Activities of Sofia RIBEIRO related to 2017/2259(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (debate) PT
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the implementation report on the EU Youth Strategy
Amendments (30)
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, according to Eurostat, youth unemployment stood at 18.7% in 2016, even exceeding 40% in some countries; whereas, when compared with the figures from 2008 (15.6%), we can see that the rate has increased;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the ultimate objective of the European Youth Strategy is to increase the number and equality of opportunities for all young Europeans;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas there continue to be many inequalities between Member States and regions of the European Union, which exacerbates the situation of young Europeans; whereas there are worryingly high rates of youth unemployment in the outermost regions, with some of these regions registering rates of over 50%, as in the case of Mayotte;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas in 2016 the percentage of NEETs, or rather young people who are not in education, employment or training, stood at 15.6%.
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas although the EU Youth Strategy is an ongoing strategy that is continually being refined, its objectives are still very broad and ambitious; whereas there is a lack of duly established parameters of reference;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas it is difficult for young Europeans to secure stable jobs and, as a result, gain financial independence and the possibility of starting a family; whereas the late entry of these young people into the labour market puts social security systems under pressure;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas there is an urgent need to give young Europeans a voice, both through successful structured dialogue as well as in other ways;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas in establishing the objectives of, implementing and evaluating this strategy, the European Union must work in close partnership with national, regional and local authorities;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that an inclusive youth policy is inseparable from the defence and promotion of decent work, grounded in collective labour agreements, with non- precarious labour relations, adequate salaries and wages, high-quality, free, universal public services, and programmes facilitating political and cultural participation, parenthood, well-being and creativity;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Urges the continuity of key programmes like Erasmus +, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and the Youth Employment Initiative, and welcomes the new European Solidarity Corps; argues, as a result, that these programmes should be adapted to the differing situations of young Europeans so that everyone has the same opportunities; draws attention to the specific situations of young people from the outermost regions, which often stop them from making use of these programmes;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Urges the Commission to keep the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme; encourages the Member States and the Commission to invest in promoting this programme together, along with Chambers of Commerce, companies and young people, without overlooking their main area of activity;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Welcomes the positive results of the Youth Guarantee, whilst highlighting that there is still a worrying number of NEETs in the European Union; therefore urges the Commission to strengthen and continue to implement it, and replicate these results in Member States where the Guarantee has yet to be implemented;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Urges the Commission to improve the quality of and increase awareness among the Member States of vocational training, which is an essential alternative to higher education;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Points out attempts to undermine the implementation of many of the programmes included in the EU Youth Strategy, with young people often being put in precarious jobs; urges the Commission to strengthen control and monitoring measures to make sure that European youth programmes do not have opposite effects to their intended ones.
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1f. Urges the Commission to create an online platform for young people, where they can anonymously report violations by the persons responsible for promoting the programmes, as well as suggest changes and ask questions; reiterates the need to guarantee that promoting authorities and employers are also involved, creating a space within the platform where they can ask questions and share good practices;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 g (new)
Paragraph 1 g (new)
1g. Highlights the need for an external evaluation of the implementation of the Youth Strategy in the Member States without prejudice to the principle of solidarity; urges the Commission to create an independent mechanism, with its own staff, to allow for increased checks and monitoring on the ground;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 h (new)
Paragraph 1 h (new)
1h. Highlights the importance of continuing this strategy and approves the way it has developed; highlights, as a result, the need to not only increase the number and equality of opportunities, but to clarify the objectives and transparency of the results too; urges the Commission to, in establishing these objectives and analysing the results, bear the specificities of each European Member State and region in mind;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 i (new)
Paragraph 1 i (new)
1i. Urges the Commission to pursue economic and employment policies, with the aim of creating more and better jobs for young people; argues, as a result, that a proper EU Youth Strategy should be based not only on getting young people into work, but must support companies and other employers in creating dignified and high-quality jobs;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 j (new)
Paragraph 1 j (new)
1j. Urges the Commission to establish objectives for the EU Youth Strategy that can be measured quantitatively and concretely reached to make the Strategy more effective, both in identifying constraints to making improvements and in identifying adjustments and changes that need to be made;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. AEmphasises that the European labour market is constantly changing; argues that individuals’ transition into the labour market is facilitated by a comprehensive education system that ensures they acquire cross-cutting skills that promote critical thinking, universality and multicultural dialogue, fostering employability not through early specialisation, but rather by enabling the attainment of a wide variety of qualifications;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Reiterates the importance of adults over the age of 55 in training young people in the workplace; argues, together with the Commission, in favour of the creation of programmes that allow the gradual departure of these people from the labour market up to retirement age, more specifically transitioning first to part-time work, during which they also train young people and help them to gradually integrate into the workplace;
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Urges the Commission to establish a limit to the length of time a young person can spend doing internships funded by European programmes, and to limit these to one unpaid internship per young person, after which that person must be offered employment;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Urges the Commission and the Member States to supervise establishments that repeatedly offer consecutive internships without following them up with jobs, in order to ensure that jobs are not replaced with so-called internships;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Argues for the harmonisation, with European support, of the concept of an internship, highlighting its nature as training in the context of work, with specific guidance and supervision, setting it apart from an employment contract, without prejudice to the rights to social security and benefits that are granted in each Member State;
Amendment 116 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3d. Urges the Commission to put measures into place that allow for a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the implementation of the Strategy and apply to all the Member States and regions, taking the specificities of each Member State or region into account;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. Argues for the harmonisation, without prejudice to the principle of subsidiarity, of the concept of young person, setting an age limit applicable across the European Union; encourages all the Member States to contribute to this harmonisation, eliminating obstacles to the gauging of progress and establishing measures to put in place;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3f. Urges the Member States to uphold transparency in submitting their accounts and using funds earmarked for boosting sustainable employment opportunities for young people; reiterates the importance, as a result, of the Member States submitting detailed information on the situation of their young people when requested; urges the Commission to limit access to these programmes if Member States do not cooperate;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 g (new)
Paragraph 3 g (new)
3g. Highlights the lack of systematic updates and reliable data on the implementation of the Strategy; therefore urges the Member States and the Commission to promote closer cooperation between national and regional statistics services when it comes to submitting relevant and up-to-date statistics on youth, which are important for assessing the level of success of the strategy being implemented; argues that the triannual reports submitted must be accompanied by these statistics;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 h (new)
Paragraph 3 h (new)
3h. Urges the Member States to indicate the hoped-for impact of the measures to be adopted in their action plans; argues, as a result, the importance of the Member States providing guarantees that the measures put in place have effectively boosted employment; reiterates the need to gauge the sustainability of the policies to be implemented;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 i (new)
Paragraph 3 i (new)
3i. Urges the Commission to hold a conference at European level to share good practices in adopting European youth programmes, and to be a platform for communication between youth associations, employers, and national and local governments; urges the Commission to create a European prize rewarding good practices and positive results, to be awarded at that conference;