Activities of Magda KÓSÁNÉ KOVÁCS related to 2008/2137(INI)
Reports (1)
REPORT Report on the social situation of the Roma and their improved access to the labour market in the EU PDF (206 KB) DOC (130 KB)
Amendments (22)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas in these countries income disparities, which had been kept small during the period of State socialism, have grown at an explosive rate; whereas in the new Member States industrial sectors have collapsed, regions have seen their prospects of development decline and as a result the Roma in particular have been forced to the margins of society through the rapid escalation of poverty; noting and reiterating that in this process their citizenship and citizenship of the Union have become devalued and that since enlargement the danger of social exclusion in the Union community has grown in several dimensions, increasing the risk of multiple discrimination against them,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas travellers constitute a separate ethnic phenomenon, which could justifiably be discussed as a separate issue from the point of view both of human rights and of social/labour market issues,
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the conditions in which Roma communities live, their health status and their level of schooling determine their social and labour-market situation and serve as pretexts for their persistent unemployment and for racism, and whereas all this hampers improvements to the quality of life, thus preventing the exercise of the most fundamental human and civil rights,
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the final stage of exclusion is when Roma communities create settlements beyond the reach of public administration and of society and therefore receive no governmental or social benefits or services; notes the experience of several Member States that Roma people often come from the Central-European region without any identification documents,
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas real participation in society and politics is essential for the integration of the Roma, yet, for numerous reasons, the special representation for the Roma's interests is not effective, while the success of Roma civil-society organisations in defending Roma interests depends on the politics of the given moment and while the legitimacy of the representation has often been called into question,
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. acknowledging the importance of the Structural Funds in promoting integration and noting that, because of the complexity of social problems, it is not conceivable that they can be solved purely by means of the project system characteristic of the Funds,
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that the policies of the Union institutions and the Member States geared to improving access to employment can only be based on the recognition that the economic reform in Eastern and Central Europe has made millions of former workers unemployed or kept them inactive, while those who, on account of their low level of schooling, the geographical disadvantages of the places where they live, their poorer than average state of health and growing prejudices, have not been able to hope for long-term reintegration into the labour market have joined the ranks of the long-term unemployed;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that, although the proportion of Roma young people in secondary and higher education has increased, their level of qualifications still remains far below the European average; observes that, as a result of this, the Member States' economies often draw labour from third countries to make good labour shortages; draws attention to the fact that, in the absence of formal qualifications, the position of Roma on the labour market can also be improved by devising a system for acknowledging practical skills;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Considers that the Member States have used substantial European Union and Member-State resources to help the long- term unemployed find work, but these have typically set in stone the existing situation and have not provided an opportunity to return to the labour market long-term, while they have further aggravated the stigmatisation of the Roma (public employment programmes); stresses that the number of long-term unemployed people and their marginalisation have grown since enlargement;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Endorses the view taken by the Commission that the greatest problem in bringing about reintegration into the labour market is that, because of the multiple disadvantages which they suffer in all areas of life, Roma adults are under- represented in the working population and in lifelong learning, butand often do not have access to the products of modern communications technology (the internet), but are over-represented among the long-term unemployed and those working on low-prestige occupations;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recommends that Member States adopt as instruments concessionary credit or State interest subsidies and that, in the planning of farm subsidies, they make it an important objective to enable Roma communities to attain conditions in which they can earn a living from farming, so that, in addition to or instead of wage labouring, they should be more open to the idea of seeking possible organisational forms for agricultural work (social cooperatives) and the provision of the resources required therefor;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that the revision of the rules governing the Structural Funds affords more scope for complex programmes by allowing more than 10% to be transferred between the Funds, but notes that, in the Member States concerned, this oupportuner limity is onrarely exploited to an insignificant extent;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Endorses the importance of micro- credits, which are recommended from various points of view in the Commission document and the opinion of the European Social and Economic Committee and which, by providing a minimal resource, can set the poorest of the poor on the road to personal responsibility, business skills and development of their creative powers, including by providing credit to cover the individual's own share of the cost of self- employment;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Stresses that the social market, health, home care, public catering and the provision of services in support of child care etc. may create new jobs for Roma people who are unemployed (particularly women); reaffirms however that the social market requires a permanent link between the provider and the user of the service and that, therefore, an increase in employment of Roma in this field is only to be hoped for in an atmosphere of social acceptance, but also promotes it;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Considers that employment of Roman women should also be promoted by means of employment-friendly operation of social support systems; calls on Member States to make it possible for children from large Roma families who have not yet reached school age to have access to children's day care institutions even if their mother is at home with her other children; considers it desirable that labour market programmes should use this time to teach them knowledge to prepare them in the long term for work from which they can earn a living;Does not affect English version. (Proposes a change to the Hungarian version which, at the rapporteur's request, has already been made to the English version.)
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Points out that young Roma women's tendency to leave school early not only damages their own opportunities on the labour market but affects the health status and schooling of their children, and therefore stresses the importance of family planning and other services which increase awareness in the provision of information to Roma women;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Considers that the European Union has a duty to coordinate instruments of social inclusion better and more closely and that this should help to combat poverty, promote Roma access to better, lasting and worthy employment, pave the way for efforts to render social inclusion and protection systems more effective, and be a means of analysing political experience and mutual learning and create a system for coherent analysis of best practices;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. CObserves that, whereas the improvement of the social and economic situation of the Roma was a significant consideration in the enlargement process, progress has generally been limited; calls on the Member States and the Commission to review previous and existing programmes and initiatives and evaluate their results; considers that the European Union has a duty to coordinate instruments of social inclusion better and more closely and that this should help to combat poverty, promote Roma access to better, lasting and worthy employment, pave the way for efforts to render social inclusion and protection systems more effective, and be a means of analysing political experience and mutual learning;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission, by means of a coherent political strategy, with high- level coordination, to assess specifically the impact of the objectives and instruments of each of its sectoral policies on the Roma; calls on the Commission to ask Member States, in reports on integrated indicators and on the open method of coordination for social inclusion, to devote attention to changing the situation of Roma; calls on the Commission to regularly assess changes in the education, employment, social, health and housing situation;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to assess specifically the impact of the objectives and instruments of each of its sectoral policies on the Roma, along with developing a coherent political strategy and achieving a high level of coordination; calls on the Commission to ask Member States, in reports on integrated indicators and on the open method of coordination for social inclusion, to devote attention to changing the situation of Roma; calls on the Commission to regularly assess changes in the education, employment, social, health and housing situation;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Considers that in some Member States the target groups (in settlements or parts of settlements) can be approached effectively using the 'multiple disadvantages' definition, as groups so defined will include many Romabut that it is difficult to reach smaller units such as the family and the individual through this category;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Recommends that the Commission adopt more consistent and uniform expectations of all development programmes financed from EU resources from which it is possible to demand an account of the prevention or reversal of social exclusion of the Roma minority; considers that Member-State and EU bodies should examine all development which is financed from the Structural and Cohesion Funds from the point of view of the impact which the programme has on the social integration of Roma people; recommends further that in the case of every programme at the selection stage priority should be assigned to those developments which are also designed to improve the situation of Roma living in particularly disadvantaged settlements and who are poor and unemployed;