What changed

O. whereas poverty is also both a cause and consequence of intersectional discrimination, disproportionately affecting individuals and communities, namely women, families, people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, Roma and Travellers, people experiencing homelessness, children in institutional care, LGBTQIA+ individuals, older and younger people, undocumented persons, migrants, persons with disabilities, people facing discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, people facing chronic diseases and addiction, informal carers and single parents; whereas these groups are more vulnerable to social exclusion, in addition to the intersection with other forms of human rights violation; whereas significant barriers exist in the current labour market and social protection systems for vulnerable and marginalised groups; whereas addressing poverty therefore requires policies that recognise and combat these overlapping forms of marginalisation, ensuring the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights for all people;

X. whereas access to water is an essential need and a fundamental human right; whereas approximately 9.8 million people in the EU lack safely managed drinking water services; whereas a further 9.4 million rely on basic water services off-premises, and around 450 000 individuals have no access to even basic drinking water services; whereas the lack of access to drinking water and water infrastructure disproportionately affects marginalised groups;

X. whereas in 2024 around 8 % of Europeans were unable to afford a balanced meal including meat, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every two days, representing around 36 million people across the Union, with the issue particularly acute among single people, students and young adults, low-income families and immigrants; whereas effective access to food should be considered a fundamental human right, as requested by an ongoing European Citizens’ Initiative;

Y. whereas access to water is an essential need and a fundamental human right; whereas approximately 9,8 million people in the EU lack safely managed drinking water services; whereas a further 9,4 million rely on basic water services off-premises, and around 450 000 individuals have no access to even basic drinking water services; whereas the lack of access to drinking water and water infrastructure disproportionately affects marginalised groups;

4. Recalls that poverty disproportionally affects marginalised and vulnerable groups of society, such as women, families, people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, Roma and Travellers, people experiencing homelessness, children in institutional care, LGBTQIA+ individuals, older and younger people, undocumented persons, migrants, persons with disabilities, people facing discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, people facing chronic diseases and addiction, informal carers and single parents; emphasises the need for targeted measures to address this, paying particular attention to those most vulnerable to extreme poverty;

16. Expresses concern that, as highlighted in the 2025 Joint Employment Report, no Member State has yet established an adequate minimum income scheme reaching at least the national at-risk-of-poverty threshold; urges the Commission to present an EU directive on adequate minimum income and active social inclusion, while respecting the competences of the Member States, the national specificities of social protection systems and the principle of subsidiarity; stresses that such a proposal would contribute to the eradication of poverty and to fostering the integration of people absent from the labour market by setting common standards on adequacy, accessibility and coverage of minimum income schemes; calls on the Member States to ensure that minimum income schemes and other social schemes are adjusted to preserve their adequacy and accessibility, so as to protect vulnerable households;

17. Calls on the Member States to develop fair taxation policies; underlines that the fight against poverty has implications going beyond employment and social policies; highlights that effective social transfers, including child benefits, minimum income schemes, pensions, and energy and housing subsidies, are a powerful instrument for reducing poverty and social exclusion and promoting social cohesion; calls on the Member States to strengthen and adequately fund such redistributive mechanisms;

31.29. NotesRecognises thatmenstrual poverty as a lackstructural ofform adequateof accesspoverty toand menstrualgender hygieneinequality productsin andthe facilitiesEU, affectsaffecting an estimated 10 % of the menstruating population,population; underlines its disproportionate impact on women and disproportionatelygirls affectson marginalisedlow-income, refugees, asylum seekers, young people, homeless people, persons with disabilities, and others in vulnerable groups,situations; limitingstresses that menstrual poverty seriously limits participation in social, educational and professional life; calls on the Commission andto thedevelop Membera Statescomprehensive toaction proposeplan comprehensiveas measurespart toof tacklethe this,EU anti-poverty strategy, ensuring free or affordable access to menstrual products, includinginformation throughand adequate facilitiessanitary facilities, particularly in thepublic workplaceplaces such as educational institutions, workplaces, public buildings and inreception schools;centres;

34. Stresses the importance of overcoming administrative obstacles that may prevent vulnerable groups, such as Roma, from accessing essential services and social protection, as these barriers perpetuate and exacerbate poverty and exclusion; underlines that national identification numbers could facilitate equal access to essential services while maintaining administrative clarity and accountability;

47. Recalls Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s commitment, in 2019, to ensure that every child in Europe at risk of poverty or social exclusion has access to the most basic of rights, such as healthcare and education, which was followed by the adoption, in 2021, of a Council recommendation establishing a European Child Guarantee; stresses that the objectives of the European Child Guarantee cannot be achieved without an ambitious dedicated budget at both EU and national level; reiterates, in this context, its call for a substantial dedicated budget of at least EUR 20 billion for the European Child Guarantee; underlines the urgent need for this dedicated budget to be allocated in the next multiannual financial framework in order to respond to the growing challenge of child poverty and social exclusion;

49. Welcomes the recent update of the monitoring framework for the European Child Guarantee and the inclusion within the framework of new indicators to improve the effectiveness of monitoring progress in the implementation of this instrument in the Member States; underlines the important role of data collection and monitoring systems in understanding the obstacles faced by vulnerable children and in enabling tailored interventions and resource allocation; calls on the Social Protection Committee to continue its work to improve the monitoring framework in order to maintain its relevance and address remaining data gaps and on Member States to use this common monitoring framework while adapting it to their specific circumstances with regard to child poverty;

50.51. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the European Child Guaranteeallocation hasof a substantial dedicated budget of at least EUR 20 billion into the 2028-2034European MFF,Child Guarantee, implemented through the ESF+, in order to respond to the growing challenges of child poverty and social exclusion, and for the Member States to allocate at least 5 % of ESF+ funds to specific projects and structural investments combating child poverty, with at least 10 % earmarked for the Member States with child poverty and social exclusion levels exceeding the EU average; emphasises that this investment in the next generation, in addition to ensuring the well-being of children, is a sound investment that would prevent future societal costs; stresses that the use of these funds should be transparent and require the involvement of social organisations in their planning, implementation and evaluation;

57. Recalls the EU objective of transitioning from institutional to community or family-based care; recognises the opportunity provided by the anti-poverty strategy to build bridges with the European Child Guarantee, in particular with measures to support the target group of children in institutional care; calls on the Member States to make full use of the ESF+, as well as other relevant European and national funds, in order to finalise the deinstitutionalisation process so as to ensure that children can live in a family or community environment;

64. Recommends that the anti-poverty strategy have a designated person responsible at European Commission level; calls on each Member State to appoint a national coordinator and implement the anti-poverty strategy through a national action plan, with the involvement of those with lived experience of poverty, the local and regional authorities, social partners and civil society organisations involved in combating and preventing poverty in its implementation;

65. Calls for a designated Commission task force on poverty eradication, with the aim of monitoring the implementation and coordination of the anti-poverty strategy, as well as the integration of its objectives into other EU policies;

67. Stresses that the anti-poverty strategy will only deliver results if accompanied by adequate funding at EU and national level; insists on the need to safeguard and strengthen cohesion policy in order to continue supporting economic, social and territorial cohesion and combating asymmetries between and within the Member States of the EU under the next MFF; calls, in this regard, for an adequate and ring-fenced allocation of funds to reinforce policies that contribute to eradicating poverty, including targeted support for marginalised and vulnerable groups; highlights the essential role of the ESF+ in promoting social inclusion and combating poverty, notably by providing aid to the most deprived and the European Child Guarantee, as well as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund in this context; stresses the importance of optimising the use of EU funds, including the Recovery and Resilience Facility, to finance concrete anti-poverty measures such as affordable and energy-efficient housing, access to quality early childhood education and care, such as through the EU school scheme, accessible public transport and targeted energy support for low-income households; stresses the need to ensure a dedicated and sufficiently resourced allocation of funds for food banks that provide material support, including food aid, so that they have adequate operational capacity and the ability to respond swiftly to rising levels of food insecurity and material deprivation; underlines that such support must be complemented by accompanying measures that foster social inclusion and pathways out of poverty in line with ESF+ rules;