Now it is the turn of the Red Cross to criticise the impact that austerity programmes is having in Europe.
Deepening poverty, mass unemployment, social exclusion, greater inequality, collective despair as well as a growing risk of social unrest have all been the result of austerity policies undertaken to address the debt crisis which stalks much of Europe, according to a hard-hitting report.
"Whilst other continents successfully reduce poverty, Europe adds to it," claims the report from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"The long-term consequences of this crisis have yet to surface. The problems caused will be felt for decades even if the economy turns for the better in the near future … We wonder if we as a continent really understand what has hit us."
The report paints a picture of a bleak future ahead, more uncertain than any other time in the postwar period it believes.
The jobs crisis, it said, is one of the most debilitating issues facing the EU and the eurozone.
Mass unemployment, particularly high among younger people, has resulted in more than 26 million men and women facing life without jobs; those out of work for longer than a year stands at 11 million, almost double the level of five years ago.
The number of people now depending on Red Cross food handouts has risen by 75% between 2009 and 2012 in 22 of the countries surveyed.
"Compared to 2009, millions more find themselves queuing for food, unable to buy medicine nor access healthcare. Millions are without a job and many of those who still have work face difficulties to sustain their families due to insufficient wages and skyrocketing prices.”
At least 43 million people across Europe are not getting enough to eat each day and 120 million are at risk of poverty, according to the report.
The study reports a mounting trend of intra-European migration, mainly from east to west, in search of work. The rise in illegal immigration has brought xenophobia in the host countries.
The survey conducted earlier this year looked at the 28 EU countries and an additional 14 in the Balkans, eastern Europe and central Asia.
In the EU, it found that the impact was not limited to the southern periphery nations but could also be detected in the power economies including parts of Scandinavia.
The social impact is immense, the study found. In Greece and Spain, several generations are living in single households with one breadwinner among them. It is now a common sight to find formerly prosperous middle-class men and women sleeping rough in Milan, Italy's financial capital.
