service each year.

Citizens can file applications for social aid through the site, which stresses that besides the homeless, aid is particularly addressed to “individuals and families with no income or very low income, people with disabilities, victims of violence in the family, and the socially excluded.”

However, according to a statement by the ministry only “several dozen” applications have been made via the internet over the last month. (nh)

Source: IAR