Talks aim to help millions escape from poverty

Member states to seek deal on how to cut number of people living in poverty in the EU.

Employment ministers will on 7 June attempt to agree on setting an EU target for cutting the number of people in poverty or suffering from social exclusion.

The European Commission wants governments to agree the target as part of a multi-annual strategy for growth and employment (called Europe 2020) that will be discussed by the European Council on 17 June.

The Commission proposed in March that member states commit themselves to reducing the number of Europeans living below national poverty-lines by 25%, lifting 20 million people out of poverty. The poverty-lines would be set at 60% of median disposable income.

The employment ministers are expected to scrap the Commission’s proposal in favour of a target that can be measured against not just income but also material deprivation and the number of people living in a jobless household.

Ministers are unlikely, however, to finalise the size of the reduction in poverty and exclusion that should be achieved by 2020, leaving this to be concluded at the European Council of 17 June.

Headline goals

The poverty target was one of five ‘headline’ goals that the Commission had proposed for Europe 2020. The others cover raising employment, increasing research and development spending, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and increasing education. The education target includes cutting the school drop-out rate to less than 10% and ensuring that at least 40% of the population has a university degree or equivalent by 2020.

In March, national government leaders could not agree on the education or poverty targets, notably because of German concerns that the education target impinged on the responsibilities of its regions, and wider concerns that the poverty target was poorly designed.

Last month (11 May) nearly all EU education ministers backed the education target, with some minor changes in wording. The UK did not sign up to the target, because a new government was still being formed.

Click Here: kanken kids cheap