Protect the Ambition: MEPs Must Safeguard Funding for the EU Child Guarantee

MMM together with its partners of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children, welcomes the recent vote by the European Parliament’s EMPL Committee, which firmly supports substantial and dedicated funding for the European Child Guarantee in its new Report on the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy. The Committee has backed the Alliance’s core demands, including a dedicated €20 billion budget for the Child Guarantee in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), as well as mandatory national investment targets—at least 5% of ESF+ funding, and 10% in Member States with above-average child poverty—directed towards reducing child poverty. This marks a major step forward and reflects the tireless advocacy of the Alliance members.

The significance is clear. Child poverty remains one of the EU’s most entrenched and harmful injustices, affecting more than 19 million children—one in four—and their families. Between 2019 and 2023, child and family poverty rose by 4.2%, driven by the cost-of-living crisis, structural inequalities, and the long-term fallout of the pandemic. The consequences are lifelong: poorer educational outcomes, limited employment prospects, worse health, inadequate housing, increased risks to mental well-being, and reduced opportunities for full social participation.

This week’s vote represents a crucial step toward stronger national policies to fight child and family poverty. Four years into its implementation, and supported by ESF+, the European Child Guarantee has already delivered tangible progress—from expanded school meal programmes to innovative inclusion initiatives and major national reforms. These efforts have helped elevate child and family poverty on political agendas, strengthen coordination across policy sectors, and promote a holistic and intersectional approach to combating poverty and social exclusion.

For these reasons we call on all Members of the European Parliament to uphold the ambition of the EMPL Committee’s vote in the January 2026 plenary session. It is essential to resist any attempt to weaken key funding commitments and ensure that the Child Guarantee receives the sustainable, adequate and long-term investment that Europe’s children need—and that the EU has promised to deliver.