Access to essential services for people on low incomes: Energy, public transport and digital communicationsForthcoming

As part of a process to collect information on essential services, the European Commission (DG EMPL) requested Eurofound to provide input on certain aspects of existing and planned measures in the Member States to improve access to essential services, in reference to Principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The scope of the exercise included energy services, public transport and digital communications, and the focus was on people at risk of poverty or social exclusion (in practice, people on low incomes in most cases). This report provides an overview of the measures in the Member States, based on inputs from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents, collected in February–March 2022. The report clusters the measures according to major types and target groups, and it lists the main country-level examples. It also describes differences and similarities between the measures and suggests pointers on areas where policy action could be developed.