College Read-Out — Wednesday, 6 May 2026

Key Points

• The EU adopted its first-ever anti-poverty strategy to address rising poverty rates among Europeans.
• The strategy focuses on three pillars: housing, access to quality jobs, and support for vulnerable children.
• New measures will prevent housing exclusion through early warning systems and targeted rental support.
• A directive on effective activation measures for the unemployed will be launched later this year.
• The European Child Guarantee will be strengthened with a digital tool to improve access to essential services for children.

Full Transcript

Transcribed automatically from EbS (Europe by Satellite) · English audio track · AI-generated · May contain errors · Verify before quoting

Opening Statement

Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to our college readout after the regular meeting of the commissioners. Executive Vice President Roxana Minzato is here to briefly tell you about the college and mainly to present you to the first ever EU anti-poverty strategy. Vice President, the floor is yours.

Roxana Minzatu: Thank you so much. Good afternoon and welcome. Thank you so much. Good afternoon and welcome to the readout of our college meeting. Today, yes, we adopted our social package measures to fight poverty, to improve the lives of persons with disabilities. I will go into the details just in a second, but I also want to mention that during our college meeting today, we had an orientation debate that regarded our Circular Economy Act and this was also an important part of our discussions. Now, moving on to the social package. I am very happy that today we adopted and I can present you the first ever EU anti-poverty strategy. This package is the result of many months of talks, of consultations at all levels with governments, regional, local authorities, NGOs, but most importantly with people experiencing poverty or who have experienced poverty and have been able to navigate this challenge.

Roxana Minzatu: And this process is important and I want to emphasize it. I think that our strategy comes at a time when action is most urgently needed. Just last week, we received Eurostat data that confirmed a picture that is not extremely promising, but that motivates us to work together with our member states. One out of five Europeans are at risk of poverty and or social exclusion and that amounts to 93 million Europeans, 93 million people. This includes also another worrisome number, that one in four of our children is also in risk of poverty and social exclusion. And this comes in spite of the fact that we have acted in the past years, but the improvement on these numbers, the improvement in people's lives have been, as we see, limited. And truth is that with the current economic state of play, geopolitical state of play, this situation does risk to get worse. We see the energy shock that is caused by the situation in the Middle East, adding pressure to households who are already squeezed by a cost of living crisis. So this amounts to us looking at an economic but also social emergency and with this mindset we are presenting this set of measures. The strategy is built around three important pillars. Housing, housing exclusion and how we combat it. Access to jobs, to quality jobs. The best way out of poverty and into a dignified life. And supporting children that are affected by poverty and vulnerability.

Roxana Minzatu: First on preventing housing exclusion. We all know that without a roof over your head there is no foundation on which to build a life. Students, single parents, low income workers, too many are just one shock away from housing exclusion. We are putting forward a new approach to housing exclusion, moving from the classic emergency responses to, very importantly, prevention and long-term solutions. And whether we talk about prevention or we talk about long-term solutions, it is built on the housing first principle and the housing first intervention. In the package you will find a proposal for a council recommendation that is setting out measures that member states can take so that they can better support those that are most at risk of losing their homes. Early warning systems, person-centered support, like debt counseling or targeted rental support. These are just some examples of the measures included in the recommendation. We also aim to help governments expand affordable and social housing by mobilizing investment, by reusing existing homes, and by supporting different and innovative housing models.

Roxana Minzatu: Then the second topic I want to emphasize in my message today is jobs. It is clear that we must act and we must be able to act in a targeted way so that we are helping people that are outside of the labor market, inactive people, with their specific needs, so that they can become active professionally according to their talent and to their specific circumstances. Because as I've said, work is still the most powerful route that takes people out of poverty. And we are not referring just to any type of jobs, not to just any type of work. We are talking about quality jobs that are characterized by fair wages and good working conditions. And looking at this topic, in-work poverty is also tackled in the anti-poverty strategy, as it is still a reality in the lives of many workers in the European Union. Some 16 million people who are still not able, although they have a salary, to make ends meet. In-work poverty then is an important challenge that we want to address. There are more than 50 million people in Europe that also could work but remain outside the labor market for different reasons and that are thus at a greater risk of social exclusion. An important part of this number are women, young people, migrants. And for all of these, we need to design specialized, integrated, targeted support services so that those that can work are able to work, will do so, and will be able to be relieved out of poverty and have a dignified life.

Roxana Minzatu: Now, these numbers that I've mentioned, which are in the millions, represent, of course, a loss for everyone. A loss for themselves, the people who are denied the chance to build a better future. Yes, a loss for the economy, for the employers, for the businesses who are struggling in Europe to find the talent, the resources that they need. And a huge loss for the children, whose prospects are shaped by whether their parents have a job and what kind of job they have. And lastly, of course, it is a loss for the taxpayer, who will pay more to finance more safety net measures as poverty in our societies increases. Now, later this year, the Commission will present, will launch a first-stage consultation of our European social partners in view of tabling a directive on the effective activation measures for those that are excluded from the labour market. And this is an important legislative directive that is meant to support people that are outside of the labour market to be able to be connected with the types of opportunities that are best fitted for them when this is possible.

Roxana Minzatu: Third topic I want to emphasize, and last from the anti-poverty package, protecting children and young people. And this is very important. We are living in a European Union that has a GDP of 18 trillion euros. And in the same European Union, some 19 million children are living at risk of poverty and social exclusion. And poverty in childhood is not only something that is immoral, I would say, but it's something that takes away the hope of the young generation. And hope is, in the end, the most important driver for their future chances of success and motivation in life. So, with this, we look at the European Child Guarantee, a tool that we already have. It has helped a lot. It has expanded access to important basic services, education, school meals, medical care, for a number of our youngsters through the European Union. But it is clear that we must go further and ensure that the Child Guarantee is strengthened and that it delivers improvements in every child's life. And that is why we plan to develop a tool that is very important, a European Child Guarantee card. It is a digital tool, a platform, I would say, that is to be used by authorities managing the Child Guarantee support services for children affected by poverty. And this digital tool will help children get the support that they are entitled to in a way that gaps are eliminated. So, for example, if a child in a situation of vulnerability is entitled to access to healthcare, to medical care, the authority would need to know if that child is able to get the services, medical check-up or treatment, or not, and what it must do better with the use of EU funds or their own resources, with their own procedures, so that the guarantee is fully covering the needs of the children that are entitled to the Child Guarantee protections.

Roxana Minzatu: Also, what we want to do, and I emphasize this clearly, is we need to have a good connection between the Child Guarantee and the European Youth Guarantee. And this is important because our support and mechanisms that are dedicated for children should be delivered in such a way that they either improve their situation significantly, or if more is necessary, we are sure that they have a seamless transition to the support that is offered through the Youth Guarantee.

Roxana Minzatu: Obviously, all this needs investment. The scale of what is possible, though, is clear. Investing an additional 0.25% of the could help 18.5 million people leave poverty behind. And the question is not whether we can afford to act, but whether we can afford not to act, this being a collective responsibility. So, with this in mind, later this year, the Commission will launch a new Coalition Against Poverty that is meant to bring together businesses and philanthropic organizations around concrete commitments to reduce poverty. Also, in the coming months, we will work with the international financial institutions, like the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank, so that we can roll out dedicated financing tools. None of this would be possible

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