Social exclusion and poverty are the research subject, and the main goal is to develop recommendations and solutions for social inclusion. Without assessing the risk of poverty and social exclusion in the member states of the European Union and the candidate countries and identifying the causes of poverty and social exclusion, it is impossible to develop solutions to reduce poverty, ensure social inclusion, and strengthen the targeted social policy. The analysis of the components of the AROPE indicator showed that the highest risk is monetary poverty, and the poverty rate directly depends on the level of economic development. The Granger causality test showed that in two candidate countries (Moldova and Montenegro) inequality leads to poverty with the probability of 5% and 10%. At the end of the study, recommendations are presented to combat poverty and ensure social inclusion.