A/HRC/7/15 page 5 14. The European Commission officials explained that, on the European Union level, there was no common definition of absolute poverty. The Open Method of Coordination on social protection and social inclusion, however, provided the necessary tools for mutual learning. Set up at the Lisbon European Council of March 2000, the Open Method of Coordination provided a framework of political coordination without legal constraints. Member States agreed to identify and promote their most effective policies in the fields of social protection and social inclusion with the aim of learning from each other’s experiences. It involved: (a) Agreeing to common objectives, including high-level, shared goals to underpin the entire process; (b) Agreeing to a set of common indicators that showed how progress towards those goals could be measured; (c) Preparing national strategic reports, in which Member States set out how they intended to plan policies over an agreed period to meet the common objectives; (d) Evaluating these strategies jointly with the European Commission and the Member States. 15. The first key element of European Union policies against poverty is a “relative poverty” approach, which is linked to the concept of social exclusion. In Europe, relative poverty is often a critical issue, and ongoing globalization is contributing to the widening inequality in the region. By European Union standards, those who earn less than 60 per cent of the national median income are considered to be at risk of poverty; they cannot fully participate in society, i.e., they face the risk of social exclusion. 16. A second element is an effort to mainstream the need to address poverty and social exclusion as a common value in European Union policies. Tackling poverty and social exclusion require multifaceted responses in various sectors. Effective policies to achieve social inclusion do not stop at the level of employment policies. The idea of a holistic social policy needs to be promoted through dialogue, particularly in the economic and employment activities of the European Commission. 17. A third element, nonetheless, is the current consultation on “active inclusion”, which is to promote access to the labour market for all those who can work while achieving the wider objective of providing a decent living standard to those who are and will remain outside the labour market. 18. From a social policy point of view, the limitation of employment policy poses a key challenge in this context. For instance, the working poor and those who cannot work need to be reached by measures other than labour market policies. Moreover, employment policy cannot have a direct influence on employment creation, the demand side; it can only address the supply side of labour markets, in which the need for both flexibility and security should be taken into account, while maintaining competitiveness in the global market is essential.