00:01European Commission Vice President Roxana Minsatou has said in an interview with Euronews
00:06that she is committed to eliminating poverty in the EU within 25 years.
00:11Her comments followed the Commission's presentation of its first ever anti-poverty strategy,
00:16which aims to eradicate extreme poverty and social exclusion by 2050
00:21through non-binding recommendations and best practice guidelines for member states.
00:26The strategy comes amid alarming statistics.
00:30Almost one out of five European is at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
00:35The number that I've presented to you, 93 million people in risk of poverty in Europe,
00:41can change dramatically because of the energy shocks that we see.
00:47We've just recently assessed, we now assess the impact of the energy crisis because of the Middle East crisis.
00:54We will see in a couple of months what it means, but it for sure creates additional burden on households,
00:59on the cost of living, on their bills.
01:01So this 93 million number could become higher in a few months or in a very short time.
01:09The EU anti-poverty strategy focuses on several aspects,
01:13from helping children in disadvantaged families to expanding social and affordable housing.
01:19However, the plan does not come with a dedicated budget for its implementation.
01:24The Commission considers that the EU already provides significant funding to tackle poverty.
01:31Strengthening the EU program meant to help households,
01:34supporting unemployed people to get a job,
01:36and improving support for older citizens through adequate pensions
01:40are among the strategy's key objectives.
01:42Thank you very much.
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