The 9th EU Meeting of People Experiencing Poverty will take place in Brussels on 25-26 June 2010.

José Manuel Fresno, President of the Spanish Council for the equal treatment of people of ethnic and racial origin, will welcome delegates with the help of officials from the Commission, European Parliament and Spanish EU Presidency.

Those present will hear a report from the European Commission on progress made by EU institutions to address “10 key demands” for tackling poverty. Work to develop the key demands was requested by the 8th EU Meeting, held in 2009.

A poverty and social exclusion expert from the University of Antwerp will then present initial findings from research that is being conducted into the impact of the EU Meetings.

Delegates will then break into workshops to discuss their own efforts to devise 10 year action plans to tackle poverty. The workshop results will be assessed on the second day of the meeting in a brief presentation by the University of Antwerp.

The delegates will be able to discuss their work with the help of a panel of experts and decision makers, which will include European Commissioner Mr Lazlo Andor.

It is possible that the action plan concept could be incorporated into the final declaration of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.

The event’s closing session will be led by representatives from the Commission, the Spanish EU Presidency, and the forthcoming Belgian and Hungarian presidencies.

For further information

Contact Person : Marie-Anna PARASKEVAS – Marie-Anne.Paraskevas@ec.europa.eu