On May 6, the European Commission presented an ambitious social plan aimed at helping eradicate poverty and promote the rights of persons with disabilities throughout the EU. The package includes the first EU Strategy to Combat Poverty; a proposal for a Council Recommendation on combating exclusion in housing matters; and two communications: one on breaking the cycle of child poverty (Strengthening the European Child Guarantee) and another on strengthening the Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by 2030.
This package of measures has been approved in a context in which, for 52% of Europeans, the cost of living is their main concern, while 40% consider the lack of affordable housing to be an immediate and urgent problem. It is estimated that there are one million homeless people in the EU and that poverty affects one in five Europeans and one in four children.
The EU Strategy to Combat Poverty sets out a roadmap towards fulfilling one of the objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan: reducing by at least 15 million the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2030, as well as helping eradicate poverty by 2050.
This will be achieved through three priorities: quality jobs for all; effective access to quality services and adequate income support; and coordinated action against poverty.
Strengthening the European Child Guarantee
Likewise, the European Child Guarantee is the EU’s main tool for supporting children in need, particularly through free and effective access to services such as early childhood education, healthcare, and school meals.
Combating exclusion in the field of housing
The proposal for a Council Recommendation on exclusion in housing matters emphasizes long-term solutions and prevention, promotes more social and affordable housing, and adopts a people-centred approach to help individuals find a place they can consider their home. This is one of the outcomes of the first European Affordable Housing Plan, which the Commission presented in December 2025 in order to comprehensively address the housing crisis affecting millions of Europeans.
Promoting accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities
The enhancement of the Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by 2030 includes the EU-wide rollout of the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card, the launch of an Alliance for Independent Living aimed at replacing institutions with community-based support, improving transport accessibility, and investing in assistive technologies such as artificial intelligence tools.
Challenges that we can and must overcome
The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) welcomed the package of measures, while warning that addressing this long-standing demand from organised civil society — which has for years called for a structural approach to poverty at EU level — will not succeed without concrete measures backed by sufficient funding.
For EAPN, in a context marked by ongoing crises, rising social inequalities, austerity, deregulation, and war, this announcement represents an “important political step forward”. However, they warn that “if it is not accompanied by concrete actions, it will remain words on paper. The real work starts now.”
Positive measures
The organisation highlighted several positive elements, including the fact that the strategy recognises that poverty affects people throughout the entire life cycle and in all areas of life; emphasises the role of prevention as a key component for its eradication; and urges Member States to develop national and local anti-poverty strategies.
However, EAPN points out that the strategy contains “significant shortcomings”, such as the lack of a clearly defined roadmap towards the eradication of poverty and social exclusion. The measure also fails to address the limitations of current social protection systems, as well as the constant underfunding of policies that guarantee social rights, in contrast to the growing investment in defence and security.
For further information
Commission Staff Working Document. Main trends and policies on poverty
Commission Staff Working Document. Principles for effective anti-poverty policies
Communication on the European Child Guarantee
Council Recommendation on combating exclusion in housing matters
Communication on the Enhancement of the Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by 2030
