Activities of Tamás MESZERICS related to 2017/2114(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the economic policies of the euro area
Amendments (25)
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas gender employment gaps, gender pay and pension gaps remain significant despite continuous increases in the labour market participation of women and this has negative economic impact;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas poverty is decreasing but remains very high in some Member States; ; additionally energy poverty remains so high that for the concerned 11% of the EU population it leads to a cycle of economic disadvantage;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas restrictions on public spending and austerity measures are seriously hindering urgently needed investment in critical sectors of the economy and society and therefore withholding economic growth; whereas austerity measures and lack of public investment overly affect the most vulnerable households and may cause social crisis;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas economic policies of the euro area highly affect other Member States’ economies too;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas the increasingly cross- national tax evasion and corruption affect all Member States and undermines the EU’s economic performance, the rule of law and the credibility of democratic institutions;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
Dc. whereas new forms of employment and labour are becoming more widespread with digital revolution of labour market;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Recital D d (new)
Recital D d (new)
Dd. whereas investment, being it private or public is a key tool to increase cohesion and real economy growth, as well as productivity and global competitiveness;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Takes the view that further efforts are needed to achieve a balance betweenstrengthen the social dimension of the European Semester process and put it on equal footing with the economic and sofinancial dimensions of the European Semester proces; calls for a greater focus on structural imbalances on the labour market in the CSRs;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to continue and better fund the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) up tobeyond the end of the current MFF, while at the same time improving its functioning and implementation; regrets budget shifts out of the ESF including YEI towards the European Solidarity Corps which needs fresh money;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the scope, efficiency and effectiveness of active and sustainable labour market policies should be increased with focus on environmental, employer, worker, health and consumer protection;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Points out that the European economy has not recovered enough to provide employment for all job seekers and unemployed; stresses that alongside job creation, including through public investment, integrating those further from the labour market through individually tailored measures benefits the individual, stabilises social security and supports the economy;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights the fact that insufficient and inadequately focused investment in digital and green job skills and programming may undermine the Union’s competitive position; calls on the Commission to help foster skills development through the updating of qualifications and corresponding education and training curricula at EU level;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Takes the view that better skills matching and improved mutual recognition of qualifications is necessary to address skills shortages and mismatches; calls on the Commission to develop a pan- European skills needs forecasting tool, including the skills needed in growing sectors, such as the low carbon and circular economy; believes that in order to anticipate future skills needs, all labour market stakeholders must be strongly involved at all levels;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the social partners and the Commission to prepare in collaboration and the Commission to present a framework directive on decent working conditions in all forms of work, extending minimum standards to new forms of labour; stresses the importance of the joint understanding of new forms of employment and work, and the importance of collecting comparable data on this issue, in order to increase the efficiency of labour market legislation, therefore to increase employment and sustainable growth;
Amendment 112 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls for joint efforts to reduce gender based inequalities in Member States and for continuous support for designated, locally adjusted plans to reduce gender employment, pay and pension gaps through economic policies;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for an integrated anti-poverty strategy in order to achieve the Europe 2020 poverty target; underlines the role of Member States’ minimum income schemes in seeking to reduce poverty. ; calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a framework directive on adequate minimum income schemes in the European Union, which should lay down common rules and indicators including reference budgets, and provide methods for monitoring its implementation; requests Member States to work towards the progressive realisation of adequate minimum income schemes addressing the issues of adequacy, coverage and take-up of the schemes; considers that adequate minimum income is an income that is indispensable to live a life in dignity and to fully participate in society, across the life span; points out that in order to be adequate, it has to be above the poverty line in order to meet people’s fundamental needs, including also non- monetary aspects, such as access to education and lifelong learning, decent housing, quality healthcare services, social activities or civic participation;
Amendment 117 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Deplores that the Commission’s and the Council’s goals regarding the fiscal consolidation processes do not prioritize the reduction of social inequalities and demands that this is changed;
Amendment 127 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Calls on the Commission to devote next Spring Council to social investment in the sectors where strong evidence exists that it promotes social and economic returns (e.g. early childhood education and care, primary and secondary education, training and active labour market policies, affordable and social housing, and healthcare);
Amendment 130 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Calls on the Commission and Council to adopt a ‘golden’ rule ensuring that Member State’s social investment level do not fall under a previously adopted benchmark of social investment; calls on the Commission and Council to adopt the ‘silver’ rule on social investment to be applied when implementing the Stability and Growth Pact, namely to allow and incentivise Member States to pursue higher levels of public social investment in the sectors where it generates a positive impact on economic growth;
Amendment 131 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Urges the Commission to set up a forum, with independent experts and relevant stakeholders, to develop a methodology to measure the economic and social returns of social investment in the five above-mentioned piloting sectors;
Amendment 132 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Recalls that, as stated by Parliament, socially responsible reforms must be based on solidarity, integration, social justice and a fair distribution of wealth, a model that ensures equality and social protection, protects vulnerable groups and improves living standards for all citizens;
Amendment 133 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 g (new)
Paragraph 6 g (new)
6g. Calls for the completion of the EMU with full transparency towards non- euro area Member States;
Amendment 134 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 h (new)
Paragraph 6 h (new)
6h. Calls on the Commission, after due consultation of the civil society, notably the social partners, to submit a proposal by 2020 to the European Parliament and the Council, to establish a European Unemployment Insurance scheme, complementing national benefit schemes; considers that such an appropriately funded automatic stabiliser can play an important role in reducing inequality between countries and in neutralising the consequences arising from the absorption of asymmetric shocks; this scheme should be targeted to Eurozone countries, with the possibility for other Member States to join afterwards;
Amendment 135 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 i (new)
Paragraph 6 i (new)
6i. Calls for additional joint efforts to improve the integration of migrants and people with a migrant background into the labour market.