On May 3, Social Platform addressed Heads of state with a letter outlining three reasons why target of 25% poverty reduction in Europe by 2020 should be based on a relative poverty indicator:

• It sets the reality of poverty within the context of each member state
• It has been accepted as the main headline poverty indicator since the development of common EU indicators to measure poverty and social exclusion, and endorsed by the Laeken European Council in December 2001
• It has been used for years in many EU processes

In this letter, Social Platform calls on member states to support the Commission’s proposal during the upcoming June 17-18 Council.