Critique on the Way of Formulating European Union’s Poverty and Social Exclusion Reduction Goal Introduced in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan

Wojciech Bąba

doi:10.35765/hp.2821

Published : 2025-09-30

Vol. 16 No. 56 (2025)

Critique on the Way of Formulating European Union’s Poverty and Social Exclusion Reduction Goal Introduced in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan

Wojciech Bąba

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4554-3896

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35765/hp.2821

Section: Thematic Articles

Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The main aim of the article is to perform an evaluation of the way in which the goals of European Union’s strategic documents are formulated, using the example of poverty and social exclusion (PSE) reduction goal, set out in the EPSR AP.

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: A critical evaluation of the way of formulating the PSE reduction goal included in EPSR AP, which is the key component of the article, is based on the concept of public policy goals’ specification by R. Szarfenberg and the method of evaluating goals’ formulation by G.T. Doran (SMART method).

THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: First section of the article describes methods of analysis and evaluation used in the article, as well as research questions formulated. In next section the way of formulating goals related to PSE included in previous EU’s strategies is analyzed. Next part is dedicated to the analysis and evaluation of the way of formulating such a goal in the EPSR AP. Final section describes the identified key issues, crucial to the critical evaluation of the above-mentioned goal and includes some recommendations regarding the way of formulating similar goals in the future.

RESEARCH RESULTS: The evaluation of the way of formulating the PSE reduction goal of the EPSR AP, performed in this article, turned out to be critical. This goal met all the SMART method criteria, but with many reservations, resulting from the application of the concept of public policy goals’ specification.

CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Based on the results of the evaluation, some recommendations were proposed to the way of formulating EU’s PSE reduction goals in the future. These concerned: adopting precise definitions of both of these concepts, abandoning the multi-dimensional indicator, abandoning the use of national targets and replacing the absolute target with the relative one.

Keywords

poverty ; social exclusion ; European Union ; European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan

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