Activities of Davor ŠKRLEC related to 2014/2238(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Green employment initiative - Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States HR
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Green Employment Initiative: tapping into the job creation potential of the green economy
Amendments (23)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1b. Stresses that two-thirds of the services provided by nature, including fertile land, clean water and air, are in decline, and global warming and biodiversity loss are close to the limits beyond which irreversible impacts on our societies and the natural environment cannot be prevented;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1c. Stresses that a comprehensive policy approach is needed to respond to these challenges, build sustainable, crisis- resilient European economies and fully tap into the job potential of a green transition of our economies; calls on the Commission and Member States to adopt ambitious and integrated regulatory, fiscal and financial frameworks to ensure sustainable investment and encourage sustainable innovation and hence fully unlock the employment potential of the green transition;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 d (new)
Paragraph -1 d (new)
-1d. Stresses that policies should be long- term, including ambitious binding targets for resource efficiency, greenhouse gas reductions, renewable energies and energy savings, as well as indicators to measure progress towards their achievement; stresses that policies should aim at minimising external environmental and societal costs and establish an appropriate price for greenhouse gas emissions;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 e (new)
Paragraph -1 e (new)
-1e. Emphasises that a transition towards sustainable societies and economies, including sustainable patterns of consumption and production, generates the potential to create new green jobs and transform existing employment into green jobs in almost all sectors and across the entire value chain, from research to production, distribution and servicing, and in new green high-tech sectors such as renewable energies as well as in traditional industries like manufacturing and construction, agriculture and fisheries, service sectors such as tourism, catering, transport and education; stresses that this job potential includes both highly-skilled and low- skilled workforce;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 f (new)
Paragraph -1 f (new)
-1f. Notes that the green transition of our economies bears significant potential to create local jobs which cannot be offshored, including in sectors hit by the economic crisis as for instance energy efficiency in the construction sector;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 g (new)
Paragraph -1 g (new)
-1g. Recognises that the green transition will, on balance, have a positive impact on employment, reflecting the fact that sustainable economic activities like energy savings or organic farming are more labour-intensive then the activities they replace;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 h (new)
Paragraph -1 h (new)
-1h. Notes that more than 14 million jobs in Europe depend directly on ecosystems and biodiversity, including forestry, agriculture and fisheries; emphasises that greening these sectors would increase the number of people in work and foster the resilience of the sectors in order to promote sustainable employment; notes that investing in green infrastructure provides many social, economic and environmental benefits, including job creation;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights the fact that the creation of green jobs in the EU is linked in part toat the implementation of environmental legislation is essential for fully using the green job creation potential in the EU; calls on Member States to improve the implementation of the Union environmental legislation acquis in accordance with the 7th Environmental Action Programme;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses that the EU state aid framework needs to be adapted to better support the transition to a green economy and hence the creation of green employment; calls on the Commission to adopt a general block exemption for all energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and resource efficiency schemes;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recognises the fact that instruments such as Eco-design, the Ecolabel, EMAS and green public procurement (GPP) contribute to the creation of green jobs; calls on Member States to implement the new provisions of the revised EU legislation on public procurement and proactively introduce environmental criteria in their public procurement policies in order to create sustainable jobs; calls on the Commission to provide contracting authorities with effective guidance tools to this end and to actively promote those;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses the significant employment potential of the circular economy; highlights that improving resource efficiency could create between 1.4 and 2.8 million jobs in Europe and transitioning to an economy based on durability and reparability of products can create jobs along the whole product lifecycle in the sectors of maintenance, repair, upgrade and reuse; emphasises that waste prevention, ecodesign, reuse and similar measures could bring net savings of € 600 billion, or 8 % of annual turnover, for businesses in the EU, while reducing total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2-4 %;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out thatStrongly regrets the withdrawal of the proposal for a revision of the Waste Directives which has compromised the creation of some 180 000 green jobs;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to submit as soon as possible a fresh proposal forhonour its commitment and propose without delay a more ambitious proposal to revise EU waste legislation in line with the waste hierarchy, the first priority of which is waste prevention, then preparation for re- use and recycling, thus promoting the reduction on EU's dependence of raw materials, to implement the reprovisions of EU waste legislationthe 7th Environment Action Programme; furthermore calls on the Commission to honour its commitment and propose without delay ambitious legislative proposals on the remaining points and issues of the circular economy, thus achieving a holistic circular economy approach;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to renew its commitment to the EU2020 strategy and issue its mid-term review without delay; calls on the Commission to introduce a binding resource efficiency target which limits resource consumption in absolute terms and a corresponding lead indicator both into the European Semester in the framework of the scoreboard for macroeconomic imbalances and the review of the EU2020 strategy; stresses the importance of long-term policy frameworks to fully use the job potential of the green transition; calls on the Commission to propose more ambitious binding environmental, climate and energy targets for 2030 and 2050;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to submit a tax harmonisation proposal which would shift the tax burden from labour to resource- consumption and take account of the environmental impact of goods and services;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to proactively pursue the greening of the EU Semester in order to support green job creation; calls on the Commission to issue country-specific recommendations that contribute to higher employment and a smaller ecological footprint, including a strong emphasis on shifting taxes away from labour to environmental taxation and the phasing out of environmentally harmful subsidies by 2020; stresses the particular importance of shifting taxes from labour to resource consumption and pollution in order to fully exploit the job potential of the green transition;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Recognises that SMEs bear the potential of catalysing the green transition of our economies and drive job creation; supports the objectives of the Green Action Plan for SMEs and its SMEs- oriented actions to improve resource efficiency, support green entrepreneurship, exploiting opportunities for greener value chains and facilitating market access for green SMEs;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on Member States to introduce targeted tax exemptions for SMEs, including but not limited to start- ups, producing goods and services that offer high environmental added value;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on Member States to finance low- inteully implement and deliver the existing renewable energy and energy efficiency Directives, in particular the respective 2020 targets; calls in particular on those Member States that are not track to reach their binding national targets to present crevolving funds to promote renewable energies and energy saving and efficiency; dible plans to save at least 1.5% end- use energy annually as required by the energy efficiency Directive, with view to triggering local and regional development and creating local and regional jobs; stresses that effective energy efficiency measures could create or retain 2 million green jobs in Europe; stresses that in the renewable energies sector an additional 3 million jobs could be created by 2020, and 6 million jobs could be reached by 2050 if the aim of achieving 100% of energy from renewable sources is adopted;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Notes that some regions are facing more challenges than others in the course of transitioning to sustainable economies; calls on the Commission to encourage the exchange of best practices between regions that successfully managed the greening of their formerly energy-, resource-intensive and polluting industries, and regions still facing the challenge of green structural change;
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on Member States to develop programmes to protect, sustain and regenerate the environStresses the importance of sustainable investment for fully exploiting the green employment potential; calls on Member States to make full use of the possibilities under the legal framework for the European Structural and Investment Funds and other sources of EU funding to develop programmes, with an emphasis on synergies between different financial instruments, and promote sustainable projects that foster green employment, for instance that protect, sustain and regenerate the environment, reconnect eco- systems by developing green infrastructure, and promote R&D and innovation in green technologies and sustainable development.
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 e (new)
Paragraph 11 e (new)
11e. Calls on the European Commission and Member States to promote, in the framework of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), quality investments geared towards the green transition of our societies, sustainable development and green job creation; stresses the need for support for sustainable regional development led by regional actors, such as agricultural- energy cooperatives; highlights that investing in energy efficiency promotes local and regional job creation as well as local and regional economic development.
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 j (new)
Paragraph 11 j (new)
11j. Calls on the Commission and Member States to use the 2016 post- electoral revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to promote the green transition of our economies.