Activities of Sergio GUTIÉRREZ PRIETO related to 2013/2134(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European Semester for economic policy coordination (debate)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on European Semester for economic policy coordination: implementation of 2013 priorities
Amendments (18)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomeRegrets the fact that someonly a few Member States have submitted reports on progress on the EU2020 targets, in some cases outlining the specific projects attributed to these goals; calls on all Member States to include these reports as part of their 2014 European Semester contributions;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that Parliament, in its report on the Annual Growth Strategy, called for a strategy able to make austerity programmes compatible with growth incentives and job creation; therefore believes that even with the introduction of slight changes in the fiscal consolidation calendar, the Country Specific Recommendations presented by the Commission remain insufficient to achieve these objectives; warns that the Country Specific Recommendations made in relation to structural reform may have the same negative impact on growth and employment as the previous austerity policy;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Points out that the asymmetries in the Commission’s recommendations have led to an unprecedented increase in the socioeconomic and employment divergences between Member States; warns that despite slight improvements, the recommendations still contain asymmetries, making it likely that these divergences will further increase;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Regrets that despite this Parliament’s repeated requests for national employment and youth employment plans to be presented in all the Member States, a significant number of these have still not done so;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Considers the Commission’s recognition of the need to reduce taxes on employment in favour of other sources of income, such as environmental taxation, to be a positive development; nevertheless asks the Commission to bear in mind that increased capital tax is needed in order to speed up the fiscal consolidation process more fairly;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recognises that this year’se Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs) are particularly important, because Member States define their investment priorities for cohesion policy in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF); calls in this context for increased targeting of EU funding on growth and employment policies, especially on combating youth unemployment this year and should focus on combining austerity programmes with growth incentives, combating unemployment – particularly youth unemployment – and maintaining productive investment such as in education and innovation; regrets that the Commission has not included in its draft recommendations most of the recommendations drafted by this Parliament; expresses its concern at the increase in social and economic divergences among the Member States;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the fact that several Member States have adopted major labour market reforms aimed at improving the resilience of the labour market, introducing more internal and external flexibility, reducing segmentation and facilitating transition between jobs; regrets that only a small number of these reforms have been carried out with adequate consensus among the social partners; asks the Commission, in its Country Specific Recommendations, to ensure that the necessary flexibility of the labour market maintains the extremely high levels of social protection which are the hallmark of our social model;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a.Notes with concern that the quest for greater competitiveness in Europe is only being pursued through wage devaluations and not through any increase in the productivity of our economies; asks the Commission to exclude essential investment in innovation and training from deficit calculations, in order to guarantee greater productivity in the EU as a whole;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Deplores as insufficient the Commission’s recommendation to Member States with higher tax margins that they increase their internal demand and regrets the focus on reduction of social contributions rather than on increasing net wages; urges the Commission to review these recommendations;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that the situation of unemployed young people is particularly worrying and that urgent action is needed; asks for a European Pact for Youth Employment thato complete and puts into effect the already long-agreed measures and commits new resources and measures to fighting youth unemploymentpractice the measures agreed on in the June 2012 Growth and Employment Pact and to adopt new resources and measures;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the adoption of the Youth Guarantee by the Council and the earmarking of EUR 6 billion for Youth Employment Initiative as part of the next MFF; calls on Member States to implement Youth Guarantee Schemes; notes with satisfaction that these funds can be used during the first two years of the following financial frameworks; recalls that this amount is, however, insufficient and should form an initial tranche with which to combat youth unemployment; emphasises that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has calculated that EUR 21 billion is needed in order to carry out an effective programme to combat youth unemployment in the EU;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Encourages the Commission to continue the workIs disappointed with the achievements of the Youth Employment Action Teams to helpin the Member States with the highest levels of youth unemployment tofollowing the reprogrammeing of EU structural funding in order to target it at young people; welcomes the Commission’s intention to build on the European Job Mobility Portal (EURES) by intensifying and broadening its activities and, in particular, by promoting youth mobility;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Believes there is an urgent need, given the numbers of workers, particularly young people, departing their countries of origin for others within the EU in search of employment opportunities, to develop appropriate measures to guarantee the portability of social rights obtained in this process, particularly unemployment and pension rights; believes that, given this situation, EURES should play a more significant role in labour mediation amongst the various Member States; welcomes the improvements to the European mobility portal and calls for a specific strategy to be drafted for it, together with the Member States;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recalls the skills mismatches and bottlenecks in many regions and sectors and the inadequacy of certain education and training systems to cope with market demands; welcomes the reforms of vocational education and training systems undertaken by several Member States in order to adapt skills and competences to labour market needs, especially those of young people; recalls that almost all Member States need to undertake further action and investment in the field of education and trainingat all Member States should make greater efforts to adapt their education systems to the needs of the labour market; regrets that the Commission has not drawn Member States’ attention to this in its recommendations;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes that the crisis has had a severe and lasting impact on the Member States’ levels of unemployment and their social situation, which has led to unsustainable increases in poverty and social exclusion, including child poverty, homelessness, in- work poverty and over-indebtedness of households; calls in this context on Member States to reinforce the safety nets and ensure the effectiveness of the welfare systems that deal with those affected; Emphasises that economic and social decline has exhausted the national fiscal stabilisers in a number of Member States, while others enjoy comfortable margins; asks the Commission to put forward a proposal for a European automatic stabiliser, as defined in its December 2012 Blueprint, as soon as possible;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Considers, in this respect, that public pension systems are to a considerable extent cushioning the negative social impacts; regrets that the Commission’s recommendations, particularly with regard to the legal age of retirement and its connection with life expectancy, were made without reference to the recommendations of the European Parliament in its reports on the green and white papers on pensions;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the fact that this year many Member States made a greater effort to involve national parliaments, the social partners and civil society in drawing up their national reform programmes; stresses that the engagement of all stakeholders in the development of the necessary reforms is crucial to their delivery and succescalls on the Commission to require that Member States ensure prior involvement by their national parliaments and social stakeholders in drawing up national reform programmes and stability and convergence programmes;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Regrets that this Parliament’s report on the National Reform Plans proposed by the Commission was drafted after their approval by the Council; urges the Commission to revise the calendar for the European Semester to ensure that the process enjoys full democratic legitimacy, particularly once the Country Specific Recommendations become binding on the Member States after approval of the six- pack.