Activities of Sylvana RAPTI related to 2010/0115(NLE)
Plenary speeches (1)
Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (debate)
Amendments (18)
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) The Treaty on European Union stipulates in Article 3.3 that the Union shall seek to achieve full employment and social progress, combat social exclusion and discrimination, and shall promote social justice and protection and provides for the Union’s initiatives to ensure coordination of Member States' social policies. Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides that in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection and the fight against social exclusion.
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) The Lisbon Strategy, launched in 2000, was based on an acknowledgement of the EU’s need to increase its knowledge-based productivity and competitiveness and recreate the conditions for full employment, while enhancing social and regional cohesion, in the face of global competition, technological change and an ageing population. The Lisbon Strategy was re- launched in 2005, after a mid-term review which led to greater focus on growth, more and better jobs.
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) The financial and economic crisis that started in 2008 resulted in a significant loss in jobs and potential output and has led to a dramatic deterioration in public finances. The European Economic Recovery Plan has nevertheless helped Member States to deal with the crisis, partly through a coordinated fiscal stimulus, with the euro providing an anchor for macroeconomic stability. The crisis therefore showed that coordination of Union's policies can deliver significant results if it is strengthened and rendered effective. The crisis, which is still developing, also underscoreds the close interdependence of the Member States’ economies and labour markets and makes it necessary to carry out a major review of mechanisms for which achievement of employment and social targets will continue to be the underwritten objectives.
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) The Commission proposed to set up a new strategy for the next decade, the Europe 2020 Strategy, to enable the EU to emerge stronger from the crisis, and to turn its economy towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth accompanied by high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Five headline targets, listed under the relevant guidelines, constitute shared objectives guiding the action of the Member States and of the Union. Member States should make every effort in line with their particular circumstances to meet the national targets and to remove the bottlenecks that constrain growth.
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) As part of comprehensive exit strategies for the economic crisis, Member States should carry out ambitious reforms to ensure macroeconomic stability and the sustainability of public finance, improve competitiveness, reduce macroeconomic imbalances and enhance labour market performance. The withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus should be implemented and coordinated within the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact. However, in order to achieve in practice the objectives of sustainable economic and social cohesion, priority should be given to dealing with the major macroeconomic imbalances between the Member States and the disparities regarding their levels of competitiveness.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) As part of comprehensive "exit strategies" for the economic crisis, Member States should carry out ambitious reforms to ensure macroeconomic stability, the promotion of more and better jobs, as promoted by the ILO in its Decent Work Agenda, and the sustainability of public finance, improve competitiveness, reduce macroeconomic imbalances and enhance labour market performance. The withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus should be implemented and coordinated within the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Within the Europe 2020 strategy, Member States should implement reforms aimed at ‘smart growth’, i.e. growth driven by knowledge and innovation. Reforms should aim at improving the quality of education, ensuring access for all, and strengthening research and business performance in order to promote innovation and knowledge transfer throughout the EU for the elimination of regional imbalances. They should encourage entrepreneurship and help to turn creative ideas into innovative products, services and processes that can create growth, quality jobs, territorial, economic and social cohesion, and address more efficiently European and global societal challenges. Making the most of information and communication technologies is essential in this context.
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Member States should also, through their reform programmes, aim at sustainable growth. Sustainable growth means building a resource-efficient, sustainable and competitive economy, a fair distribution of the cost and benefits and exploiting Europe’s leadership in the race to develop new processes and technologies, including green technologies. Member States should implement the necessary reforms to reduce greenhouse gases emissions and use resources efficiently. They should also improve the business environment, stimulate creation of green jobs and jobs in the social economy and modernise their industrial base.
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) Member States’ reform programmes should also aim at ‘inclusive growth’. Inclusive growth means building a cohesive society in which people are empowered to anticipate and manage change, thus to actively participate in society and economy. Member States’ reforms should therefore ensure access and opportunities for all throughout the lifecycle, thus reducing poverty and social exclusion, through removing barriers to labour market participation especially for women, older workers, young people, disabled and legal migrants. They should also make sure that the benefits of economic growth reach all citizens and all regions. Ensuring effective functioning of the labour markets through, coordination between training and employment market requirements, investingment in successful transitions, appropriate skills development, lifelong education, rising job quality and fighting segmentation, structural unemployment and inactivity while ensuring adequate, sustainable social protection and active inclusion to reduce poverty should therefore be at the heart of Member States’ reform programmes.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) The Europe 2020 strategy has to be underpinned by an integrated set of policies, which Member States should endeavour to implement fully and at the same pace, taking account of their particular difficulties, in order to achieve the positive spill-over effects of coordinated structural reforms.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 13 a (new)
Recital 13 a (new)
(13 a) Member States should take into account the Europe 2020 strategy, and, in particular, its employment and social aspects, when programming and implementing EU funding, including that from the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund. The use of the European Funding has to reduce the number of bureaucratic hurdles and facilitate longer-term measures.
Amendment 154 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 1
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 1
Member States should integrate the flexicurity principles endorsed by the European Council into their labour market policies and apply them, making full use of European Social Fund support, fully guaranteeing the rights and the health of workers, with a view to increasing labour market participation and combating segmentation and inactivity, gender inequality, whilst reducing structural unemployment. Measures to enhance flexibility and security should be both balanced and mutually reinforcing. Member States should therefore introduce a combination of flexible and reliable employment contracts, active labour market policies, effective lifelong learning, policies to promote labour mobility, taking account of the family circumstances of workers, and adequate social security systems to secure professional transitions accompanied by clear rights and responsibilities for the unemployed to actively seek work.
Amendment 178 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 2
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 2
Member States should step up social dialogue and tackle labour market segmentation with measures addressing temporary and precarious employment, underemployment and undeclared work by means of effective measures to monitor and implement labour rights. Professional mobility should be rewarded. The quality of jobs and employment conditions should be addressed by fighting low-wages and by ensuring adequate social security also for those on fixed contracts and the self- employed. Employment services should be strengthened and open to all, including young people and those threatened by unemployment with personalised services targeting those furthest away from the labour market.
Amendment 192 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 3
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 3
In order to increase competitiveness and raise participation levels, particularly for the low-skilled, and in line with economic policy guideline 2, Member States should review tax and benefit systems and the capacity of public services to provide the necessary support. Member States should increase labour force participation through policies to promote active ageing, gender equality and equal pay and labour market integration of young people, disabled, legal migrants and other vulnerable groups, as well as groups situated a long way from economic population centres through the use of new technologies. Work-life balance policies with the provision of affordable care, social benefits and innovation in work organisation should be geared to raising employment rates, particularly among youth, older workers and women, in particular to retain highly-skilled women in scientific and technical fields. Member States should also remove barriers to labour market entry for newcomers and unequal treatment in this respect, support self-employment and job creation in areas including green employment and care and promote social innovation.
Amendment 206 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 4
Annex – Guideline 7 – paragraph 4
The EU headline target, on the basis of which Member States will set their national targets, is of aiming to bring by 2020 to 75% the employment rate for women and men aged 20-64 including through the greater participation of youth, older workers and low skilled workers, the disabled, and the better integration of legal migrants.
Amendment 223 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 8 – paragraph 1
Annex – Guideline 8 – paragraph 1
Member States should promote productivity and employability through an adequate supply of knowledge and skills to match current and future demand in the labour market. Quality initial education and attractive vocational training, with the necessary coordination between the educational system and the labour market, must be complemented with effective incentives for lifelong learning, second-chance opportunities, ensuring every adult the chance to move one step up in their qualification, and by targeted migration and integration policies. Member States should develop systems for recognising acquired competencies, remove barriers to occupational and geographical mobility of workers, promote the acquisition of transversal competences and creativity, and focus their efforts particularly on supporting those with low skills and increasing the employability of older workers who have lost their jobs, while at the same time enhance the training, skills and experience of highly skilled workers, including researchers.
Amendment 237 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 8 – paragraph 2
Annex – Guideline 8 – paragraph 2
In cooperation with social partners and business, Member States should improve access to training, strengthen education and career guidance combined with systematic information on new job openings and opportunities, promotion of entrepreneurship, encouragement of innovation investment, which could create jobs during both the research and development phases thereof, and enhanced anticipation of skill needs. Investment in human resource development, up-skilling and participation in lifelong learning schemes should be promoted through joint financial contributions from governments, individuals and employers. To support young people and in particular those not in employment, education or training, Member States in cooperation with the social partners, should enact schemes to help recent graduates find initial employment or further education and training opportunities, including quality apprenticeships providing the necessary social benefits, and intervene rapidly when young people become unemployed. Regular monitoring of the performance of up-skilling and anticipation policies should help identify areas for improvement and increase the responsiveness of education and training systems to labour market needs. EU funds should be fully mobilised by Member States to support these objectives.
Amendment 281 #
Proposal for a decision
Annex – Guideline 10 – paragraph 1
Annex – Guideline 10 – paragraph 1
Member States’ efforts to reduce poverty should be aimed at promoting full participation in society and economy and extending employment opportunities, with decent levels of remuneration, thereby ensuring worker autonomy, making full use of the European Socitructural Funds. Efforts should also concentrate on ensuring equal opportunities, including through access to affordable, sustainable and high quality services and public services (including online services, in line with guideline 4) and in particular health care, ensuring that they are available also to the vulnerable and weaker population groups. Member States should put in place effective anti-discrimination measures. Equally, to fight social exclusion, empower people and promote labour market participation, social protection systems, lifelong learning and active inclusion policies should be enhanced to create opportunities at different stages of people’s lives and shield them from the risk of exclusion. Social security and pension systems must be modernised to ensure that they can be fully deployed to ensure adequate income support and access to healthcare — thus providing social cohesion — whilst at the same time remaining financially sustainable. Benefit systems should focus on ensuring income security during transitions and reducing poverty, in particular among groups most at risk from social exclusion, such as one- parent families, minorities, people with disabilities, children and young people, elderly women and men, legal migrants and the homeless. Member States should also actively promote the social economy and social innovation in support of the most vulnerable.