Seventh European Round Table on poverty and social exclusion

from: 15.10.2008

to: 16.10.2008

In: Marseille, Palais du Pharo

16% of the European population lives below the poverty risk threshold. In this context, the seventh European Round Table on poverty and social exclusion aims to bring together all the actors in the field to develop specific proposals to combat poverty and exclusion.

This round table, chaired by Martin Hirsch, the French High Commissioner for Active Solidarity Against Poverty, will focus on the subject of the «active inclusion strategy for the people furthest from the labour market».

The strategy is based on three complementary and inseparable «pillars»: a guarantee of a sufficient minimum income, policies to favour integration into the labour market and high-quality, accessible social services.

Drafted in close consultation with stakeholders (state and local government, social partners and businesses, associations and people living in poverty), the active inclusion approach aims to facilitate universal social integration. The goal is to help strengthen the balance between economic prosperity and social justice, which is the basis of the European social model.

Building on the seventh European Meeting of People Experiencing Poverty which took place in Brussels on 16 and 17 May, the round table will favour the emergence of concrete proposals, both on the three «pillars» of the active inclusion strategy and on effective tools for implementing and monitoring the strategy.

The work of the round table will also help prepare for the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion in 2010.

The conclusions of the round table will be communicated to the European ministers responsible for combating poverty and exclusion, who will meet for the first time at the ministerial meeting on 16 October.

Source:

Website of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2008