Activities of Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS related to 2020/2244(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social aspects in the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2021
Amendments (12)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Asserts that the Recovery and Resilience Facility is reshaping the European Semester process; underlines that the two processes should be fully coordinated towards building resilience and supporting the recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis; fair, inclusive and sustainable recovery from the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis; stresses, however, that the European Semester process has proved insufficient to address social and employment imbalances and inequalities in Europe; calls on the Commission and the Member States to urgently reform the financial legal framework and the European Semester process in order to effectively promote fair, inclusive and sustainable growth, build a truly social Europe and enhance democratic accountability;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Is very worried about the deep recession caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the substantial rise of unemployment, the extremely high youth unemployment that still remains twice as high as the overall rate, the millions of jobs lost, the abrupt fall in the hours worked per worker, the big loss of peoples’ income, the increasing in-work poverty, the millions of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the sharp increase in cases of domestic and gender-based violence, and the increasing disparities among Member States and their regions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to prioritise social justice, social and economic convergence, equality, social development and full high-quality employment and accelerate the full implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Stresses that, in most Member States, the minimum income level falls below the poverty threshold; considers that the Commission proposal for adequate minimum wages is an important step for the protection of workers, the improvement of their working conditions and the fight against in-work poverty and wage inequality;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Stresses that the gender employment gap, the gender pay gap and the gender pension gap remain extremely high; underlines that improving employment opportunities for women as well as for vulnerable and marginalised groups, ensuring equal pay and facilitating a good work-life balance are vital for the achievement of fair, inclusive and sustainable growth; highlights the importance of the implementation and integration of gender mainstreaming as a horizontal principle in all EU activities, policies and programmes; calls on the Commission to accelerate the introduction of an effective, transparent, comprehensive, result-oriented and performance-based methodology for all MFF programmes;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Recalls that the COVID-19 crisis has put Member States’ public health systems under unprecedented stress; underlines that the pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges related to the capacity, accessibility, effectiveness and resilience of public health systems, caused by insufficient financing and investments for public healthcare, limited coordination and integration of care, weak primary care, persisting obstacles to access to healthcare and unmet needs for adequate healthcare personnel; calls for the establishment of a strong European Health Union to better protect peoples’ health, better prevent and address health crises and improve the capacity and resilience of public health systems;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1 e. Welcomes the positive steps regarding the development of COVID-19 vaccines, but is worried about reported cases of non-compliance with vaccine delivery schedules and possible shortages of available quantities; calls for COVID- 19 vaccines to be treated in practice as public goods that are guaranteed for all; calls on the Commission to overcome the barriers and restrictions arising from patents and intellectual property rights in order to ensure the widespread production of vaccines and their timely distribution to all Member States and to all people;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that in the area of social and employment policies, Next Generation EU (NGEU) and the EU budget can play a subsidiary but instrumental role in triggering, bundling and directing investments towards social development and resilience; appreciates that this role will be enhanced by better coordination of national and European policies towards overarching EU objectives such as the European Green Deal, the just green and digital transitions and the full implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Gender Equality Strategy;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Underlines that the green and digital transitions pose both great opportunities and huge challenges for the Union and for its Member States, regions, cities, businesses, workers, local communities and people; recalls that not all Member States and regions have the same starting point when it comes to the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy and that the digital gap remains still very high with wide divergences among Member States; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take all necessary measures in order to allow for just and socially-balanced green and digital transitions;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the importance of horizontal coordination between EU programmes and national measures for social justice, equality, social development and combating the risk of poverty and social exclusion, , the reformed European Social Fund being the prime example; holds, however, that the social and employment impact should be a transversal consideration across all expenditure programmes;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Points out that the support from the Recovery and Resilience Facility is not meant to substitute recurring national budgetary expenditure; urges the Member States to implement ambitious, holistic and inclusive national programmes to effectively address longstanding shortcomings in social protection policies and employment along with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 crisis;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Regrets that the limited size of the EU budget means that its redistribution and stabilisation functions are also limited; deplores the major cuts in the fields of cohesion and social policies, especially in the financial envelopes of the Cohesion Fund and the European Social Fund for the period 2021-2027, deriving from the Council agreement on the MFF and the NGEU in July 2020; stresses that it is all the more important to take full advantage of all possibilities under the multiannual financial framework (MFF), the NGEU and the own resources system to support national recovery, social justice, and environmental, economic, social and inclusive resilience and boost social policies and investments.
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Deplores the macroeconomic conditionality in the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Common Provisions Regulation for shared management funds;