Doslovný zápis z rozpráv

Pondelok, 23. novembra 2015 - Štrasburg

16. Politika súdržnosti a marginalizované komunity (stručná prezentácia)

President. – The next item is the report by Terry Reintke, on behalf of the Committee on Regional Development, on cohesion policy and marginalised communities (2014/2247(INI)) (A8-0314/2015).

  Terry Reintke, rapporteur.– Madam President, first of all I would like to thank all the shadow rapporteurs, the great civil—society organisations and everyone else who has contributed to making this report what it is: a great starting point for making the right changes to European cohesion policy in order to make it more inclusive for marginalised communities – or, as Commissioner Crețu put it last week, to make the inclusion of marginalised communities one of the priorities for EU cohesion policy.

This report is made for people who very often do not have a lobby in this Parliament and in EU institutions. It is made for people who are very often overlooked and overheard when it comes to the distribution of EU funds. In the preparation of this report, I have seen examples of where this is still happening today in the European Union. In my hometown, Gelsenkirchen, I visited a school where I met two girls – two sisters, Denise and Michaela, 10 and 12 years old – who had recently moved from Romania to Gelsenkirchen. I met them in their class. They were curious, they wanted to learn, and they were really trying to get integrated into the school in Gelsenkirchen. But the question that came up in my head was: will Denise and Michaela have the same chances and opportunities that I had when I was growing up in Gelsenkirchen? Will they have the same access to resources I had? When we look at the situation of Denise and Michaela, there are challenges that they are facing, because very often they are being discriminated against or they are facing structural exclusion. This report can give the tools to cities such as Gelsenkirchen to create an integrated approach in order to give a chance to children like this, be it in education or with regard to housing, employment or health. We need to look at different fields of society in order to give a chance to people from marginalised communities. At the same time, we have to bring all the stakeholders together, be they from the local level, from civil society or the people affected themselves, in order to create the best programmes and to really make sustainable investments. And we need to give support for them to have a strong voice in the whole process – not only in the preparation, but also in the monitoring and evaluation, of the programmes.

Secondly, we simply cannot afford to live in segregated societies, because in the long run, inequality and exclusion is much more expensive for us than inclusion and integration. This is why we need to make sure that EU funds actually reach the people that need them the most. This report will give a very clear signal to both the Commission and the Member States to do exactly that. Be it community-led local development or strong implementation of the partnership principle, or be it monitoring our evaluation mechanisms that need to be improved, we have these tools and we need to implement them in order to make EU funds more inclusive.

Lastly, alongside the set of good measures and proposals that are in this report, we also need to speak very clearly about the problems. Let us not shy away from clearly mentioning the obstacles that we are still facing to have inclusive societies in the European Union. Be it corruption or fraud, be it the lack of political will or anti-Gypsyism, we need to name these barriers in order to create good implementation and overcome these problems.

Human rights are the basis of the European Union. Let us mainstream human rights in all policy fields in this Parliament and make them also the basis of our work with regard to EU structural funds, because in the end, this is going to create societies where everybody has a chance and can live equally.

I want to thank again everyone who has contributed to this report and I hope that it will find your support tomorrow in the vote.

Pyynnöstä myönnettävät puheenvuorot

  Csaba Sógor (PPE). – Madam President, despite the first steps of progress achieved through the EU framework for national Roma integration, the wide gaps in our societies show that there is a lot more to be done to break the vicious circle faced by marginalised communities, especially the Roma: lack of education and diminished labour market prospects coupled with direct and indirect discrimination. Nevertheless, it is also in these vital areas where a better use of cohesion policy could make a difference. Mainstream and targeted measures for the reduction of the rate of Roma early school leavers are among the measures that could have the largest long-term impact, as it is early school leaving which later translates into the lack of skills and qualifications that prevent Roma from accessing quality employment in their adulthood. Similarly, beside demand—side measures such as recruitment subsidies for employment and apprenticeship schemes, lifelong learning and vocational training for adult Roma must also be key priorities in our goal towards more social cohesion.

  Viorica Dăncilă (S&D). – Doamnă președintă, într-o societate tot mai globalizată asigurarea unui acces egal la o educație de înaltă calitate pentru toți membrii societății este esențială pentru reducerea excluziunii sociale.

Uniunea și statele membre trebuie să își întărească cooperarea pentru a pune în aplicare programe, proiecte și activități de sprijin în favoarea comunităților marginalizate pentru a facilita educația preșcolară, noi oportunități pentru alte forme de educație și pentru învățarea pe tot parcursul vieții, având în vedere modificările continue din diverse sectoare și creșterea procentului instrumentelor online.

Este esențială totodată capacitarea femeilor și a fetelor din comunitățile marginalizate pentru o formare profesională adecvată, iar aici mă refer inclusiv la fetele și femeile de origine romă. Stimularea antreprenoriatului și a participării în rândul femeilor din aceste comunități, pentru un acces mai bun pe piața forței de muncă, trebuie să devină o prioritate.

  Νότης Μαριάς ( ECR).– Κυρία Πρόεδρε, η τρόικα τα μνημόνια και μερκελική λιτότητα μετέτρεψαν την Ελλάδα στην πιο περιθωριοποιημένη χώρα της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Έτσι την τελευταία μνημονιακή εξαετία έχουν δημιουργηθεί τεράστιες στρατιές εκατομμυρίων ανέργων στη χώρα, το 40% του πληθυσμού ζει κάτω απ τα όρια της φτώχειας, οι άνεργοι νέοι της Ελλάδας παίρνουν κατά χιλιάδες το δρόμο της ξενιτιάς μεταναστεύοντας σε άλλες χώρες της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, οι μικρομεσαίες επιχειρήσεις κλείνουν κατά χιλιάδες και η αγροτική οικονομία χειμάζεται.

Η μερκελική λιτότητα που εφαρμόζεται στην Ελλάδα και στις χώρες του ευρωπαϊκού Νότου έχουν δημιουργήσει μια Ευρώπη των δύο ταχυτήτων. Μια Ευρώπη διπλών συμφερόντων που αποσκοπεί μόνο στην εκμετάλλευση του πλούτου των χωρών του Νότου με στόχο την οικονομική ανάπτυξη της γερμανικής Ευρώπης. Θα πρέπει λοιπόν να σταματήσει η κατάσταση αυτή στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και να υπάρξει μια Ένωση ισότητας και ίσων ευκαιριών για όλους τους πολίτες και τα κράτη μέλη της Ένωσης.

  Ivan Jakovčić (ALDE). – Gospođo predsjednice, kohezijska politika je politika partnerstva. Politika partnerstva Europske unije, zemalja članica, ali nemojmo nikada zaboraviti, naročito kada govorimo o marginaliziranim zajednicama ili skupinama, da bez uloge lokalnih i regionalnih vlasti nema realizacije kohezijske politike na pravi način. Upravo zato želim govoriti o važnosti uključivanja lokalnih i regionalnih vlasti kada govorimo konkretno i u ovom izvještaju o rješavanju problema Roma, kao jedne od marginaliziranih zajednica unutar Europske unije. Imam mnogo iskustva, osobno kao istarski župan koji je dvanaest godina pokušavao pomoći Romima u Istri i sigurno znam da je uloga gradova i regija u pružanju konkretne pomoći Romima iznimno važna. Zato molim da učinite sve što možete da napravite tu sinergiju svih vlasti u Europskoj uniji.

  Rosa D'Amato (EFDD). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, ringrazio la collega per lo spirito costruttivo e per l'ottimo risultato ottenuto con questa relazione. Il nostro giudizio è molto positivo, grazie alle proposte particolarmente interessanti e molto attuali. Una su tutte: l'analisi del fenomeno dell'emarginazione. Essa va fatta accertando e analizzando una serie di indicatori, quali l'esclusione sociale, la disoccupazione di lunga durata, il basso livello di istruzione, le condizioni abitative disagiate, il livello di discriminazione, le esposizioni a rischi per la salute e la mancanza di accesso all'assistenza sanitaria.

I tragici eventi di queste ultime settimane non fanno che confermare l'importanza di misure atte a ridurre quelle disuguaglianze e quelle condizioni di isolamento culturale, sociale ed economico che sono fra i fattori predisponenti alla radicalizzazione della criminalità comune e organizzata.

La politica di coesione e la quota del 20% delle risorse del Fondo sociale europeo, che per regolamento deve essere dedicato alla lotta alla povertà e all'inclusione sociale delle persone maggiormente vulnerabili, assume un'importanza fondamentale. Non possiamo permettere che le misure di austerità colpiscano settori chiave, come l'istruzione, la formazione e gli alloggi e che i fondi della politica di coesione non siano utilizzati o lo siano con progetti di dubbia utilità.

La quantità e la qualità dei progetti e la reale applicazione del principio di partenariato contano oggi più che mai se non vogliamo che gli obiettivi di coesione economica, sociale e territoriale diventino solo dichiarazioni di intenti vuote e prive di qualsiasi effetto pratico per le nostre regioni. Ringrazio ancora la relatrice.

  Ruža Tomašić (ECR). – Gospođo predsjednice, kao članica Odbora za regionalni razvoj podupirem dijelove izvješća koji naglašavaju da se pri implementaciji kohezijske politike posebna pažnja mora usmjeriti na ključne izazove siromaštva i isključenosti mladih ljudi te djece i ljudi s invaliditetom.

Također u potpunosti sam suglasna s dijelovima izvješća koji govore o bottom-up pristupu odnosno težnji da se EU fondovi u fazi implementacije trebaju koristiti na integrirani način putem novih teritorijalnih razvojnih instrumenata u kohezijskoj politici, integriranih teritorijalnih ulaganja i lokalnog razvoja vođenog zajednicom jer isti naglašavaju i važnu ulogu koju civilno društvo može imati u navedenom segmentu.

Međutim, smatram da zaštita prava i dodjela sredstava ne bi trebali ovisiti o određenim subjektivnim i posve ideološkim čimbenicima kao što je pripadnost arbitrarno odabranim skupinama već isključivo o objektivnim i prije svega mjerljivim kriterijima koji moraju biti jednaki za sve.

(Pyynnöstä myönnettävät puheenvuorot päättyvät)

  Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Member of the Commission.– Madam President, I would like to start by thanking the rapporteur, Madam Reintke, and the shadow rapporteurs, Mr Kósa and Mr Urtasun, for their very constructive approach on this own-initiative report. Thank you so much.

It supports several of the novelties introduced by the legislative framework for the European Structural and Investment Funds for 2014-2020. These include the fact that funding for social inclusion and poverty reduction should amount to at least 20% of the Member States’ European Social Fund budget. In fact, Member States have allocated 25.6% of the European Social Funds’ total budget – the total budget is about EUR 21 billion – to measures aimed at social inclusion. This includes support for marginalised communities such as the Roma. I welcome the rapporteur’s recommendations, many of which are fully in line with our guidance to Member States.

Let me start by stressing that ʽpromoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discriminationʼ is one of the eleven thematic objectives of the European Strategic and Investment Funds. Under this thematic objective, marginalised communities can receive support through a dedicated investment priority. In fact, Member States have programmed about EUR 1.5 billion under this priority. I am pleased that the report supports the explicit, but not exclusive, approach taken by the Commission in the use of European Strategic and Investment Funds in support to marginalised communities.

Other thematic objectives – on education and unemployment – can also be mobilised to enhance European Union financial interventions. The European Strategic and Investment Funds are geared towards delivery on the European Union 2020 targets and the ensuing priorities set out in the country-specific recommendations. A tangible illustration of this is the fact that Member States which received country-specific recommendations on Roma integration have all programmed support under the dedicated investment priority on marginalised communities in their programming documents.

The new legislative framework has also ensured that an adequate policy framework is in place before Member States receive actual European Strategic Investment Fund support through so-called ex-ante conditionalities. With regard to the Roma, Member States are required to set up a national Roma inclusion strategic policy framework. This is crucial, as the implementation of national Roma integration strategies in countries with sizeable Roma minorities largely relies on European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund funding.

I would like to refer now to some of the recommendations you made in your report. The report calls on the Commission to guide Member States in defining marginalised communities. I would like to stress that it is the Member States’ responsibility to define the marginalised communities on the basis of national indicators, taking into account their national context. This is based on the assumption that Member States are in a much better position to define the target groups for their support.

The report also rightly draws attention to the issue of segregation, a very difficult issue. Spatial and education segregation/desegregation are complex and critical issues which both the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund address. The Commission prepared a guidance note for Member States on the use of European Union funds in tackling segregation. It should help support inclusive education and housing for Roma. Infringement procedures have been launched against some Member States because of discrimination of Roma children in education.

The importance the report attaches to the involvement of all relevant partners in the preparation and implementation of programmes is well echoed by the strengthened partnership principle in the Common Provisions Regulation. Its enforcement has been carefully ensured by the Commission during the negotiation phase of the programme.

You also mentioned the European Union Urban Agenda, which should help cities to improve the implementation of European Union and national policies on the ground. Following discussions between the Commission, Member State cities, experts and stakeholders, urban poverty has been selected as a priority area where Roma inclusion may play an important role.

The reinforcement of the administrative capacities of public and local authorities, which has been identified in the report as a key challenge, can be strongly supported by the funds. A dedicated thematic objective on administrative capacity can be used to support public administration in delivering services to marginalised communities in a more efficient manner.

I very much welcome your call to empower marginalised communities and to ensure they can get easier access to European Union funding. I am convinced that a greater use of simplified cost options, fundamentally simplifying the management of the funds, as well as territorial approaches, including community-led local development, will play a crucial role in ensuring such better access.

Finally, the report rightfully underlines the added value of transnational cooperation and exchange of good practices. This will be reflected in the new URBACT programme as well as in the new European Social Fund transnational cooperation framework.

As a final note, I would like to stress once more that it is the Commission’s firm intention to steer the European Union towards social fairness. This requires that no citizen can be left behind. I therefore express in the strongest terms possible my commitment to use all means at the European Union’s disposal to reach the Union’s marginalised communities. And we are very grateful that this report helps us stay on the right path.

PRZEWODNICTWO: RYSZARD CZARNECKI
Wiceprzewodniczący

  Przewodniczący. – Zamykam debatę.

Głosowanie odbędzie się we wtorek 24 listopada 2015 r.

Oświadczenia pisemne (art. 162)

  Daciana Octavia Sârbu (S&D), în scris.– Numeroase persoane se confruntă cu diferite forme de discriminare, în special în cadrul comunităților de romi care sunt adesea marginalizate în societățile europene.

Am depus, alături de o serie de colegi, un amendament privind finanțarea programelor care să combată atitudinile antițigănești și să asigure o mai bună integrare a acestora în societate. Aș dori să mulțumesc în avans tuturor colegilor care vor sprijini acest amendament.

Unele comunități nu beneficiază de politica europeană de coeziune. Ele nu sunt incluse nici în structurile decizionale, nici în procesele de punere în aplicare și de monitorizare a proiectelor. Acest lucru poate duce la situația în care UE exacerbează problemele grupurilor vulnerabile, de aceea Comisia trebuie să regândească utilizarea fondurilor de coeziune pentru a răspunde nevoilor comunităților marginalizate.

  Indrek Tarand (Verts/ALE), in writing.– The EU should be more consistent in its cohesion policy. The Commission should not drive small peripheral Member States towards further marginalisation, as it recently did by issuing its damning decision regarding Estonian Air. Unlike in the Air Malta and Cyprus Airways cases, the Commission did not accept Estonia’s ‘peripheral geographic location’ as a justification for state aid although these cases are extremely similar. According to their previous decision: ‘the Commission notes that Air Malta as a small carrier with a fleet of only 10 aircraft which does not have much possibility to benefit from synergies and which additionally intends to meet specific needs due to Malta’s peripheral geographical situation is not comparable with major flag carriers or large LCCs’ and that Air Malta is ‘vital for Malta’s economic and social cohesion both internally and with the rest of the EU by providing daily transportation’. Estonian Air was even smaller with only 6 aircraft serving a country of 1.3 million on the periphery of Europe, which is why it is astonishing that the Commission decided to ignore all the decisive arguments forming its own previous decisions and did not consider Estonia to be in a situation comparable to Cyprus and Malta.