Council Conclusions on 'Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion: an Integrated Approach'

The Council calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop an integrated approach to combat poverty and social exclusion by combining adequate income support, access to quality services and inclusive labour markets, while ensuring equal opportunities for women and men.

This is stated in the Conclusions on 'Combating poverty and social exclusion: an integrated approach' that the Council adopted on 16 June.

The integrated approach is characterised by comprehensive, continuous and coordinated interventions throughout the life cycle and requires cooperation among all stakeholders:

• social partners,.
• private partners,.
• non-governmental organisations,.
• civil society.
• the target groups.

The Council conclusions invite the Commission to keep prevention and fight against poverty high on the political agenda and to support Member States in delivering on their national EU2020 targets. By adopting these conclusions, all Member States have shown a renewed commitment to increasing their efforts to reduce the number of people living in poverty or social exclusion.

Moreover, the Council invites the Commission to monitor the situation in the field of poverty and social exclusion in close cooperation with the Member States, while giving special consideration to innovative integrated approaches.

The Council Conclusions are accompanied by an addendum, which contains a collection of innovative best practices from all over Europe for integrated approaches to combat poverty and social exclusion. The best practices presented in the addendum illustrate the value of an integrated approach for different vulnerable groups, such as

• children,.
• migrants,.
• people with disabilities,.
• elderly people,.
• young people,.
• the unemployed,.
• people with a migrant background.
• homeless people.