The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, says the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, will have a particularly important role to play when Britain assumes the EU Presidency in the New Year.
Addressing the European Anti-Poverty Network Conference in Belfast yesterday, Mr Hume said one of the main sources of poverty in the North was the absence of jobs. "This scarcity has played a significant role in our political difficulties," he said. "Many other parts of Europe have been badly affected though, fortunately, not by the level of political breakdown which occurred here.
"There have been times when the issues of employment and unemployment have been in danger of slipping off the European political agenda altogether. The tremendous efforts of Jacques Delors - followed by his successor, Jacques Santer - to focus on the problem of employment played a major role in ensuring that the issue remains one of the fundamental questions in EU politics."
Mr Hume said the EU's peace and reconciliation programme has enjoyed a substantial impact on Northern Ireland society over the past three years. "While the programme covers a number of objectives, one of particular relevance is the way in which local communities have been encouraged to take their own initiatives," he said.
"In each local government district there is a district partnership board compromising representatives of local authorities, unions, business and the voluntary sector. Each board is responsible for distributing a budget for local community initiatives in its area.
"Their work has been supplemented by a number of intermediary funding bodies who also assist local community groups in their efforts to improve their social and physical environments. The basic principle is that, rather than government administering what is in effect an anti-poverty strategy, local communities are encouraged to develop their own skills and potential.
"We believe that, on the whole, the bottom-up nature of the programme has been a clear success."
Mr Hume said poverty could not be legislated out of existence but, with comparatively small resources, a big impact could be made on local communities.
"The partnership model and the `arm's-length' procedures embodied in the intermediary funding bodies may well be the future for community development and anti-poverty strategies."