26 Amendments of Stéphane BIJOUX related to 2021/2062(INI)
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas global challenges such as digitalisation and the fight against climate change, regardless the COVID-19 crisis, persist and require a just transition so as to leave no one behind;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas social protection systems are under severe pressure to mitigate the social impact of the crisis and ensure decent living conditions for all as well as access to essential services such as health, education and housing;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that according to the treaties the Union shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy aiming at full employment and social progress, a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, the promotion of scientific and technological progress, combatingeradicating poverty, combating inequalities, social exclusion and discrimination, and promoting up-ward social convergence, social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of the rights of the child; insists that these goals must be the overarching priorities for the EU’s long-term sustainable growth strategy in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the EPSR, the Green Deal, and underpin Member States’ recovery and resilience plans;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Calls on the Member States to make full use of the potential offered by the general escape clause, the new MFF and Next Generation EU to support companies which are in difficulty and are lacking liquidity, particularly by improving access for SMEs to funding, safeguarding the jobs and working conditions of people working in the EU and accompanying enterprises and workers in the green and digital transitions;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Is concerned about the serious social and employment effects of the COVID-19 crisis, especially for young people; calls on the Member States and the Commission to make sure that every young European has access to education, training and the labour market; calls on the Member States and the Commission to prioritise the fight against youth unemployment, particularly in the context of the European ‘Next Generation EU’ recovery; to make full use of financial instruments such as the Youth Guarantee and European programmes such as Erasmus +; and to take appropriate measures to tackle youth unemployment and improve the employability of young people; highlights also that the new European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for displaced workers (EGF) could be mobilised in response to the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on employment; calls therefore on the Member States to rapidly submit to the Commission applications for funding to support European workers who have lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 in their retraining, requalification and reintegration into the labour market;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights that economic policy cannot only be analysed from a purely macroeconomic perspective focused on traditional indicators of growth, debt, deficit and employment rate; insists that the SustainableEuropean Semester must be based on an integrated approach combining, on an equal footing, economic, social and environmental policies, that together ensure coordination between Member States, make sure that they go in the same direction towards a climate neutral and more digital economy leaving no one behind as well as address structural change for social progress, sustainable development and well-being;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes EU leaders’ commitment to the implementation of the EPSR and to the three new EU headline targets to be achieved by 2030; warns, however, that the ambition remains insufficientcalls on the Commission to follow its Action Plan on how to implement the EPSR with concrete steps and achievements and to make sure that each proposal delivers and reaches its goal;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to draw lessons from this crisis and work towards the implementation of a differentrenewed sustainable governance architecture in the EU; warns againstcalls on the Commission to takinge the decision, at least after 2022, to deactivate the general escape clause based onlyin the light onf an overall assessment of the state of the economy based on quantitative criteria, with the level of economic activity in the EU compared to pre-crisis levels as the key quantitative criterion; is concerned that this criterion will not properly reflectand of the employment, social and health context as well as in light of the level of economic activity in the EU compared to pre-crisis levels; is of the opinion that all these aspects taken together will help to reflect also the underlying inequalities;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that excessive and inflexible fiscal disciplincertain political choices and fiscal policies made in the wake of the financial and economic crisis may have led to health and social systems in manysome Member States being ill-not enough prepared to face the pandemic; stresses that it is essential to take into account otheradditional criteria, especially those that take into consideration the need for sustained public, social and environmental investment, public sector economic activity, and preventing jeopardisingencourage social progress towards the implementation of the EPSR in the Member States; believes that merely reaching pre-crisis economic activity levels might not be sufficient to consolidate a sustainable recovery; believes that the Stability and Growth Pact and Euro Plus Pact should be revised to reflect the increased need for social investment before any deactivation of the general escape clause; stresses that temporary exemptions or different treatment regarding country-specific situations willhe current instruments might not be enough to overcome risks of economic stagnation, increasing inequalities and social and territorial divergence;
Amendment 106 #
6. Recalls that the President of the Commission has committed to placing sustainability, social inclusion and citizens’ well-being at the heart of the EU economic strategy; deplores the fact that this is not reflected in the Commission’s analysis; calls on the Commissioninvites Member States to participate in the review of the EU fiscal rules in order to encourage sustainable growth-enhancing social investment while maintaining fiscal sustainability; calls on the Commission, especially in the COVID- 19 crisis and in the green and digital transitions context, to integrate more social and environmental imbalances into its analysis in the framework of the Semester;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Regrets thatCalls on the Commission is stillto make sure that any proposinged measures that might put at risk supports the adequacy and sustainability of social protection systems in Member States by continuing, for instance, to promote reforms aiming to ensure fair taxation and a shift of taxation from labour to the environment, especially in a context of serious macroeconomic imbalances; warns about the risks of replacing stable taxes with others from more volatile sourceswards other sources where it will have a less detrimental effect on sustainable growth and employment levels ; stresses that the EU should first consolidate the minimum corporate tax of 15 % to avoid tax dumping and ensure fairness for the middle class and working people in the EU;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Highlights that well-designed labour taxation systems are essential to ensuring high standards of worker protection against risks and illness, and the provision of old age pensions; believes that tax sysMember Statems should focus on taxing high- income, and especially high-wealth, property, capital income and gains, and wealth at the same level as labour income in order to make the systems fairer, to reduce inequalities anddesign their national tax and benefit systems in a way that reduces inequalities, promotes fairness, protects households and provides incentives for education and labour market participation; calls on the Commission and the Member States to sfignificantly increase the revenuht tax evasion and tax avoidance; stresses that this revenue could be used to fund key priorities and help address Member States’ fiscal challenges, and contribute to the long-term sustainability of public finances, including by strengthening the coverage, adequacy of health and social protection systems for all, and ensuring their long- term funding;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights the importance of better integrating sustainable well-being in the EU budgetary planningocial objectives, including on sustainability, inclusion, social progress and well-being, accros all EU policies, especially in the EU budgetary planning; calls on the Commission to give prominence to the social impact of EU policy measure in its impact assessment;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1
Subheading 1
EU sustainable well-beingand inclusive governance framework 2022
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Believes that, in the context of the Recovery and Resilience Plans, skyrocketing public debt levels and the upcoming reform of the Stability and Growth Pact and the Semester process, Parliament’s proposal for the adoption of a sustainable well-being and social progressinvestment pact making social and sustainable targets mandatory in order to achieve the Green Deal objectives, the EPSR and the UN SDGs has become more relevant than ever;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Believes that this pact could define thesocial and sustainable well-being related policy objectives in an improv renewed fiscal policy framework ensuring that the EU economic and fiscal governance would be viable on the long run and work towards the achievement of these objectives; points out that this pact would contain legally binding provisions under a comprehensive surveillance procedure within a renewed sustainable well-beingand inclusive governance system; considers that the pact’s fiscal components should comprise a set of provisions which clearly take account of qualitative aspects of fiscal policies, reward sustainable well- being-oriented, social and inclusive investments and reforms, and thus contain incentives for related action at the national level; points out that the sustainable well-being pact should consider the use of fiscal standards instead of fiscal rules, committing government spending to the pursuit of sustainability and well-being-related policy objectivand social investment pact should maintain fiscal objectives to ensure sound and sustainable budgetary policies, and set out an effecpublic finances over tivme methodology to assess and ensure the sustainability of public finances over timewhile ensuring and permitting the necessary investments for building a sustainable, innovative, inclusive and socially fair society;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2
Subheading 2
From protecting to creating sustainablegreen and quality jobs: the role of public investments and the care dealneed for an ambitious European social agenda
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Acknowledges that the Member States are projected to reach their pre-crisis level of quarterly output by the end of 2022; warnunderlines that for the recovery to be sustainable, it is essential that quality jobs are also created for medium- and low- skilled workers and especially for women, as it has been proved that they are essential for the resilience of our societies and economies; welcomes the Commission’s proposal on strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms; welcomes the fact that this proposal introduces binding pay transparency measures; urges the swift adoption of these measures in order to avoid further gender-based inequalities; calls on the Member States and the Commission to support entrepreneurship among women and facilitate access to financing for them; calls on the Member States to unblock, urgently, the negotiations on the Women on Boards Directive in the Council;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Underlines the importance of ensuring that workers in the EU are protected by adequate minimum wages defined by law or collective agreements, according to national tradition and practices, ensuring they have a decent standard of living wherever they work; welcomes, in this regard, the Commission’s proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, which aims to increase collective bargaining coverage, fight against in-work poverty and increase up- ward social convergence;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to agree on a quality job creation target with a tracker system on public investments at all levelmonitor, with a specific system, the creation of quality jobs in all sectors, including a dedicated section on green jobs, digital jobs and the gender perspective, and to agree on a system of quality and green job creation conditionalities for companies accessing public funds;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Calls on the Member States to take measures to remedy the lack of access to social protection systems, in particular by following the Council Recommendation of 8 November2019 on access to social protection for workers and the self- employed; welcomes, once again, the adoption of this recommendation as a first measure and the Commission’s commitment to strengthening social protection systems in Europe, but stresses the need to make universal access to social protection a reality, especially in the current difficult situation; calls on the Commission to present a European regulatory framework aimed at strengthening and ensuring decent working conditions, rights and access to social protection for platform workers and non-standard workers;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16 b. Stresses that implementing the EU skills agenda equitably is critical for tackling skills shortages, especially for people in new fields of work; calls on the Commission and the Member States to maximise their efforts to invest in affordable, accessible, inclusive and high- quality vocational education and training, to reinforce upskilling and reskilling measures, including digital and transferable skills, and to promote lifelong learning to prepare workers for the needs of the labour market affected by the green and digital transformations; underlines that the mutual recognition of qualifications is key for overcoming skills shortages and skills mismatches;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Underlines that homelessness is one of the most extreme forms of social exclusion; welcomes the launch of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness with the ultimate objective of ending homelessness by 2030; calls on Member States to adopt ambitious national strategies, with adequate national and EU funding, based on the housing first principle promoting the prevention of homelessness and providing access to adequate, safe and affordable housing; calls on the Commission and the Member States to come up with specific proposals to adequately address the problem of energy poverty in the context of our Green Deal objectives;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17 b. Underlines the importance of the intra-EU labour mobility and that free movement of workers contributes to economic growth and cohesion in the Union and creates job opportunities; underlines also that labour mobility must go hand in hand with fair and common rules based on the principle of equal treatment; calls, in that sense, on the Commission to establish clear quantitative and qualitative indicators for the purposes of the European Semester and the publication of country-specific recommendations in order to monitor the implementation and enforcement of the rules on the free movement of workers; calls on the Commission to analyse brain drains in certain regions and sectors, and to support mobile workers by ensuring fair mobility and strengthening the portability of rights and entitlements; calls on the Member States to commit fully to the digitalisation of public services in order to facilitate fair labour mobility, particularly with regard to the coordination of social security systems; therefore asks the Commission to put forward an ambitious proposal for a digital EU Social Security Pass;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 c (new)
Paragraph 17 c (new)
17 c. Underlines that the COVID-19 crisis has shown the necessity to develop an EU common approach towards health, including health at work ; calls for the creation of the European Health Union based on the principles of solidarity, strategic autonomy and cooperation, placing public health considerations at the core of the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities, as enshrined in the Treaty, with systematic health impact assessment of all relevant policies; welcomes the ambitious target to "zero work related death" in the new EU Strategic framework for Health and Safety at work; recalls, once again, the need for the inclusion of substances toxic to reproduction in the scope of the Carcinogens and Mutagen Directive, and for Hazardous Medicinal Products to be included in Annex 1 of the Directive to better protect healthcare workers;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. WarnUnderlines that onlythe country- specific recommendations (CSRs) that contribute to the social objectives established in the RRF Regulation canmust be taken into account in national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs), and that for NRRPs CSRs have to be interpreted in a way that contributes to the achievement of the Regulation’s social objectives; demands a revision of the CSRs in order to ensure coherence between them CSRs and the general and specific objectives of the RRF Regulation; insists that the NRRPs, in line with the RRF Regulation, contribute to achieving the UN SDGs, implementing our growth strategy as set out in the Green Deal and fulfilling the principles of the EPSR;