BETA

2 Written explanations of Tineke STRIK

Reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty (A9-0006/2021 - Özlem Demirel)

. ‒ I voted in favour of this report because I am convinced that action needs to be taken urgently in the EU to tackle the rise of poverty and in particular in-work poverty. With an economic crisis unfolding, the social impact of which will be far-reaching, the EU and its Member States need to adopt an anti-poverty strategy with concrete poverty reduction targets by 2030, combat tax evasion and tax fraud, and take action to end homelessness, among other actions.I don't support the statement that prostitution is something that needs to be combated and is under all circumstances a form of violence and exploitation. Decriminalising prostitution and ending repressive measures, together with a legal framework recognising the rights of sex workers as service providers or employees would benefit the well-being and safety of sex-workers and would significantly diminish their vulnerability to exploitation.
2021/02/09
2021 Report on North Macedonia (A9-0133/2022 - Ilhan Kyuchyuk)

My political group and I believe in the EU future of North Macedonia, and are strongly in favour of the immediate start of accession negotiations. From 2009 onwards, the European Commission has recommended to open the accession talks with North Macedonia, based on the country’s fulfilment of all official criteria. I thus fully endorse the pro-European message that this report conveys and its call to North Macedonia and Bulgaria to solve their bilateral dispute in a process separate from the accession process. These are my main reasons to decide to support the report in the final vote.However, I deeply regret the inclusion of some language, which in my view is not a fair representation of the facts on the ground and seems to endorse the Bulgarian pressure to impose its own interpretation of history using its position as an EU Member State.EU institutions should not take a position regarding the substance of this bilateral cultural-historical dispute in official documents, as this is to be solved between two countries. We continuously stress that the dispute must not have a bearing on North Macedonia’s EU accession process, in line with what is stipulated in other parts of the report.
2022/05/19