Activities of Fredis BELERIS
Plenary speeches (10)
One-minute speeches on matters of political importance
Organised crime, a major threat to the internal security of the European Union and European citizens (topical debate)
One-minute speeches (Rule 179)
Strengthening the security of Europe’s external borders: need for a comprehensive approach and enhanced Frontex support (debate)
One-minute speeches (Rule 179)
The important role of cities and regions in the EU – for a green, social and prosperous local development (debate)
One-minute speeches on matters of political importance
Activities of the European Ombudsman – annual report 2023 (debate)
One-minute speeches on matters of political importance
Preparation of the EU-Western Balkans Summit (debate)
Written questions (5)
Lethal fires in Attica
EU support for Thessaly’s tourism sector, which is suffering the effects of the climate crisis
Edi Rama’s announcement at the UN General Assembly about the creation of a sovereign state for Bektashi Muslims in Tirana
Funding instruments needed to resolve the demographic crisis
Greek and Christian communities suffering in Aleppo
Amendments (27)
Amendment 9 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) supports, complements and adds value to the policies of the Member States in order to ensure equal opportunities, equal access to the labour market and social provisions, fair and high-quality working conditions, social protection and inclusion;
Amendment 16 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the ESF+ is the only EU fund primarily focused on social policies, and is therefore unique in itself and is strongly effective in achieving social inclusion, together with the cohesion policy;
Amendment 24 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas different vulnerable groups have different needs, such as women in poverty, labour migrants, children, people with disabilities and, elderly people and residents of insular and rural areas; whereas the digital and green transition is much needed but also brings challenges for all people and all workers, and whereas to succeed in this endeavour, the EU must ensure a just transition that does not lose sight of workers and vulnerable people;
Amendment 27 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas different vulnerable groups have different needs, such as women in poverty, labour migrants, children, people with disabilities, youth and elderly people; whereas the digital and green transition is much needed but also brings challenges for all people and all workers, and whereas to succeed in this endeavour, the EU must ensure a just transition that does not lose sight of workers and vulnerable people;
Amendment 34 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the availability and affordability of decent housing is decreasing because of over-liberalisation of the marketdue to a lack of supply and rising market prices, which are further impacted by seasonal fluctuations in certain touristic regions; whereas the EU will have its first- ever Commissioner for tackling the housing criseis, andlong with the launch of the first -ever European aAffordable hHousing pPlan, expected in 2025;
Amendment 40 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas the demographic crisis is having strong socioeconomic effects,which the ESF+ aims to combat through social welfare measures that promote population growth;
Amendment 59 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that the objectives of the ESF+ should be to achieve high employment levels with adequate wages, decent working conditions, good work-life balance, healthy working environments and social security coverage, in order to develop a skilled, competitive and resilient workforce, ready for the twin transition and the future world of work, and to build fair social protections and inclusive and cohesive societies, with the aims of eradicating poverty and delivering on the principles and the headline targets set out in the EPSR;
Amendment 66 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a strong, reinforced, stand- alone ESF+ with significantly increased public support for existing instruments aimed at providing for the poorest in our societies; and complementing national employment and social policies insists, therefore, on doublincreasing the funding for the ESF+ post- 2027;
Amendment 67 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a strong, reinforced, stand- alone ESF+ with significantly increased public support for existing instruments aimed at providing for the poorest and vulnurable groups in our societies; insists, therefore, on doubling the funding for the ESF+ post-2027;
Amendment 87 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the participation of social partners, civil society organisations (CSOs), local and regional entities, and representatives of the target groups in all design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages of the ESF+, to allocate adequate funding for this purpose and to prevent the exclusion of smaller actors;
Amendment 118 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Insists that the ESF+ should target the most disadvantaged people in our societies, regardless of their sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, or racial or ethnic origin – in particular marginalised communities such as Roma people, people with disabilities or chronic diseases, homeless people, residents of insular and outermost areas, children and elderly people; underlines that the ESF+ must be inclusive, with special attention given to all kinds of families, including single-parent families, families with more than two parents and rainbowvulnerable families, particularly large families;
Amendment 119 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 11 – subparagraph 1 (new)
acknowledges the importance of the demographic crisis in Europe;insists that the ESF+ should target large families facing socioeconomic exclusions;
Amendment 133 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses that reaching the EPSR’s targets on poverty becomes challenging, unless specific support is dedicated to alleviating the pressure on social protection systems and mitigating the social impact of crises; insists on dedicating support to ensure decent living conditions for all, with access to high-quality essential services for all areas, especially those located far from urban centres; calls for the EU anti- poverty strategy, outlined in Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s political guidelines for the 2024-2029 term, to be implemented via the ESF+, with its binding poverty- reduction targets, national living wage indices and reference budgets used as benchmarks, applying a multidimensional approach;
Amendment 140 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses that addressing child poverty requires appropriately funded, comprehensive and integrated measures, together with the implementation of the European Child Guarantee at national levele implementation of the European Child Guarantee at national level in order to address child poverty with appropriate and integrated funding, and insists that it constitute a central pillar of the EU anti-poverty strategy; repeats its previous demands for the ESF+ post-2027 to include a dedicated budget of at least EUR 20 billion for the European Child Guarantee; insists that all the Member States should allocate at least 5 % of their ESF+ resources to the European Child Guarantee and at least 10 % for those Member States with a higher portion of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion;
Amendment 145 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Shares the ambition to prioritise the tackling of the housing crises, and is committed to work towards its mitigation; insists that the ESF+ post-2027 should enhance timely and equal access to affordable, decent, sustainable and high- quality services promoting access to housing; believes that all the Member States must invest at least 5 % of their ESF+ resources into tackling homelessness;
Amendment 151 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises the need to ensure sufficient financing of the ESF+ post-2027 for high-quality and public education for all, skills development, upskilling, reskilling and lifelong learning particularly in regions with skill mismatches, and for the addressing of skills shortages, ensuring that individuals can successfully navigate labour market transitions;
Amendment 162 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines the importance of the ESF+ in focusing on different groups with different needs; stresses, therefore, the importance of allocating support to projects on the socio-economic position of migrants, including labour migrants, the social inclusion of people with disabilities, large families, the ageing population in society, women and children, and female- headed households; insists that the ESF+ post- 2027 incorporate other aspects of social inclusion, such as housing, health and family circumstances and the support of community-based services;
Amendment 173 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Stresses that the implementation of the EPSR and the reforms needed to comply with the country-specific recommendations in the European Semester are also dependant on the strong support of the ESF+ for certain policy measures, especially those related to strengthening social welfare systems, ensuring inclusive and high-quality public educattargeted support for regions with high youth unemployment ensuring inclusive and high-quality education, promote traditional professions, reducinge child poverty and eradicating homelessness;
Amendment 175 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Stresses that the implementation of the EPSR and the reforms needed to comply with the country-specific recommendations in the European Semester are also dependant on the strong support of the ESF+ for certain policy measures, especially those related to strengthening social welfare systems, ensuring inclusive and high-quality public education, reducing child poverty and eradicating homelessness with special consideration for rural and insular areas;
Amendment 211 #
2024/2077(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Calls for the reduction of the administrative burden, notably by simplifying the application processes for accessing funds and the reporting procedures for regional or local authorities and organisations, in particular for those of a smaller size; warns that simplification must not compromise the fundamental principles of shared management, transparency and accountability, ensuring the proper administration of public funds;
Amendment 57 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Appreciates the Ombudsman’s commitment to upholding fundamental rights in the EU institutions’ border management activities by launching inquiries into the actions of Frontex and the Commission in this areamigration-related actions; notes that the Ombudsman asked for further clarification from the Commission as to how it intends to guarantee respect for human rights in the context of the EU- Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding, in an effort to ensure that the EU complies with its human rights obligations;
Amendment 69 #
2024/2056(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the Commission’s decision to work with national and local authorities to draw up a fundamental rights impact assessment of EU-funded migration management facilities in Greece, following an relevant own-initiative inquiry by the Ombudsman into how the Commission ensures respect for fundamental rights in these facilities;
Amendment 142 #
2024/0035(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Recital 50
Recital 50
(50) Where the danger posed by the offenders and the possible risks of repetition of the offences make it appropriate, convicted offenders should be temporarily or permanently prevented from exercising at least professional activities involving direct and regular contacts with children or within organisations that work for children or organisations acting in the public interest on the fight against child sexual abuse . Employers when recruiting for a post involving direct and regular contact with children should request information on existing convictions for sexual offences against children entered in the criminal record, or of existing disqualifications. For the purposes of this Directive, the term ‘employers’ should also cover persons running an organisation that is active in volunteer work related to the supervision or care of children involving direct and regular contact with children , including community settings such as schools, hospitals, social care services, sports clubs or religious communities . The way such information is delivered, such as for example access via the person concerned, and the precise content of the information, the meaning of organised voluntary activities and direct and regular contact with children should be laid down in accordance with national law. However, the information transmitted from one competent authority to another should at least contain all relevant records stored by any Member State in their national criminal records registers, and all relevant records that can be easily obtained from third countries, such as information that can be obtained from the United Kingdom through the channel established in accordance with Title IX of Part Three of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part19 . _________________ 19 OJ L 149, 30.4.2021, p. 10, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/ 2021/689(1)/ojhttp://data.europa.eu/eli/agr ee_internation/2021/689(1)/oj.
Amendment 151 #
2024/0035(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Recital 58
Recital 58
(58) Despite such efforts by Member States , the removal of child sexual abuse material at its source is often not possible when the original materials are not located within the Union, either because the State where the servers are hosted is not willing to cooperate or because obtaining removal of the material from the State concerned proves to be particularly long. Mechanisms mayshould also be put in place to block access from the Union’s territory to Internet pages identified as containing or disseminating child sexual abuse material . The measures undertaken by Member States in accordance with this Directive in order to remove or, where appropriate, block websites containing child sexual abuse material could be based on various types of public action, such as legislative, non- legislative, judicial or other. In that context, this Directive is without prejudice to voluntary action taken by the Internet industry to prevent the misuse of its services or to any support for such action by Member States. Whichever basis for action or method is chosen, Member States should ensure that it provides an adequate level of legal certainty and predictability to users and service providers. Both with a view to the removal and the blocking of child abuse content, cooperation between public authorities should be established and strengthened, particularly in the interests of ensuring that national lists of websites containing child sexual abuse material are as complete as possible and of avoiding duplication of work. Any such developments must take account of the rights of the end users and comply with existing legal and judicial procedures and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The EU co- funded network of hotlines22 handles reports of alleged child sexual abuse material reported anonymously by the public and cooperates with law enforcement and industry at national, European and global level to ensure swift removal of this type of content. _________________ 22 Currently under the Digital Europe Programme.
Amendment 462 #
2024/0035(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) the offence was committed against a child in a particularlny vulnerable situation, such as a child with a mental or physical disability, in a situation of dependence or in a state of physical or mental incapacity;
Amendment 563 #
2024/0035(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 1
Article 20 – paragraph 1
1. Child victims of the offences referred to in Articles 3 to 9 shall be provided assistance, support and protection in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 , taking into account as an absolute priority the best interests of the child.
Amendment 581 #
2024/0035(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 2
Article 21 – paragraph 2
2. Victims shall be provided with coordinated, age-appropriate medical care, emotional, psychosocial, psychological and educational support, as well as any other appropriate support tailored in particular to situations of sexual abuse and the specific needs of each victim.