Following the historically lengthy summit of the leaders of the European Union last weekend, on Tuesday morning the European Commission reached an agreement on the COVID Recovery Plan and the 2021-2027 EU long-term budget (MFF). The new text does not foresee a specifically earmarked budget to tackle child poverty as proposed by both the European Parliament and the European Commission in earlier drafts.
In light of this, the EU Child Alliance for Investing in Children, joined by Eurodiaconia and several other organisations, has sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament Mr. David Maria Sassoli, Presidents of EP groups, the ESF+ rapporteurs as well as the EMPL Committee chair, encouraging the institutions to:
- Support the mandate adopted by the European Parliament in April 2019 on the European Social Fund Plus, in particular as regards the requirement that every Member State invests at least 5% of ESF+ resources under shared management for tackling child poverty.
- Include in the European Parliament’s Resolution on the European Council Conclusions of 21 July 2020 the need to invest in children, to increase the protection of those in vulnerable situations and to eradicate poverty and in particular child poverty via the European Child Guarantee.
Eurodiaconia welcomes the proposal to develop a Child Guarantee as part of the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and will take an active role along with its members to further promote its implementation at the national and local level.
For more information, please read the full text of the letter.