19 Amendments of Milan BRGLEZ related to 2022/2151(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the joint employment report for 2023 strengthens the focus on the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the EPSR, in line with the commitments of the Action Plan of March 2021 and with the EU Leaders in the 8 May Porto Declaration; whereas its implementation should strengthen the Union’s drive towards a green, digital and fair transition and contribute to achieving upward social and economic convergence; whereas many assessments of the Semester suggest low compliance with its recommendations, in part because of the limited enforceability, especially on social policy matters;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas recent studies1b have shown that social inequalities are the biggest concern of people in the EUtogether with the rise of prices and the increasing cost of living; whereas even before the pandemic, over 80% of people in the EU wanted their national governments to take further measures to reduce income inequalities; whereas high income inequalities can have damaging effects on economic growth and endanger social cohesion; _________________ 1b https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor ner/detail/en/IP_22_447
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas in-work poverty remains a challenge for the Member States; whereas workers on temporary contracts face a much higher risk of in-work poverty than those on permanent contracts; whereas in-work poverty has increased from 8.5% in 2010 to 9% in 2019 in the EU but remained stable between 2020 and 2021 due to the swift policy intervention during the pandemic; whereas the risk of poverty or social exclusion for employed persons in the EU was 11.1 % in 2021; whereas In-work poverty has to be closely monitored, especially in light of the recent negative impact of inflation on real wages; whereas real wage levels are still below the crisis-year 2009 level in many EU countries; whereas housing cost overburden continue to be above 40% of the disposable income housing for more than 8%, and little progress has been made in reducing the number of homeless people across EU Member States;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas climate change and environmental destruction have exacerbated inequalities and disproportionately affect the poor and the most vulnerable groups; whereas a Green Deal focused on investments to make the transition to a decarbonised, climate- neutral economy, will not be a good deal if, at the same time, it does not invest in the people who cannot afford the change; whereas it is necessary to ensure a sustainable future for all;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas rapid increases in energy prices and inflation across the EU are placing a burden on households, especially affecting the most vulnerable with the lowest incomes; whereas these rapid price increases aggravate energy poverty to which more than 50 million of people in the EU were exposed already before the pandemic in 2019;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the new digital economy should generate benefits for society as a whole by improving quality of life and working conditions and creating new quality and decent employment opportunities; whereas AI has the potential to foster prosperity and facilitate the transition to sustainable, robust and more resilient economy, if well regulated; whereas AI potentially offers economic benefits and new opportunities for businesses and workers while at the same time represents legal and employment related challenges;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
F a. whereas according to Eurofound, 20 % of jobs in Europe were of ‘poor quality’ in 2017, and put the physical or mental health of workers at increased risk; whereas according to the OECD, financial uncertainty and job insecurity are risk factors associated with poor mental health; whereas investing in long- term and quality jobs are key to combat poor mental health among workers;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that public services are pillars of democracy and a bulwark against populism, ensure core democratic values including respect for fundamental and human rights and play a crucial role in overcoming crises, guaranteeing public safety and security of supply by providing access to their services based on the principle of equal access and guaranteed universality; highlights that the continued and reliable provision of free access to high-quality services of general interest should be guaranteed at EU level; calls for the revision of the legal framework for services of general economic interest to ensure that households in need have access to good-quality essential services, particularly housing, energy, transport, water, the internet and sanitation;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that future EU funding initiatives to support industry and sovereignty ensure long term, sustainable growth as well as shared prosperity; considers essential that the relevant aspects are integrated in any future funding instrument: - Social and environmental justice as guiding principles in order to make the EU more resilient to growing threats to health and well-being. - Strong focus on workers: any investment should create good-paying jobs to lift up the low and middle classes and bring tangible benefits to communities that are often overlooked and left behind. - Environmental Justice: ensure fair redistribution of the projects, benefiting disadvantaged communities which are disproportionately impacted by underinvestment in critical infrastructure, pollution and climate change.
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the revised European Semester process, with a broader scope and enhanced multilateral surveillance, taking into account reforms and investments through the national Recovery and Resilience Plans, Europe’s clean energy transition through REPowerEU and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes the new dual function of the national reform programmes (NRPs), complying with the rules in the Stability and Growth Pact and setting out their economic and fiscal policy plans while at the same time, fulfilling the reporting requirements linked to the RRF; reminds the Member States of their obligation to undertake reforms and make investments that contribute to the implementation of the EPSR through their national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs), as well as their commitment to continuing to deepen this implementation at EU and national levels in order to reduce inequalities, defend fair wages, fight social exclusion and poverty, taking on the objective of fighting child poverty and addressing the risks of social exclusion;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Is concerned that the constraints imposed by the stability and convergence programmes might hinder the proper implementation of several principles of the EPSR, given that those programs are based solely on macroeconomic indicators and the foreseen impact of economic and budgetary choices in the national budgetary and debt position;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. CHighlights the need to strengthen the social dimension of the European Semester and the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, especially in light of the economic governance review and the upcoming deactivation of the escape clause; calls on the Commission to present a regulation on a social convergence framework, establishing a new mechanism to monitor social convergence risks, prevent other policy actions or economic shocks from having negative social spillover effects on upward social convergence, detect potential setbacks for the proper implementation of the EPSR and establish mandatory social targets to be achieved; believes that social divergence risks should be included in the country- specific recommendations and taken into account when defining fiscal adjustment paths;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Considers that the revised social scoreboard does not properly cover the 20 EPSR principles; calls, therefore, for the improvement of the social scoreboard and the inclusion of relevant indicators to identify social divergences through a dynamic assessment; draws attention to the importance of including indicators that fully reflect the trends in and causes of inequality, such as indicators on good- quality employment, wealth distribution, access to good-quality public services, homelessness indicators, adequate pensions, minimum income schemes, occupational diseases (including mental health conditions) and unemployment benefits, as well as indicators measuring the social impact of environmental degradation and climate change; reminds the Commission that the ‘at risk of poverty or social exclusion’ (AROPE) indicator does not capture the wider and more complex causes of inequalities; considers essential to integrate in the Semester multilateral surveillance the assessment of the distributional effects of climate policies financial burden on households as well as the distribution of the environmental benefits from such policies across different income groups, in order to identify policy measures needed to address these impacts;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Is concerned about the current economic landscape, forecasts for the near future and the impact that wage increases below inflation could have on living standards in the EU; considers that increasing purchasing power is a guaranteed means of ensuring further economic recovery, however, wages in general will grow below inflation for the year to come, thus workers will lose spending power; calls on the Member States to rapidly implement the provisions established in the Minimum Wages Directive1 , so that minimum wages are increased to at least 60 % of a country’s gross median salary or 50 % of the gross average; calls on the Commission to monitor the state of play in relation to minimum wages and ensure that low-end salaries, and particularly minimum wages, reflect the soaring cost of living; stresses that, in order to enlarge the middle income household share, this should be combined with policies strengthening collective bargaining coverage and unionization, in order to rebalance power among different groups in society; Recalls that decent wages are an essential tool in helping households keep up with the rise of energy prices; notes that this is an essential economic stabiliser in order to contain inflation; _________________ 1 Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, OJ L 275, 25.10.2022, p. 33.
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Urges the Commission to promote collective bargaining, democracy at work, and social dialogue through the European Semester, and specifically in the country- specific recommendations, in order to implement the Minimum Wages Directive and ensure sustainable, decent wages through collective bargaining;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the agreement on the adoption of the Social Climate Fund to address the impact that the extension of the emissions trading to the building and road transport sectors will have on vulnerable houses and micro enterprises; warns that both the aims and the funding of this instrument make it clearly insufficient to address the unequal impact of climate change and environmental degradation on different income groups as well as the social consequences of the transformation of our societies towards climate neutrality; highlights the urgency of adopting instruments that enable all parts of society to enjoy the benefits of a climate-neutral economy, and that protect households from the impact of both climate change and pollution and prevent them from suffering any negative social consequences that might arise from the implementation of European Green Deal policies; insists that social and environmental policies and objectives must be integrated on an equal footing with economic ones; in this sense, is convinced that the Stability and Growth Pact is outdated and does not offer neither the flexibility nor the architecture necessary to put in place a new Sustainable Development and Social Progress governance in the EU; calls on the Commission to safeguard the right to health and to a healthy environment at EU level, as this right is essential to ensuring the fulfilment of most other fundamental rights such as food, shelter and work as well as to achieving an inclusive transition;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls for the EU industrial strategy to ensure that the jobs of tomorrow are not only green, but above all decent, well paid and based on good working conditions, with health and safety at work, robust social protection and gender equality; calls also for it to ensure that people are adequately remunerated in line with their qualifications and certified competences; stresses that public funding support to industry should be conditional on companies’ commitments to bargain with trade unions and respect collective agreements, information and consultation with unions, avoid redundancies and deterioration of working conditions, ban dividend payments, reskilling and the creation of high-quality apprenticeships; highlights the role that public procurement processes should play to promote collective bargaining and good working conditions.