An EU poverty target as priority for post Europe 2020 | EAPN statement

The Europe 2020 strategy set an EU poverty target to reduce poverty by at least 20 million people by 2020. The poverty target was crucial, but failed to reduce poverty by more than 8 million. Now in 2020, 109 million people are at risk of poverty, even prior to the pandemic. Adopting a new EU anti-poverty strategy and setting a new ambitious EU poverty target must now be an overwhelming EU priority for an inclusive recovery in all EU Member States. The Commission is currently considering proposals for an EU poverty target for the next decade, in connection with the proposals for the Action Plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). EAPN has made its detailed proposals in our ideas for a post 2020 strategy and provided input to the EC consultation. EAPN believes an EU poverty reduction target needs to:

• Be more, not less ambitious
• Have a % target applied equally to all member states
• Capture the multidimensionality of poverty
• Ensure continuity and comparability with current EU Poverty Indicators
• Be complemented by an inequality target, not replaced by it
• Be supported by additional indicators/targets to capture extreme poverty

Overall, EAPN wants to stress the importance of a post 2020 strategy as a vital pre-condition to provide a coherent, comprehensive overarching policy framework to deliver on the SDGs and the EPSR, which can re-balance economic, environmental and social objectives. Read the full statement