31 Amendments of Ulla TØRNÆS related to 2014/2222(INI)
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic and social context in the EU continues to be bleak, with negative growth rates in the eurozone for the past two years, and with growth now stalled at around 0 %; whereas forecasts have systemically been revised downwards by the Commission, as has been done for 2015 and 2016; whereas recovery is neither robust nor underpinned; whereas overall debt in the EU28 remains high even though overall EU28 debt has fallen from 4.5 % in 2011 to a forecast of 3 % in 2014 the need for further fiscal consolidation remains;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the EU needs to make a decisive change in an economic policy that has allowed the Union to drift away from the EU 2020 targets, and that has increased the risks of secular stagnationcontinue fiscal consolidation on order to create the necessary trust in the economy which will foster private investments in order to be able to reach the EU 2020 targets; whereas the EU is worryingly losing weight in the world economy, while most other countries are showing solid signs of recovery; whereas in October 2014 the IMF estimated that the probability of a recession in the euro area had increased and would reach 35-40% at year’s end;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas high unemployment levels, excessive focusvarious factors including failure to create a positive environment to boost investment and growth, high unemployment levels, loss of competitiveness, lowering onf wage depression to regain competitiveness,s in some countries and a decline in spending on social protection in almost all Member States, have led to significant reductions in household gross disposable incomes, leaving millions of European families at risk of exclusion, and have increased inequalities alarmingly; whereas one in four Europeans are at risk of poverty; whereas underemployment and precariousness has peaked and, for 50 % of all job seekers, securing employment is not enough to lift them out of poverty;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas austerity has lessened as the pace of fiscal consolidation has increased, and as new headline targets – focusing more on structural than on cyclical deficits – have been introduced; whereas, in spite of this, the size of fiscal multipliers in the current context is still very high, and the need to accomplish the medium-term objective and the debt objective will inevitably have a significant negative impact onto create an environment which will foster economic growth and job creation;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas investment in qualitysustainable jobs, human capital, research and innovation and in particular in a resource efficient energy union, digital single market, promoting entrepreneurship and a better business environment for SME's must be the top priority for both the Commission and the Member States, as investment in these areas are essential not only to ensuring a recovery but also to expanding the EU’s economic potential to grow and to create prosperity;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to introduce a much-needed, expansionaryfor ambitious economic policyies to boost smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and to create quality jobs; stresses that low inflation is already increasing real interest rates as well as real public and private debt, which, together with high unemployment, depresses growth and increases poverty;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses the fact that the EFSI must be focused on creating new investments in areas where investor appetite is subdued rather than on substituting investments that would have been produced elsewhere (crowding out), or on focusing on highly profitable investments that would have occurred in any case (deadweight); calls on the Commission to include and promote social investments that not only generate financial returns but promote positive social spilloverwill result in the creation of sustainable jobs, such as investments in human capital or investments with high impact in job creation or poverty reduction; reiterates its call for the implementation of the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP);
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to prioritise investments in economically weaker regions suffering from high unemployment, and in SMEs in such regionensure an optimal allocation of capital and to prioritise investments that will have a positive impact on job-creation and in the business environment for SMEs, given their very limited access to financing, to ensure that these efforts have a meaningful impact where they are most needed;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the development of a European framework to assure that investments under the Juncker Plan, which are excluded from national deficit targets, have a significant impact in terms of stimulating economic growth and creating qualitysustainable jobs;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that decisive investment plans for growth and job creation can only be fully realised if they are coupled with national reforms that enhance quality labour participation, boost productivity and develop human capital; believes that structural labour market reforms should introduce internal flexibility measures aimed at maintaining employment in times of economic disruption, ensure job quality and security in employment transitions, and provide unemployment benefit schemes that are based on activation requirements and linked to reintegration policiesfoster a dynamic labour market, enhance labour-market participation, boost productivity and develop human capital;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission to design tailor-made policies to support qualitysustainable job creation for the long-term unemployed, senior unemployed people, women and other priority groups hit especially hard by the crisis, such as immigrants or people with disabilities;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Regrets that the European Semester has not been sufficiently aligned with the Europe 2020 strategy; calls for more determined efforts to guide and coordinate EU policies to boost smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and create qualitysustainable jobs;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Is concerned that the Commission’s strategy to regain competitiveness has been more focused on reducing costs than on raising productivity via investments in human capital; sStresses that more than 20 Member States have reduced their education expenditures in relative terms (as percentages of their GDPs), thereby jeopardising their growth, job potential and competitiveness;
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the fact that in the AGS 2015 the Commission calls on the Member States to protect or promote longer-term investments in education, research and innovation; notes, however, that Member States with already-constrained budgets do not have sufficient means to accomplish that goal; calls, therefore, on the Commission to exclude productive investments in education, research and development from the deficit targets established under EU rules;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recalls that decent wages are important not only for social cohesion, but also for maintaining a strong economy and a productive labour force; calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a European framework for minimum wages with a view to reducing wage inequalities and limiting nominal imbalances in competitiveness;
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Is concerned that labour market reforms in many Member States have mainly promoted precarious jobs; oObserves that 50 % of jobs created in 2014 were temporary jobs; notes that, according to the Commission, in-work poverty persists, and that for 50 % of all job seekers, securing employment is not enough to lift them out of poverty, nor does it raise productivity; calls on the Commission and the Member States to make job quali-creation and the fight against in-work poverty a priority and to address labour market segmentation;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Welcomes the initiative regarding a European platform on undeclared work; reiterates its call on the Member States to ensure that people with precarious contracts, or who are self-employed, enjoy a core set of rights and adequate social protection; calls on the Commission to make dedicated efforts to address the additional problems caused by involuntary part-time and temporary employment and by bogus self- employment;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Welcomes the reduction in youth unemployment rates, but points out that they are still alarming; stresses that job insecurity and underemployment have also risen, and that 43 % of the young find themselves working under precarious conditions, on involuntary part-time contracts or as bogusfalsely self-employed;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to propose a European framework introducing minimum standards for the implementation of Youth Guarantees covering young people aged 25-30; calls on the Member States to use the available budget efficiently and to implement the Youth Guarantees without delay; calls for the available budget to be increased during the promisedadequate budget in the mid-term review of the MFF in accordance with ILO recommendations;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Given the number of workers, particularly young people, who are now leaving their countries of origin for other Member States in search of employment opportunities, there is an urgent need to develop appropriate measures to guarantee that no worker is left uncovered by social and labour rights protection; calls, in this regard, on the Commission and the Member States to further improve EU labour mobility while upholding the principle of equal treatment and safeguarding wages and socialworking standards; calls on each Member State to establish social and employment policies for equal rights and equal pay for men and women for equal work at the same place of work;
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Reiterates its warning of the socioeconomic challenges facing the Union and the risks to its sustainability and its stable growth potential posed by a reversal in regional convergence; recalls that more than 122 million EU citizens are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including in- work poverty and child poverty, and that these levels are unacceptablealarming and need to be reduced immediately; calls for a true ‘social pillar’ to be implemented within the EMU as part of the process of improving economic governance mechanismswithout delay;
Amendment 360 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Points out that social protection and social policy – in particular unemployment benefits, minimum income support and progressive taxation – initially helped to reduce the depth of the recession and stabilised labour markets and consumption; stresses, however, that social stabilisers have been widely used as adjustment factors by those EMU members experiencing negative economic shocks; Stresses that social protection and social policies are the competence of Member States;
Amendment 365 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
Amendment 385 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the fact that the Joint Employment Report annexed to the AGS includes a scoreboard for employment and social policies; considers it regrettable, however, that these indicators are not sufficient and that they have not been made binding, which would allow them to be used more forcefully; asks the Commission to remedy this situation;
Amendment 396 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
Amendment 412 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the CommissionMember States to tackle immediately the alarming increase in child poverty throughout the EU through the introduction of a child guarantee against poverty;
Amendment 421 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Points out that emerging new forms of poverty – such as in-work poverty compounding difficulties such as e.g. paying mortgages, or high utility prices creating energy poverty – have resulted in an increase in the number of evictions, foreclosures and homeless people; calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement integrated policies favouring social and affordable housing, effective prevention policies aimed at reducing the number of evictions, and policies tackling energy poverty;
Amendment 440 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Takes note of the Commission’s recommendation to reform healthcare systems so that they meet their objectives of providing universal access to high- quality care – including affordable access to medicines, especially those that are life- saving – and to secure respect for the rights of health staff; observes that, as a consequence of the crisis, some Member States have failed to ensure full coverage of public health; calls for this situation to be corrected without delay;
Amendment 454 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Notes the importance of reducing taxation on labour, especially by low-paid and low-skilled workers, the long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups, while ensuring the long-range sustainability of public pension systems; calls on the Commission to shift the tax burden away from labour while making sure not to endanger social benefits; notes that such shifts should not affect taxes with regressive effects such as consumption taxes, but should focus instead on taxes on capital, wealth, energy and natural resources;
Amendment 471 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission and the Council to enter into an interinstitutional agreement with Parliament in order to give Parliament a full role in the drafting and approval ofbetter involve the Parliament in the AGS and the Economic Policy and Employment Guidelines;