Activities of Sandra PEREIRA related to 2022/2147(INI)
Shadow opinions (2)
OPINION on the assessment of the new communication of the European Commission on Outermost Regions
Assessment of the new Commission communication on outermost regions
Amendments (30)
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas social inequalities are at the heart of the challenges facing the outermost regions (ORs) of the EU; whereas the ORs collectively face structural factors, such as remoteness, insularity, small size, low population density and seasonal fluctuation in population, dependence on a small number of production units and a lack of economic diversification, and are disproportionately affected by high poverty, unemployment andor school dropout rates and these issues are exacerbated by the particularities that are common to these regionose structural factors;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that the programme of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity (POSEI) should be strengthened; calls, in this regard, for an increase in the budget of POSEI from 2027;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the structural inequalities facing the ORs are tackled by policies that positively discriminate these regions, ensuring investment that increases the quantity and quality of public services and ensuring universal access, that galvanises production and local and regional markets, technology infrastructure, innovation and sustainability, and that improves connectivity between islands and with the mainland;
Amendment 21 #
1a. Calls for Community measures to support the outermost regions (ORs) to be permanent, given the permanent constraints they face;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Considers that, in line with Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty, as regards access to the Structural Funds for the outermost regions, the Community co- financing rates for these regions should be increased and that the funds earmarked for these regions should not be conditional on their GDP relative to the Community average;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Calls for the POSEI programmes to be used to recognise and promote regional crops and products as part of the historical and cultural heritage and identity of these regions;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Considers that family farming plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining and protecting the countryside and in crop diversification and is of particular importance in increasing traditional agri- food production, supplying fresh food to the local and regional market, diversifying agriculture, protecting biodiversity and the environment, reducing the use of plant protection products, increasing self-consumption and reducing external food dependency; recognises that the outermost regions face social and economic development constraints due to their remoteness, insularity, small markets, geographical dispersion and small size;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1f. Considers that the outermost regions should continue to design, implement and manage their own rural development measures;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Urges the Commission to increase the financial allocations for POSEI in particular in exceptional circumstances, such as those faced by the agricultural sector in the Azores, Madeira and La Palma;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls for urgent measures to be adopted to help tackle the persistent nature of unemployment, poverty and inequalities in these regions;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Criticises the reduced budget dedicated to the ORs for the 2021-2027 period, which will have a negative impact on the necessary deployment of public funds to counter the structural inequality endured by these regions; calls on the Commission to reinforce the Structural and Investment Funds and other sources of EU funding aimed at the ORs, as well as to create new instruments – such as a POSEI Transport and a POSEI Fisheries – and encourage public policies that promote employment and inclusive social responses, focusing on the development of these regions and the reduction of inequalities;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Considers it extremely important for the economic and social cohesion of the outermost regions to guarantee public services, including in the areas of air and maritime transport, energy and communications;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Considers it of utmost importance for the development of these regions to ensure that people have access to the means of information and communication offered by new technologies, in particular broadband;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that the EU biodiversity strategy’s targets should not hinderhelp the sustainable development of the agricultural sectors in the outermost regions (ORs), safeguarding their biodiversity, which is the guarantor of the high-quality products produced only in these regions and which have unique properties that distinguish them from similar products from other regions of the world;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to establish a separate chapter dedicated to the ORs in its impact assessments of the farm to fork and biodiversity strategiesproposals for the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies, taking into account their specific characteristics, the necessary strategy based on policies and measures that are not subject to transitional criteria or cyclical changes in wealth, which are adapted to the different needs of each of these regions and which contribute to addressing the permanent constraints they face;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to support youth employment in the ORs, including by working with local stakeholders, including within the private sector, universities and local authorities, to establish a digital one-stop shop in order to help young people who are seeking their first job or looking to establish or take over businesses;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the need to ensure the empowerment of women in the ORs by promoting access to stable, high-quality jobthe creation of decent jobs, the fight against precariousness, increased salaries, the availability of free nurseries and other support for motherhood and parenthood, and care for elderly people and people with special needs;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls for the restoration of POSEI Fisheries and the creation of POSEI Transport, providing the Community funding necessary to strengthen the production, processing and marketing structures of these regions so as to offset the disadvantages of remoteness;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Considers of great importance the creation of a POSEI transport scheme for regions such as the Azores archipelago, which, owing to its physical make-up, suffers from a so-called double insularity – its remoteness from the mainland and the distance between the islands – both of which significantly increase the transport costs for people and goods in transit between the islands and between the islands and the mainland, with the obvious effect of increasing the cost of production inputs;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to facilitate the establishment of special economic zones in order to promote economic and social recovery, job creation and skills development in the ORs, and to support the Member States in the evaluation, renewal and adaptation of existing special economic zones; stresses the need to boost local markets – such as an inter-island market in the Macaronesia region – the production of local products, the sustainability of economic activities (including tourism) and the capacity to attract economic innovation (in renewable energies, for example), including through public universities;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that the development of specific economic sectors, such as the fisheries sector, will be made easier by the ORs having control over the entirety of their Exclusive Economic Zones, enabling the creation of decent employment;
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for the Commission to exercise the utmost vigilance inreverse the liberalisation of the EU market and the proliferation of trade agreements between the EU and partner countries;
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to improve access toensure that the European Social Fund Plus in the ORs byhas real impact in the ORs, particularly by increasing its co-financing to at least 90 % (going up to 100 % in certain circumstances), as well as by improving access, setting up mass information campaigns aimed at institutional and associative partners, provid and creating a support service for project leaders and financing training for managing authorities. and by simplifying project management procedures;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls for the mechanisms for supporting agricultural production in these regions to be reviewed so that support for agriculture has a positive impact on farmers’ incomes and on the lowering of consumer prices;
Amendment 109 #
7b. Notes that milk and related upstream and downstream products constitute one of the fundamental pillars of the economy of the Autonomous Region of the Azores; recognises that their socio-economic importance and the number of direct and indirect jobs and services they provide are indispensable for ensuring economic and social cohesion;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Considers that producers in the ORs in recent years, like tens of thousands of milk producers across the EU, have been forced to abandon production because of the ruinous prices paid to producers, which do not compensate for production costs; takes the view that the situation affecting milk production is inseparable from its liberalisation and the end of production quotas, and that it can only be resolved by means of mechanisms to regulate the markets;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses that the ORs are particularly susceptible to economic crises, such as the crisis resulting from the current surge in inflation; calls on the Commission to promote instruments that offset the effects of crises on the ORs’ populations, including by controlling the prices of food and energy products, thereby combating the emergence of new pockets of poverty and exclusion;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Stresses that the ORs are particularly susceptible to the effects of extreme weather events resulting from climate change, and this particularly affects the local population and production; calls on the Commission to ensure faster response mechanisms, including through the Solidarity Fund;