As the European Commission prepares to present its first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, expectations are high and the stakes are even higher. Europe does not lack commitments on poverty, what it has lacked so far is consistent delivery. At a time of housing shortages, rising living costs, energy insecurity and increasing climate pressures. With more than 93 million people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including nearly 20 million children, this strategy will be a test of how serious the European Union is about turning ambition into results.
Over the past decade, the EU has set targets, mobilised funding, and expanded access to services and employment, yet the results have not always met expectations. The goal of lifting 20 million people out of poverty by 2020 was not achieved, and today millions of Europeans, including almost one in four children, remain at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
The EU has the tools to fight poverty. It needs the right approach to make the impact sustainable.
Policy responses have largely focused on improving access to services, benefits and the labour market. While essential, this has not been enough to reduce poverty in a sustained way. What remains insufficiently addressed are the structural barriers that prevent people from effectively benefiting from these measures and successfully reduce inequalities.
At the same time, the housing crisis is becoming a central driver of poverty. Across Europe housing costs have increased more than 25% the past decade and by 17% in just three years. In parallel, homelessness is rising, with an estimated 1.3 million people affected in 2025.
Access alone does not guarantee outcomes.
Across Europe, support systems are in place, though gaps remain in how those are delivered. In practice, many people still struggle to navigate systems, face administrative complexity, or encounter discrimination. The result is a persistent gap between what policies promise and what is delivered in reality.
This is reinforced by the way current crises are addressed. Too often, people experiencing poverty are the last to benefit from responses to the housing crisis, rising energy costs or cost-of-living measures. While these policies are designed to support households broadly, those facing the greatest barriers are the most likely to be left out.
This gap is not abstract. There have been cases where Roma women were refused access to healthcare and left to give birth outside hospitals. In some countries, children still enter institutional care when poverty is treated as neglect, rather than addressed through adequate family support. In others, people entitled to support do not receive it at all, due to complex procedures, lack of information, or stigma around claiming benefits.
These are not isolated incidents. They point to a deeper issue: policies that are not sufficiently grounded in the realities people face.
If we want lasting results, we need a different approach.
First, participation needs to become more meaningful in practice, not only symbolic. For too long, people experiencing poverty have been consulted, but rarely involved in shaping decisions in a meaningful way. Without their input, key barriers remain invisible and policies risk missing their target.
Participation is not a matter of principle alone. It is a prerequisite for effective policymaking. If the aim is to improve access to services and employment, then those who face the greatest obstacles need to be part of designing the solutions.
For the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Fighting Poverty, meaningful participation of people experiencing poverty is a core priority for the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy. It must extend across the full policy cycle from design to implementation and evaluation, and be supported by transparent procedures, clear representation, and adequate resources. Without these conditions, participation will remain symbolic rather than transformative.
Second, the EU needs to review how it measures success. What gets measured shapes what gets delivered.
The EU has relied on headline indicators that do not fully capture how people experience poverty in practice. Aggregate figures can suggest progress while masking persistent inequalities between groups and regions.
A credible strategy needs to go further, measuring not only access, but whether people are actually able to use services, enter and remain in employment, and see sustained improvements in their situation.
This is not a technicality. It is what will determine whether the strategy can demonstrate results.
Ultimately, this is a question of delivery.
In a context where labour market participation, skills and competitiveness are high on the European agenda, failure to translate commitments into tangible outcomes will quickly undermine the strategy’s impact. If the EU wants to avoid repeating past shortcomings, it needs to embed participation in the governance of the strategy and ensure that progress is measured in a way that reflects real lives and outcomes.
There is a window to get this right. The EU has an opportunity to move beyond commitments and deliver meaningful change for those most affected.
By MEP Hristo Petrov, Co-Chair of the Intergroup on Fighting Against Poverty, Shadow of the Report, MEP Marie Toussaint, Co-Chair of the Intergroup on Fighting Against Poverty, MEP Marit Maij, Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on Fighting Against Poverty and MEP Danilo Della Valle, Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on Fighting Against Poverty