Activities of Miriam LEXMANN related to 2021/2251(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (debate)
Amendments (23)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic is placing a heavy burden on people in the EU, particularly those from more vulnerable groups, such as women, single parents, people with disabilities, children, young people and the elderly,, the elderly and big families as well as it is placing a heavy burden on the frontline workers and their families in their everyday lives, working lives and livelihoods2 3 ; _________________ 2 Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung, Belastungen von Kindern, Jugendlichen und Eltern in der Corona-Pandemie, 2021. 3 European Commission, Joint Employment Report 2021.
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the RRF created an unprecedented structure adapted to addressing the complex effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economy, society and institutions and is positively contributing to the EU’s recovery and resilience, including economic growth, cohesion, jobs, productivity, competitiveness, research, development and innovation, and a well-functioning internal market with robust small and medium enterprises SMEs;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas social and territorial cohesion is one of the six pillars of the RRF; whereas creating and fostering high- quality employment creation is onand inclusive growth are some of the objectives included in the RRF Regulation;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas implementing lessons learnt from the pandemic, including in the labour market and labour force, can contribute to strengthening recovery and resilience; whereas the shift to teleworking should be used also to the benefit of those workers whose Member State of the employer is different from the Member State of their family residence and current social security rules do not allow them to telework from the different Member States than the Member State of the employer; whereas revision of these rules would attract more workers to the labour market as it would provide desired flexibility and thus create new work opportunities and increase employment;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas a large number of reforms and investments aim to improve territorial infrastructure and services provided at local level; whereas these measures can also boost the local economy, national competitiveness and institutional resilience;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas the importance of local and regional involvement in implementing the national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs); whereas local and regional authorities are responsible for one third of all public expenditure and more than half of public investment in the EU1a, a large portion of which is in policy areas that are key for the RRF; _________________ 1a OECD, Key data on Local and Regional Governments in the European Union (brochure), 2018. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/regional/EU-Local- government-key-data.pdf
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that the COVID-19 crisis has already left many people jobless or in precarious employment and interrupted vocational education, traineeships or apprenticeships of many young people; calls on the Commission and Member States to fight against youth unemployment and to ensure that young people, especially those not in employment, education or training (NEETs), receive adequate, paid and quality first working experience; Calls furthermore on the Commission and Member States to promote up-skilling and re-skilling of workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic so they are able to adapt to the changes in the labour market particularly its digitalisation;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that the COVID-19 crisis has already left many people jobless or in precarious employmentunemployed and young people are particularly affected by the COVID-19 crisis in terms of employment, education, training and mental well-being; calls on the Commission and Member States to fight against youth unemployment and to ensure that young people, especially those not in employment, education or training (NEETs), receive adequate, pairemunerated and quality first working experience;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Highlights that the COVID-19 pandemic shifted most of the everyday and work activities to online environment; Calls therefore on the support to the activities promoting acquisition of digitals skills and digital tools for all with the special focus on vulnerable and socially disadvantaged groups;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Welcomes the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) as an ambitious and timely tool to enable the EU to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis. Supports the European Commission's view that most Member States have satisfactory drawing up the (NRRPs) in a short space of time;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Reiterates that the COVID-19 pandemic proved that many activities and jobs are possible to conduct distantly with the use of digital tools which could help people from distant or rural areas to find better opportunities in the labour market and thus prevent brain drain from these areas to bigger cities or abroad; Calls therefore on the Commission and the Member States to support quality digital infrastructure in distant and rural regions in order to attract young people and combat brain drain;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Emphasizes that in several Member States the NRRPs are only part of broader national recovery plans, and points to the need for more exchange of best practices between Member States and a comprehensive approach at European level, in order to overcome the crisis and make the EU economy more robust, resilient and competitive for the future;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that Member States must adopt reforms and include investments in the next generation, children and youth with the special focus on children and young people from vulnerable and disadvantaged environment in line with the objectives of the Child Guarantee and reinforced Youth Guarantee; recalls that there is RRF funding expressly available for the development of education, training and skills, particularly digital skills and recalls that it shall also support development of cross-cutting skills such as critical thinking, entrepreneurship, creativity, team work or media literacy; stresses, further, the importance of the mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competencess well as formal recognition of skills and competences gained during informal care, informal learning or volunteering in fostering labour mobility;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses Member States should focus on reforms and investments to support job creation, and the transition to new sectors and occupations, to boost competitiveness and improve the performance, functioning and resilience of the labour markets. Special attention should be given to horizontal upskilling programmes in digital skills, green skills and especially financial literacy;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Welcomes that over a third of measures and around two thirds of the expenditure linked to the effectiveness of public administration and to business and public service continuity relate to the digital transformation1d; Highlights that the measures to enhance civil service diminish regulatory and administrative burdens, improve public procurement procedures and contribute to the effectiveness of the public administration; _________________ 1d Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Amendment 90 #
2 d. Emphasizes that 10 NRRPs contain measures to improve the training development and work conditions of civil servants by facilitating flexible working arrangements, implementing a better pay system in the public service and the modernisation of recruitment processes and notably the effectiveness of the judicial systems are found in 13 NRRPs;
Amendment 91 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2 e. Calls for clear coordination between the NRRPs and the ESIF programmes, as this is mandatory in accordance with Article 17 of the RRF Regulation; therefore calls on the Commission to draw attention to this in the agreements concluded with the Member States on the NRRPs. The synergies between the NRRPs and the ESIF programmes should also be part of the Commission's annual reports on the implementation of the RRF and of the scrutiny by the European Parliament;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 f (new)
Paragraph 2 f (new)
2 f. Calls for coordination with the other programmes funded by NextGenEU (e.g. REACT-EU) and for the alignment between the seven existing and new programmes funded by NextGenEU concerning ambitions for a green and digital transition and effective implementation by local and regional authorities of the recovery programmes;
Amendment 95 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 g (new)
Paragraph 2 g (new)
2 g. Invites the European Commission to actively support local and regional authorities that have experienced problems while absorbing EU funds in the past, in addressing these problems, so that the NRRP scan be successfully implemented across the European Union;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 h (new)
Paragraph 2 h (new)
2 h. Calls on the Member States to focus on a more decentralized approach in order to tackle possible territorial differences, both in terms of challenges and opportunities. Believes that, in this way, NRRPs could be more efficient; Points out that regions that were already lagging behind in their development before the outbreak of the pandemic are at risk of an even greater development gap, in employment, educational attainment, business support, digitalisation, mobility or other key policy areas;
Amendment 98 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 i (new)
Paragraph 2 i (new)
2 i. Emphasizes that apprenticeships and remunerated traineeships, including strong training components, in particular for young people, contribute to labour market transitions, notably towards activities contributing to climate and environmental objectives, and sectors facing particular skills shortages. Increasing adult participation in lifelong learning should be promoted to meet upskilling and reskilling needs, inter alia by empowering individuals to seek training that is tailored to their needs and via short, quality-assured courses on skills for the green transition;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support legislative and policy initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities and, promoting decent working conditions and supporting work-life balance for all, with a particular focus on telework, the right to disconnect, mental well-being at work, occupational health and safety with the special attention to mental health diseases connected to the use of digital tools, inclusion, ensuring quality jobs for essential workers, and strengthening the role of the social partners and collective bargaining; calls in this regard for the swift adopnd balanced negotiations ofn the directives on improving working conditions in platform work and on adequate minimum wages in the European Unionensuring that the voices of those working through platforms are heard; Insists that the provisions of this directive shall improve working conditions through better access to social protection, and also increase the legal clarity and certainty for workers, authorities, and platforms through clear and unambiguous criteria that ensure proper classification of workers while not limiting the opportunities for genuine self- employment and its flexibility;