Activities of Ilda FIGUEIREDO related to 2011/2052(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European platform against poverty and social exclusion (debate)
Amendments (62)
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas poverty and social exclusion violate human dignity and fundamental human rights, while the key objective of income support schemes is to bring people out of poverty and enable them to live in dignity, this being especially important for women since they are worse affected by poverty,
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. having regard to the increase in social inequality in certain Member States arising, in particular, from economic inequality in terms of the distribution of income and wealth, labour market inequalities entailing insecurity in social terms, and unequal access to the social functions of the state such as welfare, health, education and justice, phenomena which particularly affect women since they tend to be compounded by gender discrimination,
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas poverty and social exclusion are violations of human dignity and fundamental human rights, and the central objective of income support schemes must be to lift people out of poverty and enable them to live in dignity,
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission to take account of Recommendation 92/441/EEC and its recognition of 'the basic right of a person to sufficient resources and social assistance to live in a manner compatible with human dignity', recalling that this is a vital issue for women, and also stressing that the key objective of income support schemes should be to bring people out of poverty and enable them to live in dignity, this including invalidity and retirement pensions which ensure such dignity; given this objective, recommends that the Commission establish a common method for calculating a subsistence threshold in cost-of-living terms (a 'shopping basket' of goods and services), so as to be able to draw on comparative measurements of poverty levels and determine means of social intervention, including a minimum income scheme;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas in 2008 almost a quarter of the population of the EU-27 – 116 million people – were affected by at least one of the three forms of social exclusion recognised by Eurostat (i.e. they lived in economic poverty, conditions of severe material deprivation or a jobless household),
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas, according to a study published by Eurostat in 2008, poverty affects some 17% of the population of the 27 EU Member States, i.e. 81 million people, children and elderly people being the groups most at risk of poverty; whereas the same study also confirmed that the fact of having a job significantly reduces the risk of poverty in the EU,
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2b (new)
Paragraph 2b (new)
2b. Stresses the need for specific additional social allowances for less- favoured groups (the disabled and chronically ill, single mothers and their children and large families), in order to cover the extra costs arising from such needs as individual care, use of dedicated facilities, medical care and social support;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. mindful of the gravity of the economic and social crisis and its impact in terms of growing poverty and exclusion and rising unemployment, with one-third of the jobless being affected by long-term unemployment, a situation that is worse in the more economically vulnerable countries,
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2c (new)
Paragraph 2c (new)
2c. Stresses the need to prioritise the fight against social inequalities especially affecting women, such as economic inequality in terms of the distribution of income and wealth, labour market inequalities and unequal access to the social functions of the state such as welfare, health, education and justice;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas more and more young people – already among the most vulnerable sections of the population, most at risk of poverty and social exclusion – are also affected by the crisis and the associated austerity measures,
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the risk of poverty directly affects rural communities and especially small farms and young farmers threatened by the effects of the economic crisis and excessive fluctuations in commodity prices,
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the Europe 2020 strategy aims to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty by 20 million, on the basis of three indicators (the at-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers, the material deprivation index and the percentage of people living in jobless households); whereas, given the figures of 116 million at risk of poverty and 42 million living in conditions of severe material deprivation, this aim may be an acknowledgement of the importance of combating poverty and social exclusion but it reflects the abandonment from the outset of millions of people in Europe, with the associated risk of generating threshold effects and excluding the most vulnerable people from the scope of policies geared to measurable results; whereas if the most intractable situations are not addressed from the outset, the policies implemented will have no impact on them,
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas, given the austerity measures that the Member States are in the process of adopting, which are a step backwards in terms of employment and social protection, there is no hope of achieving the Europe 2020 strategy aim of reducing by 20 million the number of people at risk of poverty on the basis of three indicators (the at-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers, the material deprivation index and the percentage of people living in jobless households),
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas certain Member States are under pressure from the Council and Commission and from international bodies such as the IMF to undertake the short-term reduction of their budget deficits, which have been worsened by the crisis, and to make cuts in spending, including social expenditure, thus undermining the welfare state and exacerbating poverty,
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas social inequality is increasing in certain Member States, the result above all of economic inequality in terms of income and wealth distribution, labour market inequalities, social insecurity, and unequal access to the social functions of the state such as welfare, health, education, the legal system, etc.,
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas poverty is detrimental to growth, increases public budget deficits and undermines the EU’s competitiveness, first and foremost detrimental to the people experiencing it, but also has implications for economic growth, increases public budget deficits and undermines the EU’s competitiveness, according to the principle that social rights in the EU are at least equivalent to those resulting from the internal market,
Amendment A #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Ccalls on the Commission to involve civil society at national and European level and to make discussions with people living in poverty a formal part of the annual convention on povertyboost the involvement in the development of a European strategy at all levels of governance (European, national, regional and local) of organised civil society and of all stakeholders, such as NGOs, social economy organisations, service providers, experts in social innovation and the social partners, as well as people living in poverty themselves, in partnership with the associations in which they freely express their opinions and which have acquired experience and knowledge, particularly through the development of national platforms against poverty and social exclusion in each Member State; calls on the Commission to enhance cooperation between local, regional and national authorities and European Institutions, particularly the European Parliament; believes that the synergies should concern all stakeholders, including SMEs and entrepreneurs; calls for discussions with people living in poverty and social exclusion to be institutionalised, and to be extended at national level, and for their participation and contribution to be made a formal and central part of the annual convention on poverty and social exclusion, and calls for appropriate and regular follow-up of the recommendations so developed;
Amendment AA #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the Commission’s new strategy for implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights aims, in particular, to improve the most disadvantaged people’s access to fundamental rights; whereas the Charter must be respected in its entirety and whereas severe poverty represents a violation of human rights and a serious erosion of human dignity and encourages stigmatisation and injustice; whereas the key objective of income support schemes is to bring people out of poverty and enable them to live in dignity,
Amendment B #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls for poverty awareness seminars to be organised in the European institutions and Member State governments by organisations which have specific experience of combating poverty and for experiments in joint training on social and exclusion issues to be made, bringing together European officials and people with hands-on experience of combating poverty;
Amendment C #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for regular, critical monitoring ofthe establishment of a regular, critical evaluation mechanism, involving the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, based on precise indicators at national and European level, by which the multiple dimensions of poverty can be evaluated and the Member States’ progress, by gender and age, towards achieving the poverty reduction target, and towards breaking this target down into sub-targets, can be measured, in view of the fact that the lack of a precise definition of poverty leaves too much leeway for the Member States, to break this target down into sub-targets; hus risking aberrant interpretations; calls on the Commission to improve national and European indicators relating to the comparability of national statistics on the poverty of vulnerable people and to promote, with Eurostat, the production of more precise statistics within a comprehensive scoreboard on poverty and social exclusion by means of which it will be possible to track the number of people below the 50% and 40% levels of median income and on this basis to conduct an annual evaluation of the situations of poverty in the EU, the statistical approach of which should be supplemented by a qualitative and participatory approach; calls on the Commission to ensure the policies implemented are beneficial to all and not just to those close to the poverty threshold;
Amendment CC #
Motion for a resolution
Considérant C
Considérant C
C. whereas the Europe 2020 strategy aims todopts, as one of its five major objectives, a soft target, i.e. one without sanctions, aiming at reduceing the number of people at risk of poverty by 20 million, on the basis of three indicators agreed by Member States (the at-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers, the severe material deprivation index and the percentage of people living in jobless households), and whereas this aim may be an acknowledgement of the importance of combating poverty and social exclusion but, given the figures of 116 million at risk of poverty and 42 million living in conditions of severe material deprivation, it reflects the abandonment from the outset of millions of people in Europe, with the associated risk of generating threshold effects and excluding the most vulnerable people from the scope of policies geared to measurable results; whereas if the most intractable situations are not addressed from the outset, the policies implemented will have no impact on them; whereas the European Platform against poverty constitutes one of the seven flagship initiatives of the EU 2020 strategy,
Amendment D #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for it to be made clear that the Commission will be legally accountable in on the Commission to fully take account of the correct horizontal social clause as specified in Article 9 TFEU, under which the EU is to take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health, and calls for the Commission to specify how the Platform will affect assessments of the implementation of that clause; calls for the social impact assessments of European policies to go into greater depthe, event that the horizontal social clause is not applied, and calls for the Commission to specify how the Platform will affect assessments of the implementation of that clause where those policies are not initiated by the Commission but by the European Council, as in the case of the Euro Plus pact; considers that such an in- depth analysis of the application of this clause will make it possible to avoid a levelling-down of social standards in Europe and to promote the development of a common social basis in Europe; calls for this social impact assessment to be made with the associations active in combating poverty and to take account of the situation of the poorest people in Europe as a reference; considers that these assessments should involve the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Commission’s departments responsible for social affairs under the responsibility of a director- general reporting to the General Secretariat of the European Commission;
Amendment DD #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas poverty is detrimental to growth, increases public budget deficits and undermines the EU’s competitiveness, because poverty levels in the EU Member States have been high for very many years, the impact of poverty on the economy is steadily increasing; whereas poverty is detrimental to growth, increases public budget deficits and undermines the EU’s competitiveness, factors which in themselves create poverty and unemployment, particularly long- term unemployment, which affects one- third of the jobless, a situation that is worse in the more economically vulnerable countries; whereas the preservation of social rights in the European Union is fundamental in any attempt to address poverty,
Amendment G #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the open method of social coordination to be strengthened and applied correctly in the field of poverty, inter alia through the common development, implementation and evaluation of national strategies for social inclusion and protection, on the basis of commonly defined objectives, via national platforms against poverty, by exchanges of good practice on policies regarding effective access to fundamental rights and implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the revised Social Charter (not yet ratified by all Member States), in particular Articles 30 and 31 thereof; stresses that, in this context, the work of the Council’s Social Protection Committee should continue to be taken into account; calls for the Platform to promote and follow up the participation of local authorities, social economy enterprises and other local stakeholders in drawing up and implementing national strategic reports;
Amendment H #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to specify th, in consultation with the European Central Bank, to propose common principles used to define the ‘basket of basic goods and services’ accessible to all; required to enable everyone to live in dignity, and points out that these immediate needs are inseparable from respect for human dignity and effective access to all fundamental rights – whether civil, political, economic, social or cultural – without exception; calls for the target of price stability to be clarified so as to allow specific national situations to be taken into account that do not necessarily have a significant impact on the euro- system indicators;
Amendment HH #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the poverty threshold of 60% of median national income is a compelling, helpful and necessary indicator, but where of relative poverty, but should be complemented by other indicators such as the concept and calculation of a ‘basket of basic goods and services’ is just as muchat national level (which does not constitute a direct response to the specific situation of people suffering from poverty) and those agreed at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in June 2010 (at-risk-of poverty, material deprivation and jobless households) as a matter of public policy needs,
Amendment J #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls for the Platform to be geared towards asserting the rights which enable everyone to live in dignity, particularly in the field of employment, housing, health care, social security and adequate living standards, justice, education, training and culture, and the protection of families and children; calls for the Fundamental Rights Agency to produce a study on effective access by the poorest people to the whole range of fundamental rights and the other rights enshrined in the international agreements to which the Member States are signatories, and on the discrimination they face, with the participation of NGOs in which socially excluded people can freely express themselves, and bearing in mind that securing the right to housing is a necessary prerequisite for the full exercise of other fundamental rights, including political and social rights;
Amendment K #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Believes that particular attention and additional measures are needed for the homeless [...] social exclusion; calls upon the European Commission to develop urgently an EU strategy on homelessness along the lines of the 2010 Joint Report of the Commission and the Council on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, the final recommendations of the European Consensus Conference on Homelessness (2010) and the European Parliament resolution on EU Homelessness Strategy; calls on the European Commission to develop a detailed roadmap [...] Note: A citation referring to the resolution will be added by oral amendment.
Amendment MM #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas unemployment among young people, which is already higher than for other age groups, has exploded in the EU since the crisis and now runs at over 20% reaching a critical level in all Member States, which puts young people at risk of falling into poverty from a very early age; whereas this alarming situation calls for urgent political, economic and social responses and will, in combination with demographic changes, aggravate skills shortages; having regard to the vital role that vocational training can play in helping young people and low skilled workers to join the labour market; whereas, however, getting a job does not always mean escaping poverty, and whereas young people are especially susceptible to falling into the category of working poor,
Amendment NN #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas migrants are being hit hard by the economic crisis, nd ethnic minorities, including undocumented migrants, are especially vulnerable workers being hit hard by the economic crisis and consequently by increased poverty and social exclusion because of the precarious, temporary or atypical work they are likely to be doing thanks to their place of origin or lack of qualification; whereas migrant workers should enjoy the same working and pay conditions and the same right to training and social protection as nationals of the countries in which they are working,
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the fact of people having access to decent, egalitarian working conditions constitutes an advance in terms of reducing poverty and social exclusion among families and people living alone,
Amendment R #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to initiate a horizontal anti-discrimination directive with a view to further eradicating discrimination; Urges the Member States to agree and adopt as soon as possible the proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (COM(2008)0426); calls on the Commission to continue to support the overcoming of technical difficulties within the Council in order to ensure a swift agreement is reached, and to close gaps in the existing anti-discrimination legislation which is currently not covering all relevant aspects, with a view to further eradicating discrimination, including social discrimination; Note: A citation referring to the Kosa report will be added by oral amendment.
Amendment T #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. AdvocatesRecommends the Member States to adopt a proactive decent housing policy in order to ensure universal access to decent, affordable housingquality housing at affordable prices or on preferential terms of purchase, and to prevent the loss thereof, with guaranteed access to services essential to health and safety, the lack of such housing being a serious affront to dignity, along with a proactive energy policy that steps up the use of renewable energies and boosts energy efficiency in order to combat energy poverty; calls for more attention to be paid to housing for migrants, who are often exploited and forced to live in sub- standard housing; recalls Protocol 26 annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon on social housing and calls for the provisions contained therein to be respected, in particular on the Member States’ freedom to organise social housing, including the question of financing; encourages the Member States to implement special housing programmes and opportunities for homeless people, in view of guaranteeing the most basic standards of living for the most vulnerable in society;
Amendment W #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Wishes the Commission to initiate a framework directive on minimum incomelaunch, in full compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, a consultation on the possibility of a legislative initiative on a sensible minimum income that will allow economic development, designed to prevent poverty and serve as a basis for people to live in dignity, play their full part in society and make headway with finding employment or identifying training opportunities and playing an automatic stabilising role for the economy, with due regard for differing practices, collective labour agreements and legislation in the various Member States, the definition of a minimum income being the prerogative of the Member State; wishes the Commission to help Member States share best practice on minimum income levels and encourages Member States to develop minimum income schemes based on an average of 60% of the median income in each Member State;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the poverty threshold of 60% of median national income is a compelling, helpful and necessary indicator, but whereas the concept of a ‘basket of basic goods and services’ is just as much a matter of public policy needs,
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas unemployment among young people, which is already higher than for other age groups, has exploded in the EU since the crisis and now runs at over 20%, which puts them at risk of falling into poverty from a very early age,
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas migrants are being hit hard by the economic crisis because of the precarious, temporary or atypical work they are likely to be doing thanks to their place of origin or lack of qualification,
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N a (new)
Recital N a (new)
Na. whereas migrant workers should enjoy the same working and pay conditions and the same right to training and social protection as nationals of the countries in which they are working,
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)
Recital P a (new)
Pa. whereas most of the Member States now have large numbers of homeless people, owing to diverse factors, and this calls for specific measures for those people's social integration,
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to involve the European Parliament and civil society at national and European level and to make discussions with people living in poverty a formal part of the annual convention on poverty;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to involve civil society at national and European level and to make discussions with people living in poverty a formal part of the annual convention on poverty; calls on it also to involve people living in poverty themselves, in partnership with the associations in which they freely express their opinions;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls for experiments in joint training on social and exclusion issues to be made, bringing together European officials and people with hands-on experience of combating poverty;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for regular, critical monitoring of the Member States’ progress towards achieving the poverty reduction target, and for the Member States to break this target down into sub-targets; calls for a set of indicators to be chosen by means of which it will be possible to track the number of people below the 50% and 40% levels of median income and to ensure the policies implemented are beneficial to all and not just to those close to the poverty threshold, and also calls on the European Union to devise a comprehensive scoreboard on poverty and social exclusion to be published each year, the statistical approach of which should be supplemented by a qualitative and participatory approach;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls, in the light of the current crisis situation, for a detailed and up-to-date study to be conducted urgently into the numbers of people living in poverty and people at risk of poverty in the coming months;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on the Commission to draw up and present an annual report to the European Parliament on the Member States’ progress in reducing poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for it to be made clear that the Commission will be legally accountable in the event that the horizontal social clause is not applied, and calls for the Commission to specify how the Platform will affect assessments of the implementation of that clause; calls for this assessment of the social impact of European policies to be carried out with the persons concerned, taking the poorest amongst them as a reference, and for the fight against poverty and for access to basic rights to be coordinated by a secretariat reporting directly to the President of the Commission;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the open method of coordination to be strengthened and applied correctly in the field of poverty, inter alia through the common evaluation of national strategies for social inclusion; and through exchanges of good practice on policies for effective access to fundamental rights, and for it to enable the implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the revised Social Charter, in particular Articles 30 and 31 thereof; calls for the open method of coordination to encourage the Member States to ratify the revised European Social Charter;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to specify the common principles used to define the ‘basket of basic goods and services’ accessible to all, and points out that these immediate needs are inseparable from respect for human dignity and effective access to all fundamental rights – whether civil, political, economic, social or cultural –without exception;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls for the Platform to be geared towards asserting the rights which enable everyone to live in dignity, particularly in the field of employment, housing, health care, social security and adequate living standards, justice, education, training and culture, and the protection of families and children; calls for the Fundamental Rights Agency to produce a study on effective access by the poorest people to the whole range of fundamental rights and on the discrimination they face, with the participation of NGOs in which socially excluded can freely express themselves;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Insists on the need to revise the austerity policies being imposed in some Member States to fight the crisis, and stresses the importance of effective action for solidarity, including reinforcement, mobility, anticipation of transfer and reduction of cofinancing in respect of budgetary funding for creating decent jobs, supporting productive sectors and fighting poverty and social exclusion, rather than creating new forms of dependence or increasing the debt still further;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Insists on the need for specific additional provisions for less-favoured groups (those with disabilities or chronic illnesses, single-parent families and families with large numbers of children) who incur additional costs, in particular related to personal assistance, use of specific facilities, medical care and social support;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Recalls that the risk of falling into extreme poverty is greater for women than for men, given the shortcomings of the welfare systems and continuing discrimination, especially on the labour market, necessitating a whole range of specific policies which should be both gender-oriented and attentive to circumstances;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Believes that poverty affecting people in employment implies inequitable working conditions and calls for efforts to change this state of affairs, through pay levels in general and minimum wage levels in particular, whether regulated by legislation or by collective bargaining, so that they can ensure a decent standard of living;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Believes that priority should be given to fighting social inequality, especially in the context of economic inequality in terms of income and wealth distribution, labour market inequalities, and unequal access to the social functions of the state such as welfare, health, education, the legal system, etc.;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to submit national reform programmes consistent with the aim of the Platform, with a view to creating well-paid work, and calls on the Commission to refrain from restricting the Member States’ capacity for investment and social spending in the context of economic governance, bearing in mind that poverty reduction requires smart, sustainable and inclusive growth as indicated in the Europe 2020 strategy;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to initiate a horizontal anti-discrimination directive with a view to further eradicating discrimination; , including social discrimination;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Advocates a proactive housing policy in order to ensure universal access to decent, affordable housing, the lack of which is a serious affront to dignity, along with a proactive energy policy that steps up the use of renewable energies and boosts energy efficiency;
Amendment 357 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls for special attention to be given to the future of young people and for a clear strategy to help young people find a decent first job commensurate with their level of training;
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Believes that the Commission should take account of Recommendation 92/441/EEC, which recognises 'the fundamental right of the individual to sufficient resources in respect of human dignity', while insisting that the central objective of income support schemes should be that of taking people out of poverty and allowing them to live a decent life, decent invalidity and retirement pensions being included; with this in view, recommends that the Commission consider establishing a common method for calculating a minimum survival income and a cost-of-living minimum (a 'shopping-basket' of goods and services), with a view to ensuring the availability of comparative measurements of poverty levels and establishing means of social intervention, including the minimum income system;
Amendment 372 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Wishes the Commission to initiate a framework directive on a minimum income based on an average of 60% of the median income in each Member State, designed to prevent poverty and serve as a basis for people to live in dignity and make headway with finding employment or identifying training opportunities, with due regard for differing practices, collective labour agreements and legislation in the various Member States;
Amendment 389 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)