The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, published by the European Commission on 6 May 2026, recognises that access to quality services is essential to complement income support in tackling poverty. The Strategy acknowledges that barriers to accessing services compound and entrench poverty, and announces a Council Recommendation on easier and integrated access to services for 2027, as well as an update of the Voluntary European Quality Framework for Social Services.
Social Platform had called for an Action Plan for Social Services to establish common quality standards for not-for-profit social service providers, and for a European Reference Framework for Service Coordination to dismantle silos and foster cross-sectoral collaboration across health, social and employment services.
While the announced Recommendation on access to services and the update of the Quality Framework are welcome, we would welcome broadening the Strategy’s approach beyond targeted support to also address access to universal services to all.
Find out more about this issue and the expertise of our network below:
Caritas Europa warmly welcomes the first ever EU anti-poverty strategy presented by the European Commission, marking an important step in placing the fight against poverty higher on the EU’s political agenda.
EAPN welcomes the European Commission’s commitment to eradicating poverty through the first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy.
For ENSIE, the Strategy’s success will depend on its capacity to move from principles to implementation Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) are essential partners in this effort.
Eurodiaconia welcomes the Commission’s recognition of today’s challenges. The focus on integrated, person-centred services, underlined in both the Strategy and the accompanying documents, is a crucial step forward.
We strongly support a comprehensive approach to tackling poverty, built on access to employment, quality services, and adequate income support, with particular focus on the housing crisis, child poverty, and the rights of persons with disabilities.
The new Strategy and its accompanying documents deserve praise for clearly positioning the social economy and work integration social enterprises as central to achieving this vision.
While SOLIDAR welcomes the strategy and its overall approach to poverty, it remains negatively surprised by the evident gap between the ambitions of the EPSR Action Plan target and the objective to eradicate poverty by 2050.
EU anti-poverty strategy analysis
Explore Social Platform’s analysis and reaction to the anti-poverty strategy as a whole on our main overview page.
