Activities of Siôn SIMON related to 2014/2059(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
European Semester for economic policy coordination: implementation of 2014 priorities (A8-0019/2014 - Philippe De Backer)
European Semester for economic policy coordination: implementation of 2014 priorities (debate)
Amendments (10)
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is deeply concerned that, up to now, the recommendations made as part of the European Semester have taken us further away from achieving the employment and social targets of the Europe 2020 strategy; calls on the new Commission to askfix an immediately that deadline for the Member States to present report on national progress on the Europe 2020 strategy and correct this discrepancy in their national reform programmes (NRPs) to be presented as part of the next European Semester;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the Commission’s use of the new employment and social scoreboard for this year’s CSRs; considers it regrettable, however, that these indicators have not been made binding in view of the current employment and social emergency; calls on the Commission, therefore, to put them on an equal footing with macroeconomic indicators, and to include additional indicators – such as decent work, child poverty levels, access to healthcare, and a homelessness, and a decent work index – in the scoreboard in order to allow more effective analysis of Member States’ employment and social concerns;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the abovementioned mild decline in unemployment rates in the EU; recalls, however, that the Europe 2020 strategy accurately states that the figure to watch is the employment rate, which indicates the availability of human and financial resources to ensure the sustainability of our economic and social modelwarns that the EU shall not only measure the employment rate, as accurately stated in the Europe 2020 strategy, but also the quality of those new jobs, as new jobs are a first step but must also be real, secure and decently paid with clearly defined rights; asks that the slowdown in the unemployment rate not be confused with the recovery of lost jobs, as no account is taken of increased emigration or forced early retirement;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Is concerned that, in many Member States and sectors, job losses are coupled with a decline in job quality, an increase in precarious forms of employment and a deterioration in basic labour standards; stresses that the Commission and the Member States, such as part time and zero hours contracts and bogus self-employment; stresses that the Commission and the Member States, in order to protect workers from discrimination and exploitation, need to make dedicated efforts to address the increase in involuntary part-time employment and temporary contracts, payless internships and apprenticeships, and bogus self- employment, together with the activities of the black economy;
Amendment 138 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses the importance of active labour market policies as a strategic tool for the promotion of employment in the current context; is deeply concerned that several Member States, despite rising unemployment rates, have reduced budget allocations to finance active labour market policies; calls on the Member States to increase the coverage and effectiveness of active labour market policies, in close cooperation with the social partners;
Amendment 153 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Highlights the rising number of workers, particularly young people, departing their countries of origin for other Member States in search of employment opportunities, and is deeply concerned about the persistent divergences between those Member States creating employment and those supplying a low-cost labour force; urges the Commission to develop a better legal framework for cross-border movement of workers in order to ensure freedom of movement, for example by revising the Posted Workers Directive, in order to ensure freedom of movement and reduce the dependence on low-skilled labour migrants while consecrating the principle of equal treatment and safeguarding wages and social standards; calls for the establishment in each Member State, either by law or through collective bargaining, of a minimum wage equivalent to at least 60 % of the respective national average wage;
Amendment 170 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the mild decline in youth unemployment, but points out that it is still at alarming levels: 22 % in the EU-28 and 23.1 % in the eurozone; highlights the worrying differences between Member States (7.8 % in Germany and 53.5 % in Spain); stresses that job insecurity and underemployment have also risen significantly and considers it regrettable that even when young people do find a job, many of them – 43 % on average, compared with 13 % of adult workers – find themselves working under precarious conditions or on part-time contracts, making it difficult for them to live independently from their families and resulting in a loss of innovation and expert resources which affects production and growth;
Amendment 179 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission to propose a binding European framework for the implementation of the Youth Guarantees so as to prevent the funds being misused in such a way as to aggravate national internal wage devaluation processes; takes the view that this legal framework should introduce binding minimum standards for the implementation of the Youth Guarantees, including the quality of apprenticeships, decent wages for young people and access to employment services, and should cover young people aged between 25 and 30; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the introduction and the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Programme with regard to the Member States showing no progress in this regard; calls on the Commission and the Member States to make the Youth Guarantees a priority and to increase the available budget, at the latest in the promised mid- term review of the multiannual financial framework, up to at least the sum of EUR 21 billion estimated by the International Labour Organisation to be necessary to resolve the problem in the eurozone;
Amendment 190 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Urges the Member States to go above and beyond the March 2014 Council recommendation for a Quality Framework for Traineeships in order to prevent discrimination and exploitation of young workers; calls for the adoption of a directive on decent conditions and minimum standards for internapprenticeships and traineeships, giving interns and trainees clearly defined rights that include access to social protection, binding written contracts and fair remuneration and introducing limits on the use of trainees and interns in companies so as to prevent abuses;
Amendment 226 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Regrets the fact that the Commission recommendations on pensions were made without taking into account Parliament’s position on the Green and White Papers on pensions; is concerned thatcalls for reforms to guarantee the sustainability of pensions have focused sole, which focus not only on population ageing, without taking but also on the future generation and take into account the importance of the employment rate, especially in pay- as-you-go systems; recalls that guaranteeing decent pensions above a minimum level is an effective way to fight poverty and social exclusion;