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EU boosts national efforts to fight poverty and social exclusion
Reference:  IP/08/1448    Date:  03/10/2008
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IP/08/1448

Brussels, 3 October 2008

EU boosts national efforts to fight poverty and social exclusion

The European Commission has today put forward a set of common principles to help guide EU countries in their strategies to tackle poverty. The Recommendation is based around three key aspects: adequate income support, inclusive labour markets and access to quality services. National governments will be encouraged to refer to these common principles and define policies for 'active inclusion' on this basis so as to step up the fight against exclusion from society and from the labour market.

"Current schemes for tackling poverty often don't work," said Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimír Špidla. "Social exclusion is the result of numerous problems, ranging from lack of a job or insufficient skills to poor housing, social isolation or family breakdown. We must take an integrated approach to offer people a genuine way out of poverty. This means reintegrating as many people as possible in the labour market, while ensuring that those who cannot work also have access to adequate resources to live a dignified life."

Some 16% of Europeans are at risk of poverty – rising to 19% among children – while long-term unemployment remains at 3% and 15% of young people still leave school early. Despite evidence on the effectiveness of social transfers in reducing poverty (poverty would rise significantly without them from 16% to 26%), a significant percentage of those targeted by social assistance schemes do not actually benefit from them.

To make minimum income schemes more effective and to support national efforts to fight poverty, the Commission is putting forward a Recommendation on 'active inclusion'. It aims to reintegrate into the labour market all those who can work while providing the necessary resources to live a dignified life to those who cannot.

For labour market integration to be sustainable, disadvantaged people need to be supported with sufficient resources and personalised employment and social services to ensure their social participation and their capacity to carry out a job.

The common principles set out by the Commission today represent a voluntary framework for Member States when designing their policies. They were, however, prepared through a wide-ranging consultation with Member States and with all relevant actors.

They will be formally discussed by national governments at the Employment and Social Affairs Council in December 2008 that will draw conclusions on follow-up actions.

Recommendation and accompanying Communication on the active inclusion of people excluded from the labour market

http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=612&langId=en
http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=613&langId=en