The number of people living in poverty could be cut by 50% over the next decade, said UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights at the EESC's January plenary session, revealing the findings of his mission to the EU institutions.

Poverty reduction must be one of the main priorities of the European Commission's upcoming action plan for implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), said Oliver De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

Mr De Schutter pointed out that poverty in the EU increasingly affected women and single-parent households.

He also cautioned that the Commission's Green Deal, while including a strong social dimension, was not a substitute for a poverty reduction strategy: "Reduction of poverty is not an objective per se in the Green Deal," he underlined.

He explained that three structural constraints in combating poverty in the EU had been identified:

• Fiscal dumping across EU countries, where the tax burden had gradually shifted from corporations and the wealthiest individuals to workers, consumers and low-income families over the past 20 years.
• Social conditions and costs of labour, with policies that attempted to improve cost competitiveness by reducing wages and social contributions paid by employers.
• The macro-economic framework within economic and monetary union, particularly the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), which needed to be revised asap, exempting social investment in health and education from fiscal discipline measures.

Mr De Schutter said three ambitious objectives should be included in the Commission's action plan for implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights:

• A strategy to reduce poverty by 2030, setting the ambitious goal of a 50% reduction in the number of people at risk of poverty.
• A child guarantee covering five essential areas: access to education, early childhood care, nutrition, housing and healthcare. This would involve supporting families by providing a decent income, work and access to benefits.
• A new legally binding instrument on minimum income schemes, ensuring that such schemes across the EU are adequate and that Member States follow a common methodology.

EESC president Christa Schweng said that, even before COVID-19, one in five people were at risk of poverty and social exclusion in the EU and that this was a failure of our developed European societies. "One of the best ways to lift people out of poverty and prevent it is to build societal and individual resilience," said Ms Schweng.

She then pointed out that, besides funding, there was also a need to take a rights-based approach which recognised people affected by poverty as not only rights holders but also as agents for change. The commitment to leave no one behind entailed empowering or re-empowering people to play a positive role in society, she said. (at/mp)