Adequate minimum income to ensure active inclusion
30.11.2022
Question for oral answer O-000051/2022
to the Commission
Rule 136
Dragoş Pîslaru, Krzysztof Hetman, Estrella Durá Ferrandis, Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, Sara Matthieu, Giuseppe Milazzo, Özlem Demirel
on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Living in dignity is a human right. In 2021, 95.4 million people in the EU, representing 21.7 % of the EU’s population[1], were at risk of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE).
The COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living risk further exacerbating the plight of individuals and households in precarious socio-economic situations.
Minimum income schemes (MISs) serve as a social safety net guaranteeing a minimum standard of living and the right to dignity at all stages of life. For people lacking sufficient resources and decent, stable employment, access to an adequate minimum income plays an essential role in reducing poverty, social exclusion and inequalities. Such schemes should be combined with incentives and measures enabling labour-market activation for people who are able to work.
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs would like to ask the Commission:
- 1.How does it intend to ensure that Member States gradually increase their MISs to at least the national AROPE threshold, while providing incentives and enabling measures to (re)integrate those who can work into the labour market?
- 2.How will it monitor the implementation of this recommendation and its contribution to achieving the 2030 targets, in particular, reducing the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 15 million, including 5 million children, especially as the stock taking for the Council Recommendation on minimum income is not expected until 2032? What other measures is it considering if these targets are not met? How will the it monitor the effective integration of a minimum income with enabling goods and services and labour activation measures in the Member States?
- 3.How will it help Member States to tackle the non-take-up problem and improve the accessibility of their MISs? What action does it intend to take to promote and ensure non-discrimination in the context of MISs?
- 4.How will it involve social partners at European level in implementing and monitoring the Council Recommendation?
Submitted: 30.11.2022
Lapses: 1.3.2023
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Living_conditions_in_Europe_-_poverty_and_social_exclusion#:~:text=In%202021%2C%2095.4%20million%20people,21.7%20%25%20of%20the%20EU%20population