Activities of Maria ZACHARIA
Plenary speeches (12)
Outcome of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture (debate)
The future of European competitiveness (debate)
Mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund: assistance to Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Greece and France further to natural disasters occurred in 2023 (short presentation)
2024 Annual Rule of law report (debate)
Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (debate)
Situation in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia (debate)
One-minute speeches on matters of political importance
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (debate)
Presentation by the Commission President-elect of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)
Right to clean drinking water in the EU (debate)
Promoting social dialogue and collective bargaining and the right to strike in the EU (debate)
Tackling abusive subcontracting and labour market intermediaries (debate)
Oral questions (1)
The Commission’s plans to include the revision of the outstanding proposals on animal welfare in its work plan for 2025
Written questions (4)
Retaliatory dismissals of employees and their representatives by Casino Thraki
AntiNero programme in Greece
Systematic lawlessness and immunity in the port of Piraeus
Insurance category of professional school bus drivers
Individual motions (1)
MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on attacks by Israeli forces on the UN peacekeeping mission in Southern Lebanon
Amendments (28)
Amendment 26 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas different vulnerable groups have different needs, such as women in poverty, labour migrants, children, large families and single-parent families, people with disabilities and elderly people; whereas the digital and green transition is much needed but also brings challenges for all people and all workers, and whereas to succeed in this endeavour, the EU must ensure a just transition that does not lose sight of workers and vulnerable people;
Amendment 44 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the availability and affordability of decent housing is decreasing because of over-liberalisation of the market and the drop in purchasing power of the majority of citizens in countries which have high poverty levels; whereas the EU will have its first ever Commissioner for tackling the housing crises, and the first ever European affordable housing plan, expected in 2025;
Amendment 80 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that the objectives of the ESF+ should be to achieve high employment levels with adequate wagesminimum wages that are above the poverty line, decent working conditions, healthy working environments and social security coverage, in order to develop a skilled, competitive and resilient workforce, ready for the twin transition and the future world of work, and to build fair social protections and inclusive and cohesive societies, with the aims of eradicating poverty and delivering on the principles and the headline targets set out in the EPSR;
Amendment 85 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a strong, reinforced, stand- alone ESF+ with significantly increased public support for existing instruments aimed at providing for the poorest in our societies such as low-income groups, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, refugees, the long-term unemployed, large families and single-parent families; insists, therefore, on doubling the funding for the ESF+ post-2027;
Amendment 112 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the participation of social partners, civil society organisations (CSOs) and representatives of the target groups in all design, decision- making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages of the ESF+, to allocate adequate funding for this purpose and to prevent the exclusion of smaller actors;
Amendment 116 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the current ESF+ programme was adopted before the emergence of crises that have caused high inflation and increased costs of living, and therefore require higher public and social investment such that the existing ESF+ cannot meet current needs; calls on the Commission to ensure that a comprehensive, stable and large-scale needs- and rights-based budget, which takes into account inflation, the increased cost of living and poverty rates, is guaranteed for the ESF+ in the next multiannual financial framework;
Amendment 147 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Insists that the ESF+ should target the most disadvantaged people in our societies, regardless of their sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, or racial or ethnic origin – in particular marginalised communities such as Roma people, people with disabilities or chronic diseases, homeless people, children and elderly people; underlines that the ESF+ must be inclusive, with special attention given to all kinds of families, including large families, single-parent families, families with more than two parents and rainbow families;
Amendment 165 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Supports the introduction of measures within the ESF+ to support employee-owned cooperatives, social enterprises and other alternative business models that put social aims before profit maximisation;
Amendment 176 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Stresses the need for more subsidies for programmes that support workers and communities affected by the green transition; notes that this includes the retraining of workers from carbon- intensive industries (e.g. coal, steel and oil) for green jobs in order to ensure that the shift to a green economy is a fair one;
Amendment 192 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Stresses that the ESF+ must fund public, non-profit and accessible education and training programmes that are free of charge or low-cost, with an emphasis on providing skills relevant to the evolving labour market, including digital and green skills;
Amendment 197 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Shares the ambition to prioritise the tackling of the housing crises, and insists that the ESF+ post-2027 should ask the Member States to produce specific programmes to enhance timely and equal access to affordable, decent, sustainable and high-quality services promotingthat will ensure access to housing; believes that all the Member States must invest at least 5 % of their ESF+ resources into tackling homelessness;
Amendment 204 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls for the drafting of specific programmes within the ESF+ to eliminate precarious work (e.g. zero-hours contracts, temporary contracts and informal work) and to provide support for the transition to stable, full employment and decently paid employment with full rights;
Amendment 227 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls for a strengthening of effortsdditional funding to be paid, on top of the initial amount, as an incentive, to support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee with an increased earmarking for all Member States that dedicate at least 15 % of their ESF+ resources; repeats in this context its call on the Member States to ban unpaid traineeships;
Amendment 239 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines the importance of the ESF+ in focusing on different groups with different needs; stresses, therefore, the importance of allocating support to projects on the socio-economic position of migrants, including labour migrants, the social inclusion of people with disabilities, the ageing population in society, women and children, and female-headed householdsingle-parent families and large families; insists that the ESF+ post- 2027 incorporate other aspects of social inclusion, such as housing, health and family circumstances and the support of community-based services;
Amendment 242 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Stresses that the Employment and Social Innovation strand of the ESF+ provides support regarding the precarious situation of mobile workers and secures funding for trade union-related counselling, underlining the importance of workers’ representatives in collective bargaining and in decision-making in relation to pay and working conditions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure permanent funding for national and transnational trade union counselling services for such workers by the trade union organisations;
Amendment 248 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Is concerned that in Member States where collective bargaining between the social partners has been abolished, the purchasing power of the average citizen has taken a dive in 2023, according to Eurostat; calls on the Commission to intervene in such circumstances by obliging Member States to implement the European directives on the democratic rights of workers and trade union bodies, so that poverty rates in the Eurozone do not rise;
Amendment 258 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Stresses that the implementation of the EPSR and the reforms needed to comply with the country-specific recommendations in the European Semester are also dependant on the strong support of the ESF+ for certain policy measures, especially those related to strengthening social welfare systems, ensuring inclusive and high-quality public education, reducing child poverty and, eradicating homelessness and combating the use of addictive substances through public rehabilitation facilities;
Amendment 315 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Sees that more work needs to be done for organisations and people to know about all the opportunities that the ESF+ can bring; insists that the Commission and the Member States raise awareness of, inform and advise organisations about the opportunities presented by the ESF+ by holding information days and carrying out other information campaigns;
Amendment 23 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Council to engage in constructive negotiations with Parliament and the Commission on the revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, in order to turn these three key EU institutions into role models of transparency and public accountability for the whole of the EUupdate the definition of an EU document taking into account evolving means of communication, such as text and instant messages and to align this regulation to the new digital context and to turn these three key EU institutions into role models of transparency and public accountability for the whole of the EU; invites the Ombudsman, in this context and based on it`s proven expertise to advise and propose good practice guidelines preserving thus citizens` access to public documents in an rapidly evolving digital society;
Amendment 34 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Recalls the Commission’s refusal in 2002 and the Ombudsman’s complaint of maladministration in respect of its refusal to grant full access to text messages between Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, and Albert Bourla, CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, regarding contracts for the COVID-19 vaccine;
Amendment 42 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. It is highly concerned that the Commission's refusal to provide access to documents concerning the greenhouse gas emissions reported under the EU Emissions Trading System, extends to more industrial facilities, other than the ceramics industry and calls on the Commission to ensure full public access to environmental information";
Amendment 49 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Council to allow full public access to the legal opinion on the proposed EU directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, as recommended by the Ombudsman, who found evidence of maladministration in this matter;
Amendment 63 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Appreciates the Ombudsman’s commitment to upholding fundamental rights in the EU institutions’ border management activities by launching inquiries into the actions of Frontex and the Commission in this areaafter the drowning of more than 500 people off the Greek coast on 14 June 2023; notes that the Ombudsman asked for further clarification from the Commission as to how it intends to guarantee respect for human rights in the context of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding, in an effort to ensure that the EU complies with its human rights obligations;
Amendment 68 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. WCongratulates the Ombudsman on her own-initiative inquiry into how the Commission ensures EU funds for Greek border management do not contribute to fundamental rights violations; welcomes the Commission’s decision to work with local authorities to draw up a fundamental rights impact assessment of EU-funded migration management facilities in Greece, following an own-initiative inquiry by the Ombudsman into how the Commission ensures respect for fundamental rights in these facilities;
Amendment 75 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Supports the Ombudsman’s proposals to the European External Action Service regarding the assessment of human rights risks prior to providing support to non-EU countries;
Amendment 76 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Calls on the Commission to extend the fundamental rights impact assessment of EU-funded migration management facilities to other Member States, like Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Malta
Amendment 85 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s intention, after the Qatar scandal, to launch an inquiry into travel expenses paid for by third parties since 2021 and to determine whether the Commission took appropriate measures to mitigate potential conflicts of interest in these cases;
Amendment 95 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Encourages the Commission to step up its efforts to increase transparency with regard to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and supports the Ombudsman’s call on the Commission to improve its handling of requests for public access to RRF-related documents and to continue publishing preliminary assessments of Member States’ payment requests; emphasises the need for all Member States to set up public portals informing citizens about all recipients of RRF funds;