EU Anti-poverty Strategy

Key points

The EESC:

• believes that the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy (APS) should be intersectional and gender responsive and based on a multidimensional definition of poverty, encompassing social, psychological, political and gender dimensions alongside material deprivation;

• recommends that the APS set ambitious but measurable targets and aim at eradicating extreme poverty, with a rights-based approach, recognising poverty as a violation of fundamental rights and systemic injustice;

• proposes as key elements of the APS:

  • binding standards on adequate income and social protection across Member States;

  • measures to fight in-work poverty including active labour market policies, quality jobs as well as proper implementation of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages;

  • universal access to affordable, quality social and essential services;

  • robust governance, funding and participation;

  • recognition of the role of social partners and civil society organisations in fighting poverty.