Commission unveils EU’s first Anti-Poverty Strategy

There are policy areas where EU action is highly visible because only the European Union has the competence to regulate them. When the European Central Bank raises interest rates, mortgage repayments and business loans become more expensive almost immediately. Likewise, when the European Commission negotiates a trade agreement with Washington or Beijing, the agreement can remove customs duties on thousands of products overnight, making it easier for European companies to export and cheaper for consumers to buy imported goods.

Social policy is different. Here, the EU shares competences with Member States and can generally only support or complement national action. Any initiative in this field therefore needs to be assessed with these legal constraints in mind.

This is why the Commission's recently presented strategy to "help eradicate poverty in the EU by 2050" should be read with a degree of caution. When it comes to fighting poverty, the most powerful policy instruments remain in the hands of national governments. They shape employment and economic growth through fiscal policy and public investment; they finance social protection systems, determining the level and coverage of social benefits; they regulate labour markets and wage-setting frameworks, to name only a few levers at their disposal. 

Without denying the influence of the current political context—which places a strong emphasis on competitiveness, simplification, defence and security—these legal constraints help explain why the first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy contains very little binding legislation and relies primarily on recommendations, policy coordination and the exchange of best practices. 

The Strategy rests on three broad pillars.

The first focuses on tackling poverty throughout the life cycle. It includes measures aimed at reducing child poverty through a strengthened European Child Guarantee, supporting vulnerable young people through a better connection between the Child Guarantee and the Youth Guarantee, promoting labour market activation and quality jobs for working-age people, addressing in-work poverty, improving the take-up of minimum income schemes and preventing poverty in old age through more adequate pensions and care policies.

The second pillar addresses the structural factors that aggravate poverty. It recognises that discrimination, rising housing costs, energy poverty, food insecurity and difficulties in accessing quality public services can trap people in poverty even when employment exists. Building on the European Affordable Housing Plan, the Commission has proposed a Council Recommendation on fighting housing exclusion and announces further initiatives on integrated access to social services, long-term care and consumer protection.

The third pillar concerns governance, funding and monitoring. The Commission encourages all Member States to adopt comprehensive anti-poverty strategies, appoint national Anti-Poverty Coordinators and strengthen cooperation between different levels of government. It also proposes new indicators to monitor poverty more effectively and aims to improve the participation of people experiencing poverty in policy design.

Whether these initiatives will help reduce poverty remains to be seen. The challenge is considerable, with around one in five Europeans currently at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including almost one in four children. The EU has committed itself to lifting at least 15 million people, including five million children, out of poverty by 2030, but progress has so far been limited. The Commission therefore acknowledges that much stronger and more coordinated action will be needed to approach both the 2030 target and the longer-term ambition of eradicating poverty by 2050.

The question of financing is unavoidable. Although the Strategy itself contains few binding obligations, several of its recommendations—such as strengthening early childhood services and investing in long-term care—would require substantial public expenditure if implemented by Member States. Yet these proposals arrive at a time when many governments are expected to reduce budget deficits and put public debt on a sustainable path under the EU's reformed fiscal rules.

The same dilemma arises at EU level. Negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–2034) reflect growing pressure to devote more resources to priorities such as competitiveness, defence and security, leaving limited room for additional social spending. Rather than proposing significant new funding, the Anti-Poverty Strategy thus relies largely on encouraging Member States to make better use of existing instruments and, where feasible, to reallocate EU resources towards anti-poverty measures. 

Civil society organisations have welcomed the adoption of the Strategy while questioning whether it goes far enough. The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) describes the initiative as a historic political step but argues that it lacks binding commitments, adequate funding and a clear pathway towards the eradication of poverty, warning of a gap between the Commission's social ambitions and its broader priorities on competitiveness and defence. Similarly, the Coalition on the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy—which brings together major European organisations such as Eurochild, Caritas Europa, FEANTSA and others—welcomes the Strategy but argues that, without stronger financial backing and greater coherence across EU policies, it risks remaining a limited toolbox rather than a transformative agenda for reducing poverty.