European Economic
and Social Committee
Poverty is about more than a lack of income. It means being unable to afford food, heating, healthcare or secure housing, or participate fully in society. To mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) highlights its longstanding call for coordinated European action to tackle its many interconnected causes.
The EESC will step up its work against poverty at its plenary session on 21 and 22 October with opinions on the EU Anti-Poverty strategy and intergenerational poverty; strengthening the European Child Guarantee; housing exclusion and homelessness; and the role of civil society.
The EESC’s focus on poverty will culminate on 22 October in a high-level conference hosted by EESC President Séamus Boland on Eradicating poverty by 2050 – fulfilling our collective responsibility, which will bring together EESC members, MEPs and representatives of the European Commission, as well as top civil society organisations actively combatting poverty.
Mr Boland and Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, will sign a memorandum of understanding between the European Commission and the EESC on the EU Anti-Poverty strategy.
Applications for the EESC’s Civil Society Prize on poverty are still open
The 16th edition of the EESC’s flagship Civil Society Prize will reward excellence in civil society initiatives on combating poverty in the EU. The deadline for applications is 6 November 2026 at 10.00 (CET). All further information can be found here.
The EESC’s longstanding work on poverty
Over the years the EESC has put forward a wide range of proposals tackling poverty from different angles.
This includes an opinion on adequate minimum income, which calls for minimum income schemes to be based on transparent and accurate evaluations of housing, food, water, energy, healthcare and transport costs in order to allow everyone to live in dignity.
It also includes an opinion on the European Child Guarantee, which stresses the importance of targeted family support, including adequate incomes, family-friendly working arrangements and early education and healthcare to support children directly. The EESC will vote on a new opinion on the Child Guarantee at its October 2026 plenary session.
Amidst rising energy prices, the EESC has also called for equal access to affordable energy to become an absolute priority, proposing an EU strategy that incorporates all levels of European society, from EU institutions to local authorities and businesses.
A 2023 opinion which advocates an EU homelessness strategy makes a call to shift from managing homelessness to ending it by 2030 using the ‘Housing First’ principle – a proposal that asserts that stable accommodation is the starting point for reintegration.
In addition, an EESC opinion on the social economy and poverty highlights the primary role of the state in combating poverty, while underlining how cooperatives, associations, mutual societies, foundations and social enterprises can provide essential services to complement public action.
Finally, in 2025, the EESC produced an opinion on the cost-of-living crisis, calling for investment in people and the economy, progressive taxation, affordable public services and targeted support for those most at risk, without losing sight of the role of civil society organisations in reaching people facing the greatest difficulties.
All of this work came together in the EESC’s recent opinion on the EU Anti-Poverty strategy. The Committee stresses that the strategy should include measurable targets, proper funding and effective monitoring if it is to eradicate extreme poverty. It also reiterates that it is imperative that people experiencing poverty and social partners and civil society organisations be involved at every stage.