The EPSCO Council approved an opinion of the Social Protection Committee on social protection and social inclusion in the Europe 2020 Strategy and its governance

Challenges encountered by member states in setting their national targets on social exclusion and poverty reduction include, inter alia, the current budgetary constraints, the availability of statistics, the difficulty of quantifying targets for specific policy measures and the need to conduct analysis to identify groups which are at risk of poverty as well as new forms of poverty.

The national reform programmes should include a section on social protection and poverty reduction. Ministers considered that back-up for the process of fixing national targets at European level could bring added value.

They mentioned in this context the development of an efficient monitoring mechanism, strengthening cooperation between member states and the Commission, using the openmethod of coordination, and the exchange of experience and good practices at EU level.

 

Reference: 3039th Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting, Luxembourg, 21 October 2010

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