40 Amendments of João PIMENTA LOPES related to 2018/0206(COD)
Amendment 26 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) At European Union level, the European Semester of economic policy coordination is the framework to identify national reform priorities and monitor their implementation. Member States develop their own national multiannual investment strategies in support ofhas provided a framework for imposing on Member States the austerity and structural reform policies that lie behind the erosion of labour and social rights, undermining the role and the social responses of the State, contributing unequivocally to the increase in worker exploitation, poverty and social exclusion, hampering access to public services, especially health and education, thereby penalising the grass roots, multiplying those reform priorities. Those strategies should be presented alfects of discrimination and inequality and leaving women more vulnerable, since they are affected to a greater extent by the consequences of those policies. It is therefore congside the yered necessarly National Reform Programmes as a way to outline and coordinate priority investment projects to be supported by national and/or Union funding. Tto put an end to the European Semester and reaffirm the sovereign right of Member States to determine their own multiannual investment priorities, needs and strategies as a key condition for a targeted and effective response to they should also serve to use Union funding in a coherent manner and to maximise the added value of the financial support to be receivedocial needs of the grass roots, getting to grips with the real causes of continued discrimination against women and their increasing vulnerability to poverty and social exclusion. It should accordingly be the responsibility of the Member States, free of European Commission dictates and constraints, to ensure the coherent use of European Union funding, notably from the programmes supported by the Union under the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the European Investment Stabilisation Function and InvestEU, where relevant. ('Union' should be amended to read 'European Union' throughout.)
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2a) Deplores the significant cut, possibly as much as 45%, in funding for economic and social cohesion under the upcoming MFF 2021-2027, and the rechannelling of these resources towards other priorities, especially in the military and security sectors; recalls that successive cohesion funding cuts have contributed to aggravating divergences and disparities in the EU, undermining social responses and increasing poverty in particular, something that has affected women to a greater degree; calls for an increase in cohesion funding and related funding, including ESF+;
Amendment 30 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) The Council of […] adopted revised guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States to align the text with the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, with a view to improving Europe's competitiveness and making it a better place to invest, create jobs and foster social cohesion. In order to ensure the full alignment of the ESF+ with the objectives of these guidelines, particularly as regards employment, education, training and the fight against social exclusion, poverty and discrimination, the ESF+ should support Member States, taking account of the relevant Integrated Guidelines and relevant country-specific recommendations adopted in accordance with Article 121(2) TFEU and Article 148(4) TFEU and, where appropriate, at national level, the national reform programmes underpinned by national strategies. The ESF+ should also contribute to relevant aspects of the implementation of key European Union initiatives and activities, in particular the "Skills Agenda for Europe" and the European Education Area, relevant Council Recommendations and other initiatives such as the Youth Guarantee, Upskilling Pathways and on Integration of the long- term unemployed. (This amendment applies throughout the text.)
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) On 20 June 2017, the Council endorsed the Union response to the 'UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ - a sustainable European future'. The Council underlined the importance of achieving sustainable development across the three dimensions (economic, social and environmental), in a balanced and integrated way. It is vital that sThe Council affirmed the need to achieve the Sustainable dDevelopment is mainstreamed into all Union internal and external policy areas, and that the Union is ambitious in the policies it uses to address global challenges. The Council welcomed the Commission Communication on "Next steps for a sustainable European future" of 22 November 2016 as a first step in mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals and applying sustainable development as an essential guiding principle for all Union poGoals and make sustainable development a guiding principle through its financing instruments and elsewhere. The ESF + should contribute to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, which are now firmly focused on gender equality, being directed towards the eradication of extreme poverty. The provision of high-quality and inclusive forms of education and the promotion of inclusive and sustainable economic growth through enhanced workplace conditions and rights, pay and labour protection are key and crucial elements in reducing social inequalicties, including through its financing instruments.which have a particularly adverse impact on women;
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) The Union is confronted with structural challenges arising from economic globalisation, the management of migration flows and the increased security threatthe crisis of capitalism, clean energy transition, technological change and an increasingly ageing workforce and growing skills and labour shortages in some sectors and regions, experienced especially by SMEs. Taking into account the changing realities of the world of work, the Union should be prepared for the current and future challenges by investing in relevant skills, making growth more inclusive, ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth and by improving employment and social policies, including in view of labour mobilreinforcing labour protection mechanisms that are of key importance when it comes to for combating discrimination on the labour market, particularly against women, who are more vulnerable to precariousness, low pay and discrimination regarding both access to employment and maternity.
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Regulation (EU) No […] establishes the framework for action by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the Cohesion Fund, and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the Asylum and Migration Fund (AMIF), Internal Security Fund (ISF) and the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) as a part of the Integrated Border Management Fund (IBMF), and and lays down, in particular, the policy objectives and the rules concerning programming, monitoring and evaluation, management and control for Union funds implemented under shared management. It is therefore necessary to specify the general objectives of the ESF+, and to lay down specific provisions concerning the type of activities that may be financed by the ESF+.
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) In view of this wider scope of the ESF+ it is appropriate to foresee that the aims to enhance the effectiveness of labour markets and promote access to quality employment with better pay and open- ended contracts, to improve the access to and the quality of education and training as well as to promote social inclusion and health and to reduce poverty are not only implemented under shared management, but also under direct and indirect management under the Employment and Social Innovation and Health strands for actions required at Union level.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) The ESF+ should aim to promote employment through active interventions enabling (re)integration into the labour market, notably for youth, the long-term unemployed and the inactive, as well as through promoting self–-employment and the social economy. The ESF+ should aim to improve the functioning of labour markets by supporting the modernisation of labour market institutions such as the Public Employment Services in order to improve their capacity to provide intensified targeted counselling and guidance during the job search and the transition to employment and to enhance workers’ mobility. The ESF+ should promote women's participation in the labour market through measures aiming to ensure, amongst others, improved work/life balance and access to childcare- which inevitably involves the regulation and reduction of working hours on full pay, better remuneration and implementation of the principle of equal pay for equal work of equal value, the prohibition of all forms of precarious work and firm restrictions regarding the use of temporary work, defence of collective bargaining and guarantees of robust safeguards and maternity protection - and access to childcare, especially thanks to a public response that guarantees universal and high-quality public services. The ESF + should also aim to provide a healthy and well-adapted working environment in order to respond to health risks related to changing forms of work and the needs of the ageing workforce.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13 a (new)
Recital 13 a (new)
(13a) In managing their budgets, Member States should be prepared to earmark funding for effective measures to combat all forms of inequality, including gender inequality, evaluating their operational programmes and increasing resources where necessary. Adequate funding for measures to combat gender inequalities is of key importance for the implementation of equal opportunities policies.
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) The ESF+ should provide support to improving the quality, effectiveness and labour market relevance of education and training systems in order to facilitate the acquisition of key competences notably as regards digital skills which all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship. The ESF+ should help progression within education and training and transition to work, support lifelong learning and employability, and contribute to competitiveness andcontribute to societal and economic innovation by supporting scalable and sustainable initiatives in these fields. This could be achieved for example through work-based learning and apprenticeships, lifelong guidance, skills anticipation in cooperation with industry, up-to-date training materials, forecasting and graduate tracking, training of educators, validation of learning outcomes and recognition of qualifications.
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Support through the ESF+ should be used to promote equal access for all, in particular for disadvantaged groups, to quality, non-segregated, more widely accessible, public, free and inclusive education and training, from early childhood education and care through general and vocational education and training and to tertiary level, as well as adult education and learning, thereby fostering permeability between education and training sectors, preventing early school leaving, improving health literacy, reinforcing links with non-formal and informal learning and facilitating learning mobility for all. Synergies with the Erasmus programme, notably to facilitate the participation of disadvantaged learners in learning mobility, should be supported within this context.
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) The ESF+ should promote flexible upskilling and reskilling opportunities for all, notably digital skills and key enabling technologies, with a view to providing people with skills adjusted to digitalisation, technological change, innovation and social and economic change, facilitating career transitions, mobility and supporting in particular low-skilled and/or poorly qualified adults, in line with the Skills Agenda for Europe.
Amendment 53 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) The ESF+ should support Member States’ efforts to tackle poverty with a view to breaking the cycle of disadvantage across generations and promote social inclusion by ensuring equal opportunities for all, tackling discrimination and addressing health inequalities. This implies mobilising a range of policies targeting the most disadvantaged people regardless of their age, including children, marginalised communities such as the Roma, and the working poor, the homeless, persons with disabilities, third country nationals, asylum seekers and refugees, and all other people facing multiple social challenges. The ESF+ should promote the active inclusion of people far from the labour market with a view to ensuring their socio-economic integration. The ESF+ should be also used to enhance timely and equal access to affordable, sustainable and high quality free public services such as healthcare and long-term care, in particular family and community- based care services. The ESF+ should contribute to the modernisation of social protection systems with a view in particular to promoting their accessibility and widening their scope.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) The ESF+ should contribute to the reduction of poverty by supporting national schemes aiming to alleviate food and material deprivation and promote social integration of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion and the most deprived. With a view that at Union level at least 4% of the resources of the ESF+ strand under shared management supports the most deprived, Member States should allocate at least 2% ofMember States should allocate the funding they deem necessary from their national resources of the ESF+ strand under shared management to address the forms of extreme poverty with the greatest social exclusion impact, such as homelessness, child poverty and food deprivation. Due to the nature of the operations and the type of end recipients, it is necessary that simpler rules apply to support which addresses material deprivation of the most deprived.
Amendment 59 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) The ESF+ should support policy and system reforms in the fields of employment, social inclusion, healthcare and long-term care, and education and training. In order to strengthen alignment with the European Semester, Member States should allocate an appropriate amount of their resources of the ESF+ strand under shared management to implement relevant country-specific recommendations relating to structural challenges which it is appropriate to address through multiannual investments falling within the scope of the ESF+. The Commission and the Member States should ensure coherence, coordination and complementarity between the shared- management and Health strands of ESF+ and the Reform Support Programme, including the Reform Delivery Tool and the Technical Support Instrument. In particular, the Commission and the Member State should ensure, in all stages of the process, effective coordination in order to safeguard the consistency, coherence, complementarity and synergy among sources of funding, including technical assistance thereofconsolidation and enhancement in the fields of employment, social inclusion, healthcare and long-term care, and education and training.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) To ensure that the social dimension of Europe as set out in the European Pillar of Social Rightsat European Union level is duly put forward and that a minimum amount of resources is targeting those most in need Member States should allocate at least 25% of their national ESF+ resources of the ESF+ strand, it is recommended that Member States significantly increase the share of ESF+ resources under shared management allocated to fostering social inclusion.
Amendment 62 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) In the light of persistently high levels of youth unemployment and inactivity in a number of Member States and regions, in particular affecting young people who are neither in employment, nor in education or training, it is necessary that those Member States continue to invest sufficient resources of the ESF+ strand under shared management towards actions to promote youth employment including through the implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes. Building on the actions supported by the Youth Employment Initiative in the 2014-2020 programming period targeting individual persons, Member States should further promote employment and education reintegration pathways and outreach measures for young people by prioritising, where relevant, long-term unemployed, inactive and disadvantaged young people including through youth work. Member States should also invest in measures aimed at facilitating school-to-work transition as well as reforming and adapting employment services with a view to providing tailor-made support to young people. Member States concerned should therefore allocate at least 10 % of their national resources of the ESF+ strand under shared management to support youth employabilityjob creation for young people, helping them to gain a foothold on the employment market.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 32
Recital 32
Amendment 70 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 33
Recital 33
Amendment 71 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 34
Recital 34
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2.º – paragraph 1 – point 18
Article 2.º – paragraph 1 – point 18
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3.º – paragraph 1
Article 3.º – paragraph 1
The ESF+ aims to support Member States to achieve high employment levels, fair labour and social protection and a skilled and resilient workforce ready for the future world of work, in line with the principles set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights proclaimed by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on 17 November 2017.
Amendment 80 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3.º – paragraph 2
Article 3.º – paragraph 2
The ESF+ shall support, complement and add value to the policies of the Member States to ensure equal opportunities, access to the labour market, fair working conditions, fairer distribution of wealth, labour and social protection and, social inclusion, and a high level of human health protection and access to healthcare with no financial restrictions.
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point i
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point i
(i) improving access to employment of all jobseekers, in particular youth and long- term unemployed, and of inactive people, promoting self-employment and the social economlabour market entry;
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point ii
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point ii
(ii) modernising labour market institutions and services to assess and anticipate skills needs and ensure timely and tailor-made assistance and support to labour market matching, transitions and mobility;
Amendment 85 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point iii
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point iii
(iii) gender mainstreaming and, in particular, promoting women’'s labour market participation, a better work/life balance including access to childcare and better remuneration, while ensuring compliance with the principle of equal pay for equal work of equal value; a better work/life balance, guaranteeing the regulation and reduction of working hours, ensuring effective maternity protection with leave on full pay, including at least six months of exclusive breastfeeding1a, as well as access to a network of quality pre-school childcare and infant education and care, making use of public policies and structures alongside other community- based care services for people with disabilities and the elderly, a healthy and well–adapted working environment addressing health risks, adaptation of workers, enterprises and entrepreneurs to change, and active and healthy ageing;
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point v
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point v
(v) promoting equal access to and completion of, quality and inclusive education and training, in particular for disadvantaged groups, from early childhood education and care through general and vocational education and training, and to tertiary level, as well as adult education and learning, including facilitating learning mobility for all;
Amendment 93 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point vi
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point vi
(vi) promoting lifelong learning, notably flexible upskilling and reskilling opportunities for all taking into account digital skills, better anticipating change and new skills requirements based on labour market needs, facilitating career transitions and promoting professional mobility;
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point vii
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point vii
(vii) fostering active inclusion with a view to promoting equal opportunities and active participation, and improving employability;
Amendment 95 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point ix
Article 4.º – paragraph 1 – point ix
(ix) enhancing the equal and timely access to quality, sustainable and affordable services; modernising social protection systems, including promoting access to social protection; improving accessibility, effectiveness and resilience of healthcare systems and long-term care services, particularly through the consolidation and enhancement of free and universal public health services;
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4.º – paragraph 2 – point 1
Article 4.º – paragraph 2 – point 1
1. a smarter Europe through the development of skills for smart specialisation, skills for key enabling technologies, industrial transition, sectorial cooperation on skills and entrepreneurship, the training of researchers, networking activities and partnerships between higher education institutions, vocational and educational training (VET) institutions, research and technological centres and enterprises and clusters, support to micro, small and medium sized enterprises and the social economy;
Amendment 100 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6.º – paragraph 1
Article 6.º – paragraph 1
1. All programmes implemented under the ESF+ strand under shared management, as well as the operations supported by the Employment and Social Innovation and Health strands shall ensure equality between men and women throughout their preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. They shall support specific actions to involve women in working life with acceptable pay and improved career prospects, combating the feminisation of poverty, reducing gender segregation and gender stereotypes on the employment market and in education and training. They shall also promote equal opportunities for all, without discrimination based on sex, nationality, place of residence, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation throughout their preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. They shall also improve access to the employment market and elsewhere in accordance with Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7.º – paragraph 2
Article 7.º – paragraph 2
Amendment 107 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7.º – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Article 7.º – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Member States shall allocate at least 2%determine the percentage of their ESF+ resources under shared management to be allocated to the specific objective of addressing material deprivation set out in point (xi) of Article 4(1) in line with the reality and the specific objectives.
Amendment 108 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7.º – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2
Article 7.º – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 109 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8.º – paragraph 1
Article 8.º – paragraph 1
1. Each Member State shall ensure adequate participation of social partners and civil society organisations in the delivery of employment, education and social inclusion policies supported by the ESF+ strand under shared management with a view to achieving effective social inclusion and improving the social and economic circumstances of the beneficiaries, especially in the field of employment, promoting high-quality jobs with high labour and social protection.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11.º
Article 11.º
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17.º – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 17.º – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
The food and/or basic material assistance mayshall be provided directly to the most deprived persons or indirectly through electronic vouchers or cards, provided that they can only be redeemed against food and/or basic material assistance as set out in Article 2(3).