ABSTRACT
Combating poverty in the Member States of the European Union is supported and assisted by poverty policy at the EU level. With the open coordination method and the action programme on combating poverty, two new initiatives were developed to address the new priority, supplemented and supported by the Structural Fund programmes. The specific role of combating poverty is assumed by social assistance and by particular individuai transfers. Combating poverty in the Member States of the European Union is supported and assisted by poverty policy at the EU level. The founding of the European Communities and the evolution of the European Union were driven from the outset primarily by economie motives, and served to establish a common European internai market. Germany offers a particularly good example of the way in which the subject of poverty has been driven out of politicai and academic debate.
