The European Commission has announced that it will present an EU strategy for combating poverty in 2026. From AK's point of view, this initiative is to be welcomed. Given the need for far-reaching progress to achieve the EU’s 2030 poverty reduction target, a coherent EU antipoverty strategy is urgently required. A coordinated approach is needed to achieve the target. This must also include a thorough analysis of progress in poverty reduction and concrete action plans by the Member States.

To be truly effective, the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy must include concrete measures and proposals for legally binding directives, These should include EU minimum standards for unemployment insurance and minimum income schemes; legal entitlements to education and training; intensified efforts to combat child poverty; a European Job Guarantee for the long-term unemployed; sufficient ESF funding and EU co-financing for social housing; an ambitious new Gender Equality Strategy; a Just Transition Directive; and stepping up the fight against wage and social dumping. Furthermore, the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy must be embedded in a general socio-economic orientation at EU level that supports poverty reduction rather than undermining this goal.