Ministers from EU Member States adopted, at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) of Monday 14 June, the recommendation establishing the ‘European Child Guarantee’.
“The European Pillar of Social Rights action plan has set an ambitious target of reducing by five million by 2030 the number of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and this was reinforced at the Porto Social Summit. The European Child Guarantee is a major step forward towards this goal”, Ana Mendes Godinho, the Portuguese Minister of Labour, welcomed on behalf of the Presidency, recalling how difficult, if not impossible, the project seemed at the outset.
Member States thus commit to develop a national plan to combat the social exclusion of children, developing coherent policies in housing, nutrition, health, education and the social field. The text underlines the importance of having a territorial approach.
It suggests, among other things, the introduction of one healthy meal a day in schools and a ban on advertising of high-fat or high-salt foods in early childhood education and care facilities and schools. In the field of housing, it proposes an approach to provide permanent housing for homeless people as well as to fight the digital divide.
As part of the governance and evaluation of the implementation of the Guarantee, the text requires each Member State to appoint a ‘Child Guarantee’ coordinator. Each coordinator will have to submit to the Commission, within nine months (instead of six initially in the European Commission’s proposal) of the adoption of the recommendation, an action plan covering the period up to 2030.
In addition, Member States will have to report to the Commission every two years on the progress made in implementing this recommendation. Compared to the original text, Member States have broadened and clarified the scope by including children with disabilities and mental illness.
To consult the recommendation: https://bit.ly/3wrZGhI
Poland has asked for a declaration to distance itself from the notion of gender used: https://bit.ly/3xqpb33 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)