Activities of Laura AGEA related to 2015/2321(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Refugees: social inclusion and integration into the labour market (debate) IT
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on refugees: social inclusion and integration into the labour market PDF (477 KB) DOC (199 KB)
Amendments (29)
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. having regard to the need to analyse the causes of the refugee crisis in order to take effective and immediate action; whereas, furthermore, the main causes of the refugee crisis are conflicts and whereas resolving them could drastically reduce the number of refugees, making it possible for them to return to their own countries;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the number of asylum seekers and refugees recorded in Europe in 2014 and 2015 is unprecedented; whereas, according to the Commission’s forecasts, among others, this number is likely to increase significantwill increase exponentially in the coming years6; _________________ 6 http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/fo recasts/2015_autumn_forecast_en.htm
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the working-age population in the EU is projected to decline by 7.5 million by 2020; whereas projections on the development of labour market needs in the EU point to emerging and future shortages in specific fields;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the action plan and political declaration adopted at the EU-Africa summit on migration, held in Valletta on 11 and 12 November 2015, did not result in practical, decisive action;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas the refugee emergency can only be tackled by means of a united commitment by all Member States;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the need for the EU to base its immediate response to the situation on solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, as stated in Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and on a holistic approach that takes into account safe and legalon fair sharing of responsibility under a mandatory allocation arrangement along the lines that the Commission is proposing, and on a holistic approach that establishes legal access routes in order to thwart the criminal organisations exploiting migrationnts and full respect fojeopardising their safety and their fundamental rights and values; ;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes note of the high degree of heterogenelack of clarity in the use of the term refugee in public and political discourse; stresses the importance of clearly identifying refugees in accordance with the legal definition enshrined in the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, as amended by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967, and in EU legislation, in particular the Qualifications Directive7; _________________ 7 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/ENIT/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011 L0095&from=EN.
Amendment 91 #
3. Points out that a person eligible for subsidiary protection is a third country national or a stateless person who does not qualify as a refugee but who likewise faces a real risk of suffering, torture ofr inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or a civilian facing a serious and individual threat to his or her life by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict (see Qualifications Directive);
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that significant differences exist in the times and modalities of processing requests for international protection within Member States; highlights that slow and excessively bureaucratic procedures may hinder refugees’ access to the labour market, as well as the activation of EU programmes and the use of funds in this field; points to the urgent need to establish a common asylum system to standardise recognition procedures and arrangements; recommends that the necessary measures be taken to support those Member States which, for geographical reasons, are involved more intensively in initial reception;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Also calls for effective steps to be taken outside European territory both to ensure that those who are entitled can reach host countries safely and with a view to managing applications for international protection and containing undefined migration flows and hence preventing persons from entering Europe when they are not entitled to do so;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Points to the importance of differentiating between emergency measures and measures to be taken in the medium to long term in order to cope effectively with disparate needs;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Reiterates the importance of recognising the gender dimension ofwhen determining refugee status determination9, the needs of women who apply for international protection and the specific social inclusion and labour market integration challenges that women face; calls for gender to be fully mainstreamed into all policies and procedures relating to asylum and migration; _________________ 9 EP Draft Report: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDo c.do?pubRef=- %2F%2FEP%2F%2FNONSGML%2BCO MPARL%2BPE- 571.702%2B01%2BDOC%2BPDF%2BV0 %2F%2FEN
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that granting refugees access to the labour market is important to guaranteeing their survival and restoring their human dignity and self-worth and is also cost-efficient, as it would allow them to be self-sufficient and to gain economic independence, which is an essential step for their inclusion into society, and a responsible approach towards public finances, easing the cost borne by Member States while also enabling them to become active fiscal contributors, which is generally considered beneficial for their individual growth, development and self- esteem; maintains that if refugees are to be integrated into the labour market in a genuinely sustainable and effective way, the social and economic state of host countries needs to be assessed in order to ensure that integration will not further exacerbate already difficult situations;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that early intervention is crucial to allow for successfulguarantee social inclusion and integration of refugees into the labour market;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights the fact that labour market conditions within host countries are a determining factor for the successful and durable integration of refugees; stresses that unemployment in the EU, in particular youth and long-term unemployment, is still at alarming levels, and that the Commission and the Member States shouldmust continue to prioritise policies and investments aimed at quality job creation and economic growth;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Stresses the need for further EU- funded programmes and for increased public investment in order to facilitate, as a matter of priority, the integration of EU citizens into the labour market, not least in order to forestall social tensions, in particular in areas where unemployment is highest;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes, in thiCalls context, the Commission’s decision not to take into account the budgetary impact of the exceptional inflow of refugees related to extraordinary expenditures forincurred by Member States under the preventive and corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pactin dealing with the exceptional inflow of refugees when assessing possible temporary deviations from the SGP requirements10; _________________ 10http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP- 15-6067_en.htm of the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Emphasises, in that connection, that the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund has used up all its resources; urges, therefore, that the fund should be retained when the MFF is revised;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Deplores the Commission's decision to grant Turkey EUR 3 billion to manage refugees on the EU's borders; criticises, further, the failure to involve the European Parliament in that decision;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. SupportNotes the Commission’s efforts in updating the European Agenda on Migration, in particular by revising the Dublin III Regulation; underlines the positive impact that intra-EU mobility of refugees would have on addressing labour shortages and refugees’ inclusion into the labour market; believes that the mobility of refugees within the EU is a good thing if account is taken, on the one hand, of the need to provide for family reunification and, on the other, of the needs of the labour market in the various Member States; stresses that further efforts are necessary to create a truly uniform Common European Asylum System and a comprehensive and sustainable legal migration policy in the EU to meet labour market demand in terms of skills, in which social inclusion and active integration policies play a central role;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Deplores the fact that the Commission had to adopt 40 infringement decisions against many Member States for having failed to implement key policies of the Common European Asylum System, including letters of formal notice to 19 Member States for not having taken the necessary measures to transpose the Reception Conditions Directive, which lays down essential standards on matters such as access to employment, vocational training, schooling and education of minors, food, housing, healthcare, medical and psychological care and provisions for disadvantaged persons; urges the Member States to rectify this situation, in compliance with the principles of solidarity, fair share of responsibility and sincere cooperation as enshrined in the Treaties; underlines the failure of the Dublin system that means that Member States are unable to implement the provisions of the Convention itself; criticises in this regard the establishment of 'hotspots' that have the sole purpose of making Greece and Italy EU refugee camps outside the context of a genuine, fully-fledged common asylum system;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Encourages the Member States to shorten the processing time of applications for international protection and to extend early intervention measures such as language training, skills assessment and civic integration courses in particular to those asylum seekers who have good prospects of being granted international protection; urges the Commission to support Member States with specific and effective measures that help to streamline the processing of applications, making use of specific and appropriate professionals skills;
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls on the Member States to ensure early and easy access to quality training, including internships, in order to ensure full integration into our societies and the labour market, taking into consideration the refugees’ existing skills and competences, talents and know-how; recalls that the first barrier that refugees have to overcome is language; recommends therefore effective measures that enable them not only to learn and understand the language of the host country, but also to promote a process of mutual familiarisation between different cultures in order to avoid the spread of xenophobic and racist sentiments; emphasises that education systems are the main tool not only of linguistic but also of cultural integration;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Calls on the Commission to put forward a revision of the Blue Card Directive, by taking into account the extraordinary conditions with which refugees and asylum seekers are faced, as well as the needs of the EU labour market, in particular by looking at the scope and the rules on intra-EU mobility of the directive; recalls that this tool has been virtually unused so far; calls, therefore, on the Commission to propose not only a revision but also a concrete model for its effective use;
Amendment 374 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to intensify diplomatic relations and to take all necessary economic and social measures to allow the stabilisation of the countries of origin of refugees so that they can remain in their own countries or return there;