With nearly 1 in 4 persons in the EU in or at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion, this week we joined the campaign EU Money for Poverty Reduction NOW! initiated by the European Anti-Poverty Network. The campaign is calling on Presidents and Prime Ministers of EU member states to respect the commitment they made when agreeing the EU poverty reduction target and urges them to invest EU money for poverty reduction now. Join the campaign and sign the petition now.

In October 2011, the European Commission proposed the draft regulation for the next Round of Cohesion Policy. In its proposal, a minimum share of 25% of the Cohesion policy budget is devoted to the European Social Fund (ESF) and at least 20% of the ESF is earmarked for social inclusion and fighting poverty. This was widely welcomed by Social NGOs as a concrete proposal to give credence to the poverty reduction target agreed by EU leaders as an integral part of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Incredibly, 26 out of 27 Member States seem ready to reject this proposal.

The Campaign EU Money for Poverty Reduction NOW! seeks to secure:

• The allocation of at least 25% of the Cohesion Policy budget to the European Social Fund (ESF);
• The earmarking of at least 20% of the ESF to social inclusion and poverty reduction

If Member States want to keep to their word and lift 20 million people out of poverty by 2020, we need the allocation of 20% of the ESF budget to social inclusion and combating poverty as one of the tools to effectively deliver on this target. We therefore strongly oppose any reduction of this percentage.

Alongside initiatives at EU and national level carried out by the NGOs involved this campaign aims at gathering as much support as possible through a petition.

This campaign is coordinated by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) together with its members FEANTSA, Caritas Europa, ENAR, Eurochild, Eurodiaconia, AGE Platform, as well as the Social Platform, SOLIDAR, the European Women’s Lobby, the European Disability Forum, EASPD, ICSW Europe, Workability Europe and ISFW Europe.