Activities of Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ related to 2021/2251(INI)
Shadow opinions (2)
OPINION on the implementation report on the Recovery and Resilience Facility
OPINION on the implementation report on the Recovery and Resilience Facility
Amendments (52)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
— having regard to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU)2021/2106 of 28 September 2021 on supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by setting out the common indicators and the detailed elements of the recovery and resilience scoreboard2a, _________________ 2a OJ L 429, 1.12.2021, p. 83.
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Citation 1 b (new)
Citation 1 b (new)
— having regard to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU)2021/2105 of 28 September 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by defining a methodology for reporting social expenditure3a, _________________ 3a OJ L 429, 1.12.2021, p. 79.
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Citation 1 c (new)
Citation 1 c (new)
— having regard to the recovery and resilience scoreboard4a, _________________ 4a https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/rec overy-and-resilience-scoreboard/
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Citation 1 d (new)
Citation 1 d (new)
— having regard to the European Commission’s Recoveryand Resilience Facility Annual Report of 01 March 20225a, _________________ 5a COM(2022) 75 final
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls the strong need for culture and education, as the backbone of oEuropean democracy, values, society and economy, to receive support from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), also with regard to the green and digital transitions;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Calls on the Member States to use the available funding from RRF to bolster both the short-term recovery of the whole cultural ecosystem as well as the resilience, competitiveness, innovation and sustainability of the cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) in the long term;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
A b. whereas, according to the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, Member States have put forward 228 measures with a focus on supporting children and youth; whereas 74% of the measures focus on general, vocational and higher education and training capacity, as well as accessibility, affordability, quality and inclusiveness, including digitisation and infrastructure, the performance of education and increasing capacity in higher education; whereas 14% of the measures that Member States included are dealing with early childhood education and care, early school leaving and child poverty; whereas 12% of the measures focus on tackling youth unemployment through job creation, hiring, job transition incentives and support for self-employment;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Calls for the promotion of cross- border approaches to culture and the search for European partners for the creation of major European cultural co- productions, fostering the mobility of artists and creators by reinforcing cooperation of all involved actors and exchanges of best practices;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the RRF created an unprecedented structure adapted to addressing the complex effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economy, society and institutionaims to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the green and digital transitions through reforms and investments; whereas it created an unprecedented structure under the NextGenerationEUrecovery instrument making available EUR 385.8 billion in loans and EUR 338 billion in grants;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the RRF created an unprecedented structure adapted to addressing the complex effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economy, society and institutions; whereas the RRF will drive Member States' reforms and investments in line with the EU’s priorities as set out in the six pillars;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Underlines that besides economic recovery of the CCSI, the support from RRF should be used also for the improvement of working conditions, training, up- and reskilling of workers in these sectors in order to keep up with the structural changes underway;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the release of funds under the RRF is contingent on the satisfactory fulfilment of relevant milestones and targets of reforms and investments by Member States as set out in their recovery and resilience plans (RRPs);
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights that the cultural and creative sectorsCCSI were among those hit first and the hardest by the pandemic and will be the last to recover, given the restrictions in capacity of cultural events and venues, as well as postponements or cancellations of events;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas social and territorial cohesion is one of the six pillars of the RRF; whereas creating and fostering high- quality employment creation is one of the objectives included in the RRF Regulation; whereas this should be achieved through a comprehensive package of reforms and investments in order to promote social impact investments, as well as stable employments contracts, decent wages, collective bargaining and social protection coverage;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas social and territorial cohesion is oneand policies for the next generation are two of the six pillars of the RRF; whereas creating and fostering high- quality employment creation is one ofmitigating the social and economic impact of the COVID crisis, in particular on women, and contributing to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights are among the objectives included in the RRF Regulation;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas Article 16 of the regulation requires the European Commission to present a review report on the implementation of the Facility to the European Parliament and the Council by 31 July 2022; whereas this report should assess the extent to which the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans is in line with the six pillars and contributes to the general objective of the Regulation;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas the methodology for reporting on social expenditure in Member States’ recovery and resilience plans should ensure all reforms and investments with a primary social dimension are associated to one of nine social policy areas under the four broader social categories set out in the delegated act; whereas additionally all measures of a social nature that include a focus on children and the youth, or on gender equality, should be flagged in order to ensure specific reporting on expenditure under the RRF on these areas;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that the COVID-19 crisis has already left many young people jobless or in precarious employment; calls on the Commission and Member Sstates to fight against youth unemployment and to ensure that young people, especially those not in employment, education or training (NEETs), receive adequate, paid and quality first working experience; condemns the practice of unpaid internships as a form of exploitation of young workers, and a violation of their rights, and calls on the Commission and the Member States, in collaboration with Parliament, and respecting the principle of subsidiarity, to propose a common legal framework to ensure fair remuneration for traineeships and apprenticeships in order to avoid exploitative practices;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Opposes the Commission’s approach to incorporate not strictly cultural interventions such as tourism and energy efficiency of cultural buildings in the calculations, resulting in misleading statistics; calls for a recalculation and reassessment of the data available; of the overall RRF spending on the cultural sector, resulting in a lack of precise statistical information on Member States’ areas of action; calls for a recalculation and reassessment of the data available; calls on the Commission to collect, publish and periodically update comprehensive and disaggregated data on Member States’ interventions in the field of culture, as well as media, youth and sports in the framework of the implementation of RRF funds;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. In this regard welcomes the early disbursement of EUR 56.6 billion in pre- financing by the Commission to 21 Member States in order to ensure the frontloading of financial support to address the crisis andit’s consequent impacts;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Notes that the thematic analysis of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) in terms of education actions published on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard website is incomplete and rather general; calls therefore on the Commission to conduct more detailed analysis also in this regard, including on citizenship education as well as on actions fostering media literacy and critical thinking;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that Member States must adopt reforms and includeHighlights that, according to the Commission estimates provided to the European Parliament working group on the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Member States included in their plans measures dedicated to children and youth worth EUR 49.21 billion, representing approximately 11,5% of the total budget of the 22 recovery and resilience plans currently approved; stresses that Member States must include reforms and investments in the next generation, children and the youth in line with the objectives of the Child Guarantee and reinforced Youth Guarantee; recalls that there is RRF funding expressly available for the development of education, training and skills, particularly digital skills; stresses, further, the importance of the mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences in fostering labour mobility in order to access financing under the RRF and ensure complementarity between RRF, ESF+ and EU programmes; calls on the Commission to closely monitor Member States' investment in this area via the Semester cycle and the national reform programmes in line with the RRF, while involving social partners in the monitoring and evaluation of the national recovery and resilience plans;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that Member States must adopt reforms and include investments in access and opportunity for the next generation, children and youth related to education, health, nutrition, jobs and housing in line with the objectives of the Child Guarantee and reinforced Youth Guarantee; recalls that there is RRF funding expressly available for the development of education, training and skills, particularly digital skills and calls on the Member States to ensure such investment in human capital, in particular through up- and re-skilling and requalification of the workforce as well as for reintegration of the unemployed; stresses, further, the importance of the mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences in fostering labour mobility;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses the need to address skills gaps and skills obsolescence in the EU in order to address labour market shortages which are holding back productivity and economic growth; stresses the need to transform and modernise education and training in light of the digital and green transitions enhancing the acquisition of digital skills and education particularly and promoting VET and lifelong learning; recalls the RRF funding expressly available for the development of education, training and skills, particularly digital skills; further stresses the importance of the mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences in fostering labour mobility and addressing labour market; demands and welcomes in this regard the Commission proposals for Council Recommendations on individual learning accounts and micro-credentials and urges the Council to adopt and implement the proposals without delay;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls previous requests urging the Member States to dedicate at least 2 % of the budget of each national RRF plan to cultureCCSI and 10 % to education; criticises the fact that these already misleading with concrete, inclusive measures accessible to all; points out that these numbers have been achieved at an aggregated EU level only;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Welcomes that reforms and investments proposed by many Member States exceed the requirement of at least 20% of total allocation in each RRP to support digital objectives amounting to EUR 117 billion or 26%; stresses in particular the importance of investments in digital skills development for workers and citizens, digitalisation of businesses including SMEs and improving connectivity infrastructure particularly for rural areas to reduce the digital divide;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Notes that only half of the Member States decided to include digital training of teachers and educators in their NRRPs; in the context of the digital transformation and the increased relevance of distance and blended learning during the pandemic, considers this number insufficient and encourages Member States to put more emphasis on teachers’ digital skills in their reforms of education systems;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Underlines that high-quality education systems provide the foundation for the EU’s global competitiveness, and recalls that well-functioning education and training systems require high levels of public investment; calls on the Member States to make ambitious use of funds available through the recovery plan to drive investment in education, with the objective of creating a genuine EuropeanEducation Area;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Welcomes that measures supporting social and territorial cohesion amount to EUR 193 billion of estimated expenditure including EUR 17.4 billion for adult learning, employment support and modernisation of labour market institutions, EUR 45.6 billion for accessibility, affordability, quality and inclusiveness, including digitalisation and infrastructure of education and early childhood education and care and EUR 37 billion for healthcare resilience, sustainability, adequacy, availability, accessibility, affordability and quality, including digitalisation and infrastructure; calls on Member States to continue investing in social expenditure under pillar 4 of the regulation to, inter alia, support job creation and entrepreneurship, life-long learning and VET, labour market and social inclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, improved child and long-term care and resilient social protection systems;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has already received first payment requests under the RRF; urges the Commission to ensure a fast deployment of payments and to closely monitor the implementation of reforms and investments;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Notes measures related to the next generation pillar account for EUR 49 billion, representing approximately 11% of estimated expenditure covering early childhood education and care, general primary and secondary school education, initial vocational education and training, and higher education and youth employment support and youth job creation;
Amendment 89 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Strongly believes that for the correct implementationin order to truly achieve the goals of the RRF, a special focus should be given to micro and small organisations, including independent ones; emphasizes at the same time the need to pay special attention to organisations in remote rural areas;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Emphasises that the cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) are strategic for European citizens and economy, and that their workers must benefit from a genuine European recovery, in view of the fact that CCSI are an atypical sector made up of players characterised by the pre-eminence of small structures (SMEs or self-employed entrepreneurs) and often depending on irregular income; Deplores that the deteriorating economic situation of many households will lead to a diminishing rate of participation in many cultural activities, further jeopardising the remuneration of creators, particularly in terms of copyright, or even suspending it, for as long as productions are put on hold;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. CNotes that, according to the Commission estimates provided to the European Parliament working group on the Recovery and Resilience Facility, EUR 188 bln have been allocated for measures related to the social and territorial cohesion in the 22 approved plans; regrets that social investment measures were rather restricted towards social infrastructure and did not allow the development of proper care services and temporary relief measures; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support legislative and policy initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting decent working conditions for all, with a particular focus on telework, the right to disconnect, mental well-being at work, occupational health and safety, ensuring quality jobs for essential workers, and strengthening the role of the social partners and collective bargaining; calls in this regard for the swift adoption of the directives on improving working conditions in platform work and on adequate minimum wages in the European Union;
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support legislative and policy initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting decent working conditions for all, with a particular focus on telework, the right to disconnect, mental well-being at work, occupational health and safety, ensuring quality jobs for essential workers, and strengthening the role of the social partners and collective bargaining; calls in this regard for the swift adoption of the directives on improving working conditions in platform work pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms and on adequate minimum wages in the European Union;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. StressesRecalls that COVID-19 crisis has made artists and cultural and creative professionals even more vulnerable, as the loss of earnings for non-standard workers, who make up the majority of the CCSI, has been exacerbated by weak or absent national social security schemes and dedicated support measures; Stresses therefore the need for sustainable structural reforms targeting education and the cultural and creative sectors, and in particular regarding social security and legal status in the latter; regrets that such reforms are planned in only a minority of Member States;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Recalls the importance of mutual recognition and cross-border portability of artistic competences and creative skills and qualifications facilitating cross- border mobility of workers in CCSI; Encourages the Member States to take action in this regard within their NRRPs;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the creation and publication of the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard. steps taken by the Commission in order to ensure full transparency in implementing of the RRF, such as making the Operational Arrangements concluded with the Member States available of the dedicated RRF website as well as launching Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, that contains data on the plans submitted by Member States, approved by the Commission and endorsed by the Council; Reiterates the importance of the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard in providing a clear framework for the additionality impact, as well as ensuring a qualitative analysis of the reforms and investments proposed; urges the Member States to provide detailed information to the Commission in order to ensure an effective reporting of the impact of the RRF;
Amendment 127 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the creation and publication of the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard. as a performance-reporting tool to monitor the implementation of the RRF generally as well as Member States’ individual recovery and resilience plans and enhance transparency for the general public;
Amendment 129 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 132 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Welcomes the share of RRF social expenditure under the four social categories of employment and skills (20.4%), education and childcare (33%), health and long-term care (32%) and social policies (14.6%)for the RRPs endorsed thus far; calls on Member States to ensure ambitious social objectives in their investments and reforms;
Amendment 136 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Reiterates the importance of a successful implementation by the Member States in order to ensure a long-term impact on the EU economy and society; urges the Commission to use all lessons learned from the creation and implementation of the RRF in shaping the new EU economic governance framework;
Amendment 140 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Recalls that EUR 220 billion in loans is still available under the RRF; highlights the opportunity that new loans under the Facility could provide to Member States in addressing the current Ukrainian refugee crisis and encourages Member States to make use of the potential funding available to support refugees' needs in particular their educational, care, social and labour market integration in advance of the request deadline for loan support in mid- 2023;
Amendment 142 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to commit to transparency and to examine the possibility of redirecting unused or saved RRF resources to culture, education, youth, sports and media; recalls that the RRF resources can and should be used in combination with other funds and programmes aimed for these areas, available on European as well as national and regional levels, in order to create synergies and speed up their recovery and strengthen their transformation towards more resilience;
Amendment 142 #
4 d. Recalls that respect for the rule of law is an essential precondition for compliance with the principles of sound financial management and that RRF funds are subject to Regulation 2020/2092;
Amendment 143 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4 e. Recalls the need to ensure complementarity and coordination of RRF funding with other EU funds in particular ESF+;
Amendment 144 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Amendment 147 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Recalls that 2022 is the European Year of Youth which aims to put young Europeans in the centre of the attention and to empower as well as support them in renewing their positive perspectives, especially in the context of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on them; calls on the Member States to adopt adequate measures in their NRRPs adressing this reality as a complement to the EuropeanYear of Youth actions, while calling on the Commission to ensure the funding of the legacy of those actions beyond 2022;