New Opportunities for Investing in Children

This report, which assesses the impact of the European Semester on children of 22 European countries, finds that countries across the continent are still not prioritizing solutions to eradicate child poverty, despite the fact that 24% of children in Europe live in poverty. Its other key findings are: systematic participation of children is underdeveloped across Europe; vulnerable groups of children are not given equal access to services such as healthcare; investments need to be made in developing high-quality and accessible early childhood education; and, finally, that further support is needed for family- and community-based alternative care.

2019 Eurochild report on the European Semester

1. Assess the progress of EU Member States in implementing the European Commission ‘Recommendation on Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage’ and the ‘European Pillar of Social Rights’ (particularly Principle 11).
2. Evaluate the extent to which children’s rights and well-being are prioritised within the 2019 European Semester cycle. For Serbia (an EU accession country), assess the impact of the EU’s macroeconomic framework from the perspective of children’s rights and child poverty.
3. Support Eurochild members to advocate on the European Semester at national and European level by familiarising them with the European Semester process and by providing a resource that can be used for advocacy at national and European level.
4. Bring a child rights perspective for addressing child poverty to policymakers at EU level who are responsible for monitoring and evaluating countries’ progress towards economic and social objectives.