Our partner EAPN will hold its annual policy conference on the 13th of June in Brussels, addressing an EU post-2020 strategy that truly benefits people and our planet.

2020 marks the end of the Europe 2020 strategy that aimed to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Despite unacceptable failure to deliver on the key target to reduce those in poverty by at least 20 million people by 2020, no review or public consultation of the strategy is planned.

The main proposals coming from the Commission are through the Future of Europe Reflection papers.  In January 2019 a new Reflection Paper “Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030’’ was adopted. This paper aims to stimulate discussion on the EU’s vision and strategy for the long-term implementation of the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as part of a broader debate on the future of Europe and the priority setting for the new European Commission. It sets out three scenarios on how Agenda 2030 and the SDGs could be incorporated into the EU’s priorities. One of the priorities is a socially fair transition to a sustainable economy that should leave no one behind, yet the paper predominantly focuses on how to deliver green growth, with the social objectives left to the European Pillar of Social Rights.

This participative conference comes therefore at a timely moment – just after the election of the new European Parliament and the start of the new Commission, – to agree on concrete demands that can ensure that the post 2020 strategy really delivers on social rights and poverty, putting SDG 1 at the heart of a truly social and sustainable post 2020 strategy.

To know more about the EAPN conference, please check the agenda

To know more about the latest paper on the Future of Europe, check “Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030’’