Europe stands at a social crossroads. The cost of living crisis, the lingering fallout of the pandemic, and the challenge of digital and green transitions all converge to produce a startling statistic: 94.6 million people across the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In this context, European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen announced the first ever EU-Anti Poverty Strategy alongside a public consultation. ESN’s timely contribution - our response to this public consultation and an event at the European Parliament to discuss our proposals - demand both attention and action.
At its heart, ESN argues for a strategy grounded in the multifaceted nature of poverty, person-centred support, strong social services and investment in its workforce. These are not mere stylistic refinements; they are structural imperatives. Traditional poverty measurement tends to focus on income alone, yet ESN emphasises that any future EU Strategy must address the concept of “poverty of opportunities” and address situations encompassing social exclusion such as the lack of access to services, social participation, health, housing, work, and digital inclusion. A true Anti-Poverty Strategy must reflect this complexity.
A headline of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan was to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million people by 2030. However, progress up to now has been wafer-thin, particularly for children. A rethink is overdue if the Strategy is to work towards eradicating poverty by 2050 as Ms von der Leyen underlined. Therefore, adopting a multifaceted approach means the Strategy must go beyond “income support” alone. It means treating housing, digital access, decent work, care, and social services as equal pillars. This means the Commission should invest in a Social Services Quality Framework. Without such a framework, Member States risk continuing to patch over symptoms rather than comprehensively treating causes.
Next, we insist on a person-centred approach which involves people with lived experience. We argue for co-design and participation because we are convinced that tapping into people’s lived insights helps avoid blind-spots in policy-design, increase take-up, and build trust. Too often, public policy programmes miss those they aim to serve by failing to heed the voices of the vulnerable.
Third, ESN highlights the need for investment in the social services workforce. Implementing a Strategy without bolstering the human and operational infrastructure of care, inclusion, and support services may falter at the implementation stage. The call therefore is for ringfenced investment in the social services sector, professionalisation, quality work conditions, and alignment with other sectors such as health, education, and employment. Without this, the ambition of an ambitious Strategy will remain rhetoric.
From a thematic perspective, ESN prioritises the most vulnerable children under state protection, homelessness, people furthest from the labour market, and a care guarantee for persons with disabilities and older persons with long-term needs. We believe these should be the priorities of the future strategy with a focus on preventing social exclusion. Children raised in poverty risk a lifetime of disadvantage; homelessness is one of the most visible and acute illustrations of social exclusion; labour market exclusion leaves communities trapped; and the ageing of Europe demands we attend to long-term needs now rather than later.
The EU stands to lose dearly if poverty persists. Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty, has warned that childhood disadvantage costs on average 3.4% of GDP annually through lost employment, earnings, health, and benefits. That’s not just social injustice, it’s economic mis-investment.
Therefore, the upcoming EU Anti-Poverty Strategy must not simply be another ‘add-on’ to existing frameworks; it must be a clear, rights-based, adequately resourced and truly cross-sectoral strategy. ESN’s proposal provides a strong compass. If the EU wants this Anti-Poverty Strategy to be more than a symbolic gesture, but instead a concrete lever for social justice, then it must embrace multidimensionality, social services quality, meaningful participation, workforce investment, and targeted thematic focus.
