Activities of Helmut GEUKING related to 2023/2066(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on reducing inequalities and promoting social inclusion in times of crisis for children and their families
Amendments (41)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
– having regard to the European Social Charter, adopted in Turin in 1961,
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
– having regard to the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2019 on High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems,
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 b (new)
Citation 16 b (new)
– having regard to the Proposal for a Council Recommendation 2022/0263 of 14 September 2022 on the Revision of the Barcelona targets on early childhood education and care,
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas child poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon stemming from householdfamily 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; , including via the possibility to introduce a child raising income1a, and ensuring effective access to effective quality public services; _________________ 1a The European child allowance and the child raising income are essential economic stimulus programs aimed at alleviating poverty in all European Member States, strengthening families, increasing local purchasing power and tax revenue, and stimulating the circulation of money and the economy, which is imperatively necessary in order to better manage the crises. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Member States autonomously determine the financial depth and speed.
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, adopted in 2021, aims to reduce the number of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 5 million by 2030; whereas even if this target were achieved around 15t least 20 million children in the EU would still be at risk of poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas early disparities in skills, in children’s sense of curiosity, security and confidence become difficult to compensate for and have grave developmental implications over time and throughout the lifespan;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas children need the opportunity to learn, play, explore and communicate, and for that, ensuring adequate family income and housing conditions is vital;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the socio-economic status (SES) of children who are poor or at risk of poverty may lead to large developmental disparities, which precede the start of formal schooling and hinder the ability of education and learning systems to produce equal outcomes for all;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas childcare and pre-school education mayas well as the development of cognitive, physical and socio-emotional skills necessary for participation in school and society, are of considerable importance for all children and do play a significant role in compensating for the socio-economic status of children at risk of poverty and foster the integrin particular for children in vulnerable situations of parents, especially mothers, into the labour marketr from disadvantaged backgrounds;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas institutions with semi- inpatient and inpatient facilities, especially in times of crisis, need good, qualified staff with child-friendly staffing levels to ensure that children and their families are cared for as needed and to provide children with qualified educational opportunities in order to promote their social integration;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas, particularly in times of crisis, the creation of high-quality jobs, through the expansion and promotion of companies, flexible, dynamic labor markets, the elimination of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, combating the shortage of skilled workers through a corresponding qualification offensive and a right to training, is an important preventive measure to reduce inequalities and promote the social inclusion of children and their families;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas even in countries where the right to health is enshrined in law, many children and their families do not have access to adequate healthcare and some have extremely limited access to services other than emergency services, putting at risk the health of women, their relatives and their children during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the health of babies and children;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas children, parents, families and foster families and carers should be protected from discrimination, such as discrimination on grounds of sex, language, sexual orientation, religion or belief, political or ideological beliefs, national, racial, ethnic or social origin, belonging to a national minority, economic situation, disability, age or any other status, and children from vulnerable population groups are at greater risk of marginalisation, poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas playing gives children the opportunity to express themselves in a symbolic way and forms an essential basis of the way they think, strengthening children’s participation in society ;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the latest global estimatesit seems to be a taboo subject, there are strong indicateions that 160 million children were in child labour at the beginning of 2020, which accounts for almost 1 in 10 children worldwidechild labour remains a serious problem in Europe, interfereing with children’s schooling, affecting their results and leading to drop out of school;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas children belong in school and not in factories or fields;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
Gb. whereas the main cause for children having to work is poverty;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G c (new)
Recital G c (new)
Gc. whereas child labour might be growing in the wake of the economic crisis and countries that were badly affected by austerity measures are countries at risk;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G d (new)
Recital G d (new)
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G e (new)
Recital G e (new)
Ge. whereas many countries have adequate legislation but fail to monitor actual practices;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G f (new)
Recital G f (new)
Gf. whereas the best interests of the child should be the guiding principle, as stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the standards of the European Social Charter;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G g (new)
Recital G g (new)
Gg. whereas new ways to tackle child poverty directly are to be explored. A useful instrument are economic stimulus programs that strengthen the purchasing power of the poorest, such as the European child allowance1a; _________________ 1a The European child allowance and the child raising income are essential economic stimulus programs aimed at alleviating poverty in all European Member States, strengthening families, increasing local purchasing power and tax revenue, and stimulating the circulation of money and the economy, which is imperatively necessary in order to better manage the crises. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Member States autonomously determine the financial depth and speed.
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Member States to increase public investment in universal effective policies that have a direct and indirect impact on children’s lives, by guaranteeing high-quality and effective 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 recruitmenthigh quality work and thus to promote the necessary improvement of the socio-economic status of children who are poor or at risk of poverty with decent and fair wages, to facilitate areconcile family and work- life balance by, inter alia, reducing working hours and providing for maternity and paternity leavthrough a child raising income1a so that mothers and fathers are equally available to the labor markets in the future, and to bolster mechanisms for ensuring the participation of children and their families in the development, implementation and monitoring of these policies; _________________ 1a The European child allowance and the child raising income are essential economic stimulus programs aimed at alleviating poverty in all European Member States, strengthening families, increasing local purchasing power and tax revenue, and stimulating the circulation of money and the economy, which is imperatively necessary in order to better manage the crises. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Member States autonomously determine the financial depth and speed.
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Member States to establish policies (and practices) that empower parents to support their children outside the childcare setting throughout their childhood, and particularly during early childhood, when children are aged 0–3;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. DeplorNotes 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; stresses for this reason, that universal and long-term policies offergive better protection against the multiple causes of poverty and social exclusion, by providing structural responses that can, if necessary, also be supplemented by immediate, one-offreinforcing necessary support measures;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to refrain from recommending reforms that lead to cuts in and the weakcommend a strengthening of public administrations and services in the Member States, aimed at in order to reduce inequalities and promotinge the relaxation of employment relationships and the privatisation of public services, which have led to the weakening and, in some cases, the undermining of the social and labour rights of children and their families; deploressocial inclusion of children and their families in times of crisis and to counteract privatisation; expresses its incomprehension with regard to the recent statements by the President of the ECB, who criticised the investments by national governments in social responses aimed at addressing the increased cost of living;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Emphasizes that the lessons learned from the Corona crisis have clearly shown that tools such as home office, online teaching and social care/counseling on the computer can also have a negative impact on promoting the social inclusion of children and their families;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Emphasizes that children in special life situations due to illness, care, disability and / or cognitive disorders need specific and targeted measures as well as special educational and care offers in order to preventively counteract inequalities in social security protection and a lack of social integration of their person and their families in times of crisis;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4d. Emphasizes that parents deserve the utmost respect and esteem from all of us, because a strong Europe can only come from strong families; calls on the Member States to set up counseling structures tailored to the needs of all parents, particularly with regard to disadvantaged sections of society;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4e. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote family- centered early childhood policies and intervention that pay attention to the needs and aspirations of families, especially vulnerable families as defined within their context, and that contribute to a more inclusive, future-oriented society.
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 g (new)
Paragraph 4 g (new)
4g. Moreover calls on Member States to pay specific attention to the problems of child labour in Europe, and to carefully evaluate the potential impact on child labour caused by budgetary cuts in the field of education and training as well in social policies and support to families;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 h (new)
Paragraph 4 h (new)
4h. Calls on Member States to more intensively fight and condemn child labour, to investigate and guarantee labour inspection agencies to be in a position to do their work adequately, to collect data and monitor child labor and to use the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Social Charter as guidance for preventive and remedial action;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to implement legislation, such as a child raising income1a, that protects or enhances maternity, paternity and parental rights, and allowings for a considerably more effective work- life balance that makes it possible for women to return to work after pregnancy and maternity leave, and for breastfeeding; _________________ 1a The European child allowance and the child raising income are essential economic stimulus programs aimed at alleviating poverty in all European Member States, strengthening families, increasing local purchasing power and tax revenue, and stimulating the circulation of money and the economy, which is imperatively necessary in order to better manage the crises. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Member States autonomously determine the financial depth and speed.
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recommends that the Member States ensure that all children halife-long learning involves access to formal and non-formal, public, free, inclusive and quality education at all ages, while children in particular require a needs-based design ;
Amendment 314 #
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 oflunch-time supervision and care and after school homework supervision are provided free of charge or subject to a minimal charge; recommends extending this system to all Member States as a means of ensuring equal access to education and care and as an important means of financial support for the most vulnerable of families ;
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Highlights the right to affordable comfortable housing that meets the needs of children and their families and ensures their well- being, privacy and quality of life; calls on the Member States to promote a public housing policy that tackles property speculation and guarantees this right;
Amendment 346 #
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 reduce the impact of the rise in the cost of living on children and their families, and in order to counteract financially if necessary;
Amendment 361 #
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 develop and implement integrated prevention and protection systems for children with a view to eradicating violencein order to eliminate all shortcomings and to strengthen, increase and promote the best interests of children;
Amendment 371 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses the need to invest in support and, follow-up, care and education for children and young asylum seekers, as well as their families, and host institutionin the accommodation/reception centres, in order to reduce inequalities and promote the social inclusion of children and their families in times of crisis;