Eradicate poverty in the European Union
The objective is an ambitious one, and it includes an intermediate stage: cutting the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030. In other words, achieving the objective set in March 2021 by the action plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights (see IR Notes 159).
The EU is lagging behind when it comes to combatting poverty. The number of people at risk of poverty in the EU fell by just 2.9 million between 2019 and 2024. Furthermore, in 11 Member States, there were more people in this category in 2024 than in 2019.
In presenting its very first Anti-Poverty Strategy, on 6 May, the European Commission is setting out to reverse the trend (see press release). This strategy is being accompanied by several initiatives, such as a proposal for a Council recommendation on fighting housing exclusion; a communication aimed specifically at child poverty; and a communication to boost the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030.
One component of the new strategy is to encourage the integration into the labour market of people who are fit for work, particularly “the long-term unemployed, the inactive and those facing specific barriers.” During the second half of 2026, the Commission will launch the first-stage consultation of European social partners to obtain their views on EU action to support the activation of persons excluded from the labour market.
However, as the NGO ATD Quart Monde notes, “presenting employment as the main way out of poverty is a simplistic response to the multidimensional reality of poverty, and opens the way to reducing the debate to a matter of personal responsibility, whereas the key role in keeping people in poverty is played by systemic factors”. For all that, the Commission’s initiative recognises poverty in its multidimensional reality and also places the emphasis on prevention, access to services that are essential to people’s well-being and social integration.
Results can only be achieved by mobilising the full range of actors, with action having to be coordinated at European, national, regional and local levels. And by allocating the necessary resources within the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework, currently under discussion at Council level.
(Published in IR Notes 274 – 20 May 2026)
