16 Amendments of Phil BENNION related to 2013/2277(INI)
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic crisis and the adjustment programme measures in Greece (May 2010 and March 2012), Ireland (December 2010), Portugal (May 2011) and Cyprus (June 2013) have had a direct and indirect impact on employment levels and dire consequences for the social situation; whereas, although all the programmes were formally signed by the Commission, they were designed, and their conditionality determined, jointly by the IMF, the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Commission;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas in its resolution of 21 November 2013, Parliament welcomed the Commission communication of 2 October 2013 entitled ‘Strengthening the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union’ and its proposal to establish a scoreboard of key employment and social indicators to be included in the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP) and the Joint Employment Report (JER), but regretted the fact that those indicators were insufficient to ensure comprehensive coverage of the Member States’ employment and social situations and the interdependence between them; whereas Parliament’s resolution stressed the need to ensure that this monitoring aims to reduce social divergences between Member States;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the available data show that in the four countries the progress made towards achieving the Europe 2020 targets is rapidly declining, with the exception of targets related to early leavers from education and training and tertiary education attainment (see Annex 1);
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas long-term economic prospects in these countries are improving; whereas this should begin to aid the creation of new jobs in these economies and reverse the trend of declining employment;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the EU institutions (the ECB, the Commission and the Eurogroup) are fully co-responsible for the conditions imposed under the economic adjustment programmes, and therefore for their social consequences;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that the economic crisis and the adjustment policies and structural reforms in the four countries have led to dramaticincreased unemployment rates, historically high rates of job losses and worsening working conditions; points out that the consequences for activity rates, in particular as regards the sustainability of social protection and pension systems, are even more serious because the gap between some of the Europe 2020 targets and reality is rapidly growing ever wider;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with great concern that it is young people who are suffering the highest levels of unemployment, with the situation in countries such as Greece, where the rate is over 50%, or Portugal and Ireland, where it is in excess of 30%, being quite devastating; regrets the fact that even those who do find a job often find themselves working under precarious conditions or on part-time contracts which can make it hard to live independently;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Warns that, if not remedied, these huge divergences, especially in the case of the younger generation, will result in structural damage to the labour market of the four countries, limit their capacity for recovery, provoke massive forced migration with tremendousexacerbate brain- drain effects and increase the persistent divergences between Member States supplying employment and those supplying a low-cost workforce;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is concerned that, among the conditions for financial assistance, the programmes include recommendations for specific cuts in fundamental areas of the fight against poverty, such as pensions, basic services, health care and pharmaceutical products for the basic protection of the most vulnerable; highlights the fact that the main impact of these measures is on the fight against child povertyparticular areas rather than allowing the national governments some flexibility to decide where savings could be made;
Amendment 141 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that Commission figures and various studies show that between 2008 and 2012 income distribution inequality grew in the four countries, and that the cuts in social and unemployment benefits resulting from austerity measuresmeasures put in place to reduce the deficit, as well as the wage reductions due to structural reforms, are raising poverty levels; notes, furthermore, that the Commission report found relatively high levels of in-work poverty due to low minimum wages being cut or frozen as a result of the austerity measures;
Amendment 171 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Regretcognises the fact that the programmes imposed on the four countries allow firms to opt out of collective bargaining agreements and to review sectoral wage agreements directly affecting the structure and values of collective bargaining arrangements set out in the respective national constitutions; notes that this resulted in a request by the ILO Expert Committee, in the case of Greece, to re- establish social dialogue, and, in the case of Portugal, for the Constitutional Court to annul certain legislative measures; stresses that this despicable situation is the consequence of having limited structural reforms involving only the deregulation of labour relations and wage cuts at any cost, which is in clear contradiction with the EU’s general objectives and the policies of the Europe 2020 strategysituation should only be a temporary derogation and that collective bargaining and social dialogue should be restored, in accordance with national laws and practices;
Amendment 191 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to carry out a detailed study of the social and economic consequences of the adjustment programmes in the four countries in order to provide a precise understanding of both the short-term and long-term damage toeffects on the social protection systems, with particular regard to the fight against poverty, the maintaining of good social dialogue and the balance between flexibility and security in labour relations; calls on the Commission to use its consultative bodies when drafting this study, as well as the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee; suggests that the EESC be asked to draft a specific report;
Amendment 202 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls on the Commission to askInvites the ILO and the Council of Europe to draft reports on possible corrective measures and incentives to ensure full compliance withimprove the social situation in these countries, taking into account the European Social Charter and the Protocol thereto and with the ILO Core Conventions, since the obligations deriving from them have been affected by the budgetary adjustment measures and the structural reforms requested by the Troika;
Amendment 211 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the EU to provide support, after the assessment, including through financial resources where appropriate, for the recovery of social protection standards and of the fight against poverty reduction and the renewal of social dialogue through a social recovery planfight against poverty; calls on the Commission, the ECB and the Eurogroup to phase out the exceptional measures that have been put in place, as soon as appropriate;
Amendment 216 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
Amendment 225 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on the Commission and the Council to give the same attention to social imbalances, and to correcting them, as it does to macroeconomic imbalances, and to that end to put EPSCO and its priorities on an equal footing with ECOFIN and the Eurogroup;