Activities of Kostadinka KUNEVA related to 2016/2095(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
A European Pillar of Social Rights (debate) EL
Amendments (19)
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Α
Recital Α
Α. whereas the European Union needs a paradigm shift towards a strong European social model based on solidarity, social justice, a fair distribution of wealth, gender equality, a high-quality public education system, quality employment and sustainable growth - a model that ensures good social protection for all, empowers vulnerable groups, enhances participation in civil and political life, and improves the living standards for all citizens, and will confirm the EU’s dedication to the strategic goal of full employment, delivering on the objectives and rights set out in the EU Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Social Charter;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises that the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) cannot be limited to a declaration of principles or good intentions but must consist of real matter that is specific and binding on all the EU institutions and Member States (legislation, policy-making mechanisms and financial instruments), delivering positive impact on citizens’ lives in the short term and enabling support for European construction in the 21st century by effectively upholding social rights and Treaty objectives, strengthening cohesion and upward convergence, and helping to bring about a socially just and democratically scrutinised completeion of EMU;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the enactment of a directive on fair working conditions for all forms of employment, ensuring for every worker a core set of enforceable rights, including equal treatment, social protection, protection in case of dismissal, health and safety protection, provisions on working time and rest time, freedom of association and representation, collective bargaining, collective action, with recognition of their primary role in setting minimum wages, working time and other basic working conditions, access to training, and adequate information and consultation rights; underlines that this directive should apply to employees as well as to all workeremployees in non-standard forms of employment, such as fixed-term work, part-time work, on-demand work, self-employment, crowd-working, internship or traineeship, the basic terms of which must be set within the framework of collective bargaining and general employment law; requests that the EU acquis be updated accordingly so as to apply to all workers;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – introductory part
Paragraph 4 – introductory part
4. Calls for decisive steps towards legal certainty on what constitutes ‘employment’, also for work intermediated by digital platforms; underlines that open- ended contracts should remain the norm given their importance for socio-economic security; calls on the Member States to commit to specific targets to increase open-ended contracts as a proportion of employment and to reduce precarious forms of employment; calls for the directive on fair working conditions to include relevant minimum standards to be ensured in more precarious forms of employment, in particular:
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point a
Paragraph 4 – point a
a. decent working conditions for internships, traineeships and apprenticeships, prohibiting those that are unpaid or paid so littless thatn they do not enable workers to make ends meet minimum wage;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point c a (new)
Paragraph 4 – point c a (new)
ca. full working and insurance rights for employees employed under sham self- employment contracts;
Amendment 370 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises the need for renewed upward convergence in wages throughout the EU; calls on the Commission to actively support a wider reach coverage for collective bargaining; considers that to ensure decent living wages, minimum wages set at a decent level are necessary; recommends the establishment of national wage floors through legislation or collective bargaining, with the objective of attaining at least 60 % of; stresses that it falls under the competence of Member States to determine such wage floors and that the level must be in line with the respective national average wagific socio-economic situation of the Member State;
Amendment 417 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the importance of unrestricted exercise of collective rights; expects the Commission to step up concrete support for strengthening social dialogue in Member States and sectors where it is weak owing to the prolonged crisis or the prevalence of non-standard forms of employment; stresses in particular the obligation of the Commission to help restore in full the right to collective autonomy in countries where it has been suspended or abolished following their admission to the support programme;
Amendment 475 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Agrees with the importance of universal access to timely, good-quality and affordable preventative and curative health care; emphasises that all workers, regardless of their terms of employment, must be covered by health insurance;
Amendment 495 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Is aware that rising life expectancy and workforce shrinking pose a challenge to the sustainability of pensions systems and to intergenerational fairness; reaffirms that the best response is to increase the overall employment rate through a return to, and affirmation of, the EU strategic objective of full employment; considers that pensionable ages should reflect, besides life expectancy, other factors including labour market trends, the economic dependency ratio, the birth rate and differences in job arduousness;
Amendment 550 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls for a European framework for minimum income schemes; highlights the importance of such schemes for maintaining human dignity as well as their role as a form of social investments enabling people to undertake training and/or look for work; insists, however, on the need to ensure that minimum income schemes do not replace all social protection and welfare benefits that have been secured;
Amendment 565 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Agrees that all persons with disabilities must be ensured enabling services and basic income security allowing them a decent standard of living and social inclusion; takes the view that that EU policies to assist persons with disabilities must help them lead independent lives, in line with UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
Amendment 621 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls for legislation to ensure that access to social housing or adequate housing benefits are provided for those in need, obviously including homeless people, and that vulnerable people and poor households are protected against eviction; calls for the right to accommodation to be protected from the auctioning of homes for mortgage default by families manifestly unable to make the payments; calls for tax incentives to help young people on low incomes set up their own households; calls for greater use of the EFSI to support urban renewal and affordable housing provision;
Amendment 645 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls for legislation ensuring fair access for all to good-quality and affordable social services of general interest and other essential services, such as e-communications, energy, transport and financial services; highlights the role of social enterprises and organisations forming part of the social and solidarity- based economy;
Amendment 686 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 – introductory part
Paragraph 19 – introductory part
19. Is alarmed at the spread of precariousness arising from the excessive use of ‘atypical’ contracts that are being facilitated by not only high unemployment but also statutory labour market deregulation in the Member States; stresses the importance of ensuring sufficient institutional and budgetary capacities to provide adequate protection for people in non-standard forms of employment; considers in particular that:
Amendment 817 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Emphasises that labour mobility within the EU is a right whose exercise must be supported but which should not be forced on workers by poor conditions in their home regions, and should not undermine host countries’ social standards; supports the general principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’, independently of where such work is done within the EU;
Amendment 921 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 – point k (new)
Paragraph 26 – point k (new)
k. the chief indicators of income inequality
Amendment 979 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Highlights that today’s phenomena of capital-intensive production, high rates of inequality and the continuing rise in ’atypical’ work imply a need to increase the role of general tax revenue in cofinancing social insurance schemes in order to provide decent social protection for all; underlines at the same time the need for taxation to be fair so as to make a fundamental contribution to wealth redistribution in favour of the poorest and most vulnerable;
Amendment 1061 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 – point a
Paragraph 32 – point a
a. a fund for renewed structural convergence, supporting the implementation of socially just reforms and investments that are necessary for increasing the growth potential of crisis- affected areas, giving absolute priority to countries with unemployment rates well above the EU average and restoring upward social convergence, including implementation of the Youth Guarantee, Skills Guarantee and Child Guarantee;