President of EAPN meets President Van Rompuy at Annual Convention on Poverty and social exclusion

27/11/2013 – Sérgio Aires thanked President van Rompuy for making time available for the meeting, which involved 4 other members of EAPN. He introduced EAPN as a European-wide coalition of NGOs, founded in 1989 with the support of the Commission, and with the major objective to contribute to the fight against poverty. The EC and the EU recognized that good governance included the participation of civil society; it was recognized that without that fundamental participation it would be very difficult to implement the European Project. He added that with the creation of EAPN in 1989, there was recognition that EAPN was a major network.

EAPN President Sérgio Aires meeting with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso

27/11/2013 – On the occasion of the European Convention against Poverty, EAPN President Sérgio Aires met with President Barroso.  Sérgio underlined the need for an integrated European Anti-Poverty Strategy stating that if finances and economy are EU businesses, poverty was also one – particularly when current economic choices contributed to it.  He also proposed to launch a process, both at European and national level assuring an enlarged participation of stakeholders, particularly those facing themselves poverty and social exclusion, to develop such a EU integrated strategy to fight poverty. This, he said, would be the positive sign of political commitment we would like to see.  President Barroso, whose speech at the Convention acknowledged the fact that the poverty target was way out of reach, responded outlining the structural and political difficulties to require member states to deliver on social targets. 

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Structural Funds 2014-2020: What room for social inclusion and the involvement of NGOs?

16/12/2013 – This report assesses how the Partnership Principle is applied in the Partnership Agreements and Operational Programmes, ie how social NGOs have been actively involved in their drafting of these programming documents, which are key tools for implementing the new Structural Funds (2014-2020).

It also evaluates how social inclusion and the poverty-reduction target is effectively made a priority in these processes by the managing authorities at national and regional levels.