Activities of Tania GONZÁLEZ PEÑAS related to 2016/2061(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
The need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap (A8-0197/2017 - Constance Le Grip) ES
The need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap (short presentation) ES
Amendments (78)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Citation 1 (new)
Citation 1 (new)
- having regard to Articles 22 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Citation 2 (new)
Citation 2 (new)
- having regard to General Comment No 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Article 3) and General Comment No 19 on the right to social security (Article 9) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted at the 39th session (Geneva, 5 to 23 November 2007);
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Citation 3 (new)
Citation 3 (new)
- having regard to Articles 4(2), 4(3), 12, 20 and 23 of the European Social Charter;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Citation 4 (new)
Citation 4 (new)
- having regard to the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights of 5 December 2014 (XX- 3/def/GRC/4/1/EN);
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Citation 5 (new)
Citation 5 (new)
- having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union enshrining the fundamental principle of equality between men and women;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Citation 6 (new)
Citation 6 (new)
- having regard to Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrining the principle of equality between women and men;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Citation 7 (new)
Citation 7 (new)
- having regard to Articles 151 and 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Citation 8 (new)
Citation 8 (new)
- having regard to the conclusions adopted by EPSCO in June 2015 entitled ‘Equal income opportunities for women and men: Closing the gender gap in pensions’;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Citation 9 (new)
Citation 9 (new)
- having regard to Article 34 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Citation 10 (new)
Citation 10 (new)
- having regard to the European Pact for gender equality (2011-2020) adopted by the Council on 7 March 2011;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Citation 11 (new)
Citation 11 (new)
- having regard to the ‘Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016- 2019’, and in particular objective 3.2 thereof;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Citation 12 (new)
Citation 12 (new)
- having regard to the European Parliament study ‘The gender pension gap: differences between mothers and women without children’ (2016) and the Commission study ‘The Gender Gap in Pensions in the EU’ (2013);
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Citation 13 (new)
Citation 13 (new)
- having regard to Articles 3 and 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR);
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Recital A (new)
Recital A (new)
A. whereas the gender pension gap in the EU was estimated at around 38% in 2014, with significant variations among the Member States, ranging from 3.7% in Estonia to 48.8% in Cyprus;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Recital B (new)
Recital B (new)
B. whereas the percentage of the population receiving a pension varies widely between the Member States, standing at 11% in Cyprus and 25% in Belgium in 2012, whilst in countries such as Spain, Ireland and Malta only 10% or less of women receive a pension;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital C (new)
Recital C (new)
C. whereas pension cuts and freezes increase the risk of poverty in old age, particularly among women; whereas the percentage of older women at risk of poverty and social exclusion stood at 20.2% in 2014, compared with 14.6% of men, and by 2050 the proportion of people over 75 at risk of poverty could reach 30% in most Member States;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Recital D (new)
Recital D (new)
D. whereas people over 65 have income worth around 94% of the average for the population as a whole; whereas, nevertheless, around 22% of women over 65 live below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital E (new)
Recital E (new)
E. whereas a minimum state pension above the poverty threshold for people of retirement age that is not linked to working life is a necessary step forward that will mainly benefit women, and this follows a change in focus in EU countries removing the link between the right to a pension and working life;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Recital F (new)
Recital F (new)
F. whereas access to a decent pension currently depends on many different factors such as lifetime income, type of employment contract, temporary employment, labour market segregation, participation in and access to the labour market, care-related career breaks and life expectancy, and these factors affect women more negatively than men;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Recital G (new)
Recital G (new)
G. whereas the right to a pension must be each person’s individual right and not a derived right, so as to guarantee everyone’s economic independence, reduce disincentives to participation in formal work and minimise gender stereotypes;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital H (new)
Recital H (new)
H. whereas many people with part- time contracts, essentially women (32% against 8.2% of men) may not have chosen such contracts or have done so for reasons of combining work and family and care responsibilities, and in many cases this translates into a lower pension;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital I (new)
Recital I (new)
I. whereas precarious employment and labour market segregation are obstacles that stand in the way of achieving the goal of equality and social solidarity in old age;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Recital J (new)
Recital J (new)
J. whereas pension credits for men and women as a form of allowance for caring for children or family members ensure that career breaks for reasons of care, training or unemployment do not have a negative impact on pensions, and it would be desirable for such schemes to be extended to or stepped up in all the Member States;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Recital K (new)
Recital K (new)
K. whereas pension credits should apply to all forms of work, from paid employees to the self-employed;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital L (new)
Recital L (new)
L. whereas single-parent households are particularly vulnerable; whereas single-parent households represent 10% of all households with dependent children and 50% of those are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, double the rate for the population as a whole;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Recital M (new)
Recital M (new)
M. whereas high unemployment rates have forced many families to rely on a single family income, in many cases the pension received by elderly people, generally the grandparents, with three generations living on this single source of income;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Recital N (new)
Recital N (new)
N. whereas policies designed to increase rates of high-quality employment among groups with the highest unemployment rates, such as women, young people, people with disabilities, people over 55, the long-term unemployed and immigrants, would help preserve the sustainability of the pension system and mitigate the dependency ratio in public systems;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Recital O (new)
Recital O (new)
O. whereas access to a decent pension currently depends on many different factors such as lifetime income, type of employment contract, temporary employment, labour market segregation, participation in and access to the labour market, care-related career breaks and life expectancy, and these factors affect women more negatively than men
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Recital P (new)
Recital P (new)
P. whereas pension cuts and freezes increase the risk of poverty in old age, particularly among women; whereas the percentage of older women at risk of poverty and social exclusion stood at 20.2% in 2014, compared with 14.6% of men, and by 2050 the proportion of people over 75 at risk of poverty could reach 30% in most Member States;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Recital Q (new)
Recital Q (new)
Q. whereas the crisis has shown that private pension funds depend on the evolution of financial markets, in many cases jeopardising the pensions of older people, who are sometimes not well informed of the implications of subscribing to these funds;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Recital R (new)
Recital R (new)
R. whereas no ex-ante or ex-post gender impact assessments were conducted for the reforms to pension systems laid out in Commission’s white paper on pensions of 2012; whereas this is evidence of gaps in the EU’s policy of ensuring effective gender equality across the board;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Recital S (new)
Recital S (new)
S. whereas trade unions play a vital role; whereas collective bargaining arrangements need to be strengthened so as to ensure the protection of the rights of older people;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Recital T (new)
Recital T (new)
T. whereas, with a view to ensuring that people can exercise their right to live decently in their old age, more investment is needed to ensure free, universal public health care, a public social services network and good-quality care infrastructure for dependent persons;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Recital U (new)
Recital U (new)
U. whereas for pension systems to be sustainable they must be primarily underpinned by social security revenue, but they can also be reinforced by other forms of progressive taxation so as to strengthen the solvency and viability of public pension funds;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Recital V (new)
Recital V (new)
V. whereas the European Social Charter states, in Article 4.1 on the right to fair remuneration, that ‘[w]ith a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to a fair remuneration, the Parties undertake ... to recognise the right of workers to a remuneration such as will give them and their families a decent standard of living;’ whereas in its conclusions of 5 December 2014 (XX- 3/def/GRC/4/1/EN), the European Committee of Social Rights stated that ‘in order to ensure a decent standard of living within the meaning of Article 4§1 of the 1961 Charter, remuneration must be above the minimum threshold, set at 60% of the net average wage.’
Amendment 36 #
W. whereas the EU’s objective of achieving adequate social protection is enshrined in Article 151 of the TFEU; whereas the EU should therefore support Member States by making recommendations on improving protection for older people entitled to a pension by virtue of their age or personal situation;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Recital X (new)
Recital X (new)
X. whereas that the adjustment plans and labour reforms undertaken in the Member States, largely based on the country-specific recommendations adopted under the European Semester, have exacerbated factors hindering access to a decent pension, such as insecure and casual employment, atypical contracts, labour market segregation, the glass ceiling, the inability to reconcile work and family life, maternity and paternity leave that is unequal or not paid in full, the extension of the minimum duration of work needed to gain access to a pension, older retirement ages or the promotion of private pension schemes;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Acknowledges that gender equality in paid labour and the implementation of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for paid work of equalivalent value is crucial to reducing pay and pension gaps and to the goal of eliminating the risk of poverty;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls for the promotion of plans and policies for equality and non- discrimination in access, vocational training and the professional advancement of women in European companies with a view to eliminating segregation in education and the world of work and the glass ceiling;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the UnionArticle 25 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines the rights of the elderly to lead a life of dignity and independence, and Article 34, which recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which providensure protection in the event of old age or dependencymaternity, illness, industrial accident, dependency, old age, or loss of employment;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Points out that pension systems should be public, compulsory and distribution- and solidarity-based; recalls that pensions must have proper indexation arrangements to ensure their growth and progressiveness so as to enable a decent pension; urges the Member States to ensure solidarity in social-security contributions by introducing a sliding scale of contributions that more closely matches the level of the taxpayer’s income;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on the Member States to make the necessary investment to guarantee the right to housing, universal and free public health care, a public social services network and good-quality care infrastructure for dependent persons and children with a view to ensuring decent living standards for older persons;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for aon the Member States to introduce a suitable public minimum pension not related to previous working life; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual, rather for pension entitlements and social benefits to become entitlements belonging to one individual so as to avoid situations of dependency withain the family-re; acknowledges, however, the key role platyed, pension entitlements; by widows’ pensions in protecting many older women from poverty;
Amendment 116 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets that the current freeze and cuts in pensionpensions cuts and freezes in some Member States isare hitting people with low incomes, part-time jobs or interrupted careers (most of them woshorter or interrupted contribution periods or those with lower wages – the vast majority of whom are women – hardest; stresses that these measures have led to indirect discrimination, which is in breach of international, European and state law, that prohibits discrimination in the enjoyment of social security entitlements;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Takes the view that economic, employment and social policies need to be changed to strengthen investment and wage improvements policies to boost growth in socially useful, environmentally friendly and employment-generating activities, with a view to overcoming the economic and employment crisis; deplores the fact that measures to combat the crisis have undermined the financial capacity of public social security systems;
Amendment 128 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Member States to make the necessary public investment to guarantee the right to housing, universal and free public health care, a free public social services network and good-quality free care infrastructure for dependent persons and children with a view to ensuring decent living standards for older persons and striking the right balance between work and personal life;
Amendment 129 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Points out that high unemployment rates combined with the austerity policies implemented during the financial and economic crisis have condemned many families to depend on a single source of income, often the retirement pension of an older person, chiefly the grandmother, which is thus the sole means of support for three generations;
Amendment 136 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Asks the Member States to increase minimum wages as an important tool for narrowingbove the minimum threshold, set at 60% of the net average wage, as derived from Article 4 of the European Social Charter, because the facts show that this may be one of the best ways of reducing the pension gaps;
Amendment 146 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Member States to guarantee a minimum pension at the same level as the minimum wage;
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Reiterates that the labour reforms implemented in Member States, in line with the recommendations of the Commission’s 2012 white paper on transport, are undermining the employment conditions of workers, introducing greater precariousness into the labour market and reducing the pension income of older people, especially women;
Amendment 150 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Stresses the need to strengthen collective bargaining arrangements and the role of trade unions in order to ensure that older people have access to public pensions in line with the principles of solidarity between generations and gender equality;
Amendment 151 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Highlights the importance of the European platform to tackle undeclared work and calls for it to be strengthened and for labour inspections to be stepped up in order to ensure that no workers are being made to work at a company without social security contributions, something that reduces the value of retirement pensions;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 f (new)
Paragraph 5 f (new)
5f. Emphasises the need to expand coverage of pensions to encompass workers with atypical contracts and the self-employed;
Amendment 153 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 g (new)
Paragraph 5 g (new)
5g. Stresses the importance of paying due account of trade unions in political when taking political decisions altering significant legal aspects of eligibility conditions for entitlement to pensions; calls on the Member States to promote social dialogue and take trade unions’ recommendations into account in any reforms affecting the pension system;
Amendment 156 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Member States to introduce or reinforce pension credits for career interruptions resulting from caring, whatever the family and/or marital statussubstitute contribution periods for both men and women, regardless of marital status for career interruptions for caring for others with contributions similar to those made in full-time employment;
Amendment 166 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Deplores the fact that in many Member States there are no guarantees as regards accessible, affordable, high- quality long-term childcare and that many women have to shorten their working time in order to devote themselves to caregiving; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to promote measures serving to reconcile support for caring tasks with ways of encouraging men to share responsibility for domestic tasks and caregiving, and calls for high- quality free public services to be set up to care for children, the sick, and dependent persons;
Amendment 167 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Urges the Commission to recast the maternity, paternity, and parental leave directives as a single directive so as to give encouragement for maternity and paternity leave to be increased and placed on the same footing and for leave periods to be made equal, compulsory, non- transferable, and paid for their entire duration;
Amendment 168 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Points to the need to establish compensatory and corrective mechanisms to cover time spent bringing up children or caring for dependants or people with a disability, and to treat part-time working as equivalent to full time and lower the number of years of contributions required in order to qualify for the maximum retirement pension;
Amendment 170 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension schemes can be reinforced by complementing social security with tax contributPoints to the need to establish compensatory and corrective mechanisms to cover time spent bringing up children or caring for dependants or people with a disability, and to treat part-time working as equivalent to full time for the purposes of contributions or lowering the qualifying requirements for a full retirement pensions;
Amendment 174 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension schystemes can be reinforced by complementing social security with tax contributionordinary contribution- based financing of the social security system with progressive tax contributions from general taxation or specific taxes;
Amendment 183 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Maintains that pension systems could be made sustainable if, as a matter of priority, social protection systems were to be strengthened, subsidies to environmentally unsustainable industry were to be cut, and corporate tax fraud and evasion were fought without quarter;
Amendment 185 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Deplores the advent of the sustainability factor that links pension trends to life expectancy and population ageing; considers that the factors involved in what is termed the second demographic transition, which could increase the financial pressure on public social security systems, have to be overcome by means of an economic policy to promote development and employment through new public investment, to be financed by strengthening progressive tax revenue systems, better distribution of income, and policies to improve basic labour productivity by encouraging investment in RDI;
Amendment 189 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Asks the Member States to eliminate obstacles – such as the increase in the minimum contributory yearsqualifying period necessary to be eligible for pension entitlements or, the linking of pension benefits to lifetime contributions, the stricter criteria for entitlement to a pension, or the later retirement age – to access to anthe adequate pension for people with interrupted careers (most of themneeded for a decent life, first and foremost for people with interrupted (and hence shorter) careers, affected by precarious conditions, or earning low wages, who for the most part are women);
Amendment 194 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Points out that in its General Comment No 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (art. 3), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights set out the requirements of article 3 in relation to article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the requirement of equalising the compulsory retirement age for both men and women and of ensuring that women benefit equally under public and private pension schemes;
Amendment 198 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Maintains that differences in men’s and women’s average life expectancy can also lead, directly or indirectly, to discrimination in terms of benefits (especially where pensions are concerned) and that those differences therefore need to be taken into account; considers, moreover, that non- contributory pension schemes have to allow for the fact that women are more likely than men to be living in poverty and often bear sole responsibility for looking after their children;
Amendment 201 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Urges the Commission take steps as a matter of urgency to eliminate the factors preventing access to a decent pension, which essentially affect women, young people, and immigrants;
Amendment 202 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8d. Believes that early retirement arrangements should remain in place for workers exposed to arduous or hazardous working conditions;
Amendment 204 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission to carry out a thorough assessment of the impacts on the most vulnerable of the recommendations addressed to the Member States on pensionsgroups, and women in particular, of the country-specific recommendations and the recommendations of the 2012 White Paper on pensions, and calls for ex ante and ex post assessment and gender impact monitoring of the recommendations or reform proposals produced to date;
Amendment 209 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Points out that, according to the evidence, the transition to a multi-pillar pension system, as the Commission is recommending, is causing further gender inequalities as regards pensions, since women have less in the way of guarantees of access to private personal and occupational pension schemes;
Amendment 211 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that women’s longer life expectancy entails no discrimination in the calculation of pensions;
Amendment 212 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to act upon the Council conclusions of 18 June 2015, adopted under the Latvian Presidency, on ‘Equal income opportunities for women and men: Closing the gender gap in pensions’, which called for caregiving periods to be factored into the calculation of social welfare entitlements, investment to be channelled towards accessible, affordable care systems, indicators measuring the gender pay gap to be developed, and support to be given to research into its causes;
Amendment 220 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges the Member States to reverse any reforms of pension systems that aggravatedd to imbalances in pensions (especially gender imbalances such as the present pension gap).
Amendment 223 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Points to the risks to gender equality entailed in the change from social security pensions to personal retirement savings schemes, bearing in mind that personal pensions are based on individual contributions and do not compensate for time devoted to caregiving, periods of unemployment, sick leave, or leave on grounds of disability; calls on the Commission and the Member States to explore the avenues for maintaining and consolidating gender equality in reformed pension systems;
Amendment 229 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Rejects the structural reforms in pension systems which encourage a change from predetermined benefit schemes to predetermined contribution schemes or encourage the introduction of mandatory savings components; points out that the financial crisis has shown that private savings plans are neither secure nor profitable; points out that these forms of supplementary social insurance are oriented towards a masculine profile, with high income, full- time working days, and careers without breaks;
Amendment 232 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Deplores the fact that the pension system reform proposals set out in the White Paper seek to link welfare benefits to growth and the state of labour and financial markets, focusing on macroeconomic aspects, but not on the social purpose of pensions; recommends that pension cover be widened, the minimum pension raised, and corrective measures supported;
Amendment 233 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 d (new)
Paragraph 10 d (new)
10d. Deplores the fact that the approach underlying the measures and mechanisms proposed to ensure the sustainability of pensions, whether stemming from the Commission or related to the European Semester, and the resulting state social security reforms have led to a situation in which access to contribution-based pensions has been made more difficult in a growing number of Member States, the scope of such pensions has been reduced, and pension amounts have been frozen;
Amendment 234 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 e (new)
Paragraph 10 e (new)
10e. Recommends that policies be pursued to promote an active transition to retirement by boosting work sharing and the transfer of experience and knowledge; urges the Member States to refrain from raising the maximum retirement age above 65;
Amendment 235 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 f (new)
Paragraph 10 f (new)
10f. Urges the Commission to develop and allocate the funding necessary to implement an EU strategy to eliminate and prevent the gender pension gap.