ETUC Resolution for an effective EU anti-poverty strategy
Adopted at the Executive Committee meeting of 19 & 20 November 2025
The ETUC has been advocating for a strong EU anti-poverty strategy since 2019, as a comprehensive framework for coherent and ambitious initiatives to eradicate poverty and to guarantee a fair social market economy. The EU’s renewed social contract must be rooted in peace, social justice, and the dignity of work.
In order to meet the ambitions for the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy (APS), the ETUC calls for the coherent and effective implementation of already identified and new measures, as well as for the necessary resource allocation for quality jobs, social progress and against poverty in the next MFF.
It is time for concrete steps to guarantee the full respect of human and social rights and erase poverty – as specified by the ETUC in the dedicated social partners’ hearing and online call for inputs.
Thus the ETUC urgently calls for the APS to encompass:
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An effective commitment accompanied by strong initiatives to end in-work poverty, by ensuring wage increases, higher statutory minimum wages and stronger collective bargaining. The ETUC also calls for more effective enforcement to tackle unpaid work, as well as for EU action to address extreme exploitation and precarious and insecure work;
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An ambitious Quality Jobs Roadmap and Act delivering the necessary legislative initiatives and investments for quality jobs in every region and in every sector, enhanced by a renewed industrial policy to support growth and upward socio-economic convergence. Legislative measures must be adopted, improving working conditions and quality jobs in every sector and every region (ANNEX), in order to ensure that no one, in any life-stage, remains vulnerable despite being in work (ANNEX), and guarantee fair, effective, solidarity-based social protection through adequate benefits when needed;
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The full implementation of the EPSR. The ETUC calls for the ambitious and holistic implementation of the three EPSR chapters, making each right effective for everyone in a life-cycle approach, including through strong minimum floors of effective rights and measures to ensure improvement of living and working conditions. The ETUC calls for the necessary resources in the future MFF. (See ETUC , ETUC 2020 and 2025 ETUC input for the new Action Plan to continue implementing the EPSR);
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Strong measures addressing inequality as a key condition to combat and prevent poverty. Millions of people marginally above the poverty threshold are still excluded from quality education and equal opportunities, including for their children, which perpetuates social segregation and intergenerational poverty (see ANNEX). Redistributive tools such as progressive taxation and universal and public social protection, would allow more of society to deliver and share in inclusive growth, resulting in social cohesion as well as competitiveness. The EU’s Social Model is also key for the EU’s economic success;
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The central role of social partners in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of policies and investments concerning poverty eradication with effective participatory mechanisms;
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Tailored measures to address socio-economic vulnerabilities, within integrated inclusion plans coordinating active employment and social policies (see TU findings in ANNEX). Priorities must focus on children, young people, persons with disabilities (see ANNEX), people with chronic illnesses (e.g. HIV, cancer etc.), people with a migrant background, and those facing any kind of (intersectional) discrimination. The ETUC demands systematic analysis of poverty due to lack of access to employment for these groups, and the evaluation of legislative and policy effectiveness in preventing poverty at EU and national level. Fiscal resources must be available to reverse current trends. Women, not a “mere group” but half of the EU population, face persistent disadvantages requiring long-known policy interventions that require an ambitious new Gender Equality Strategy post 2025;
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Enabling, high-quality, universal public services and welfare states. Public welfare and services reduce inequalities and the impact of poverty. Fiscal strategies must allow MS to guarantee these economic and social stabilisers, and the EU must provide effective funding for territories facing structural disadvantage. The ETUC demands to embed the recommendations of the High-level Group on the Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State in the EU into EU and national policies, monitor their impact on poverty targets, and ensure financial resources to national public and social services via the EU Semester;
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Adequate minimum income provisions for all guaranteed by a directive (ANNEX). The right to live in dignity and inclusion requires universal access to adequate essential services: housing, income keeping pace with the cost of living including after retirement, health and long-term care. Indicators to assess and address people’s needs must be updated to take into account access to essential services, housing (ETUC replies to public consultations), social assistance and services, given their impact on minimum floors effectiveness, especially for older people or those facing vulnerabilities;
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Policy interventions and fiscal resources to invest in people. Both EU and national budgets must support training, labour-market integration, job retention, active ageing, intergenerational solidarity, public employment services and career transitions. The ETUC will continue advocating for European Economic Governance and the Semester to align with APS goals. The systematic use of the distributional impact assessment for all policy recommendations must be adopted. The Social Scoreboard and Social Convergence Framework (see 2025 ETUC inputs) must be updated: introduce job-quality indicators based on the ETUC definition of quality jobs; update poverty line methodology to incorporate inflation and housing costs; adopt methodologies in the new EPSR Action Plan to assess interlinked progress in labour-market inclusion, job quality and effective, adequate social protection – particularly pensions – following models such as ETUC SociAll 2024.
The EU APS must inform the policy and legislative frameworks and direct them coherently with the achievement of the targets as soon as possible.