Boland (EESC) in audience with the Pope: Combating poverty and the housing emergency are EU priorities

Rome – Fighting poverty, finding solutions to housing crises, and promoting an ecological transition that does not increase inequalities between people. And more: incentives for mental well-being programmes for the younger generation. These are just some of the key points for the 2025-2028 term of Séamus Boland, the new president in office since last October of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the EU body representing organised civil society.

Boland, a 69-year-old Irishman, spoke about this at the Vatican, where he was received this morning in audience by Pope Leo XIV. The focus was on issues of social justice, protection of the most vulnerable, climate action, mental health of young people, and the homeless emergency. “We are grateful to Pope Leo – Boland says afther the meeeting – for using his powerful voice to spread a message of inclusion and the need to protect the most marginalized. The EU must listen, and we all must do better.”

“The new European anti-poverty strategy,” Boland explains, “must finally begin to combat the exclusion of people, recognising it as an emergency.” Large segments of the population are forgotten, often because of where they live. “These people must be reached, listened to, and brought into European policies. It is a fundamental part of my mandate to bring those most in need to the forefront of EU policies. There are over 90 million Europeans at risk of exclusion,” recalls the EESC president. As announced last December by the European Commission, 2026 will be the year of the first EU Summit on Housing, during which the first European Plan for Accessible Housing will be presented.

The goal for the coming months will therefore be to tackle the housing emergency across the EU, aiming to build or renovate around 650,000 homes per year. Specific targets are planned, with a particular focus on the groups most affected by the crisis, such as single-parent families, the elderly, young people, and the homeless.

A new European Alliance for Housing will then be discussed to simplify state aid rules for social housing and adopt strategies to combat speculation and the burden of short-term rentals in cities. “The summit,” comments Boland, “will have to establish that every strategy includes rules and aid that ensure housing for these categories of people. Many of them now live on the streets, in cars, in hostels, in hospitals, where they should not be.”

According to the president, “it is a chronic problem, more serious than COVID. And just as emergency solutions were found at the time to deal with COVID, we must now do the same with housing.” The ecological transition is another issue close to the EESC president’s heart. Europe has embraced the ecological transition, but there is a risk that the costs will fall on the poorest, so we must ensure it does not fuel new forms of inequality.

“I come from a rural community in Ireland,” Boland recalls, “and my organisation has often worked with farmers to implement a series of climate measures.” The problem with green taxes, however, is that “they have often hit people living in rural areas harder,” so we need to “change the system, making it fairer and more equitable. People on low incomes should not be punished; they should be given support. Otherwise, those at risk of poverty will not be able to cope with climate change measures.”

Finally, there is the mental health of young people, a problem often linked to job insecurity. “This is another chronic problem,” says Boland, who points out that this phenomenon has also flared up during COVID, “with young people having to do the most unnatural thing possible, namely avoiding socialising. This has left them with a tremendous sense of loneliness.” It is a space that must be reclaimed. “Young people can change the world,” he points out, “but they need support to do so. This means that they must be actively involved in social, civic, and sporting organisations.” Boland is certain: “The only way to help mental health is through social and human interaction.”