The European Union has declared travelling a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidise vacations with taxpayers’ dollars for those too poor to afford their own trips.
According to Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, “Travelling for tourism today is a right. The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life.”
How much will this new “right” cost?
Intended to instil a sense of cultural pride in Europeans, Tajani’s human rights travel will also help bridge the continent’s north-south divide and pad resorts’ business in their off-season. Northern Europeans will be encouraged to visit southern Europe, and vice versa. Tajani says he wants to ensure that people’s “right to be tourists” remains intact.
In the midst of a global recession, some don’t see the wisdom of creating a new and expensive entitlement paid for by taxpayers.
“The commission is literally considering paying people to go on holiday,” says Mats Persson, of Open Europe, a reform minded think tank. “In this economic climate, it’s astonishing that the EU wants to bribe people with cheap holidays.”
Source: Katherine Laidlaw, Vacationing a human right, EU chief says, Ottawa Citizen, April 19, 2010.
For text: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/news/Vacationing+human+right+chief+says/2924330/story.html
For more on International Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=26
First published by the National Center for Policy Analysis, Dallas and Washington, USA
FMF Policy Bulletin/ 27 April 2010
