In compliance with the instructions of Articles 136 and 137 of the Amsterdam Treaty, which refer to fighting social exclusion through social policies, the European Council of Lisbon in March 2000 acknowledged that the increase in poverty and social exclusion were unacceptable. Building a further inclusive European Union was deemed to be one of the key elements to achieve a triple strategic objective ten years from now: to accomplish a sustaining economic growth, more and better jobs, and a greater social cohesion. The Council of Lisbon accepted to adopt an open Coordination Method in order to attain a decisive impact to eradicate poverty and exclusion by the year 2010.

These are the key elements of the Open Coordination Method:

- Suitable common objectives and goals to suppress poverty and to fight social exclusion, which were agreed upon in the Nice Summit in December 2000. (Possibility to attach a document or an external link.)

- National Action Plans against poverty and social exclusion: the first biannual plans were adopted by the Member States in June 2001. (Possibility to attach a document or external link.)

- Joint reports on Social Inclusion (October – December 2001) (Possibility of attaching document or external link.)

- Common indicators to provide the means/resources for monitored progress and comparing good practices (Possibility of attaching a document or external link.)

- Community Action Programme to foster cooperation among Member States, intended to fight social exclusion (Possibility of attaching document or external link.)