23 Amendments of Alicia HOMS GINEL related to 2020/1998(BUD)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Whereas a Eurofound survey found that the financial measures implemented by governments and social partners during the pandemic have reduced financial hardship; whereas the survey also finds much higher levels of trust in both the national government and in the EU among respondents who received support; whereas the survey reveals that due to the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, more households are under financial strain than before the crisis began; whereas almost half of all respondents (47%) indicate that their household has difficulties making ends meet;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Whereas a Eurofound survey has found that 13% of self-employed respondents without personnel, and 8% of respondents who worked for an employer, became unemployed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; whereas respondents in the youngest age group (18-34), and those with primary or secondary education, were more likely to have become unemployed during the pandemic;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1b. Whereas a Eurofound research highlights that the COVID-19 crisis poses a serious risk of rolling back decades of gains achieved in gender equality in the labour market participation, particularly if activity is further hampered in sectors where women are overrepresented ; whereas taking actions is both a social and economic imperative; whereas it points to the importance of implementing policy responses which can support gender equality and female integration into the labour force;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1c. Whereas it can be expected that the health crisis triggers an economic and social crisis that deeply affects the labour markets; whereas previous Eurofound research shows that such situation can be tackled by public and social-partner based measures to maintain and create employment or income support for the unemployed and those outside the labour force, acknowledging the importance of co-financed measures by European funds such as the ESF and the EGF, in this respect;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Acknowledges that the proposed 2021 draft budget is based on the new Commission 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) proposals of 27 May 2020 and regrets that the Council proposal of 21 July 2020 is below that revised Commission proposal (EUR-25 700 million); moreover deplores the late and insufficient response of both institutions to tackle the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recalls that, before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100 million Europeans were struggling with poverty and material deprivation on a daily basis and that the situation is likely towill deteriorate further as a result of the pandemic; recognises the crucial role of all European funds and programmes in the social area, in particular the European Social Fund (ESF), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), the Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) in the current 2014-2020 MFF and the even more essential role the future ESF+ and EGF will play in the next 7 years;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that the COVID-19 outbreak has claimed thousands of lives in Europe and has led to an unprecedented crisis with disastrous consequences for people, and their families, workers and businesses, and therefore requires an unprecedented response; highlights in this context that 2021 will be a critical year for the budget, as the first year of the 2021-2027 MFF and the first “post- COVID-19 recovery” year; highlight; underlines in particular that the budget should help improvingprioritise improvement of the situation in the social and employment area, in time of unprecedented crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that the recovery efforts should boost jobs and growth, the resilience of our societies and should be complemented by a strong social dimension, addressing social and economic inequalities and the needs of those hardest hit by the crisis, particularly potentially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, whose inclusion in the labour market must be supported and fosteredsuch as those in poverty, jobless, elderly, young people, persons with disabilities, mobile workers and migrants;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the Commission proposal to allocates in 2021 EUR 1,5 billion to the Just Transition Fund (JTF) and highlights that the JTF must play a key role in supporting the reskilling of workersfocus on the needs of individuals and social well- being and lead to social sustainability by supporting the creation of decent and sustainable jobs, reskilling of workers, and creating social infrastructure so no one is left behind;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. WelcomAcknowledges the forthcoming rationalisation of the current ESF, the YEI, the FEAD and the EaSI under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), which willshould allow to enhance synergies and reduce administrative burden; recalls that ESF + will be the main financial instrument to strengthen Europe’s social dimension, by putting the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights into practice; draws particular attention to the key role of ESF+ in the post-pandemic phase; warns that and for the post-COVID-19 recovery; rejects any decrease of the budget of ESF+ risksing not only to endanger its effective implementation and reaching its objectives but also ensuring effective recovery; is concerned,, in this respect, about the draft appropriations proposed by the Commission for ESF+ in the draft budget 2021 (EUR 12 655,1 million in commitment appropriations, EUR 15 374,8 in payment appropriations) and calls for its considerable increase, in particular, to tackle long-term unemployment and unemployment among young people and the elderly, child poverty, the risk of poverty and social exclusion, discrimination, to ensure a reinforced social dialogue, addressing long-term structural demographic change and guarantee access for all, and especially for ageing populations, to vital and key services such as healthcare, social protection, mobility, adequate nutrition and decent housing;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Welcomes, in this regard, the Commission proposal for a new REACT- EU instrument designed to increase the amount of funding dedicated to Cohesion Policy, additional to the existing 2014- 2020 envelopes and on top of the proposed envelopes for the 2021-2027 period; is however concerned about its temporary short-term nature and the fact that ESF+ alone does not have enough financial resources for the rest of the MFF period; calls on the Commission to provide the European Parliament and the Council with an evaluation report on REACT-EU by 31 March 2025, covering budgetary commitments for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 including information on the achievement of the objectives of REACT- EU, the efficiency of the use of its resources, the types of actions financed, the beneficiaries and final recipients of the financial allocations and its European added value in aiding the economic recovery;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Echoes the Commission prediction that, in the context of recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak, tackling child poverty will become even more important in the coming years; highlights in this regard the position of both the Parliament and the Commission that Member States should allocate at least 5 % of the ESF+ resources under shared management to support activities under the European Child Guarantee; consequently, and in line with the Parliament’ position on ESF+, insists that a separate budget line under ESF+ needs to be created for the European Child Guarantee with an allocation of 3 billion for the year 2021;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Highlights that the COVID-19 crisis has already left many people jobless, especially young people who find themselves more often in precarious employment; welcomes in this context the Commission’s plans to strengthen the European Youth Guarantee and highlights that it is necessary that Member States continue to invest sufficient ESF+ resources in measures to support youth employment and that they shall therefore allocate at least 15 % of their ESF+ resources under shared management to targeted actions and structural reforms to support quality youth employment;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Welcomes a number of new proposals by the Commission to tackle the social impacts of the current or future crises; notes in this context the introduction of temporary measures under the ESF+ in response to exceptional circumstances; warns about the possible risk of a weakening of the thematic concentration obligations that would put at risk key objectives and investments of ESF+, as well as the good use and effectiveness of the investments made by the ESF+, as, in the event of exceptional circumstances, the Commission may adopt implementing acts extending the scope of the ESF+ itself, as well as reducing the thematic concentration obligations;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Furthermore acknowledges, in this regard, the Commission’s proposal to finance short time work schemes under such temporary measures; recalls, however, that short time work schemes will already be financed by the newly introduced temporary SURE instrument of a much more significant volume, and that the Commission has committed to soon introduce a permanent instrument in form of a European Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme; stresses, in this context, that the ESF+ has already scarce resources for its original thematic concentrations that could be in such case further reduced; reminds furthermore that short time work schemes require much more money; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to introduce the European Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme without further delay;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Stresses the importance of the partnership principle, in order to ensure the involvement of social partners in all stages of the planning, implementation and monitoring of projects financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF); considers it necessary that the partnership principle is included in the ESIFs, as well as in other relevant EU funds, including the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF), REACT EU, also for the 2021-2027 period;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that, in the context of ongoing budgetary constraints and of the post-COVID-19 recovery, it will be critical to make the best use of the 2021 general budget, including where it is needed the most, to fight poverty, including child poverty and unemployment, in particular youth unemployment, including through future skills policies and measures to support labour market transition and better adjustment to demographic change, automatisation and digitalisation, particularly by improved integration of potentially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the labour market;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Highlights the important contribution of the agencies in dealing with a wide range of employment, and social issues and data collectionsuch as living and working conditions, mobility, health and safety, skills, etc. and data collection, particularly through surveys; stresses that their tasks are developconstantly evolving and hence they must be given the necessary resources to fulfil them; therefore calls for a thorough assessment of the new and existing tasks assigned to the agencies and of their overall performance, with a view to ensuring appropriate and efficient budgetary allocations only; insists, in particular, foron a proper staffing and financing of the new European Labour Authority;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Points out, in this regard, that the resources currently foreseen for the ELA in 2021 are lower than the ones defined in the updated financial statement for the agency, which foresaw 29 million for 2021 instead of 24 million; in the light of the challenges in ensuring fair labour mobility highlighted by the Covid-19 crisis, in particular for posted and seasonal workers, considers that the budget for the ELA should be strengthened to at least the amount originally foreseen;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Calls for the establishment of a cross-national forum for national policy makers to exchange on practices and experiences related to support for employers and workers affected by economic and labour market crises which could draw information on such interventions gathered in Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor (support instruments and legal databases), the expertise built up in similar previous exercises (such as Eurofound’s Regional Industrial Policy Seminars realised in the framework of the Pilot Project “Future of Manufacturing in Europe” or DG Employment’s national seminars on anticipating and managing restructuring (A.R.E.N.A.S.)), and implemented by a collaboration of various EU institutions (e.g. DG Employment, Eurofound, Cedefop);
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Reminds of the Commission commitment to swiftly assess the revision of the Biological Agents Directive (BAD) and possibly other occupational health and safety legislation in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to accelerate their work on the new EU OSH strategic framework; calls in this regard for appropriate resources to be allocated to the responsible unit in DG Employment to meet this commitment;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11d. Is concerned about the Commission proposal to merge different budget lines linked to social policy objectives, in particular the lines supporting Information and training measures for workers’ organisations, Information, consultation and participation of representatives of undertakings, Industrial relations and social dialogue into one single budget line“07 20 04 06 - Specific competences in the area of social policy, including social dialogue”; believes that separate budget lines as was the case in the past would guarantee the necessary transparency and resources for each of these key areas;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Reiterates that pilot projects (PPs) and preparatory actions (PAs) are very valuable tools to initiatest new activities and innovative solutionpolicies in the fields of employment and social inclusion; recalls that it is paramount for and that several ideas of the EMPL Committee have been implemented successfully in the past as PPs/PAs; is however concerned about the objectivity of the Commission’s pre- assessments having a significant impact on their adoption in the Parliament; moreover calls for the implementation of PPs/PAs to be assessed solely on the basis of their merit and EU added valuin line with their adopted objectives and recommendations; calls the Commission to prioritise, for efficiency reasons, the implementation of these projects and actions through European Agencies when they fall under their areas of expertise;