18 Amendments of Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ related to 2023/2018(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas solidarity activities should present potential European added value, benefit communities and foster participants’ personal, educational, social, civic and professional development; whereas volunteering, both within and beyond the Union, is an enriching experience in a non- formal and informal learning context;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the effects of the COVID- 19 pandemic did not dimpactinish the interest in the programme, but rather highlighted its potentialrelevance and proved the importance of young people’s engagement on the ground in solidarity activities, including blended volunteering;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. Whereas the ESC bears great potential to develop a European common sense of belonging, providing learning opportunities for volunteers to become active citizens, contributing to build better societies, fostering cohesion, advancing peace and preventing violence;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
Gb. Gb. whereas a very limited number of actions dealt directly with citizenship education1a; _________________ 1a Report on the implementation of EU citizenship education actions
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas one of the main policy priorities is including young people with fewer opportunities; whereas in 2021-2022, a total of 14 060 participants belonged to this category, of whom 8 622 were awarded places as individual volunteers and 5 438 were awarded places on volunteering teams; whereas inclusivity, taking also into consideration rural areas, should remain a high priority of the programme, and more efforts should be devoted to ensure geographical balance in the participation of people from disadvantaged backgrounds across the Union;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Insists that volunteering within the ESC must include learning and training components; and shall not be a substitute for traineeships or jobs, nor be equated with employment;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Believes that proper training and proven skills of volunteers should be required to be entitled to have direct contacts with vulnerable people, in particular children with special needs, so as to guarantee child protection and not be detrimental to the wellbeing of children;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Affirms that volunteering on the ground allows for meaningful interactions that cannot be substituted by virtual or blended volunteering without diminishing the quality of the experience; points out that blended or virtual volunteering deprives much needed resources from other actions of the programme;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls onUrges the Commission, the Member States, NAs and engaged organisations to help raise awareness about the programme and its individual strands, to further build its brand and to reach out to more young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities; calls on regular monitoring and reporting in this regard;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that young people’s needs and social trends are changing; invites the Commission to explore and develop new volunteering formats for the next programming period, such as part-time volunteering, virtual volunteering or blended volunteering, and to provide participants and organisations with a sufficient budget;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that in-country activities are particularly importrelevant for young people with fewer opportunities; calls on the Commission to lower the age limit and the mandatory minimum number of five participants per solidarity project for in- country activities in the next programming period, following the example of Erasmus+ youth participation activities;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the programme’s inclusive natureobjectives and the implementation guidelines for its inclusion and diversity strategy; calls onurges the Commission to consider adopting a more flexible and inclusive approach to individual volunteering, enabland Member States to implement the strategy with utmost care and attention, ing participants to mix and match countries, areas of activity and experiences in order to make the programme more inclusiveular to support organisations in reaching out to more participants with fewer opportunities and to monitor its implementation carefully;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Commission to consider adopting a more flexible approach to individual volunteering, enabling participants to mix and match countries, areas of activity and experiences;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls to reinforce the knowledge of volunteers on the European Union through their initial training, by including a mandatory module on European citizenship education, in order to reinforce the EU added value of the programme;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Believes that solidarity should be mainstreamed across EU programmes; praises therefore the synergies achieved with Horizon Europe; calls on the Commission to explore the development of synergies with the European Social Fund and with union actions on disaster relief; taking into account that young volunteers cannot substitute professional first responders;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Considering the unfulfilled demand of the ESC, the increasing requests for solidarity after recurrent crises, its symbolic value to promote understanding and cohesion between Europeans, and the cost-effectiveness of actions to foster peace and prevent conflict; calls on the Member States and the Commission to, at a minimum, double the budget of the ESC in the next Multiannual Financial Framework;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to address other budgetary issues, such as discrepancies between NAs in handling applications, by establishing specific centralised grants, managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, for individual volunteering and solidarity projects for European organisations and networks, by recommending a minimum amount to be paid by host organisations to their partner/supporting organisations, by removing or increasing the current funding cap for coordination costs, indexing to inflation flat rates and lump sums, and by securing regular funding for quality label holders for long-term financial planning purposes; believes that these measures will help organisations and national agencies to provide more opportunities and fulfil the programme’s potential;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Concludes that in view of the current high demand, showing the relevance of the programme among European youth, as well as the importance of its objectives, that of contributing to social cohesion, fostering understanding among Europeans and preventing conflict through solidarity, also in view of the increasing need for European support after recurrent crises, the ESC has proven its value as a self- standing programme and merits reinforced budget as to live up to its true potential;