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EUROMOD-based analysis supports the Commission Proposal for a Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income schemes

On the 28th of September, the European Commission proposed a Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income schemes. This proposal aims at combating social exclusion by ensuring adequate social safety nets, and in particular minimum income schemes, allowing persons lacking sufficient resources to live in dignity, as laid down by principle 14 of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Among the specific objectives of the initiative, improving the adequacy of income support and the coverage and take-up of minimum income schemes take a central role.

date:  04/11/2022

The JRC B2 Fiscal Policy Unit (Adrian Hernandez Martin, Silvia De Poli and Andrea Papini as well as former colleagues Vanda Almeida, Michael Christl and Alberto Tumino) has supported the DG EMPL-led proposal with modelling-based assessment of EU Member States’ minimum income schemes and possible reform options. The analysis made use of EUROMOD to simulate the impact of the existing minimum income schemes on poverty alleviation, as well as to perform a sequence of stepwise simulations towards eradicating extreme poverty (i.e. lifting everyone above 2/3 of the poverty line) in the EU. The analysis suggests that there are important gaps on how minimum income schemes address extreme poverty and that action could be taken to increase the coverage and adequacy of the schemes at a relatively low financial cost.

EUROMOD was also used to support the initiative providing projections of how ongoing structural trends and existing tax-benefit systems may affect social outcomes in the period from 2019 to 2025.

The JRC work based on EUROMOD can therefore inform future reforms of minimum income schemes in Member States. The JRC contributions  are widely acknowledged in the EC proposal and its accompanying Staff Working Document. Further information can be found at: The effectiveness of Minimum Income schemes in the EU and The Future of Taxation in changing labour markets (europa.eu).