EU must do more to combat child poverty, says Eurochild
Eurochild’s report on the European Semester for 2017 calls for more to be done by the EU and its member states to ‘make economic policies work for children’. Adrian Voce reports.
In its 2017 report on the European Semester, Eurochild has issued the EU with a ‘reminder to tackle child poverty’. The report, Investing in children in the era of social rights details the situation of child poverty and children’s rights in 18 EU countries. Eurochild says ‘despite improved focus on social concerns this year, the EU’s economic policies offered fewer recommendations to EU Member States to reduce child poverty and promote children’s well-being, as compared to previous years.’
Recommendations
The report, which assesses the extent to which EU Member States have implemented European Commission recommendations on ‘breaking the cycle of disadvantage’ makes six key recommendations, including doing more to promote investment in children and ensuring a greater engagement between government and civil society sectors. It criticises the European Semester process for not making specific recommendations to reduce child poverty, and offers alternative recommendations specific to each country to encourage the different EU Member States to invest in children.
more than 1 in 4 children continue to be at risk of child poverty or social exclusion
Eurochild’s statement on the report says: ‘While the EU has improved performance on its economic indices, more than 1 in 4 children continue to be at risk of child poverty or social exclusion. The European Semester, which is the EU’s annual cycle of economic policy coordination, did not make any recommendations to reduce child poverty in the EU Member States. This is a worrying tendency as there were 7 recommendations made in 2014. Additionally, conflicting recommendations have made it difficult for countries to balance their economic and social priorities.
Adrian Voce
Investing in children in the era of social rights
Eurochild’s report brings together the assessments of 22 contributors from 18 EU Member States. They looked at the extent to which the European Commission ‘Recommendation on Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage’ (2013) has been implemented in their country and whether the European Semester process is helping or hindering the achievement of positive outcomes for children.
Read the full report here
