Activities of Kostadinka KUNEVA related to 2018/2034(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Employment and social policies in the euro area (short presentation) EL
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the employment and social policies of the euro area PDF (423 KB) DOC (74 KB)
Amendments (29)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
— having regard to Articles 3 and 5 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU),
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17 a (new)
Citation 17 a (new)
- having regard to the Commission communication of 21 December 2017 on a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions in the European Union COM(2017) 797,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 25 a (new)
Citation 25 a (new)
- having regard to the Commission proposal of 31 May 2018 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a European Investment Stabilisation Function,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the difference in unemployment rates among the euro area Member States is vast considering that the lowest unemployment rates in January 2018 were recorded in Malta (3.5 %) and Germany (3.6 %), while the highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (20.9 % in November 2017) and Spain (16.3 %);
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas in January 2018 the youth unemployment rate in the euro area was 17.7 % compared with 19.9 % in January 2017, but despite its decline it remains more than twice the total unemployment average;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas in January 2018the difference in youth unemployment rates among the euro area Member-States is also vast since the lowest youth unemployment rates in the euro area were observed in Estonia (6.5 % in December 2017) and Germany (6.6 %) while the highest were recorded in Greece (43.7 % in November 2017), Spain (36.0 %) and Italy (31.5 %);
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas there is an indication of a dangerous potential permanent trend in the euro area countries with the highest unemployment rates and the lower employment rates as in Greece (57.8%), Italy (62.3%) and Spain (65.5%);
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas universal access to quality and affordable healthcare is a basic societal need and also an obligation of the Member-States;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas the macroeconomic stabilisation policy of the EU is one of the main issues that have emerged from the financial crisis and should be established through multiple mechanisms;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J b (new)
Recital J b (new)
Jb. whereas it is scientifically widely proved that there is a direct effect of unemployment to growth and therefore employment is not merely a social right but an essential factor for growth;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that while the economic conditions in the EU are currently favourable and overall employment is steadily growing, there is still much room for improvement in terms ofeconomic recovery is very uneven across the EU and there is still a considerable delay in reducing youth unemployment, in addressing the labour market segmentation and inequalities, in-work poverty, productivity and wage growth;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Considers that the main goal of the employment and social policies of the euro area should be achieving full employment and upward social convergence while guaranteeing quality jobs and social rights;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Notes that the deregulation of the labour market, the weakening of collective bargaining systems and collective agreements in the countries of euro area, mainly through their so-called “decentralisation”, and the reduction of minimum wages imposed on certain countries not only did not favour the increase in employment, but have contributed to an increase in unemployment;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines that well-functioning social protection systems are an important precondition for inclusive national labour markets and the resilience of the euro area economy as a whole; stresses therefore that fiscal consolidation programmes should by no means impose austerity measures damaging social policies by substantial cuts;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the increased financial support, via the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP), for Member States to pursue their reforms in creating quality jobs to boost employment, reducing unemployment with emphasis on tackling long-term and youth unemployment, wage increase and recovery of the collective bargaining; welcomes the Commission proposal to enlarge the scope of the SRSP to cover countries whose currency is not the euro, with the aim of fostering economic and social convergence throughout the EU;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission to further encourage and legislate on new forms of enterprises as the social and solidarity economy promote both employment and social standards at the same time;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Believes that the European Semester still needs to be re-oriented towards social objectives, notably by integrating additional reference indicators in the social and environmental fields in order to balance the current GDP-led approach;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls for a democratisation of the European Semester with full scrutiny and enlarged powers to the European Parliament and national parliaments;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines that job creation and wage growth have a significant impact on reducing inequalities, improving standard of living and supporting economic recovery, and that Member States’ reforms encouraged by the Commission through the CSR should therefore focus in particular on policies that increase productivity and growth potential, support the creation of quality jobs and reduce inequality and poverty, especially child poverty;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Supports flexibility in the implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact as proposed by the Commission in 2015; considers that much more flexibility is required to boost employment, growth and investment in the EU; calls, therefore for a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact to exempt investments in quality jobs creation mainly through active labour market policies;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the Commission communication of 13 March 2018 on monitorUnderlines that the EU’s social and environmental goals and commitments must be on an equal footing with the economic goals; calls therefore for binding social and environmental targets ing the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) (COM(2018)0130), which aligns the Pillar with the European Semester cycle by reflecting the priorities of the EPSR in the analysis of measures taken and progress made at national levelEuropean Semester; calls on the Commission to specify in comprehensible and particular qualitative/quantitative terms indicators for the twenty principles of the EPSR as well as additional ones such as the equal pay for equal work, living wages, protection against dismissal and in favour of whistle-blowers, social protection coverage, access to care and essential services as domestic work, healthy and safe working conditions, unemployment benefits, minimum income schemes, adequate pensions, inclusion of people with disabilities and to integrate them into the European Semester in an equivalent way to the indicators of the Stability Pact and the macroeconomic prevention imbalances;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the labour markets of the euro area countries differ significantly, which constitutes a challenge to their proper functioning; calls therefore for well- designed labour market policies that reduce labour market segmentation, promote equal opportunities, facilitate access to the labour market, increase labour mobility and reintegrate the unemployedcreate stable and secure quality jobs, promote equal opportunities and equal treatment of workers, prevent wage and social dumping using sanctions such as deprivation of EU funds to employers accused of labour infringements, facilitate access to the labour market, increase labour mobility and reintegrate the unemployed; calls therefore for the attribution of at least 5% of the EFSI to such programmes, especially for the long-term and youth unemployed with the possibility of the contribution to exceed if necessary the range of 50% of the total required due to the exceptionally disadvantageous situation in some countries;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Underlines the importance of the establishment of the European Unemployment Insurance Scheme and asks the Commission to bring forward a proposal supportive to other stabilisation mechanisms under discussion, as the European Investment Stabilisation Function that should guarantee the correction of macroeconomic balances through employment and development and not through devastating austerity;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Calls on the Commission to conduct an extensive Study concentrating on the relationship, in the euro area Member States, between unemployment and their: (a) GDPs (b) Growth (c) Pension systems sustainability
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Member States to take full advantage of the positive economic outlook and pursue labour market reforms fostering reliable labour contracts andstable, secure and open-ended employment contracts, particularly by encouraging collective agreements that provide a minimum level of protection for every worker, tackling bogus self- employment and, promoting adequate social protection for all types of contracts but also by prohibiting types of contracts that violate fundamental rights by imposing slavery working conditions, such as zero contracts, unpaid work;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Member States to ensure the long-term sustainability of pension systems that do not overburden the younger generation, and to reduce the risk of poverty in old age; notes with concern that in some Member States the gender pension gap, as well as the rate of early retirement, remains highconsiders in that respect that raising the statutory retirement age is not a viable option, which in effect would have a negative impact on youth unemployment; notes with concern that in some Member States the gender pension gap, as well as the rate of early retirement, remains high; points out that the sustainability of public pension systems is not achieved through pension cuts or attempts to privatise them, but with a drastic reduction of the unemployment, an effective fight against undeclared and partly undeclared work, with an integration of migrants and refugees into the labour market, and with measures that will reverse the aging of the European societies;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Underlines the need to pursue reforms that prepare the labour market and its workforce for the digital transformation; considers that the digital transformation of the economy and labour allows and imposes a coordinated reduction in working time, which will allow more jobs to be created; stresses in that respect the need to involve both trade unions and employers’ organisations in order to ensure a fair transition; highlights the need to modernise national social protection systems to provide adequate protection for employees in new forms of work and with new kinds of contracts;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Member States to undertake the necessary reforms to increase the accessibility, quality and cost- effectiveness of their healthcare systems that should be at any cost and with the necessary support of the EU mechanisms explicitly excluded by any austerity measures imposed by fiscal consolidation programmes;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Points out the need for well- designed policies for a better work-life balance, including flexiadaptable working arrangements, take-up of advantageous family leave and adequate investment in affordable, quality childcare; sees, in this regard, the swift adoption of the directive on work-life balance for parents and carers as a necessary step towards improved work-life balance;