The Reframing of EU Social Policy: The Case of the Europe 2020 Poverty Target

This paper analyses recent developments surrounding the Europe 2020 poverty target to reduce poverty and social exclusion by 20 million. The EU target defines poverty in three dimensions: income poverty; material deprivation; and jobless-households. In achieving the target Member States are also able to use their own definition of poverty and social exclusion. Taking the target as a case study of contemporary EU social policy, we combine insights from discursive institutionalism and political sociology to guide the analysis. The constructed framework leads to the view that while the target was a low priority in the EU during its early years, more recently it has been ‘captured’ by economic actors to emphasise poverty reduction by focusing efforts on jobless households. This reconfiguration has been possible owing to the numerous reforms to EU economic governance over the last five years that prioritise national financial and budgetary discipline. Economic actors have been able to use their advantageous position to reframe the EU poverty debate as one that can be achieved by the cost effective means of reducing unemployment. A shortcoming of this approach is that there is very little evidence to suggest that focusing on employment policies alone can reduce poverty.