Motion for a resolution - B9-0278/2022Motion for a resolution
B9-0278/2022
European Parliament

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine – reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act

13.5.2022 - (2022/2653(RSP))

to wind up the debate on the statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Iratxe García Pérez, Pedro Marques, Biljana Borzan, Rovana Plumb, Jonás Fernández, Agnes Jongerius, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial, Aurore Lalucq
on behalf of the S&D Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0267/2022

Procedure : 2022/2653(RSP)
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B9-0278/2022
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B9-0278/2022
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B9‑0278/2022

European Parliament resolution on the social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine – reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act

(2022/2653(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Russia and Ukraine,

– having regard to the European Council Conclusions of 25 March 2022,

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a major humanitarian crisis affecting millions of people that might also result in a severe economic shock of uncertain duration and magnitude in the EU; whereas the most important consequences of the war in Ukraine are the lives lost and the humanitarian crisis associated with the huge numbers of besieged and displaced people; whereas over four million refugees from Ukraine have been received in the EU;

B. whereas the crisis resulting from the war risks negatively impacting growth, including through the repercussions on financial markets, further energy price pressures, persistent supply chain bottlenecks and confidence effects; whereas the economic context, combined with the effects of the sanctions and migration flows, will have a serious impact on the social situation, inter alia on the EU’s labour markets and the living conditions of its citizens;

C. whereas increasing inflation and especially the rapid increases in food and energy prices across the EU are affecting the most vulnerable populations, further increasing inequality and aggravating poverty and energy poverty; whereas wages are not projected to increase as fast as inflation and therefore workers might lose purchasing power and see their living conditions worsen in the next few months; whereas this will also exert greater pressure on social policy capacity, as well as on automatic stabilisation mechanisms such as temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE);

D. whereas according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) world economic outlook of April 2022, global growth is projected to slow from an estimated 6.1 % in 2021 to 3.6 % in 2022 and 2023, which is 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points lower for 2022 and 2023 than projected in January; whereas growth in the euro area is projected to decrease from an estimated 5.3 % in 2021 to 2.8 % in 2022 and 2.3 % in 2023;

E. whereas the IMF concludes that the widespread use of job retention schemes meant that the euro area’s unemployment rate was 2.5 percentage points lower than it would have been without any intervention, which kept around 4 million workers in their jobs[1]; whereas Eurostat expects inflation in the euro area to be 7.5 % in April 2022, up from 7.4 % in March 2022[2];

F. whereas Europe is facing emerging challenges, such as increasing inequalities between generations, diminished social, health, economic and environmental opportunities and resources, territorial disparities and unequal access to fundamental social and health services, jobs and business opportunities and social infrastructure; whereas in 2020, 96.5 million people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which is the equivalent of 21.9 % of the EU population; whereas reducing inequalities is a shared responsibility of the EU and the Member States; whereas we should address the root causes of long-term economic and social imbalances;

G. whereas the crisis of 2008 taught us that monetary policy alone cannot ensure a proper recovery from a crisis and that we need a joint European approach; whereas that crisis was caused by an accumulation of imbalances at global level, where low wages and growing inequality played a large part in provoking the economic collapse of 2008; whereas, therefore, we need to address the root causes of long-term economic and social imbalances; whereas the war cannot be used to justify any deregulation agenda affecting workers’ rights and social protection or a return to austerity;

H. whereas the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan set a target for the EU to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million and adopted a series of proposals in order to reach this goal by 2030; whereas IMF pre-pandemic estimates suggested that about 5 million jobs would be created over the next 10 years in the four largest countries of the euro area; whereas the pandemic has cut that projection by up to 1.5 million, with those losing out mostly in low-skilled sectors, and it remains to be seen how the latest crisis will affect this outlook; whereas in the current context, reaching the target will become more challenging, given the projected increase in poverty and unemployment in the months to come; whereas social protection systems are under severe pressure to mitigate the social impact of the crisis, to give support to refugees and to ensure decent living conditions for all, as well as access to quality essential services such as health, education and housing;

I. whereas the International Energy Agency has estimated that temporary fiscal measures on windfall profits could make up to EUR 200 billion available in 2022 for public revenue to partially offset higher energy bills[3]; whereas Member States may introduce temporary tax measures on windfall profits on the basis of guidance provided by the Commission in March 2022[4];

General considerations

1. Reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against and invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, as well as the involvement of Belarus therein;

2. Stresses that the current war against Ukraine has exacerbated an already stark energy price crisis across Europe; recalls that today’s high gas and electricity prices affect most Member States, although to different degrees and at different times, and that the current price spike requires rapid intervention in order to identify, avoid and prevent the socio-economic consequences through a coordinated economic and social policy response;

3. Calls on the Commission and the Council to stand ready to do whatever it takes and to react with determination, unity and swiftness and in solidarity in tackling this new severe crisis; underlines that a determined, coordinated and solidarity-based European response is essential to limit the spread of the crisis by identifying, preventing and mitigating its economic and social consequences, and therefore maintaining European citizens’ support for the actions taken against Russia and for the other actions needed in supporting the Ukrainians in their defence; calls for the EU institutions to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine, in line with Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union and on the basis of merit;

4. Emphasises its full support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people; stresses its continued commitment to the five sanctions packages against Russia already imposed by the European Council and calls for their implementation to be enhanced and expedited; calls on the Member States to urgently adopt the sixth package of sanctions, including a ban on imports of Russian oil, as proposed by the Commission; reiterates its call for an immediate and full embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas, and for Nord Stream 1 and 2 to be completely abandoned;

Addressing the economic and social crisis in a coordinated manner

5. Is convinced that an effective response involves supporting households and maintaining purchasing power and employment, while continuing to accelerate the implementation of the European Green Deal and the just and green transition, as well as strengthening the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan;

6. Reiterates the Commission’s estimation of the need for additional annual public investment in the three-digit billion range to address the challenges of the digital transformation, the green and just transition and social recovery; stresses, therefore, that an increased level of investment, including social and environmental conditionalities, must be stabilised and upward convergence in the EU enhanced for many years to come;

7. Acknowledges that mitigating the impact of increases in energy prices on vulnerable households will be crucial to contain poverty rates; calls, therefore, on the Commission to provide for significant coordinated political and financial actions by establishing a mechanism for the price cap on gas in order to reduce the impact of its extraordinarily high cost on citizens and businesses, while addressing the contagion effect on electricity markets, limiting the scope for speculation by energy and financial market operators; also stresses the need for coordinated action to decouple the electricity price from that of gas, with a view to avoiding a situation in which the increase in gas prices would wholly drive the increase in the total final price;

8. Calls on the Member States to use increased tax revenues in social spending, including income support, to mitigate the impact of the rise in energy prices, especially for low-income households, and to finance public policies to increase energy efficiency and the expansion of renewables; highlights the role that an EU proposal on windfall profit taxation could have in generating additional revenues for social spending;

9. Warns that the Social Climate Fund as originally proposed was clearly insufficient, both in its aims and in its funding, to alleviate energy poverty and that, in the current context, it is extremely urgent to adopt this instrument with a larger scope and funding as a way to protect vulnerable households from falling into energy poverty, offering them income support and financing their green transition to clean energy;

10. Points out the importance of the European Semester process to coordinating dedicated economic, social and environmental policies in order to address the challenges ahead by implementing the policy objectives of the European Green Deal, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the 20 principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights; calls, in this context, on the Commission to reflect policy recommendations, inter alia, on strategic autonomy, energy independence, social equality and fair taxation in the country-specific recommendations; calls on the Commission to include new social measures to fight poverty and social inequalities arising from the new economic outlook; calls on the Commission to put forward a mechanism to identify, prevent and address social imbalances, as a complement to the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure;

11. Welcomes the Commission communication of 2 March 2022 on fiscal policy guidance for 2023 (COM(2022)0085) and its call to maintain a supportive fiscal stance to stand ready to react to the evolving economic situation; expects the Commission to come forward with a set of fiscal policy measures to react to economic shocks and the spike in poverty levels; further expects, in this context, the general escape clause to remain activated as long as needed;

12. Stresses that it is widely expected that the economic and social situation in the EU will deteriorate further in the coming months and that this will intensify during the coming autumn and winter through a combination of even higher energy prices, higher energy consumption for heating, higher inflation for other goods, in a recessionary economic context, while also pointing out that health risks should still be monitored; considers that it would be important for the EU to anticipate this deterioration and to put in place a policy framework and concrete initiatives directly targeted at supporting the most vulnerable segments of its population by summer 2022;

13. Calls for a temporary European social resilience package combining under one umbrella a set of measures and means to reinforce existing national and European welfare instruments: an EU-wide policy on temporarily administered price controls on energy prices, a temporary suspension of national rent indexation schemes, a social rescue facility financed through solidarity by the temporary taxation of the excessive profits generated by the crisis in several sectors of the economy, in order to provide rapid and direct income support through transfers targeted at vulnerable households, targeted and increased public support to existing public and private instruments and initiatives aimed at the poorest in our society, with a top up of the European Social Fund Plus and to support schemes against energy poverty (to be included as emergency measures and for swift adoption in the Social Climate Fund), as well as ensuring the continuation and refinancing of SURE and other support instruments to address the socio-economic impact of the war;

14. Calls on the Commission to organise a social summit including the EU institutions and the social partners in order to discuss the challenges of the extraordinary situation we are facing with increasing inflation and its social consequences, in particular regarding living conditions, a fair redistribution of wealth among different groups in society and decent wages, and to work on an update of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan agreed on 7 May 2021 in Porto to ensure that the objectives that were set are met by adopting additional proposals and/or financial means;

15. Highlights that short-term working schemes can be activated in a crisis and that allowing for the structural adjustment of economies and human resources will be critical; calls on the Commission to present a proposal for a revised permanent SURE instrument to support national unemployment schemes;

16. Calls for the establishment of a mechanism similar to SURE, a back-to-back loan programme, to cheaply finance schemes to support Member States in their actions to help households and enterprises as a necessary step in constructing a European answer to the crisis, in particular to tackle its short-term consequences;

17. Calls on the Commission to put forward a directive on a framework for minimum income schemes, with the purpose of safeguarding the right to a decent life, eradicating poverty and addressing the issues of adequacy and coverage, including a non-regression clause, as this is urgently required; considers it essential that every person in need in Europe be covered by a minimum income scheme and that pensions ensure an income above the poverty line; calls in addition for the adoption of allowance schemes for obtaining qualifications to be granted to every adult in need who wishes to enrol in vocational training or tertiary education, in order to cover their educational costs and essential needs;

18. Recalls that young people have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 crisis in terms of employment, education, training and mental well-being; is concerned that the economic fallout from the current crisis resulting from the Russian aggression in Ukraine will leave many more young people in Europe unemployed, with long-lasting socio-economic consequences;

19. Warns that the housing market in Europe will be put under even more pressure owing to the need to accommodate millions of refugees; calls on the Commission and the Member States to work towards ensuring access to decent housing for all, through the National Affordable Housing Plans included in the National Reform Programmes, with the provision of sufficient adequate and affordable social housing, as well as the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, especially to cover the housing needs of the three bottom quintiles of society and to reduce by half the housing costs of these overburdened groups by 2030;

20. Stresses that if adequate additional protection measures are not implemented, the inflow of refugees following the war in Ukraine could further exacerbate the situation of women and of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion or of those who need access to quality care and social protection; is especially concerned about the situation of refugee children; calls on the Commission and the Member States to focus their efforts on implementing the European Child Guarantee by ensuring access to free quality services for children fleeing Ukraine on an equal footing with their EU peers in the hosting countries and to urgently increase the funding of the European Child Guarantee with a dedicated budget of at least EUR 20 billion;

21. Recalls the EU’s commitment to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right of every individual, and of every woman and girl, to have full control over their sexuality and to be able to decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexual and reproductive rights, and to live free from discrimination, coercion and gender-based violence; calls on the Member States to prohibit and take effective measures without delay to prevent all forms of discrimination against racialised women, including ethnic segregation in health facilities, and to guarantee universal access to quality sexual and reproductive healthcare free from discrimination, coercion and abuse, to address the issue of legal remedies and prevent human rights violations affecting them; considers that access to full healthcare services for women victims of war crimes who are refugees in the EU must be guaranteed in all Member States;

22. Highlights that the COVID-19 crisis has shown the crucial contribution of migrant workers in supporting European economies; warns, however, that very often migrant workers encounter poor working and living conditions, the absence of social protection, a denial of the freedom of association and workers’ rights, discrimination and xenophobia, and is concerned that the refugees coming from Ukraine might suffer the same conditions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that their integration is carried out in full respect of the law, equality and non-discrimination; believes that trade unions and civil society organisations across the EU need to be supported, also when carrying out actions to safeguard refugees’ fundamental labour and social rights, to organise and unionise refugee workers and to empower them;

23. Points out that Europe’s mental health systems are underdeveloped, plagued by chronic underinvestment and that care is difficult for the general population to access, and even more challenging for refugees and other migrants; considers that it will be critical to ramp up funding significantly for clinical mental health services to support refugees in coping with trauma, alongside non-clinical approaches in partnership with schools, community-based organisations and others;

Reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act

24. Highlights that in the European response to the COVID crisis, European citizens felt that the EU was protecting them and opening up prospects, notably through the creation of the SURE programme and NextGenerationEU (NGEU); underlines that neither the NGEU fund, its Recovery and Resilience Fund component, nor the flexibility under the current 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (MFF) are sufficient to cover the financial needs generated by the war in Ukraine; recalls that these instruments were neither designed nor conceived in terms of size to address the new challenges stemming from the Russian aggression and invasion and simultaneously maintain investments in the EU’s programmes and policies, including important priorities like the just, green and digital transitions;

25. Calls on the Commission to make optimal use of the existing funding opportunities, flexibility and other provisions set out in the MFF Regulation and the Financial Regulation; is however convinced that additional flexibility needs to be provided for in the EU budget to respond to unforeseen and urgent needs; calls on the Commission to conduct an in-depth review of the functioning of the current MFF and proceed with a legislative proposal for a comprehensive MFF revision as soon as possible and no later than the first quarter of 2023; expects such a revision to take into account the long-term implications of the war in Ukraine;

26. Recalls its readiness to mobilise all available Union budget instruments with a view to providing the strongest possible financial support to the people fleeing the war in Ukraine and strongly insists that such mobilisation should not be detrimental to existing programmes and actions; points, in particular, to the need to increase the ceilings of the relevant headings in the EU budget in order to reflect the financial needs related to the refugee crisis;

27. Calls for the establishment of a new dedicated European Fund to finance cross-border energy infrastructure and renewable energy production, reinforcing the path towards the European Green Deal, the circular economy and sustainable development, thereby securing Europe’s autonomy and protecting quality public services in the decades to come; insists that any such new fund should be established according to the ordinary legislative procedure, be administered under the full oversight of Parliament and be directly managed by the Commission; emphasises that its overall amount should be established on the basis of a clear assessment of the costs and investment gaps and should include grants;

28. Calls on the Commission to identify the additional unallocated resources, in particular from previous programming exercises, that can be mobilised to support Ukraine and address the consequences of the war; recalls that Parliament expects the Commission to propose not only the creation of a programme and the respective financing for both the transition and energy autonomy, but also to compensate for the increase in energy prices for people and companies under its new programme REPowerEU;

29. Calls for the spending financed by Recovery and Resilience Fund loans, as well as the social expenditure resulting from this new crisis, to benefit from the same treatment in the EU fiscal framework as is the case for the European Fund for Strategic Investments in the context of the Commission communication on flexibility, so as to ensure an optimal effect for the EU recovery;

30. Takes the opportunity, amid ongoing global geopolitical challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, to rethink the EU’s economic governance so as to increase its resilience to shocks and crises, as well as strengthening its social dimension; invites the Commission to take the principles of the NGEU as a basis for a revamped common European fiscal architecture, to allow the additional effort required to be financed, notably in terms of energy, defence and the reception of refugees; calls for a permanent fiscal capacity, as a tool for macroeconomic stabilisation and to maintain an increased level of investment, in particular to address the climate and digital transitions as well as social progress;

31. Calls on the Commission to carry out a swift revision of the EU economic governance framework against the backdrop of enormous investment needs; calls, in this context, for the introduction of a golden rule of public investment in order to protect fiscal leeway and investment in EU policy priorities such as the just, green and digital transitions;

32. Stresses, that, in parallel, additional new EU own resources are necessary to assure a sustainable financing of the EU budget on a long-term basis and to avoid the new EU priorities being financed to the detriment of existing EU programmes and policies; highlights that the EU will have to be more ambitious and even needs to go beyond the agreed own resources roadmap from December 2020; reiterates its demand for the introduction, without further delay, of a Financial Transaction Tax and an own resource linked to the corporate sector by 2023;

33. Calls on the Member States to introduce windfall profits taxes, setting higher tax rates on windfall corporate profits for large multinationals, notably in the energy sector; takes the view that such taxes could also focus, as an alternative, on rises in the market value of listed companies which operate in the internal market; calls on the Member States to coordinate, as appropriate, on the design of windfall profit taxation schemes and to consider the added value of a fully fledged EU framework through a Commission legislative proposal;

34. Highlights that a temporary solidarity net wealth tax targeting the wealthiest households at national level could be useful in the current crisis as a tool to raise public funds to mitigate the impact of the crisis and help households and SMEs; calls on the Commission to study the different options for taxing net wealth;

35. Highlights the urgency of the swift implementation of the OECD Pillar 2 agreement on minimum effective taxation, in addition to the implementation of Pillar 1, focused on a fairer distribution of profits and taxing rights among countries with respect to the largest multinationals, including those in the digital sector; highlights that revenues for the own resource based on Pillar 1 could generate between EUR 2.5 to 4 billion, and will contribute to financing the budget of the EU[5];

36. Reiterates the urgency of fighting tax evasion, tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning through further reforms, including those put forward by the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation, in line with Parliament’s recommendations;

37. Calls for the creation of an EU Asset Register to provide public authorities with centralised access to information on the ownership of high value assets and goods throughout the EU and thereby effectively curb efforts to circumvent financial targeted sanctions, and fight money laundering and tax evasion and avoidance;

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38. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

 

Last updated: 17 May 2022
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