The 2025 People’s Summit will take place on the 28 March, in Porto, Portugal, co-organised by EAPN Europe and EAPN Portugal.
This edition will continue the push towards an ambitious EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, bringing together voices from across Europe – people experiencing poverty, grassroots social organisations, policymakers, national and European institutions representatives.
Building from the takeaways and recommendations from its last editions, it will be a forum to present concrete recommendations for the upcoming EU Anti-Poverty Strategy – the challenges to be addressed, priorities, and concrete legislative, policy and budgetary measures.
The context is increasingly complex. 94.6 million people in the EU are at risk of poverty and social exclusion (2023). Figures are overall stable, in spite of the commitment of the EU in 2021 to reduce poverty by 15 million people by 2030, including 5 million children. It turns out that only 1.6 million people have been lifted out of poverty since 2019!
The rising living costs, in particular for energy and housing, are contributing to worsen the living conditions of the most vulnerable. In-work-poverty is still prevalent among those who are employed. Marginalised groups, including women, racialised people, LGBTQIA+ people, elderly and young people, undocumented people, migrants, Roma people, people with disabilities, children in foster and institutional care, people discriminated against because of their religion or belief, and single-parents are disproportionately impacted by social exclusion.
2025 is a pivotal year, with the preparation by the European Commission of the first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, but also, the renewal of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and of the EU equality and anti-discrimination strategies, the adoption of the EU Affordable Housing Plan, and the start of the discussions on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) post-2027.
However, good intentions must lead to concrete actions. EAPN and its members are fully mobilised to ensure the upcoming EU Anti-Poverty Strategy leads to a comprehensive framework working towards the eradication of poverty, accompanied by ambitious resources and with the involvement of civil society organisations and people experiencing poverty.
From strong ambitions derive strong actions. The People’s Summit 2025 titled “The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy: From Intention to Action” is a milestone in fighting for the future of Social Rights in Europe.
