66 Amendments of Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ related to 2023/2066(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
– having regard to the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted in New York on 16 December 1966,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
– having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 b (new)
Citation 2 b (new)
– having regard to the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR),
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 c (new)
Citation 2 c (new)
– having regard to the EPSR Action Plan with its 2030 headline targets and the EU social scoreboard,
Amendment 12 #
– having regard to the Porto declaration of 8 May 2021 and the renewed commitments at the 2023 Porto Social Forum,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4
Citation 4
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 b (new)
Citation 5 b (new)
– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 29 April 2021 on the European Child Guarantee,
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 c (new)
Citation 5 c (new)
– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 7 April 2022 on the EU’s protection of children and young people fleeing the war in Ukraine,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 d (new)
Citation 5 d (new)
– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 5 July 2022 towards a common European action on care,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 e (new)
Citation 5 e (new)
– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 5 October 2022 on the EU’s response to the increase in energy prices in Europe,
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6
Citation 6
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7
Citation 7
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8
Citation 8
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9
Citation 9
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 a (new)
Citation 12 a (new)
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 b (new)
Citation 12 b (new)
– having regard to the Council recommendation of 22 May 2019 on High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems,
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 c (new)
Citation 12 c (new)
– having regard to the Commission’s Communication A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 (COM(2020) 152 final), of 5 March 2020,
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 d (new)
Citation 12 d (new)
– having regard to the Commission’s Communication EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation for 2020-2030 (COM(2020) 620 final), of 7 October 2020,
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 e (new)
Citation 12 e (new)
– having regard to the Commission’s Communication Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 (COM(2021) 101 final), of 3 March 2021,
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 f (new)
Citation 12 f (new)
– having regard to the Communication of the European Commission on European Care Strategy (COM/2022/440 final) of 7 September 2022 , the Council recommendation 14785/22 of 29 November 2022 on early childhood education and care: the Barcelona targets for 2030 and the Council recommendation 13948/22 of 25 November 2022 on access to affordable high-quality long-term care,
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 g (new)
Citation 12 g (new)
– having regard to the Council Recommendation of 30 January 2023 on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion 2023/C 41/01,
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13
Citation 13
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14
Citation 14
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15
Citation 15
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16
Citation 16
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17
Citation 17
– having regard to the reportopinion of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality,
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas child poverty iin 2021, more than 19.6 million children (one in four children) were at risk of poverty and social exclusion in the EU; whereas despite significant differences in child poverty and social exclusion rates between the Member States, no Member State is free of child poverty1a; whereas over one-fifth (22.4 %) of the EU population living in households with dependent children was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 20222a; whereas in 2021, 54.3 % of people living in single-adult households with dependent children in the EU were unable to meet unexpected financial expenses3a; whereas child poverty is thus a multidimensional phenomenon stemming from household poverty, meaning that low- er-education and low-income families, single-parent families – mostly made up of women and their children – and large disadvantaged families are at greater risk of poverty and bear a higher probability of transmission of poverty over several generation; whereas this phenomenon requires a multidimensional response, which necessarily includes improving employment quality and job security, guaranteeing and enforcing rights, increasing income and ensuring universal access to quality public services; , as well as family and child benefits; _________________ 1a Save the Children Europe (2023) Guaranteeing Children's Future: How COVID-19, cost-of-living and climate crises affect children in poverty and what governments in Europe need to do. Available at: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net /pdf/Guaranteeing-Childrens-Future- Report-Full-MARCH-2023.pdf/. 2a Eurostat (2023) Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php?title=Living_conditi ons_in_Europe_- _poverty_and_social_exclusion&oldid=58 4082. 3a Eurostat (2022) Living conditions in Europe - material deprivation and economic strain. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php?title=Living_conditi ons_in_Europe_- _material_deprivation_and_economic_str ain.
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas life in areas with the lack of accessible quality child-centred services and support to the families increases the risk of child poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A e (new)
Recital A e (new)
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A f (new)
Recital A f (new)
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A g (new)
Recital A g (new)
Ag. whereas not having a nationality or identity documents makes it difficult for stateless children to access some of the most fundamental rights, such as birth registration, education, healthcare, social security and housing, and exposes them to greater risks of abuse and exploitation such as trafficking, child labour, and immigration detention;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, adopted in 2021, aims to reduce the number of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 5 million by 2030; whereas even if this target were achieved around 15 million children in the EU would still be at risk of poverty and social exclusion; whereas this number is projected to further increase with the emergence of new complex and intertwined social crises1a; _________________ 1a Save the Children Europe (2023) Guaranteeing Children's Future: How COVID-19, cost-of-living and climate crises affect children in poverty and what governments in Europe need to do. Available at: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net /pdf/Guaranteeing-Childrens-Future- Report-Full-MARCH-2023.pdf/.
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the European Child Guarantee is a key EU instrument for preventing and combatting poverty and social exclusion by guaranteeing free and effective access for children in need to essential care services, such as early childhood education and care, educational and school-based activities, healthcare and at least one healthy meal per school day, and effective access for all children in need to healthy nutrition and adequate housing;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas childcare and pre-scgh-quality inclusive early childhoold education mayand care plays a significant role in compensating for the disadvantaged socio-economic status of children at risk of poverty and its impact on children’s health and socio-emotional development, and fosters the integration of parents, especially mothers, into the labour market; whereas the remote learning policies during the COVID-19 pandemic increased inequalities due to the lack of resources and support needed to the disadvantaged children and their families1a; _________________ 1a Human Rights Watch (2021) “Years don’t wait for them”: increased inequality in children’s right to education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/me dia_2021/05/global_covideducation0521_ web.pdf.
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas in 2021, 3.6% of children in the EU below 16 had unmet medical needs and 4.4 % of children reported a disability1a; whereas even in countries where the right to health is enshrined in law, inequalities persist and many children do not have timely access to adequate healthcare and some have extremely limited access to services other than emergency services, putting at risk the health of women during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as thessential health services; whereas the far-reaching crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic put at risk mental health and well-being of the entire generations of children; whereas the prevalence of mental health problems is three times higher among children from low-income families2a; whereas the risks of pervasive digital technologies for health and wellbeing of children and their families should not be underestimated; _________________ 1a Eurostat (2023) Health statistics - children. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php?title=Health_statistic s_-_children&oldid=508288. 2a Save thealth of babies and children; Children Europe (2023) Guaranteeing Children's Future: How COVID-19, cost-of-living and climate crises affect children in poverty and what governments in Europe need to do. Available at: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net /pdf/Guaranteeing-Childrens-Future- Report-Full-MARCH-2023.pdf/.
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas sexual health is fundamental to the overall health and well-being of individuals, couples and families; whereas several Member States are attempting to further limit access to sexual and reproductive health and rights through highly restrictive laws that put at risk the health of women during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the health of children;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas all children, parents, foster families and carers should be protected from discrimination, such as discrimination on grounds of sex, language, sexual orientationand/or gender identity , religion or belief, political or ideological beliefs, national, racial, ethnic or social origin, belonging to a national minority, economic situation, disability, age or any other status, and children from vulnerable population groups are at greater risk of marginalisation, poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas children with disabilities and children born to parents with disabilities are still exposed to discrimination and violation of their rights through persistent barriers in all areas of life; whereas these barriers and lack of accessible quality care and support services for persons with disabilities and other persons in need of care and support is particularly manifest in the times of crises, leading to the additional burden on informal, family carers, majority of whom are women;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas child support and family policies do not always reflect and are not sufficiently adapted to the family diversity and family living arrangements (e.g. families with unmarried parents, children of separated parents living in two households or children living in a blended large family, foster families, rainbow families), to the detriment of families’ living standards, access to social protection programs and benefits, and their resilience to crises;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas playing gives children the opportunity to express themselves in a symbolic way and forms an essential basis of the way they think; is the natural and the most effective way for children to learn about themselves, their social and natural environment, to express themselves and develop; whereas participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport directly contributes to children’s well-being and helps them to thrive; whereas financial constraints hamper participation of children from disadvantaged families in non-formal educations and extracurricular activities;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission and Member States to increassignificantly increase and ensure sustainable and adequate public investment in universal and targeted policies that have a direct and indirect impact on children’s lives, above all by guaranteeing equal access to high-quality public services (especially, such as care, early childhood education and care, education, health, decent housing, cultural and leisure activities), to promote the creation of work with rights based on robust collective bargaining and recruitment with decent and fair wages, to facilitate a work-life balance by, inter alia, reducing working hours and providing for maternity and paternity leave, and to bolster mechanisms for ensuring the participation of children and their families in the development, implementation and monitoring of these policies; for children and families in vulnerable situations; calls on the Commission and Member States to bolster mechanisms for ensuring the participation of children and their families in the development, implementation and monitoring of these policies; underlines the importance of exempting the investment in the key policies for combatting child poverty and social exclusion from the national spending cuts;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote the creation of quality jobs with strong labour rights and decent working conditions, including stable and fair work contracts, as well as decent and fair wages, which guarantee access to social and health protection, and robust collective bargaining as a crucial mechanism for representing and defending workers’ rights, especially in the times of crises; underlines the importance of facilitating a work-life balance by, inter alia, maternity, paternity, care and parental leave, reducing working hours and, providing flexible working arrangements for parents and carers;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Acknowledges the critical role of family and child benefits, as part of fair and inclusive social protection systems, which are adapted to the variety of family arrangements and provide timely access to social protection and adequate support for all, including for refugee and migrant children and their families; calls on the Member States to tackle the low take-up of social benefits and support by campaigns dedicated to raising awareness and combatting stigma and stereotypes;
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Deplores the fact that the governments of the Member States are moving away from universal policies andto increasingly promoting policies based on the liberalisation of services and instruments whose availability depends on the resources of the beneficiaries; stresses that universal, coordinated and long-term policies offer better protection against the multiple causes of poverty and social exclusion, by providing structural responses that can, if necessary, be supplemented by immediate, one-off support measuresor temporary targeted support measures; calls on the Commission to take this issue up in the context of the annual cycles of the European Semester for coordination of economic and social policies; encourages the Commission to invest in further take- up of the Social Imbalances Procedure;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses the importance of well- designed minimum income schemes for social inclusion and people’s ability to lead dignified lives, especially in the times of crises; calls on the European Commission to propose a framework Directive on Minimum Income that sets minimum common standards and methodologies to guarantee accessible, enabling and adequate minimum income schemes;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to refrain from recommending reforms that lead to cuts in and the weakening of public administrationsector in the Member States, aimed at promoting the relaxation of employment relationships and the privatisation and liberalisation of public services, which have led to the weakening and, in some cases, the undermining of the social and labour rights of children and their families; calls on the Member States to increase the investment in availability and accessibility of professional care services as a means of reducing the burden on informal carers and ensuring minimum quality standards in care; deplores the recent statements by the President of the ECB, who criticised the investments by national governments in social responses aimed at addressing the increased cost of living;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make the widest possible use of the Child Guarantee as a social response facilitating the social integration and inclusion of children suffering from poverty and exclusion; stresses the key importance of living up to the political commitment with comprehensive ambitious, regularly and timely updated Child Guarantee national action plans with measures targeting the most vulnerable children and their families, clear indicators, a timeframe and a structured monitoring framework that guarantees meaningful participation of multi-sectoral stakeholders, paired with a national framework for adequately disaggregated data collection; calls on the Commission and Member States to scale up investment and to strengthen child protection systems and social welfare services, allowing for swift implementation of the Child Guarantee in the context of new crises and the growing number of children in need;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to implement legislation that protects or enhances maternity, paternity and parental rights, allowing for a more effective work- life balance and a more equal distribution of care and housework, that makes it possible for women to return to work after pregnancy and maternity leave, and for breastfeedingallow for adequate time for breastfeeding after returning to work;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the EU budgetary authorities to take advantage of the upcoming mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 to strengthen and make better use of ESF+, ERDF, FEAD and Child Guarantee allocations in order to strengthen structural policies and social support for children and families accounting for the multisectoral nature of poverty; reiterates its repeated calls for the urgent increase in funding of the Child Guarantee with a dedicated budget of at least €20 billion for the period 2021-2027; insists on making this dedicated budget part of the revised MFF and reinforced ESF+; calls on the Commission to make available – and on the Member States to make full use of – all available resources to effectively implement the Child Guarantee, including the ESF+, ReactEU and the RRF;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recommends thatCalls on the Member States to ensure that all children have access to formal and non-formal, public, free, inclusive and quality education at all ages; deplores persistent cases of discrimination through separation or concentration of disadvantaged children, particularly Roma children, children with disabilities and children with a migrant background, in specific schools and classrooms; calls on the Commission and the Member States to combat school segregation and to develop policies, strategies and tools for advancing inclusive education; calls on the Commission and the Member States to specifically ensure access to inclusive, high-quality education for all persons with disabilities;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses, in view of the difficulties in accessing early childhood care in most Member Stateducation and care throughout the Union, especially for children aged 0-3 and children from economically and socially disadvantaged families, the need for increased investment in quality early childhood education and care services, thereby creating or bolstering a public, universal and free response from the very beginning of the education processupport to parents and carers from child’s early years;
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights the experience of some Member States, which ensure that textbooks and teaching materials, as well as school transport and healthy meals, are inclusive and provided free of charge; recommends extending this system to all Member States as a means of ensuring equal access to education and as an important means of financial support for the most vulnerable of families; encourages the Member States to use the available European funds to promote equal participation of children from disadvantaged households in extracurricular and leisure activities;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Member States to guarantee universal, public, free and quality healthcare for all children and their families; highlights the value of vaccinating children and the need to fight the hotbeds of misinformation with regard to the benefits of vaccinationintegrated healthcare, including health promotion and disease prevention, for all children and their families through a universal health coverage package; calls on the Member States to guarantee universal and accessible maternal, new- born and paediatric care, from pregnancy to adolescence, providing for regular paediatric visits, consultations with nutritionists, psychologists, speech and language therapists, and other health professionals, regardless of the ethnic, social or administrative status of the parents; highlights the value of vaccinating children and the need to fight the hotbeds of misinformation with regard to the benefits of vaccination; is concerned over the persistent considerable shortage of medicines for children and calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure sufficient production and stockpiling of important paediatric primary care medicines; calls on the Member States to support families in vulnerable situations through individualised and tailored social services and psychosocial support;
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Member States to develop specific measures to support parents with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, and to ensure accessible information about the support available to them; acknowledges the benefits of family-centred early childhood intervention and calls on the Commission and the Member States to mainstream it in all the relevant policy areas, such as policies for the protection of children’s rights and persons with disabilities, and to foster an exchange of information and best practices on it; calls on the Commission and the Member States to incorporate the disability perspective and meaningfully consult persons with disabilities and their representative organisations when planning actions to ensure adequate standard of living and social protection of persons with disabilities, particularly in times of crises and transitions;
Amendment 333 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Urges the Commission and the Member States to accelerate the transition from institutional care to family- and community-based affordable professional quality care services, in full respect of the obligations enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other key human rights instruments;
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Highlights the right to comfortabledecent housing that meets the needs of children and their families and ensures their well- being, privacy and quality of life; calls on the Member States to eradicate homelessness through preventive and housing-led strategies, to promote a public housing policy that tackles property speculation and guarantees this righte right to affordable quality housing, and to increase investment in quality social housing; highlights the importance of adapting the living, care and education facilities to climate emergencies; calls on the Commission and the Member States to mainstream child-sensitive approach in policies and measures for tackling climate change;
Amendment 340 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Deplores the fact that the cycle of poverty in Roma families often leads to Roma children being overrepresented in social protection institutions in comparison to non-Roma children; highlights the fact that Roma children and their families are often the first to suffer in times of crisis; calls on the Commission and Member States to pay specific attention in the implementation of the Child Guarantee to the unique challenges faced by Roma children, who often experience extreme poverty, marginalisation, and discrimination in all spheres of life; calls on the Member States to prioritise effective measures and specific actions for improving the status of the family and living conditions, health and well-being of children, early learning and fostering responsive parenting in the implementation of the EU Roma Strategic Framework;
Amendment 344 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to foster programmes to monitor the prices of food, energy, transport and other essential goods in order to reduce the impact of the rise in the cost of living on children and their familiesprovide timely assistance to the families hit by the cost of living crisis, taking into account child- and gender-sensitive approach; highlights the detrimental impact of inflation and cost- of-living crisis on the life and rights of children and families in vulnerable situations and calls on the Member States to uprate social benefits and wages to inflation;
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Condemns all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation, including child labour, and neglect with regard to children, as well as violence against women, domestic and gender based violence; calls on the Member States to develop and implement integrated prevention and protection systems for children and other victims with a view to eradicating violence and discrimination, both in physical and digital environment;
Amendment 374 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses the need to invest in support and follow-up for children and young asylum seekersrefugee and migrant children , especially unaccompanied minors and stateless children, their families, carers and host institutioncommunities;