Activities of Elżbieta RAFALSKA related to 2021/2253(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Common European action on care (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT towards a common European action on care
Amendments (50)
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 19 a (new)
Citation 19 a (new)
— having regard to the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the fourth UN Economic Commission for Europe Ministerial Conference on Ageing in Lisbon on 22 September 2017 entitled ‘A Sustainable Society for all Ages: Realizing the potential of living longer’,
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 30 a (new)
Citation 30 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission communication of 26 April 2017 entitled ‘An initiative to support work-life balance for working parents and carers’(COM(2017)0252),
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 a (new)
Citation 32 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 7 July 2021 on an old continent growing older – possibilities and challenges related to ageing policy post-2020,
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 36
Citation 36
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the number of people who are dependent on the assistance of others or have health and long-term care needs increases with age; whereas the share of individuals in need of such services is higher in those aged 80 or over; whereas the needs for care and support are diverse and the appropriate means to ensure autonomy and independence differ;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas there is a lack of quality, accessible and affordable care is not sufficient in nearly all Member States; whereas the monitoring of care is hampered by the lack of disaggregated data and the lack of quality indicatorsinsufficient data;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the median age in the EU-28 rose from 38.3 years in 2001 to 43.1 years in 20181a; whereas in 2018, 19% of EU citizens were 65 or older and whereas their needs should be taken into account in the political decision-making process at EU, national and regional levels; _________________ 1a European Parliamentary Research Service, Demographic outlook for the European Union, March 2020, p. 3.
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the demographic change and other societal and economic factors are gradually bringing about qualitative shortages on the labour market, making it hard to find suitably qualified workers, and, as demographic trends become increasingly unfavourable with an expected rise of old-age dependency ratio to increase from 29.6% in 2016 to 51.2% in 2070, there are also quantitative shortages, in particular in specific sectors such as the care sector;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas according to Eurofound1a, workers with a foreign background and first-generation migrant workers tend to be overrepresented in sectors dominated by lower-skilled employment, including homecare and long term care; whereas the Commission’s Fitness check on legal migration of March 2019 emphasised the substantial obstacles in legal migration pathways for low and middle skilled workers, despite increased labour demand; _________________ 1a https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/def ault/files/ef_publication/field_ef_docume nt/ef19004en.pdf
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas most older people would like to live in their own homes at an advanced age however, it is not possible for all those who wish to do so, and thus many of them live in institutional care facilities;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the structures of care need to be changed from centralised institutions to community-based and live-in home care; whereas that shift has been too slow;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas women are much more involved in caring for children, older people, dependent and persons with disabilities and fulfilling household duties;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas 6.3 million professionals work in long-term care, among whom women (81 %) are overrepresented and there are increasing numbers of platform workers, as well as migrant and mobile workers; whereas there are still obstacles that hamper the free provision of care services in the EU;
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas in all the Member States, pay in the care sector is well below the average pay and is connected with numerous factors, including lower collective bargaining coverage in the care sector;
Amendment 318 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas 80 % of all long-term care in Europe is provided by informal carers, which makes care an extremely gendered issue;
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas there are various forms of employment of formal live-in carers such as via care companies or temporary employment agencies and intermediaries; whereas this leads to different level of quality of care services;
Amendment 342 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
Amendment 395 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)
Recital P a (new)
Pa. whereas particular attention should be paid to the very old in order, where necessary, to help people who have lost their independence and prevent them from becoming isolated;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P b (new)
Recital P b (new)
Pb. whereas organisation of care services lies in the exclusive competences of Member States and any activities at EU level shall respect the principle of subsidiarity;
Amendment 437 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Believes that every person should have the right to choose quality care services that are suitable for them and their family; believes that the approach to the development of care services should take into account all categories of users and their differences and the wide range of preferences for the types of care services they require; notes that care services should be developed so as to enhance the continuity of care, preventive healthcare, rehabilitation and independent living;
Amendment 443 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Underlines the paramount importance of fully protecting the right to care and support for older people, enabling their access to affordable, quality and holistic care and support services, adapted to individual needs, and promoting well-being, autonomy, independence and community inclusion, without any form of discrimination; emphasises the key role of adequately funded social protection schemes in making care affordable and truly accessible;
Amendment 468 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the need to increase funding for both formal and informal care across the EU to guarantee equal access for dependants to affordable quality care services, as well as an active professional life for carers, and therefore calls on the Member States to make the best use of the European structural and investment funds, including the ESF+, as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility, for investing in care; calls on the Commission to support the Member States in the increasing use of the structural funds for investment in public childcare and care for older and dependent people;
Amendment 481 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Underlines that in order to reduce undeclared work in the formal care it is important to provide public funding for genuine care service providers within social security systems or through tax expenditure which will make legal and fair care service provision affordable and less expensive than care services provided by undeclared carers;
Amendment 503 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Emphasises that most of the live-in care services are cross-border and calls on the Commission and Member States to lift barriers in the free provision of care services;
Amendment 513 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to exchange information and best practices with a view to developing a common European quality framework for care, encompassing all care settings, encouraging upward social convergence and guaranteeing equal rights for all citizens;
Amendment 533 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission to present an ambitious European care strategy that builds on everyone’s right to affordable, accessible and high-quality care, as well as on other principles set out in the EPSR and EU strategic documents, and the individual rights and needs of both care recipients and carers, and that encompasses the entire life course, is based on reliable and comparable data, and includes concrete and progressive goals with a timetable and indicators to evaluate progress;
Amendment 551 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Encourages the Member States to set up community care centres and volunteering and lifelong learning opportunities targeting older people close to schools and nurseries, and to work to foster intergenerational ties by encouraging exchanges between these services;
Amendment 557 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Underlines that the emerging silver economy could turn into one of the main economic drivers, particularly in rural areas, and could provide opportunities for the health and long-term care sectors to offer high-quality care in a more efficient way;
Amendment 559 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Underlines the importance of programmes for lifelong health promotion and education, disease prevention and regular examination and to undertake new initiatives such as better disease prevention policies and more effective health care programmes to stimulate the process of healthy ageing; calls on the Commission and the Member States to actively engage in the WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing by drawing up healthy ageing plans in the EU that cover access to health and care services, as well as strategies for health promotion and prevention; calls on the Commission to set up an ambitious research agenda on physical and mental health as part of the Horizon Europe programme; encourages the Member States to consider using the funds provided by the multiannual financial framework and Next Generation EU for this purpose;
Amendment 563 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 622 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Member States to take action on the development of long-term, palliative and hospice care and care for people with brain disorders associated with memory problems and health support for carers;
Amendment 631 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that accessibility derives from a combination of cost and flexibility; believes that in this respect different forms of care service provision should be available, such as in in-home and community-based settings; recalls that accessibility should go hand in hand with adequate infrastructure; encourages the Member States to increase spending from the ESF+, the ERDF and the Just Transition Fund for adapting public infrastructure, including transport, and public spaces for all;
Amendment 655 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop the tools required for the regular assessment of the accessibility of care services and a comprehensive benchmark for monitoring the quality of both formal and informal care services;
Amendment 662 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Stresses that the free movement of persons and workers is one of the key pillars of the EU, but and that without cross- border provision of care services it would not be possible to meet the growing demand for carers and at the same time notes that challenges to cross-border care remain; calls for the protection of the social security rights of all mobile care workers and care receivers;
Amendment 674 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Repeats its call for a common definition of disability, as well as mutual recognition of disability status in theUnderlines the importance of swift action in terms of implementation of the European Disability Card; recalls that the European Disability Card will be a key instrument to help persons with disabilities to exercise their right to free movement in a barrier-free Europe, therefore it should be mandatory in all Member States;.
Amendment 690 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls for the prioritisation of mental health within public health policy at EU and Member States' level;
Amendment 702 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
Amendment 722 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Amendment 765 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 771 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the Member States to better acknowledge the value of informal care, to improve social protection and the various forms of support for informal carers, to provide professional support, training and peer counselling for informal carers, and to introduce, in close cooperation with social partners, different forms of periodic relief for family members caring for older people, especially those needing respite care and day-care services, and support services including flexible working arrangements; encourages the Member States to put forward targeted strategies to help informal carers and recognise their contribution to care for older people, and to put forward proposals for adequate relief services; emphasises that providing informal care should be a choice and that formal care services should be promoted;
Amendment 790 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Urges the Commission to propose a common coherent package of actions at EU level on informal care, to identify and recognise the different types of informal care provided in Europe, and to; calls on the Member States to consider guaranteeing carers financial support and other additional support services, including time off for carers, and a work-life balance and rehabilitation services for carers and care recipients;
Amendment 809 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Urges the Member States to place adequate staffing levels and investment in care staff at the centre of their care policies, and to support the creation of quality jobs in the sector; calls on the Member States to ensure adequate working and employment conditions in medical and care occupations and to invest in education and training as a means of guaranteeing the quality of care provided; calls for the creation of incentives to take up the profession of carer for older people;
Amendment 847 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Calls on the Member States to establish minimum standards for live-in care work in the areas such as: working time, remuneration and accommodation of carers, in order to take into account specificity of their work; especially the fact of living and working in a common household with a person in need of care; an average working time should be calculated as carers work in shifts; remuneration level shall depend on the care needs as well as skills of the carers; in-house carers who live together with dependants shall have access to separate room, access to toilet, kitchen and, if possible, internet;
Amendment 859 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 b (new)
Paragraph 23 b (new)
23b. Calls on the Member States to identify the scope of live-in carers duties limited to those activities that satisfy the immediate own need of the patient and to activities, that the patient cannot do on its own due to its disability;
Amendment 911 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
Amendment 923 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Amendment 958 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
Amendment 977 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29