Przeciwdziałanie ubóstwu dzieci i młodzieży w Unii Europejskiej. Między planowaniem a działaniem

The aim of the article is to examine whether the member states of the European Union guarantee children in poverty the right to specific means of equal opportunities as guaranteed by the European pillar of social rights. A strategy for counteracting poverty based on the A. Giddens’s concept of the ‘social investment state’ was created in the EU. According to this concept, the state should support most of all these social groups which guarantee the highest social advantages. Following this idea, the union strategy for fighting poverty emphasizes the necessity of investing in children from early years of their lives. According to the social investment paradigm adopted by the European Commission, a crucial role in strategies for counteracting child poverty plays early childhood education and care.