AI SUMMARY – What You Should Know Before Reading:
- The European Parliament has urged stronger funding and coordination in the fight against poverty and social exclusion across the EU.
- In 2024, 93.3 million people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including 20 million children.
- MEPs want poverty eradicated by 2035 and propose major investment commitments.
- Key proposals include financing the European Child Guarantee with at least €20 billion and more social spending on housing, jobs, and basic services.
BRUSSELS — In a sweeping resolution adopted on Thursday, members of the European Parliament called on the European Commission and EU governments to step up efforts to combat poverty and social exclusion, setting an ambitious target of ending poverty across the bloc by 2035.
The resolution, passed with 385 votes in favor, 141 against and 53 abstentions, calls on the Commission to explicitly recognize poverty as a violation of human dignity and to back that recognition with concrete funding commitments. Lawmakers also urged stronger coordination between EU institutions and member states to ensure that anti-poverty measures are implemented effectively throughout the Union.
Stark Statistics Highlight Deepening Need
According to European Commission data cited in the resolution, 93.3 million people — roughly one in six residents of the 27-member bloc — were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2024. Among them were an estimated 20 million children, equivalent to about one-quarter of all children in the EU.
These figures underscore persistent social disparities, despite economic recovery in some regions. Rising living costs, housing shortages, and the lingering impact of geopolitical and pandemic-era disruptions have compounded the financial strain on vulnerable households.
A Stronger European Child Guarantee
A central component of the parliament’s proposal is bolstering the European Child Guarantee, an initiative designed to ensure children in need have access to free healthcare, education, childcare and nutritious food.
MEPs propose allocating at least €20 billion to the Child Guarantee and call on member states to earmark at least 5 percent of their allocations from the European Social Fund Plus specifically for combating child poverty.
Parliamentarians argue that investing in children’s well-being now will help prevent cycles of poverty from passing between generations and build more inclusive societies for the future.
Jobs, Wages, Housing and Basic Services
The resolution also frames access to quality employment and robust social protection systems as fundamental to any effective anti-poverty strategy. MEPs stressed that economic policies across the EU should prioritize full employment, fair wages and equal pay for work of equal value.
In addition, lawmakers called for increased public investments in housing, essential utilities — including clean water and energy — and transportation. Ensuring universal access to these basics, they argue, would significantly reduce financial vulnerability for low-income families.
Lawmakers went further still, urging the Commission and member states to develop a comprehensive action plan to eliminate homelessness across the EU by 2030. The plan would focus on children, families, women and individuals who have lost their jobs — groups judged to be especially at risk.
Empowering Those Affected
Beyond resources and services, the resolution emphasizes the political inclusion of people living in poverty. It calls on EU institutions to create mechanisms that enable affected individuals to participate meaningfully in policy design, implementation, and evaluation.
For many lawmakers, this people-centered approach is key to developing solutions that are both effective and respectful of dignity and autonomy.
Towards a Poverty-Free Europe?
The resolution now sets the stage for debate over the next long-term EU budget, with MEPs pushing for social priorities to be central to the bloc’s spending framework. Whether member states will agree to the scale of investment called for remains uncertain, but the parliament’s stance is clear: poverty is not simply an economic statistic, but a fundamental challenge to Europe’s social fabric.
As negotiations continue in Brussels, millions of Europeans — particularly families with children — are watching closely for political leadership that matches the urgency of their needs.