Connection with Europe 2020
One of the headline targets of the Europe 2020 strategy demands a 25 percent reduction in the number of Europeans living underneath the poverty line, lifting 20 million people out of poverty.

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Nearly one in five European citizens is poor. According to the figures published by Eurostat, the official statistical office of the EU, 17 % of the European population – 85 million people – are living in poverty. According to the EU definition, people are poor if their income remains below 60 % of their home country’s median income (more precisely, the “national median net equivalent income” which takes into account people’s individual needs as defined by their age and family situation).

We need to provide decent living conditions for everybody. No income of any nature or kind must be allowed to remain or slip underneath the poverty line. We must prevent a pan-European “race to the bottom“.

Man is the master of his fate. All the EU can do is to facilitate the people’s integration into the employment market, supporting the workers while also making demands.