Activities of Evelyn REGNER related to 2016/2095(INI)
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (28)
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the European Parliament, elected directly by European citizens, has a fundamental responsibility and a role to play in defining and adopting the European Pillar of Social Rights;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas fundamental social rights apply to all people in the European Union and the existing body of Union legislation regulating labour, product and service markets applies to all Member States;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas European labour markets are rapidly evolving towards ‘atypical’ or ‘non-standard’ forms of employment, such as temporary work, part-time work, casual work, seasonal work, on-demand work or self-employment intermediated by digital platforms, which shows many features of employment but does not bring the benefits normally associated with employment; whereas demand for labour is becoming and will likely remain more ‘fluid’ and diversified than in the past; whereas in some cases this can be beneficial for productivity as well as work-life balance; whereas, however, many non-standard forms of employment involve prolonged economic insecurity and precariousness, notably in terms of lower and less certain incomes, lack of possibilities to stand up for one’s working conditions, lack of social and health insurance, lack of a professional identity, lack of a career perspective, and difficulties to reconcile on-demand work with family life;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Is convinced that the European Social Model needs to be updated and strengthened to support upward transitions into and within the labour market and to maintain a sense of economic security throughout people’s lives; considers that as the labour market becomes more complex, it is natural that the welfare state also needs to adapt its mechanisms and instruments in order to manage well the various social risks arising;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Underlines that markets are meant to serve people and people are also the most important factor for the good performance of a company and of the entire economy; it is therefore vital to ensure workers’ participation in decision- making on the organisation of work and utilisation of company revenue; points to the good example of social economy enterprises, such as cooperatives, in providing quality employment, supporting social inclusion and promoting economic democracy;
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the enactment of a directive on fair working conditions for all forms of employment, and other relevant legislative measures, based on a sufficiently broad EU definition of a worker and ensuring for every worker a core set of enforceable rights, including equal treatment, social protection, protection in case of dismissal, health and safety protection, provisions on working time and rest time, freedom of association and representation, the right to strike, collective bargaining, collective action, access to training, andin-work support, adequate information and consultation rights throughout subcontracting chains, and a prospect of stabilising the working relationship as open-ended employment after a certain period of time; underlines that this directiveese instruments should apply to employees as well as to all workers in non- standard forms of employment, such as fixed-term work, part-time work, on- demand work, self-employment, work intermediated through online platforms, crowd-working, internship or traineeship; requests that the EU acquis be updated accordingly so as to apply to all workers; and to improve the enforceability of rights;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the enactment of a directive on fair working conditions for all forms of employment, ensuring for every worker a core set of enforceable rights, including equal treatment, social protection, protection in case of dismissal, health and safety protection, provisions on working time and rest time, in particular with regard to a common weekly day of rest recognised by tradition and custom in the member states or regions1a, freedom of association and representation, collective bargaining, collective action, access to training, and adequate information and consultation rights; underlines that this directive should apply to employees as well as to all workers in non-standard forms of employment, such as fixed-term work, part-time work, on-demand work, self-employment, crowd-working, internship or traineeship; requests that the EU acquis be updated accordingly so as to apply to all workers; __________________ 1a This notion refers to the Social Charter of the Council of Europe: ‘to ensure a weekly rest period which shall, as far as possible, coincide with the day recognised by tradition or custom in the country or region concerned as a day of rest’ (Council of Europe, Social Charter, Art 2. 5, 1961 as well as in the revised version 1996).
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point c
Paragraph 4 – point c
c. limits regarding on-demand work: zero-hour contracts should be banned and certain core working hours should be guaranteed to all workers; work requested at short notice should also involve correspondingly higher remuneration;
Amendment 400 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls that the right to healthy and safe working conditions also involves limitations on working time and provisions on minimum rest periods, in particular with regard to a common weekly day of rest recognised by tradition and custom in the Member States or region and annual leave; awaits Commission proposals for legislation and other concrete measures to uphold this right for all workers, reflecting all current knowledge about health and safety risks;
Amendment 418 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the importance of collective rights; expects the Commission to step up concrete support for strengthening social dialogue in Member States and sectors where it is weak owing to the prolonged crisis or the prevalence of non-standard forms of employment; underlines the benefits of involving workers in company management, including in transnational companies, and the need to improve their information, consultation and participation, also to make good use of new forms of work organisation, ensure that work is meaningful and rewarding and anticipate economic change; calls for improved enforcement of European legislation on European Works Councils and the information and consultation of workers and for effective measures ensuring that company restructuring takes place in a socially responsible manner;
Amendment 426 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls for a protocol on social progress to be enshrined at the level of EU primary law which should clearly stipulate that economic freedoms on the internal market do not encompass the prohibition of restrictions but instead provide for equal treatment and that in the event of a conflict, fundamental social rights must have priority over basic economic freedoms and competition rules. Furthermore, it should define the notions of "social progress" and "social market economy" contained in the Lisbon Treaty and include a clause protecting the autonomy of social partners;
Amendment 453 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Supports more integrated provision of social protection benefits and social services as a way to make the welfare state more understandable and accessible while not weakening social protection; underlines the need for adequate and universal social protection and social investment throughout people's lives, enabling everyone to participate fully in the society and economy and sustaining decent living standards; points to the importance of informing citizens about social rights and to the potential of e- government solutions, possibly including a European social security card, which could improve individual awareness and also help mobile workers clarify their contributions and entitlements in home and host countries; highlights the importance of personalised, face-to-face support to excluded and vulnerable households;
Amendment 499 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Is aware that rising life expectancy and workforce shrinking pose a challenge to the sustainability of pensions systems and to intergenerational fairness; reaffirms that the best response is to increase the overall employment rate; considers that pensionable ages should reflect, besides life expectancy, other factors including labour market trends, the economic dependency ratio, the birth rate and differences in job arduousness; rejects the idea that national parliaments should be restricted in their regulatory autonomy by mathematical formulas, for instance in relation to life expectancy;
Amendment 515 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Insists that all workers should be covered by insurance against involuntary unemployment or part-time employment, coupled with job-search assistance and investment in (re)-training; recommends the establishment of legally binding European minimum standards for national unemployment benefits, stipulating that Member States' unemployment insurance schemes have to guarantee a net replacement rate of at least 60% of the previous salary (mid-term objective: at least 65%) as well as a minimum duration of entitlement to unemployment benefits of at least 26 weeks;
Amendment 573 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Considers access to quality and affordable long-term care services, including home-based care, to be a right that should be upheld with the help of suitably qualified professionals employed under decent conditions; believes that low- income households should therefore be targeted by adequate public services and tax deductionsnotes with concern that availability and affordability of long-term care remain a major problem across Europe, trapping informal family carers at home and preventing them from pursuing their careers; deplores frequent abuses of carers employed through work agencies or on an informal basis; believes that adequate public services and tax deductions should be therefore put in place for households, in particularly those living on low incomes, to avoid institutionalisation and the risk of poverty; repeats its call for legislation on carers’ leave accompanied by adequate remuneration and social protection; calls on the Commission to set out a concrete action plan in this area;
Amendment 597 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers child poverty to be a major issue on which Europe should ‘act big’ given the obvious potential for large positive impact on children's development, parents' labour market prospects and reduction of inherited social disadvantage; calls for the swift implementation of a Child Guarantee in all Member States, so that every child now living inat risk of poverty can have access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and proper nutrition; underlines the importance of pre-natal care and early childhood development; calls for inclusive education systems at all levels, including after- school care; recognises that implementation of the Child Guarantee will require adequate financing at national and European level, possibly involving an increase of the European Social Fund and/or support from a new convergence instrument for the Eurozone; requests that national public investments in the Child Guarantee be considered within a 'silver rule on social investment' under the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 617 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls foron Member States to deliver on the right to adequate housing inter alia through legislation to ensure that access to social housing or adequate housing benefits are provided for those in need, obviously including homeless people, and that vulnerable people and poor households are protected against eviction; calls for tax incentives to help young people on low incomes set up their own householdconcrete measures to prevent and reduce homelessness with a view to its gradual elimination, based on combining provision of housing with relevant social services supporting social and economic inclusion; reminds that the increased need for support for low and medium- income households' housing is closely related to increased labour market precariousness and income inequalities; calls for help for young people on low incomes set up their own households; highlights investments in energy efficient social housing as a win-win for jobs, the environment, reduction of energy poverty and realisation of social rights; calls for greater use of the EFSI to support urban renewal and affordable, accessible and energy-efficient housing provision;
Amendment 639 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls for legislation ensuring fair universal access for all to good-quality and affordable social services of general interest and other essential services, such as of general interest, such as water supply, waste management, education, healthcare, e-communications, energy, transport and financial services; highlights the role of social enterprises;
Amendment 717 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 – point b a (new)
Paragraph 19 – point b a (new)
ba. digital platforms and other intermediaries should have an obligation to report all work undertaken through them to the competent authorities for the purpose of ensuring adequate contributions and protection through social and health insurance for all workers, even if they work in short gigs;
Amendment 731 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls for full implementation of the Youth Guarantee for all people under 30, with emphasis on quality offers and effective outreach to all NEETs, and of the recommendation on the long- term unemployed; highlights these as important structural reforms and social investments that are in need of adequate financing, possibly involving an increase of the European Social Fund, an extension of the Youth Employment Initiative by more than the €1bn foreseen under the MFF 2014-20 mid-term review, and/or support from a new convergence instrument for the Eurozone; requests that national public investments for the Youth Guarantee and integration of long-term unemployed be counted within a 'silver rule on social investment' under the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 818 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Emphasises that labour mobility within the EU is a right whose exercise must be supported but which should not be forced on workers by poor conditions in their home regions, and should not undermine host countries’ social standards; calls for more decisive steps to fight wage and social dumping;
Amendment 841 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to propose a clear roadmap for legislative updates and other measures that are necessary for full practical application of the EPSR; highlights that in cases of conflict of law,order to protect fundamental social rights, provisions such as the horizontal social clause (Article 9 TFEU) should be properly applied;, in particular through:
Amendment 846 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 – point a (new)
Paragraph 25 – point a (new)
(a) thorough social impact assessments in the context of 'better regulation';
Amendment 942 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Considers that the EPSR must be embedded within a general reorientation of EU economic policy, ensuring a balanced prosperity-oriented economic policy and supporting a wage-led economic development. In order to support a sustainable economic recovery and quality jobs public investment needs to be increased. Thus, a substantial increase of public investments coordinated at the European level is needed, alongside the implementation of a 'golden rule of public investment' which would exempt net public investment from the calculation of the relevant budget deficits;
Amendment 963 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Calls for a ‘silver rule’ on social investment to be applied when implementing the Stability and Growth Pact, namely to consider certain public social investments having a clear positive impact on economic growth (e.g. childcare or education and training) as being eligible for favourable treatment when assessing government deficits and compliance with the expenditure rule and the 1/20 debt rule;
Amendment 984 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Calls for a swift launch of the long-delayed Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) in order to reduce administrative burden on national authorities;
Amendment 1018 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 – point c a (new)
Paragraph 30 – point c a (new)
ca. the establishment of a European employment initiative for the labour market integration of refugees;
Amendment 1075 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 – point b
Paragraph 32 – point b
b. a European unemployment insurance schemn automatic cyclical stabilisation mechanism mainly in relation to the unemployment rate, complementing national schemes in cases of severe cyclical downturn andmay be effective in helping prevent the translation of an asymmetric shock into structural disadvantage;