The fight against poverty and the role of civil society organisations in combatting poverty

The Civil Society Organisations' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee will maintain the topic of the fight against poverty and the role of civil society organisations in combatting poverty, as the overriding priority of the Group after the first half of the EESC term 2020-2025. This priority will apply both to 2023 and to the duration of the next 2.5-year mandate (beginning in April 2023). The emphasis on poverty eradication is all the more relevant given that it constitutes the first objective of the Sustainable Development Goals and that the EU has a relatively high percentage of its population in poverty, or at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Moreover, prevailing downward demographic trends in Europe will necessitate increased investment in care and the elderly, in order to avoid even greater levels of poverty and social exclusion.

In 2023, the Group will launch and, if possible, publish a Civil Society Organisations' Group commissioned study on How to eradicate skills poverty among the most vulnerable and has already proposed two related own-initiative opinions, one on the subject The Climate Crisis and its Effect on Vulnerable Groups and another on The impact of high energy prices on the agricultural sector and rural areas.

The thematic debate on the same issue during its ordinary meeting on 22 March 2023 will contribute to the Group's overall objective of poverty eradication and feed into the above mentioned work. The event will see the participation of:

  • Ms Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister for Labour and Social Policies of Italy,
  • Ms Marie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance) and Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on "Fighting against poverty" and
  • several representatives of civil society organisations.

The debate will start at 11.30 and end at 13.00 CEST. It will be webstreamed in English, French and Italian.

Prior registration for the webstreaming is not necessary. It will be available on this website on the day of the event.