20 Amendments of Ádám KÓSA related to 2014/2222(INI)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic and social context in the EU continues to be bleak, with negative growth rates in the eurozone for the past two years, and with growth now stalled at around 0 %; whereas forecasts have systemically been revised downwards by the Commission, as has been done for 2015 and 2016 and only few Member States have brighter prospects; whereas recovery is neither robust nor underpinned;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas in spite of mild improvements, the unemployment rate remains historically high, with 25 million people out of work; whereas long-term unemployment is worryingly high, and 12 million people have been unemployed for more than a year (up 4 % over the previous year); whereas the labour market situation is particularly critical for young people, regardless of their level of education except in some Member States;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas 25.1 % of the EU population is currently at risk of poverty or social exclusion; whereas the average growth rate of child poverty is higher than the average growth rate of poverty overall, and whereas in some Member States one in three children live below the poverty line, it also notes that when comparing the EU to the USA, a much higher level of inequality can be seen in the latter;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas Parliament has for the past two years warned of the social risks of deflation in a context of low growth, high unemployment and downward pressure on wages; whereas the ECB has forecast low inflation in the long run, and has warned of the consequences of this on internal demand, growth and employment; whereas deflation has become a reality since August 2014 in eight Member States (six in the Eurozone); whereas demand and job creation in the EU is heavily constrained by the prevailing weakness of credit provision to SMEs and the need to reduce excessive public and private debt with special regards to mortgage loans; whereas the drop in inflation rates significantly increases these difficulties, by raising real interest rates and the real debt burden, and could lead to a vicious circle of economic depression;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the extension of the pace of fiscal consolidation, and the introduction of new headline targets – focusing more on structural than on cyclical deficits – that will have a positive effect on employment and growth; notes, however, that the size of fiscal multipliers in the current context is nevertheless still very high and that this will inevitably have a negative impact on economic growth and job creation; calls on the Commission to explore the possibility of introducing escape clauses, or of delaying these targets, in order to avoid weakening demand further and destroying jobs as some Member States had already asked for it without any success when being in trouble after disastrous and irresponsible governance;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the joint Commission-EIB SME lending scheme using Structural Funds to streamline investment in these companies so as to boost employment creation; calls on the ECB to complement this policy action and to explore means of purchasing SME assets and support SMEs development within the framework of QE programmes based on good practices seen in some Member States, or to serve as a guarantor for SME sources of financing;
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that decisive investment plans for growth and job creation can only be fully realised if they are coupled with national reforms that enhance quality labour participation, boost activity, productivity and develop human capital, including those people's in the most desperate situation and lacking any skills in the short run suitable for labour market demand; believes that structural labour market reforms should introduce internal flexibility measures aimed at maintaining employment in times of economic disruption, ensure job quality and security in employment transitions, and provide unemployment benefit schemes that are based on activation requirements and linked to reintegration policies;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Regrets that the European Semester has not been sufficiently aligned with the Europe 2020 strategy; cCalls for more determined efforts to guide and coordinate EU policies to boost smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and create quality jobs;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recalls that decent wages are important not only for social cohesion, but also for maintaining a strong economy and a productive labour force; calls on the Commission to submit a proposal fororganise a conference on a European framework for minimum wages with a view to reducing wage inequalities and limiting nominal imbalances in competitiveness by taking into account the productivity as well as the danger of possible crowding out effects in Member States;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Welcomes the initiative regarding a European platform on undeclared work; reiterates its call on the Member States to ensure that people with precarious contracts, or who are self-employed, enjoy a core set of rights and adequate social protection; calls on the Commission to make dedicated efforts to address the additional problems caused by involuntary part-time and temporary employment and by bogus self-employment, calls on the Commission to ensure that Member States remain competent to make decision about their level of involvement in the initiatives approved at plenary level by the Platform as well as any initiative of the Platform should conform to its objectives and mission, and respect the relevant provisions of the Treaties and the legal base ;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Welcomes the reduction in youth unemployment rates, in some Member States in particular who achieved a greater success in doing so, but points out that they are still alarming; stresses that job insecurity and underemployment have also risen, and that 43 % of the young find themselves working under precarious conditions, for example, on involuntary part-time contracts or as bogus self-employed;
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to propose a European framework introducing minimum standards for the implementation of Youth Guarantees covering young people aged 25-30; calls on the Member States to use the available budget efficiently and to implement the Youth Guarantees without delay; calls for the available budget to be increased during the promised mid-term review of the MFF in accordance with ILO recommendations;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Stresses that, according to the Commission, despite high unemployment rates there are 2 million job vacancies in the EU, and that only 3.3 % of the active population works in another Member State which still indicates a still low level of mobility in comparison to the USA or Japan; recalls that divergences in labour mobility rates range up to 10 percentage points, notably in those Member States hardest hit by the crisis, while recognising the positive contributions of mobility to the labour markets of the EU, it needs to be highlighted that mobility remains only one of the many potential responses to labour market mismatches, and its eventual side-effects, such as brain-drain need to be minimised for maintaining or improving a higher level of social cohesion in the European Union;
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Given the number of workers, particularly young people, who are now leaving their countries of origin for other Member States in search of employment opportunities, there is an urgent need to develop appropriate measures to guarantee that no worker is left uncovered by social and labour rights protection; calls, in this regard, on the Commission and the Member States to further improve EU labour mobility while upholding the principle of equal treatment and safeguarding wages and social standards; calls o in each Member State to establish social and employment policies for equal rights and equal pay at the same place of workbased on their regime;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Reiterates its warning of the socioeconomic challenges facing the Union and the risks to its sustainability and its stable growth potential posed by a reversal in regional convergence; recalls that more than 122 million EU citizens are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including in- work poverty and child poverty, and that these levels are unacceptable and need to be reduced immediately; calls for a true ‘social pillar’ to be implemented within the EMU as part of the process of improving economic governance mechanisms;
Amendment 376 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the fact that the Joint Employment Report annexed to the AGS includes a scoreboard for employment and social policies; considers it regrettable, however, that these existing indicators are not sufficient and that they have not been made binding, which would allow them to be used more forcefully; asks the Commission to remedy this situation;moreover there is a need to define an integrated and more complex measurement system, combining different methodologies such as composite indicators, a systematic set of indicators and sectoral tools to measure the performance of the Single Market in terms of employment and social inclusion explaining the background and history of societal developments of Member States.
Amendment 405 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to tackle immediately the alarming increase in child poverty throughout the EU through the introduction of a child guarantee against poverty based on good practices in some Member States, especially in increasing the state support for school feeding;
Amendment 415 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Points out that emerging new forms of poverty – such as in-work poverty compounding difficulties such as e.g. paying mortgages, or high utility prices creating energy poverty – have resulted in an increase in the number of evictions, foreclosures and homeless people; calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement integrated policies favouring social and affordable housing, effective prevention policies aimed at reducing the number of evictions, and policies tackling energy poverty based on good practices seen in some Member States;
Amendment 431 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Reminds the Commission that in order to ensure both the sustainability and the adequacy of pensions, pension reforms need to be accompanied by policies that: limit access to early retirement schemes and other early exit pathways; develop employment opportunities for older workers; guarantee access to life-long learning; introduce tax benefit policies offering incentives to stay in work longer; and support active healthy ageing as well as reinforcing or introducing the higher level of participation of people with disabilities in the open labour market based on good practices; and support active healthy ageing by taking into account the factor in accessing to tobacco and junk food; stresses that pension reforms require national political and social cohesion, and should be negotiated with the social partners in order to be successful;
Amendment 450 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Notes the importance of reducing taxation on labour, especially by low-paid and low-skilled workers, the long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups like women with children or people with disabilities, while ensuring the long-range sustainability of public pension systems; calls on the Commission to shift the tax burden away from labour while making sure not to endanger social benefits; notes that such shifts should not affect taxes with regressive effects such as consumption taxes, but should focus instead on taxes on capital, wealth,focus on tax evasion and fraud, extra profits and wealth of unknown origin, overpriced energy and natural resources;