The Spanish Alliance Against Poverty, which groups trade union centres USO, CCOO and UGT as well as civil society organisations and development NGOs, gathered in front of the Congress of Deputies ahead of the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Budgetary Affairs to present parliamentarians with a way of tackling the crisis without cutting social investment, i.e. measures to cut tax fraud.

The symbiosis between the various organisations, to quote Santiago González of USO and Sotermun, is very positive, "we are working together, strengthening the voluntary work, widening our influence and social impact". "This Alliance of various organisations was formed to rally public support around the need to place the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals high on the political agenda." It conducts a range of joint and decentralised activities throughout the year as well as organising activities to coincide with World Poverty Day.

During this action, parliamentarians were presented with a "map of the treasury’; a number of Alliance representatives were disguised as pirates. The map included the formula for securing the 90 billion euros needed, highlighting that this amount could be collected through effective measures to combat tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax havens, etc. This was what the Alliance was trying to explain to Congress by presenting the ’treasury map’ indicating where the money could be found to reduce the deficit and to guarantee social rights such as health, education and development cooperation.

Article provided by Area Internacional - USO