The European Commission presented on Wednesday 24 March, together with the strategy for the rights of the child, its recommendations for an EU Child Guarantee to fight child poverty.
“18 million in the European Union are at the risk of poverty and social exclusion, that’s a middle-sized Member State. And this is not acceptable!” deplored the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, at a press conference, specifying that these figures did not take into account the consequences of the pandemic. For him, the Guarantee is a “very operational tool” to break the vicious cycle of poverty. “We all know that poor children will be poor adults”.
The Guarantee is therefore in line with the Action Plan for the implementation of the European pillar of social rights, which aims to reduce the number of children at risk of poverty by 5 million (see EUROPE 12671/2).
Six axes
In this context, the Commission recommends that Member States target support measures at children (anyone under 18) at risk of poverty or social exclusion. It recommends that Member States take into account, where appropriate, specific forms of poverty.
These may include children who are homeless or living in very precarious housing conditions, but also children with disabilities, children with an immigrant or racial/ethnic minority background (in particular Romani), children in institutions, and generally children living in precarious family situations.
The institution calls on Member States to ensure that children in need have free access to childcare in early childhood institutions and to education (including school activities).
It asks them to ensure a “healthy” meal every school day and effective access to health care. In general, it suggests that some services should be free of charge. It also calls on Member States to act to facilitate access to housing.
The recommendations also summarise the existing European levers for combating child poverty: – European Social Fund Plus (5% of funding earmarked for child poverty for Member States with a high child poverty rate); – the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which allows investment in social infrastructure: – the Recovery and Resilience Facility to create massive employment, especially for young people. The institution provides for technical assistance to help Member States that wish to do so.
The Youth Guarantee as a model
The Guarantee is built on a very similar model to the Youth Guarantee. Once the Council of the EU has adopted the recommendations, Member States commit to submitting national action plans to implement the targets within 6 months.
To this end, Member States should appoint national coordinators to monitor the implementation of the national plans. Each Member State must publish a report on progress every 2 years.
The European Commission, for its part, will monitor the implementation of the guarantee through the ‘European Semester’ budgetary process, a review of which is planned shortly.
Where appropriate, the institution reserves the right to make country-specific recommendations. This monitoring work will be done with the Social Protection Committee, an advisory committee of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers Affairs Council (EPSCO).
A very broad consultation
The European Commission reported that the Guarantee, like the strategy for the rights of the child (see other news), had been the subject of a wide consultation, in which 10,000 children took part.
Rather positive reactions
On the part of civil society and the social partners, the Guarantee has received a generally positive reception. BusinessEurope urged the development of childcare services for families. Eurochild also welcomed the European Commission's announcements, in particular for opening the consultation to children.
FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless) however regretted in a tweet that the Commission proposes to put homeless children and their families in hostels, not in temporary accommodation “resembling a family environment”.
To consult the Guarantee: https://bit.ly/31gl5fy (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)