Breaking the cycle of disadvantage - Reviewing EU policy through the lens of poverty

This study analyses European Union (EU) policy through the lens of intergenerational poverty (IGP), shifting attention from poverty as a static condition to the long-term persistence and transmission of disadvantage across generations. It defines IGP as the reproduction of multidimensional poverty from one generation to the next, driven by familial, structural, institutional, socioeconomic, spatial and cultural factors, and identifies 10 problem drivers through which poverty is transmitted. On this basis, the study maps 32 EU policy instruments and evaluates them across five analytical dimensions: coverage of problem drivers, child poverty mainstreaming, coherence, participation and funding. The findings indicate strong policy attention paid to education, employment prospects and income, but weaker and more fragmented engagement with health, housing, social protection, gender inequality and access to essential services. Two particularly significant gaps are the limited coverage of parental education and family instability as drivers of IGP. The study also identifies shortcomings in child poverty mainstreaming, policy coordination, participatory inclusion and funding alignment. In response, it proposes targeted recommendations to promote a more preventive EU anti-poverty approach. Finally, it develops a framework for assessing the impacts of policy on IGP and examines how poverty, and where possible IGP, is currently measured at EU and national level.