Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage

 

SUMMARY OF:

Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU)

Article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)

Recommendation 2013/112/EU on investing in children

WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF THE RECOMMENDATION, ARTICLE 3 (TEU) AND ARTICLE 153 (TFEU)?

As part of its social investment package for growth and cohesion (SIP), the European Commission adopted a recommendation on child-friendly social investment. Its aim is to provide EU countries with guidance on how to tackle child poverty and promote children’s well-being, as well as to find common ways of tackling these challenges.

Article 3 of the TEU specifically mentions the protection of the rights of the child as being among the EU’s aims and values.

Article 153 of the TFEU lists the areas of social policy in which the EU supports and complements EU countries’ own activities. These areas include fighting social exclusion.

KEY POINTS

The recommendation calls for a children’s rights approach and for integrated strategies based on 3 pillars.

• 1.
  Access to adequate resources to reduce income poverty and material deprivation by:

  • supporting parents’ participation in the labour market and making sure that their work ‘pays’;
  • providing for adequate living standards through a combination of child and family benefits, which should be redistributived across income groups but avoid inactivity traps and stigmatisation.
• 2.
  Access to affordable quality services to increase children’s life chances and improve their development by:

  • improving access to affordable early childhood education and care services to reduce inequality at a young age;
  • improving education systems’ impact on equal opportunities by ensuring all children receive inclusive high-quality education;
  • improving the responsiveness of health systems to address the needs of disadvantaged children;
  • providing children with a safe, adequate housing and living environment;
  • enhancing family support and the quality of alternative care settings.
• 3.
  Children’s right to participate by:

  • supporting the participation of all children in play, recreation, sport and cultural activities — informal learning opportunities outside the school context;
  • putting in place mechanisms that promote children’s participation in decision-making that affects their lives.

In addition, the Commission calls for developing governance, implementation and monitoring arrangements by:

• strengthening synergies across sectors;
• enhancing the use of evidence-based policy development and social policy innovation.

Lastly, the recommendation stresses that full use of the relevant EU instruments needs to be made by:

• mobilising the range of tools and indicators available within the Europe 2020 strategy to give new impetus to joint efforts to address child poverty and social exclusion; and
• making appropriate use of the opportunities provided by EU financial instruments to support the policy priorities outlined above.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

• Investing in children (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union — Title I — Common provisions — Article 3 (ex Article 2 TEU) (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016, p. 17)

Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union — Part Three — Union policies and Internal actions — Title X — Social policy — Article 153 (ex Article 137 TEC) (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016, pp. 114-116)

Commission Recommendation 2013/112/EU of 20 February 2013: Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage (OJ L 59, 2.3.2013, pp. 5-16)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Towards social investment for growth and cohesion — including implementing the European Social Fund 2014-20 (COM(2013) 83 final, 20.2.2013)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: An EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child (COM(2011) 60 final, 15.2.2011)

EUROPE 2020 — A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (COM(2010) 2020 final, 3.3.2010)

last update 17.05.2019