EU Anti-Poverty Strategy sets ambitious goals, but falls short on binding action
The European Commission has published its first-ever Anti-Poverty Strategy. Its ambition? The complete eradication of poverty across the EU by 2050.
This Strategy is more timely than ever. Across the EU, 1 in 4 young people are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This is 3% higher than the general population. And this risk is only made worse through other daily realities: young people are overrepresented in precarious work, low paying or no-paying work is widespread, social security is lacking, and young people have to spend up to half their income on rent.
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So how is the Strategy going to address these challenges, and does it speak to the lives of young people?
Recognising that poverty is more than income
One of the Strategy’s strengths is that it recognises the multidimensional nature of poverty. It highlights the important roles education, employment, housing, care and social services play in preventing poverty.
More deeply, it also considers the experiences of those experiencing poverty. At the national level, the Commission is calling on all countries to appoint an Anti-Poverty Coordinator at the highest political level, to oversee the establishment of national anti-poverty strategies. At the EU level, the Commission intends to set up more structured spaces to hear from those experiencing poverty directly, so that this can shape policies that are intended for them. Additional work is also being done by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, who will conduct a legal analysis of how people experience discrimination, based on them living in poverty or due to their socioeconomic status.
These are important steps forward. But at the same time, we need to address the elephant in the room.
The missing dimension
The Strategy recognises that a life of dignity is a fundamental right. It says that poverty inaction is costly, and risks weakening social cohesion, democracy, and Europe’s economic potential. Keeping Europe competitive is the underlying goal and the main driving force. But other hidden dimensions, such as time poverty - where people do not have predictable working hours or sufficient autonomy over their time and lives - or how intergenerational inequality and intersecting forms of discrimination are experienced, are often overlooked.
Without addressing these dimensions, it will be difficult to fully improve young people’s quality of life.
Supporting young people in the transition to work
For young people, special attention is given to the transition phase in their lives when they are completing their education and trying to secure a stable paying job. We’re pleased to see that the Commission continues to commit to working with EU countries to better implement the Youth Guarantee, so that greater attention is placed in high unemployment areas, to better support young people not in education, employment or training.
Unfortunately, no additional funding has been committed to the Youth Guarantee, and like many other areas of the Strategy, the Commission is relying on the negotiations of the upcoming EU budget to determine how much funding will be allocated where.
Right to housing remains a major challenge
Alongside the publication of the Anti-Poverty Strategy, the Commission also put forward a proposal for a Council recommendation on combatting housing exclusion.
This proposed Council recommendation calls on EU countries to introduce national strategies to prevent housing exclusion, and calls for greater links between social and welfare services to better support young people - including students - in finding adequate and affordable housing, and facilitating in them better accessing information on their tenancy rights.
However, no clear targets have been set to reduce youth homelessness rates. There are no indicators to measure ways to achieve housing affordability outcomes, and no additional funding has been set to ensure access to social housing.
Moving forward, but with nothing binding
While this Strategy is a first major step in calling to attention the situation of those living in, or at risk of, poverty, the noticeable absence to introduce binding legislation around minimum income schemes or universal basic services is a concern.
The right to an adequate standard of living, including a life free from poverty and access to adequate housing, is a universal human right. Clear and ambitious systemic change is needed to achieve this. The implementation and additional follow-up on this Strategy and the proposed Council recommendation on housing exclusion will be key to seeing if young people’s quality of life will be improved -truly and urgently- and across generations. We’ll continue to raise the voices of young people to make this a reality.
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