52 Amendments of Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ related to 2014/2237(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 a (new)
Citation 14 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 4 June 2013 on the Commission Communication 'Towards Social Investment for Growth and Cohesion – including implementing the European Social Fund 2014-2020'1 b , __________________ 1b Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0266.
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2011 on reducing health inequalities in the EU1 c , __________________ 1c OJ C 199E , 7.7.2012, p. 25.
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 20
Citation 20
— having regard to the Save the Children (2014) report ‘Child poverty and social exclusion in Europe', Brussels, 2014, p. 5,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 22 a (new)
Citation 22 a (new)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital –A a (new)
Recital –A a (new)
-Aa. Whereas greater political visibility should be given to fighting child poverty at the highest EU political level, if EU is to meet Europe 2020 strategy targets to reduce poverty by at least 20 million people by 2020;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A b (new)
Recital -A b (new)
-A b. Whereas the majority of Member States so far have given little attention on using EU Structural Funds to fight the alarming and still growing rates of poverty among children in Europe as well as promote their social inclusion and general well-being;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. Whereas increased social inequalities lead to increased child poverty, children being the age group at greatest risk of poverty in 19 Member States of the EU, social inequalities reproduce disadvantage across generations and data indicate that the gap between rich and poor has increased throughout the EU, including in countries with higher GDP;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas according to Eurostat the main factors affecting child poverty are labour market situation of the parents, which is linked to their level of education, the composition of the household in which the children live and the effectiveness of the government intervention through income support and the provision of enabling services;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
A b. Whereas the European Parliament has repeatedly reiterated its call for the implementation of the Social Investment Package (SIP), and endorses the European Commission Recommendation Investing in Children Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage which proposes a comprehensive policy framework for tackling child poverty and promoting child well-being based on three pillars of access to adequate resources; access to quality and inclusive services; and children's participation;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. Whereas it is alarming that in countries such as Estonia, Greece and Italy,some Member States the percentage of children whothat cannot afford to eat meat, chicken or fish two days running has doubled since 2008;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. Whereas organisations point out that the main cause of increasing child poverty is the so-called austerity measures (a significant reduction of social support to children and families, rising unemployment, the spread of precarious employment and an increase in the tax burden),; UNICEF states that budget cuts, particularly in the Mediterranean countries, have increased inequalities and helpedave worsened the living conditions of children10 so, and that these policies violate the rights of children and constitute a violation of international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; __________________ 10 UNICEF Office of Research (2014), ‘Children of the Recession: The impact of the economic crisis on child well-being in rich countries’, Innocenti Report Card 12, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. Whereas single-parent families, especially families headed by single mothers, are at greater risk of poverty or social exclusion (49.8% compared to 25.2%), which is due to the feminisation of poverty, women's overrepresentation in precarious work and as involuntary part- time workers and wage discrimination between men and women;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
F a. Whereas large families with a single income are more at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which is due to degrading wage policies and social protection systems as a consequence of the financial and economic crisis;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. Whereas there remain financial, administrative and other practical barriers to education for marginalised groups of children; and whereas spending on education expenses, especially as regards school materials and transportation expenses, is essentially borne by households in most countries;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. Whereas, even in countries where the right to health and healthcare is enshrined in law, there are many children who do not have access to a family doctor or dentistdequate healthcare, and some children that have extremely limited access to services beyond emergency care;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. Whereas all children have the right to be protected from abuse, violence and neglect and that research has concluded that financial pressures within families and, cuts in public services put children at greater risk and that so-calleand austerity measures are leading to greater violence against children;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
K a. Whereas the upcoming SDGs/post 2015 agenda and its universality provide an opportunity to increase investments in children and their rights;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1
Subheading 1
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a Calls on the Commission to set a Europe 2020 sub-target on reducing child poverty and social exclusion and to make the reduction of child poverty and social exclusion visible and explicit in all states of the European Semester; also calls on the Commission to include a specific section with the binding target in each Annual Growth Survey on fighting child poverty and promoting their wellbeing;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1b. Calls on the Member States to effectively integrate relevant aspects of Social Investment Package and Commission Recommendation 'Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage' in their annual National Reform Programmes and National Social Reports in a comprehensive way; calls on the Commission to ensure annual monitoring and reporting by Member States on the implementation of the Commission Recommendation;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1c. Calls on the Member States to make full use of the available EU Structural Funds by ensuring access for all children to sufficient resources that would enable their adequate living standard and affordable quality services, in order to break the cycle of disadvantage early in life;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recommends that Member States increase the quantity, amounts, scope and effectiveness of the social support specifically direcCalls on the Commission and Member States to develop policies to fight child poverty that focus on correcting the main factors affecting child poverty: improving the labour market situation of the parents and strengthening the government intervention through income support and the provision of enabling services; also urges Member Stateds to children, but also to parents (such as unemploymentprovide for adequate living standards that are compatible with a life in dignity through a combination of benefits) and to promote labour laws that guarantee social rights and security toensuring the quantity, scope and effectiveness of the social support specifically directed to children and their families, and to fight precarious employment, in-work poverty and involuntary part-time jobs;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recommends that Member States implement or enhance universal welfare benefits targeting children as an intrinsic right of the child; underlines that universal solutions should be coupled with targeted interventions to support the most vulnerable and marginalised groups of children and adolescents;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Calls on the European Commission and Member States to make additional efforts to tackle the root causes of child poverty and conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the areas in which children are particularly vulnerable to poverty and develop and implement appropriate remedial strategies; in particular, invites the European Commission and Member States to strengthen the social dimension of the EU 2020 Strategy and Economic and Monetary Union by taking the following actions: - to set a Europe 2020 sub-target on reducing child poverty and social exclusion and to make the reduction of child poverty and social exclusion visible and explicit at all stages of the European Semester, and within each Member States through the set-up of national sub-targets for reducing child poverty or social exclusion, - to integrate an explicit child and youth focus in the 'European Semester', - to ensure any proposed law, policy of budgetary allocation is assessed in terms of its intended or unintended impact on children and their rights;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to refrain from recommending reformulations and cuts in the public services of Member States, from promoting flexible labour relations and the privatisation of public services, which have led unequivocally to the weakening of the social rights of children and to carry out ex-ante and ex-post social impact assessments of macro-economic measures;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to refrain from recommending reformulations and cuts in the public services of Member States, from promoting flexible labour relations and the privatisation of public services, which have led unequivocally to the weakening of the social rights of children; and to take the impact on children of measures into account when proposing country-specific recommendations within the European Semester;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Reminds that tackling child poverty requires adopting a life-cycle approach, including breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty risks, that reflects the different needs of early childhood, primary childhood and adolescence; applying a whole-child oriented approach by measuring the number of deprivations each child experiences simultaneously, revealing those most deprived; and measuring not only monetary poverty but also multidimensional deprivations;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges Member States to adopt, implement and monitor plans for alleviating multi-dimensional child poverty, putting the focus on the intrinsic rights of children, and setting targets for reducing child poverty and child social exclusion;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the European Commission and the European Parliament to take the opportunity provided by the Europe 2020 mid-term review of the multiannual financial framework to increase the appropriations from the European Social Fund and the Food Aid Program for the most deprived groups and to check if children are a priority in the programming and implementation of regional and cohesion policies, as well as to create indicators to analyse child poverty;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Urges the Commission and the Member States to consider if food-based strategies such as dietary diversification and food fortification, as well as nutrition education, public health and food safety measures, and finally supplementation, need to be addressed for particular groups of population in order to prevent the negative effects of malnutrition or undernutrition on the health of children;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recommends that Member States' national budgets contain visible andlaws and policies are translated into transparent, provisions for costsarticipatory and accountable national budgets, allocations and spending to combat child poverty and to fulfil their duty to protect childrenmote, protect, and realise children's rights;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to include a specific and binding indicator on children at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on Member States to introducemplement legislation to protect or increase maternity and paternity rights; and to safeguard the return to work for women after pregnancy and maternity leave; on this regard, strongly opposes the Commission´s intention to withdraw the Maternity Leave Directive and calls on the Council to engage proactively with the Parliament and Commission in order to unblock the Maternity Leave Directive; stresses furthermore that reinforcing legislation on paternity leave which gives an important boost to combat gender and pay discrimination in work;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recommends that Member States develop proactive and integrated social policies that prevent poverty and the departureremoval of children from their family environment, ensuring that it is not through poverty that children are institutionalised;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. RecommendsCalls on thate Member States to develop proactive and integrated social policies that prevent poverty and the departureremoval of children from their family environment, ensuring that it is not through poverty that children are institutionalised;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Recommends that Member States develop and implement integrated child protection systems to protect children against violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect in a way in which all duty-bearers and system components work together across sectors and agencies sharing responsibilities to form a protective and empowering environment for all children;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Calls on EU institutions, EU Agencies, Member State authorities and other stakeholders to develop clear roles, responsibilities, regular dialogue and procedures when children are in need of protection in cross-border situations;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. RecommendsCall on thate Member States to guarantee all children access to free, inclusive, quality public education atfor all ages, including early childhood, and establish appropriate teacher-student ratios to reduce educational poverty, including early childhood education and care, formal and non-formal education; promoting their emotional, social, cognitive and physical development, and establish appropriate teacher-student ratios in order to ensure that all children can benefit from inclusive high quality education and therefore maximise the education systems' impact on equal opportunities and breaking the cycle of poverty;
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Calls on the Member States to pay particular attention to developing affordable and accessible early childhood education and care (ECEC), regarding it as a social investment to address inequality and challenges particularly faced by children from disadvantaged families; also raise parents' awareness of the benefits of active participation in ECEC programmes;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recommends that Member States providemote full school engagement of all children through providing free school materials, meals and school transportation during school hours; , to increase the effectiveness of present public investments in the sector and better combat the intergenerational transmission of poverty
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. RecommendsCalls on thate Member States provide free school materials andto ensure that all children, irrespectively of the financial situation of the family have access to compulsory school materials and access to the necessary school transportation during school hours;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Urges Member States to guarantee universal, public, free and quality health care with regard to prevention and primary care, access to diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, for all; guaranteeing women the right to sexual and reproductive health by ensuring health care for babies, maternity care in the pre- and post-natal care period, particularly in the case of premature birth, as well as access to family doctors, dentists, family counselling services and mental health specialists for all children, andfamilies; calls on the Member States and the Commission to integrate these aspects into national and the EU public health strategies;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recommends that Member States provide the necessary support to ensure the right to culture, sport and leisure for all children, with a focus on children in poverty, children in remote and disadvantaged areas, children with disabilities, and migrantschildren from a minority background and migrants, Roma children, children moving within the EU regardless their nationality, and children left behind;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Recommends that Member States put in place mechanisms that promote and ensure children's participation in decision making that affects their lives; and enable and encourage children to express informed views, ensuring that those views are given due weight and are reflected in the main decisions affecting them;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on Member States, particularly those where social inequalities are greater, to strengthen social rights that the state must guarantee, increasing the number of employees and technicianprofessionals working with and for children and their families in social security services, and increasing the medical, psychological and social care of children;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of its Recommendation entitled 'Investing in Children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage' in the Member States through the design of a Roadmap; calls on Member States to use EU funding and all other available instruments to implement the Commission Recommendation;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13 b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to introduce a child guarantee so that every child in poverty can have access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition and calls on the Commission and the Member States to create a specific fund to develop the European Child Guarantee;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13 c. Calls on the Commission and Member States to create a European integrated plan to combat child poverty including both the Child Guarantee and programmes offering support and opportunities for the parents to come out of social exclusion situations and integrate the labour market;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 d (new)
Paragraph 13 d (new)
13 d. Stresses the need to systematically assess the impact of policy measures, including macroeconomic ones on children, and recommends the Commission to call on Member States to carry out ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments of such measures to ensure that they do not negatively impact on children's rights and well-being;
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recommends thatCalls the Commission and Member States to develop statistical methods that integrate multidimensional indicators in measuring poverty, social exclusion, inequalities and discrimination and to take into account the limitations of relative poverty measurements and the work of the UNDP, UNICEF and the OECD, and the Indicators Sub-Group of the Social Protection Committee, going beyond the AROPE indicator; further indicators should be developed to assess better the quality of services, outcomes and access to services, e.g. in relation to the socio- economic status and background of parents (migrant or minority), gender, disability and geographical aspects;
Amendment 309 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Invites the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions to draft opinions on investing in children;