20 Amendments of Jordi CAÑAS related to 2023/2066(INI)
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas child poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon stemming from household poverty, meaning that low- income families, single-parent families – mostly made up of women and their children – and large families are at greater risk of poverty; whereas this phenomenon requires a multidimensional response, which necessarily includes improving employment and job security, guaranteeing and enforcing rights, increasing income and ensuring universal access to quality public services; whereas any efficient strategy to tackle inequalities amongst children and social exclusion needs to combine universal measures, designed to tackle inequalities amongst children and to foster equal treatment, with targeted measures that pay attention to the specificity of vulnerable groups;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. Whereas, in December 2022, the EPSCO Council adopted the Recommendation on the Revision of the Barcelona targets on Early Childhood Education and Care and proposed to introduce a legal entitlement to early childhood education and care;
Amendment 113 #
C. whereas childcare and pre-school education may play a significant role in compensating for the socio-economic status of children at risk of poverty and foster the integration of parents, especially mothers, into the labour market; whereas quality and inclusive education can play a significant role in reducing inequalities between children and fighting against social exclusion by fostering strong links between vulnerable parents and school teachers; 1a _________________ 1a See e.g. the case of Hong Kong, where the Education Bureau of the Government released a Curriculum Framework on Parent Education which provided a resource for parents of children in kindergarten and for kindergarten teachers. It was designed to support children’s healthy development and effective learning through four key pillars, one of which was to foster home- school co-operation and communication. (OECD, ‘Improving Early Equity: From Evidence to Action’)
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. Whereas the economic impact of childhood poverty and socioeconomic disadvantages, as well as their repercussions on working adults, is estimated at an 3.4% of EU countries’ GDP each year 1a and, in addition to the social repercussions thereof, represents a lost potential for tax revenues and state savings in social benefits; _________________ 1aOCDE, ‘The Economic Costs of Childhood Socio-Economic Disadvantage’, Policy Insight, OCDE Papers on Well Being and Inequalities, 2022.
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Member States to increase public investment in universal policies that have a direct and indirect impact on children’s lives, by guaranteeing high-quality public services (especially care, education, health, housing, cultural and leisure activities), to promote the creation of work with rights based on robust collective bargaining and recruitment with decent and fair wages, to facilitate a work-life balance by, inter alia, reducing working hours and providing for maternity and paternity leave, and to bolster mechanisms for ensuring the participation of children and their families in the development, implementation and monitoring of these policies;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Deplores the fact that the governments of the Member States are moving away from universal policies and increasingly promoting policies based on the liberalisation of services and instruments whose availability depends on the resources of the beneficiaries; sStresses that universal and long- term policies offer betadequater protection against the multiple causes of poverty and social exclusion, by providing structural responses that can, if necessary, be supplemented by immediate, one-offother support measures;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to implement legislation that protects or enhances maternity, paternity and parental rights, allowing for a more effective work- life balance that makes it possible for women to return to work after pregnancy and maternity leave, and for breastfeeding; recommends that Member States adopt policies that improve children´s health during early childhood, by strengthening accessible and quality pre-natal and post- natal care with a particular focus on vulnerable expectant mothers;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the EU budgetary authorities to take advantage of the upcoming mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 to strengthen and make better use of ESF+, ERDF, FEAD and Child Guarantee allocations in order to strengthen structural policies and social supportas well as the Recovery and Resilience Fund in order to strengthen coherent and coordinated structural policies for children and families;
Amendment 284 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recommends that the Member States ensure that all children have access to formal and non-formal, public, free, inclusive and quality education at all ages; highlights the potential of non-formal education to help children develop socio- emotional and cognitive skills that are crucial for their well-being;7a 7a stresses the need to secure children’s equal access to quality education in Member State’s official maternal languages, in order to foster equal learning conditions, reduce inequalities and strengthen the country’s identity and cohesion; _________________ 7a European Commission, 2020, ‘Developing Social and Emotional Skills through Non-Formal Learning'; OECD, 2017, ´Social and Emotional Skills: Well- Being, Connectedness and Success’; UNESCO, 2021, ‘Social and Emotional Learning In and Through Education: Taking Stock for Improved Implementation’.
Amendment 292 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses, in view of the difficulties in accessing early childhood care in most Member States, the need forto prioritize investment in early childhood education and ceare servicesly child development, thereby creating or bolstering a public, universal and free response from the very beginning of the education process; calls for the proper implementation of both the European Care Strategy and the European Child Guarantee, which would catalyse political commitment within EU Member States to enhance children’s access to early childhood education and care; suggests the implementation of a mid-term review of the Recommendations based on the monitoring of the Barcelona Targets and the initial objectives;8a _________________ 8a As already suggested by the European Economic and Social Committee, https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/our- work/opinions-information- reports/opinions/european-care-strategy.
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights the experience of some Member States, which ensure that textbooks and teaching materials, as well as school transport and meals, are provided free of charge; recommends extending this system to all Member States as a means of ensuring equal access to education and as an important means of financial support for the most vulnerable of families; invites Member States to exchange knowledge and best practices and draws attention to the possibility to refocus government attention on a set of agreed priorities and outcome based objectives;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Member States to ensure and strengthen smooth cooperation and adequate financial support to dedicated food-aid NGOS, as well as to reinforce the cooperation with relevant structures in the public or private sectors in order to target the economic impacts of the crisis more efficiently and to better support affected families; stresses the need to bring urgent attention to the current food-aid crisis faced by both relevant structures and economically vulnerable families and their children; invites the Member Sates to exchange knowledge and experience on supporting parent´s employment through the EU Mutual Learning Programme;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to foster programmes to monitor the prices of energy, transport and other essential goods in order to reducmitigate the impact of the rise in the cost of living on children and their families; recommends that particular attention be paid to families’ current difficulties in accessing essential goods for young children and toddlers;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Stresses the importance of harmonizing and improving data collection on child well-being in order to inform policymaking at national and EU levels, and to ensure outcome-based objectives;
Amendment 353 #
12b. Stresses the importance of reducing disparities between the levels of development of the various regions in accordance with Article 174 of the TFEU in order to offer equal access to quality education, infrastructure and health for all children;
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Condemns all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect with regard to children; calls on the Member States to strengthen and, where necessary, to develop and implement integrated prevention and protection systems for childrethat enhance child protection with a view to eradicating violence;
Amendment 375 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)