76 Amendments of Ilana CICUREL related to 2022/2147(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission communication of 24 October 2017 entitled ‘A stronger and renewed strategic partnership with the EU’s outermost regions’ (COM(2017)0623),
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Citation 2 b (new)
Citation 2 b (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 14 September 2021 entitled ‘Towards a stronger partnership with the EU outermost regions’,
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Citation 2 c (new)
Citation 2 c (new)
— having regard to the Council conclusions of 30 May 2022 on the Commission communication on 'Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU's outermost regions',
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Citation 2 d (new)
Citation 2 d (new)
— having regard to the opinion of the European Committee of the Regions of 2 February 2021 on the European Commission report on the implementation of the renewed strategic partnership with the EU’s outermost regions,
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Citation 3 a (new)
Citation 3 a (new)
— having regard to final declaration of the 26th Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions of the European Union, which took place in Ponta Delgada from 17 to 20 November 2021,
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Citation 3 b (new)
Citation 3 b (new)
— having regard to the study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the outermost regions published by the Commission on 31 October 2021,
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Citation 3 c (new)
Citation 3 c (new)
— having regard to the Common position paper of the 3 Member States and the 9 Outermost Regions in the framework of the update of the European Commission's strategic partnership with the Outermost Regions and the adoption of the Communication for these regions published on 19 January 2022,
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. whereas five million people live in the nine outermost regions (ORs) of the European Union: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion and Saint Martin (France), Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and Canary Islands (Spain);
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-Aa. whereas the European Union has a responsibility to respond to the economic, social and environmental challenges facing the ORs; whereas, furthermore, the development of those regions is essentially based on the choices and actions of the regions themselves and of their Member States;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A b (new)
Recital -A b (new)
-Ab. whereas the principles set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights are of particular importance to the ORs, including its contribution to equal opportunities, social protection and inclusion;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the presence of long-term unemployment in the ORs can be explained both by the mismatch between skills and labour market expectations and by the fact that there are too few and unsuitable employment and training opportunities in these territories; whereas it is necessary to ensure that training is adequate to the needs of businesses in the ORs;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the lack of training and employment opportunities in the ORs leads to massive exodus of young people, which has a strong impact on the demography and development of these territories;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the development of digital skills in the ORs is a prerequisite for achieving a digital transition that leaves no one behind;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas the lack of infrastructure and the level of digitalisation in the ORs do not allow for the effective deployment of distance learning, teleworking or the digital delivery of public services related to employment and social welfare;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Be. whereas unemployment rates in the ORs are higher than in their respective Member States and than the EU average; whereas the impact of the COVID-19 crisis has further deteriorated the situation; whereas the measures put in place have mitigated and partially limited the effects of the crisis, including its social impact; whereas the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on employment in the ORs is not yet fully known;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
Bf. whereas youth unemployment is at an extremely worrying level in the ORs; whereas the EU average was 16,8% in 2022, while it was 40 to 50% in the French and Spanish ORs2a; whereas this deteriorating social situation leads to insecurity and violence in the ORs; _________________ 2a COM(2022)0198, p.8: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sourc es/policy/themes/outermost-regions/rup- 2022/comm-rup-2022_en.pdf
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) is at an alarming level in the ORs; whereas the EU average for NEETs was 13.7% in 2020, in the same year the NEETs rate was 23% in Martinique, 40% in French Guiana, 23.2% in the Canary Islands, and 16.7% in Madeira3a; _________________ 3a Study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ORs, p.9: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication- detail/-/publication/2216604f-7420-11ec- 9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format- PDF/source-278731027
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the rate of early school leaving in the ORs can be up to three times higher than the EU average4a; whereas this phenomenon has a strong impact on social development, economic growth and equal opportunities in these territories; _________________ 4a Eurostat 2021: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/ view/edat_lfse_16/default/table?lang=en
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas ESF+ allocations have not been fully used in the ORs for the 2014-2020 period, while this programming period is coming to an end;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas only 28 500 people from the ORs have benefited from mobility under the Erasmus+ programme for the period 2014-2020;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas workers in the informal economy, numerous in the ORs, find themselves outside the social safety nets;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas the lack of public transport facilities in the ORs has an impact on access to services, education and employment opportunities;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas access to essential services such as drinking water, decent housing, electricity, education, health care, public transport and the internet is not a reality for all inhabitants of the ORs;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the gender gap in employment is much higher in the ORs than the EU average; whereas women in the ORs too often face unstable and short- term employment;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Welcomes the Commission's adoption of the new communication on the outermost regions5a, in particular the aspects relating to social issues; considers that this communication represents an opportunity to make the ORs laboratories for public policy, particularly for employment-related issues; _________________ 5a COM(2022)0198: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sourc es/policy/themes/outermost-regions/rup- 2022/comm-rup-2022_en.pdf
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Insists on the need to introduce monitoring tools to report regularly on the implementation of the Commission's communication; stresses that indicators related to social policies should be an integral part of this monitoring;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1b. Stresses that taking account of the specific characteristics of the ORs, as recognised in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, must enable the Union's action to be legally adjusted in order to provide these territories with real opportunities in terms of education, employment, social progress and living conditions;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1c. Welcomes the fact that the Commission pays particular attention to the principle of "putting people first"; stresses the importance of implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights in the ORs in order to ensure greater solidarity between generations, promote social protection and inclusion and create new employment opportunities;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 d (new)
Paragraph -1 d (new)
-1d. Believes that the European Union's action on employment and social affairs meets people's needs and thus strengthens the sense of belonging to the Union;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 e (new)
Paragraph -1 e (new)
-1e. Considers that the new impetus given by the communication should allow for the improvement of equal opportunities in the ORs, particularly for the most vulnerable groups;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 f (new)
Paragraph -1 f (new)
-1f. Calls on the Commission to ensure that EU policies implemented in the ORs focus on combating unemployment, improving lifelong learning, developing digital skills and combating illiteracy and e-illiteracy;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 g (new)
Paragraph -1 g (new)
-1g. Stresses that EU policies must be complemented by adequate funding based on a tailor-made, territory-by-territory approach in order to ensure real equality of opportunity;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 h (new)
Paragraph -1 h (new)
-1h. Stresses that job creation remains essential to guarantee security, social cohesion, territorial viability and attractiveness of the ORs; notes that the structural constraints of the ORs, such as geographical remoteness and isolation, make them dependent on a limited number of sectors of activity; calls on the Commission and the Member States to help the ORs to develop plans for the diversification of activities in order to improve labour supply in these territories;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 i (new)
Paragraph -1 i (new)
-1i. Is of the opinion that entrepreneurship can create employment opportunities in the ORs; calls on the Commission and the Member States to launch information campaigns on the possibilities and support measures to assist the establishment of activities in the ORs;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 j (new)
Paragraph -1 j (new)
-1j. Notes that the mismatch between skills and job opportunities is a barrier to retraining in the ORs;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 k (new)
Paragraph -1 k (new)
-1k. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to address the root causes of early school leaving and to encourage the exchange of good practice in order to provide concrete solutions to this problem;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 l (new)
Paragraph -1 l (new)
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 m (new)
Paragraph -1 m (new)
-1m. Stresses the importance of programmes for the validation of acquired experience in the context of lifelong learning;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 n (new)
Paragraph -1 n (new)
-1n. Points out that the improvement of working conditions in certain sectors can make jobs more attractive and combat shortages occupations in the ORs; welcomes, in this respect, the European care strategy, which could usefully guide the public policies to be implemented in the ORs in order to care for the ageing population;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 o (new)
Paragraph -1 o (new)
-1o. Stresses that the informal economy is widespread in the ORs, which makes it difficult to analyse employment figures accurately and to implement social policies effectively; calls on the Commission and the Member States to combat undeclared work by means of incentive systems and simplified declaration tools;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 p (new)
Paragraph -1 p (new)
-1p. Welcomes the Commission's decision to make 2023 the European Year of Skills; calls on the Commission to develop specific actions in favour of the ORs in the context of the European Year of Skills; calls on the Commission to take advantage of this opportunity to identify the skills needs in the ORs in the short, medium and long term; considers that the results of this analysis should form the basis of an action plan for improving training and skills in the key sectors identified and the shortage occupations;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 q (new)
Paragraph -1 q (new)
-1q. Emphasises the importance of young people for the revitalisation of traditional sectors in the ORs; calls for incentives to attract young people to the primary sector and for its development; calls on the Member States to introduce measures to ensure the renewal of generations in the agricultural and fisheries sectors; stresses that aid for installation in these sectors is relevant to achieving this objective;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 r (new)
Paragraph -1 r (new)
-1r. Calls on the Commission to provide strong support for the ORs in order to promote a new sustainable economic model and development of a social economy, with structuring initiatives to develop the circular economy and to promote jobs and new "green" occupations; in this respect, calls on the Commission and the Member States to introduce a retraining plan for unskilled youth in the green sectors;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 s (new)
Paragraph -1 s (new)
-1s. Stresses the need for investment in digital skills, infrastructure, connectivity, and digital equipment, to ensure an inclusive digital transition in the ORs; believes that digitisation is one of the ways in which the ORs can overcome their geographical barrier by increasing access to education, training or digital public services and become attractive destinations for international teleworkers;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 t (new)
Paragraph -1 t (new)
-1t. Notes that the seas and oceans surrounding the ORs represent an opportunity to develop sectors that provide blue jobs and contribute to the attractiveness of the territories;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 u (new)
Paragraph -1 u (new)
-1u. Stresses that effective implementation of the European Child Guarantee is crucial to combating child poverty in the ORs and breaking the vicious circle of intergenerational poverty; calls on the Member States to include specific measures for the ORs in their national implementation plans for the European Child Guarantee and their revision; calls on the Commission to ensure the full potential of this instrument by ensuring the dissemination of information in liaison with local stakeholders;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Reaffirms that, in the ORs, the potential of youth is a major asset that is often insufficiently harnessed, and that it should be a priority for building concrete solutions by mobilising massive amounts of European funds for education, training and support, housing and decent, quality employment for young people;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls, in view of the youth unemployment rates in the ORs, the need to create specific measures for this population; welcomes in this respect the creation of an additional OR allocation of EUR 370 million under the ESF+ 2021- 2027 and calls on the regions concerned to make use of this new source of funding to support employability, mobility and training in the ORs;
Amendment 81 #
2b. Recalls the need for the ORs to empower young people, in particular through formal and non-formal education, training and volunteering, and to improve employability through skills development, lifelong learning and vocational training, including further training and retraining;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Stresses that measures to combat poverty and social exclusion in the ORs must be targeted as a matter of priority at vulnerable groups in society such as children, young people, particularly NEETs, and the long-term unemployed; notes that particular attention should be paid to low-skilled women and in particular to single-parent families, where the majority of the lone parent is a woman;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Stresses that the European priorities for improving women's rights are especially relevant to the ORs, and in particular the improvement of the work- life balance, transparency and the reduction of pay inequalities, the elimination of violence against women, including in the workplace, and the active participation of women in social and economic life;
Amendment 87 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the need to ensure the empowerment of women in the ORs by promoting sustainable integration into the labour market, access to stable, high- quality jobs and affordable childcare, as well as combating discrimination, in particular discrimination in employment; considers that promoting women's participation in the labour market can boost employment rates;
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Urges the Commission and the Member States to do their utmost to ensure access to essential services in the ORs; stresses that access to these services is a key factor in combating poverty and social exclusion; stresses that effective public policies must offer solutions to the most vulnerable with a view to strengthen social cohesion;
Amendment 95 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to focus on prevention, social reintegration and the return to employment in the implementation of the EU drugs strategy; calls on the Commission to study the possibilities of European funding for therapeutic centres in the ORs aimed at the care and reinsertion of drug addicts;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that employment incentives, such as state aid, subsidies and exemptions from social security contributions, are particularly useful for improving integration and retention in the labour market in the ORs; believes that such employment incentives should take into account long-term needs and sustainability;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Stresses that the economic and labour market support measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the easing of the state aid regime and the REACT-EU, CRII and CRII+ packages, have prevented further job losses; believes that there is a need for a thorough evaluation of the national policies and support programmes that have been deployed in the ORs to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment in order to identify effective instruments for continued and future use;
Amendment 100 #
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, particularly for the most fragile and promising sectors, and to support the Member States in the evaluation, renewal and adaptation of existing special economic zones;
Amendment 102 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses the importance of the European Social Fund + in the ORs, on the one hand, in combating poverty and social exclusion and providing food and material aid to the most disadvantaged, and, on the other hand, in supporting training, prevention of early school leaving, vocational guidance, youth employment and entrepreneurship;
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to improve access to the European Social Fund Plus in the ORs by setting up mass information campaigns aimed at institutional and associative partners, providing a support service for project leaders and financing training for managing authorities. in order to strengthen their human and administrative capacity and by providing them with more funding to facilitate pre- financing;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission, in the context of the additional ESF+ allocation for the ORs, to provide the necessary technical assistance to these regions to make full use of this allocation as well as to monitor its use; calls on the Commission to promote the exchange of good practice between managing authorities in order to improve information and the proper use of these funds;
Amendment 116 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls on the Commission to step up its communication in the ORs on existing European Union programmes relating to employment and vocational training and its presence on the ground by setting up physical offices;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Calls on the Commission and Member States to promote university partnerships in order to encourage student mobility to and from the ORs, as well as intra-ORs exchanges;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Welcomes the fact that the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 programme specifies that the constraints linked to the remoteness of the ORs must be taken into account; notes, however, that the financial aid granted is often insufficient to encourage mobility; calls for maximum aid to be granted to students from the ORs when the Erasmus+ programme is implemented, with a financial increase if necessary to cover the real costs of travel;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Calls on the European Commission to develop partnerships with third countries neighbouring the ORs under the Erasmus+ programme in order to further promote university exchanges and business exchanges in the geographical area of the ORs;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Calls on the European Commission to consider creating, within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, exchanges of young people in vocational training so that companies in the ORs and in continental Europe can both send and receive a person during the same period;
Amendment 126 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 g (new)
Paragraph 6 g (new)
6g. Welcomes the creation of the ALMA initiative for the active inclusion of disadvantaged young people; stresses that this initiative is of particular interest in the ORs, where there are many NEETs; calls on the Commission to ensure that this initiative is accompanied by adequate financial resources to enable the largest possible number of beneficiaries; believes that positive action should be taken to ensure the participation of young people from the ORs;
Amendment 129 #
6h. Calls for greater participation by youth from the ORs in the voluntary work and local solidarity projects made possible by the European Solidarity Corps;
Amendment 131 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 i (new)
Paragraph 6 i (new)
Amendment 133 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 j (new)
Paragraph 6 j (new)
6j. Stresses the need to define strategies to retain young people in the ORs and to combat the brain drain; welcomes the Commission's announcement of an initiative to alleviate the problems associated with the brain drain, including in the ORs; calls on the Commission to present this initiative without delay;
Amendment 135 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 k (new)
Paragraph 6 k (new)
6k. Stresses the importance of the EURES network, and draws particular attention to the priority needs of the labour market in EURES activities, in order to help the unemployed back into employment and to facilitate the free movement of workers to the ORs;
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 l (new)
Paragraph 6 l (new)
6l. Regrets the decline in strong intergenerational solidarity in the ORs; believes that this intergenerational link could be enhanced through the creation of mentoring programmes in order to strengthen knowledge sharing and individualised support for youth and job seekers;
Amendment 139 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 m (new)
Paragraph 6 m (new)
6m. Notes that the ORs would be suitable territories for developing innovative social policies such as a “third chance pathway” aimed at the social and labour market reintegration of working people of all ages or the care of the elderly in view of the ageing population;
Amendment 140 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 n (new)
Paragraph 6 n (new)
6n. Emphasises the important role played by the social economy in the ORs, as a partner of regional and local authorities in combating the constraints linked to remoteness, poverty and social exclusion, and in creating jobs and developing initiatives in these regions; calls for this reality to be recognised at European level and for this non-profit sector to have direct access to European subsidies; calls on the Commission to ensure the participation of the ORs in the European Social Economy Regions network;
Amendment 143 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 o (new)
Paragraph 6 o (new)
6o. Invites the Commission to make full use of the tools of the European Semester and the country-specific recommendations to analyse and advise on public policies in the ORs with the aim to achieve upward social convergence;
Amendment 144 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 p (new)
Paragraph 6 p (new)
6p. Calls on the Commission to organise a social summit in the ORs to discuss and adapt the Porto targets and the European Pillar of Social Rights to these territories; stresses the importance of including stakeholders from the ORs in order to ensure the ownership and proper implementation of social policies;