Activities of Elisabeth SCHROEDTER related to 2010/2157(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on demographic change and its consequences for the future cohesion policy of the EU PDF (230 KB) DOC (132 KB)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION Demographic change and its consequences for the future Cohesion policy of the EU
Amendments (38)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that demographic projections on old-age dependency ratios indicate increasing polarisation between regions, as by 2020 there will be 40 regions where the ratio is at least 25% above the EU average, creating serious challenges with regard to care of the elderly, the adequacy and training of the workforce, and many other social concerns; notes that studies and analyses of regions experiencing net outward migration, which at the same time face a high level of unemployment, show that up to 25% more young women than men are moving away and that this is primarily due to discrimination against young women in terms of access to good training places, jobs and career opportunities;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas demographic change in the EU and worldwide is a fact and handling it constitutes one of the core tasks for the future,
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Considers that prolonged life expectancy is a positive factor and should be considered in this way; therefore asks the EU to ensure that Member States guarantee that pensioners, especially those at risk of poverty, unable to afford a home or to care for themselves, do not fall into poverty and can end their lives in dignity;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Recognises, however, that migration offers, in particular to regions experiencing net outflows, the opportunity to stem the negative impact of demographic change, and calls therefore on the Member States to recognise the integration of migrants as a strategically important policy measure;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the ageing of Europe’s populationdemographic change creates new work for the regions, but should be seen as an opportunity rather than as a threat,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the study entitled ‘Regions 2020’ by the Commission’s DG Regio has identified demographic change as a central challenge,
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that indicators of demographic change, and most importantly the old-age dependency ratiotogether with social indicators, should supplement GDP – currently the best available yardstick – as criteria for the allocation of funds under the future cohesion policy of the EU, in order to respond to these challenges more effectively;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas rural areas in particular face major challenges but urban areas also have to deal with new challenges such as a rise in average age, and the need for gooinnovative and decentralised infrastructure and services of general interest is not decreasing but, rather, subject to qualitative changes in both rural and urban areas,
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the ESF's importance in cohesion policyat all regions, including regions of net emigration, have specific potential in a variety of fields; calls on the Member States within their set of measures, to priorities strategies that allow such regions to fully exploit their own development potential, since experience shows that this can stimulate local and regional economic and social actors, thereby making regions with net outward migration more attractive again and reverse migration trends; notes the ESF’s importance in this context and calls for integrated programmes at regional level so that the ERDF and the ESF work better together and also with the CAP, with a results-oriented focus on sustainable development, poverty eradication, competitiveness, employment and other Europe 2020 Strategy targets; calls for cohesion policy to be conditional on results and to set measurable targets and outcome indicators to permit ongoing evaluation;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. proposes that greater use should be made of the opportunities offered by the ESF in order to make local social capital available for local services located close to the people, so as to take account of the particular needs of elderly people and enable them to lead an independent life for as long as possible; points out, in addition, that regions experiencing net outward migration need to take measures to maintain to a large extent a natural population mix, including, in particular, guaranteeing childcare provisions, attractive educational infrastructure and universal access to other services of general interest;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that demographic change has very different effects from region to region depending on whether the region concerned is a region of net immigration or of shrinking population and therefore requires different adjustment strategies; notes that quality of life is defined differently in regions of shrinking population, which are mostly rural regions, from the way in which it is defined in regions with a growing population, and therefore considers that different support strategies are needed;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – introductory part
Paragraph 4 – introductory part
4. CNotes that in regions with net outward migration innovative and decentralised social infrastructure concepts, together with a high degree of active citizenship, improve the quality of life and are factors which strengthen economic stability, also among young people; considers that those regions where population ageing will be most rapid could be used as test grounds for experimenting with and funding innovative solutions to regional problems caused by rapid demographic change, bearing in mind that innovation is needed in many areas, for example:
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Notes that all regions, including regions of net emigration, have specific potential in a variety of fields; calls for the regions to be given help in developing that potential to the full in the interests of their regional prosperity; calls on the Commission and the Member States to allow specific integrated development strategies in such regions, since experience shows that this type of stimulus to local and regional economic activity can make shrinking regions more attractive;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – indent 1
Paragraph 4 – indent 1
– supporting families with a view to reversing the decline in the birth rate,reconciliation of family life and work, including financial and adequate infrastructure support, as well as recognition of care work;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on the Member States to guarantee a universal basic service in regions of net emigration, together with a high level of services of general interest (e.g. education including pre-school and child care, welfare and health services, postal services) and accessibility (e.g. of public transport, transport infrastructures and telecommunications networks) and to safeguard economic participation and skills (e.g. through training including methods of lifelong learning and use of and investment in new technologies); calls for the practical framework for fulfilment of these tasks to be adapted to local needs and local actors and to improve their adaptability;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. notes that studies and analyses of regions experiencing net outward migration, in which at the same time there is a high level of unemployment, show that up to 25% more young women than men are moving away and that this is primarily due to discrimination against young women in terms of access to good training places, jobs and career opportunities;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – indent 2
Paragraph 4 – indent 2
– ensuring an adequate workforce to care for the elderly, , high-quality universal provision of basic services of general interest, including care services for the elderly, as universal access to social services is a fundamental right and the principle of solidarity must be maintained also when facing demographic imbalances;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that a political framework for gender equality can help face demographic challenges; requests, therefore, that the issue of gender equality should be taken into consideration in all debates on demographic issuesthe structural funds through gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – indent 3
Paragraph 4 – indent 3
– increasing productivaccessibility in healthcare and care for the elderly by using ICT,
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – indent 4
Paragraph 4 – indent 4
– keeping the ageing population healthy, active and capable of living at home,safeguarding economic participation and skill development (e.g. through training) of an ageing population through a thorough reform of career management for senior employees from the age of 50, who are currently often penalised by discrimination in recruitment procedures, inadequate access to training including on new skills and technologies and the absence of recognition of acquired experience;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – indent 5
Paragraph 4 – indent 5
– responding to the phases of deterioration in the condition of elderly people; ensuring that vulnerable groups such as migrants, the disabled and elderly people can participate in trainings to improve their access to ICTs.
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the regions to also consider demographic indicators and other social indicators when allocating and distributing EU structural funds, and in particular to take account of them in the SWOT analysis;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on Member States to reform their tax systems so as to ensure that people with interrupted employment histories due to care responsibilities for children or for the elderly are not put at a disadvantage in terms of old-age pension and social security provision;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to include demographic change as one of the ‘thematic priorities’ which it will use to shapea horizontal objective in the future cohesion policy; also calls on the Commission to insist on the inclusion of this issue when concluding investment partnerships with Member States;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for a cohesion policyfuture ESF rules that isare simpler to manage and more transparent so that it will be easier to develop innovation and to increastherefore allow small organisations to better benefit from the fund and develop and manage social innovative projects; calls on the Commission to increase within the future ESF the fund for transnational pilot projects on EU level for social and employment matters in order to facilitate innovative regional, cross- border and macro-regional cooperation in order to meet common challenges arising from demographic change.
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the Member States and regions to pay greater heed than in the past to demographic change and its effects as a horizontal priorityobjective in their operational programmes;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3
Subheading 3
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Encourages the regions to use the structural funds to address demographic challenges and remain attractive to residents, as that can stem depopulationby promoting the specific potential of each region and strengthening the factors that make people want to stay;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Believes that, if depopulation is to be prevented, then child- and family-friendly towns and cities and rural areas need to be developed, one feature of which is that everything is close at hand, with workplaces, housing and recreational areas being close together; calls on the regions to ensure, in the field of urban planning, that residential, commercial, service and green areas are alternated; notes that small towns in regions of net emigration have a particularly important role to play as service centres; calls for this anchor function to be taken into account in the future structural funds, particularly by improving the integration of the EAFRD with the ERDF and the ESF;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that ERDF funds can be used to avoid the social exclusion of the elderly, for example by building infrastructure suitable for the elderly and ensuring accessibility for all;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that, in areas with a dwindling population, financial support should also be provided for urban renovation and redevelopmentadaptation strategies; believes that urban and regional planning must take changing infrastructure uses into greater account, including by revitalising and restructuring inner cities;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Notes that the constantly growing population of older people, with their specific needs in terms of goods and services, can provide a fresh economic impetus for regional development, which can in turn unlock new potential for regions with growing numbers of older people; points out that this situation can be seen as an opportunity for new jobs in a growing market for new products and services which improve the quality of life of older people, for economic growth and for improving the EU's competitiveness, this being the so-called ‘silver economy’ approach;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Warns of the danger of specific regional difficulties in providing services of general interest, in particular a lack of skilled workers in care-related professions; believes that the regions should use ESF funds to train care workers in order to ensure a high quality of caredevelop specific regional responses to needs and difficulties of service provision;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Stresses that in shrinking regions the voluntary sector and social networking make a significant contribution to meeting the needs of local people but cannot replace the essential role played by the public authorities in providing services of general interest in the regions; considers that this active citizenship must be recognised and the bodies involved supported as regional policy partners; stresses that this sets in motion learning processes that enable a region to meet the challenges of demographic change;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Member States to agree on a common migration strategy, since Europe is reliant uponstrategy for legal migration, not least because Europe can benefit from the immigration of skilled workers for demographic reasons;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Proposes that more fWelcomes the proposal for the establishment of a European Integration Fund ing should be provided order to provide funding for the integration of immigrants in order to dispel prejudices, and that; calls on the competent national, regional and local authorities responsible for drawing up and managing Cohesion Policy and Rural Development Policy to work even more closely together to encourage people to move to rural regions with a shrinking population, by improving the living and working conditions in these regions; notes that measures to dispel prejudices, such as training and communal events to encourage exchanges c, should be promoted;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Considers that demographic developments in the regions should be statistically measured with gender-specific data; calls on the Commission to submit proposals to make local, regional and national databases on demographic development comparable, so that data can be evaluated at European level;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Proposes to the Commission that it should promote, as part of territorial cooperation, EU-wide networks in which regional and local authorities and civil society actors can learn from one another about tackling the problems resulting from demographic change;