European Parliament legislative resolution of 21 January 2021 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 as regards the introduction of specific measures for addressing the COVID-19 crisis (COM(2020)0223 – C9-0151/2020 – 2020/0105(COD))

P9_TA(2021)0015 A9-0174/2020

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2020)0223),

–  having regard to Article 294(2) and the third paragraph of Article 175 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C9‑0151/2020),

–  having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 10 June 2020(1),

–  after consulting the Committee of the Regions,

–  having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the responsible committee under Rule 74(4) of its Rules of Procedure and the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 18 December 2020 to approve Parliament’s position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0174/2020),

1.  Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2.  Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 21 January 2021 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2021/… of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 as regards the introduction of specific measures for addressing the crisis associated with the outbreak of COVID-19

(As an agreement was reached between Parliament and Council, Parliament's position corresponds to the final legislative act, Regulation (EU) 2021/177.)

(1) OJ C 311, 18.9.2020, p. 82.

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on connectivity and EU-Asia relations (2020/2115(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0016 A9-0269/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy of 28 June 2016,

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 19 September 2018 entitled ‘Connecting Europe and Asia – Building blocks for an EU Strategy’ (JOIN(2018)0031),

–  having regard to the Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure between the EU and Japan of 27 September 2019,

–  having regard to the joint EU-US statement on the Asia-Pacific region of 12 July 2012,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 28 May 2018 on enhanced EU security cooperation in and with Asia,

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 15 May 2019 on ‘The EU and Central Asia: New Opportunities for a Stronger Partnership’ (JOIN(2019)0009),

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 9 March 2020 entitled ‘Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa’ (JOIN(2020)0004),

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 16 April 2019 on the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: joining forces for a common future (JOIN(2019)0006),

–   having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 27 April 2016 on an integrated European Union policy for the Arctic (JOIN(2016)0021),

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 18 March 2020 entitled ‘Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020: reinforcing resilience – an Eastern Partnership that delivers for all’ (JOIN(2020)007),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 6 October 2020 on an Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans (COM(2020)0641),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 29 April 2020 entitled ‘Support to the Western Balkans in tackling COVID-19 and the post-pandemic recovery – Commission contribution ahead of the EU-Western Balkans leaders meeting on 6 May 2020’ (COM(2020)0315),

–  having regard to the Connectivity Agenda for the Western Balkans adopted in 2015,

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 7 June 2017 on ‘A Strategic Approach to Resilience’ (JOIN(2017)0021),

–  having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (2015),

–   having regard to the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment (2019) and Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class (2018),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 29 January 2020 on ‘Secure 5G deployment in the EU – implementing the EU toolbox’ (COM(2020)0050),

–  having regard to the Chair’s statement at and the conclusions of the 13th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers Meeting (ASEM), held on 20 and 21 November 2017,

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the opinions of the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Transport and Tourism,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A9-0269/2020),

A.  whereas an expanded global Connectivity Strategy for the EU needs effective governance and broad involvement from the Member States as well as economic and societal stakeholders in order to effectively represent the EU’s fundamental values and shared interests;

B.  whereas in an increasingly connected and global world, the EU needs to implement and demonstrate connectivity strategies in order to advance its interests, values and positions and strengthen cooperation with its partners in the digital field and the fields of health, security, the green transition, transportation, energy and, in particular, human networks; whereas considerable economic potential between Europe, Asia and other continents remains untapped owing to a lack of physical and digital infrastructure;

C.  whereas the importance of an effective EU Connectivity Strategy has been further underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made both the weaknesses and strengths of the European and global connectivity networks clear to see; whereas the post COVID-19 economic stimulus provides a new opportunity and can be used as a turning point to make investments more sustainable, more digital and green, while boosting our connectivity agendas for greater resilience;

D.  whereas a global Connectivity Strategy must utilise a sustainable and rules-based approach and should serve the goals of the EU’s key policies such as economic recovery, the European Green Deal, the digital transformation, and the global promotion of human rights and effective multilateralism; whereas regional and global security frameworks should contribute to creating a safe environment for the good functioning of relations between states; whereas these frameworks should build on Europe’s strength in trade policy and diplomacy and address new and urgent challenges such as global health and security, hybrid threats, terrorism and poverty;

E.  whereas connectivity is already an essential component of a large number of EU strategies; whereas the coherence and visibility of all connectivity policies should be enhanced; whereas global connectivity has an impact on the competitiveness of Europe and of third countries, providing commercial opportunities for European and other companies, notably SMEs, to achieve common prosperity;

F.  whereas a sustainable Connectivity Strategy should serve the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals;

G.  whereas the implementation of the EU’s Connectivity Strategy will require dedicated public financial resources in the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (MFF), the allocation of human resources and renewed efforts to facilitate private sector engagement, as explicitly stated in the 2018 joint communication on connecting Europe and Asia; whereas many regions in development require a substantial amount of rules-based investment to achieve a new economic dynamic, in particular after the COVID‑19 pandemic;

H.  whereas for the EU, as one of the world's largest economies and a pioneer in regional cooperation and bringing people together, the global Connectivity Strategy has the potential to bring added value to the implementation and promotion of its global agenda, including the Team Europe approach and regional agendas such as the work on a European Indo-Pacific Strategy and cooperation within ASEM through synergies across the EU’s key policies, thereby elevating the EU’s role as a global actor;

I.  whereas the EU’s free trade agreements with Japan and South Korea will generate more trade between Asia and Europe and require improvements to transport infrastructure;

J.  whereas the EU-Japan connectivity partnership of 2019 has given additional relevance to the Strategy; whereas partnerships with other Asian partners including India, as an emerging global player, should be established; whereas Africa and the European Neighbourhood should be designated as priority regions for connectivity;

K.  whereas the joint communication on relations between the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean should also be factored into the Strategy;

L.  whereas the global Connectivity Strategy should be included in the Commission Work Programme for 2021;

M.  whereas it is essential to maintain the existing infrastructure for environmentally friendly modes of transport in Europe and beyond; whereas Europe needs to invest more in sustainable infrastructure such as a modern high-speed train network, which could replace some air transport routes in Europe; whereas experience has shown that unsustainable projects generate a high level of debt and wasted resources, undermine the benefits of infrastructural investments for local communities, lead to increased pollution and do harm to the environment;

N.  whereas in recent years global actors have recognised the potential for transport connectivity and have taken the lead to pursue the strategic development of global infrastructure; whereas new opportunities for EU-Asian transport networks are arising, particularly in the rail and maritime sectors; whereas the COVID-19 crisis has shown that transport continuity with Asia has been essential to guarantee the supply chain for all types of goods; whereas EU-Asia transport excels on the global stage in terms of trade volumes and distances travelled; whereas it is necessary to guarantee the safety, security and ecological sustainability, with particular regard to greenhouse gas emissions, of all modes of transport used between the EU and Asia;

Principles of the Connectivity Strategy

1.  Highlights the fundamental role that connectivity plays in the geopolitical relations of the EU and its Member States and underlines the fact that connectivity, as a fundamental orientation of the European Union, is deeply ingrained in the EU’s approach to domestic and international challenges; points out that connectivity policies have been implemented successfully in the EU and that actions in the field of connectivity have increasingly been included in many of the EU’s external relations;

2.  Encourages the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to create a global EU Connectivity Strategy as an extension of the current EU-Asia Connectivity Strategy in order to align our connectivity philosophy and connectivity policies with the goal of strengthening the EU’s role as a true and indispensable geopolitical and geo-economic actor with a single narrative and as a cross-cultural enabler, and to strengthen partnerships with democracies around the world which share our fundamental values; whereas specific regional priorities and policies like those of the Eastern Partnership, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the joint communication on relations with Latin America and the Caribbean and a future Indo-Pacific strategy should be aligned with the Strategy;

3.  Insists that global challenges will be aggravated if the world fissures into adversarial camps or complete fragmentation; believes, therefore, that connectivity should be promoted as a principle that seeks cooperation wherever necessary and possible;

4.  Highlights that connectivity should serve as a key priority of the EU’s work with a view to confirming Europe’s ambition, achieving a more proactive European position in global politics and setting the conditions for Europe to cooperate with other countries bilaterally and in multilateral fora in promoting connectivity that is fiscally, economically, socially and environmentally sustainable;

5.  Expects the Strategy to contribute to implementing the EU’s main framework policies of building a strong and fair Union, investing in peaceful and respectful international relations, contributing to sustainable economic and social progress, including on the basis of ambitious trade agreements driving the European Green Deal and the digital transformation, and promoting global justice;

6.  Considers that fostering a sustainable form of globalisation will require working together with third countries in implementing the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals as core elements of the Strategy;

7.  Takes the view that the Strategy must comprehensively address a broad spectrum of political, economic, cultural, sustainability and security dimensions based on the EU’s fundamental values and its shared interests, must implement flagship projects that demonstrate our values of freedom, human rights, the rule of law, democracy, solidarity against discrimination, sustainability, inclusiveness, transparency on social justice, a level playing field, reciprocity and adherence to rules-based multilateralism, and must reinforce the EU’s international role as a norm-setter; understands that adequate human and financial resources must be allocated for its implementation;

8.  Invites economic and societal stakeholders and relevant experts in the field at EU level and in the Member States to participate in the development and implementation of the Strategy; calls on the Commission to create suitable forums for such involvement; insists that parliaments must play an active role in shaping and overseeing connectivity policy;

9.  Recalls that in order to generate sustainable growth and jobs, connectivity investments are necessary; stresses that these investments should respect the public good, transparency, market efficiency, a level playing field, including fair access to procurement markets, and fiscal viability, while avoiding debt entrapment; highlights that such investments need to support economic resilience, a Paris-compatible decarbonisation of the economy, the development of new skills for the workforce and compliance with high environmental and biodiversity standards; stresses, moreover, that they need to adhere to strict EU standards on social and labour rights, transparency, human rights, due diligence, interoperability and good governance, and give a voice to the people affected by the projects on the basis of appropriate, inclusive and public stakeholder consultations and open access, including for local stakeholders such as SMEs;

10.  Invites all European countries to join the EU’s Connectivity Strategy, including countries in the European Free Trade Association, the Western Balkans and the European Neighbourhood, and to functionally integrate the different developing regions; encourages the UK to join forces with the EU in promoting strategic international connectivity, particularly in the light of the House of Commons’ recent report on the future of the UK’s international policy; is of the opinion that projects overseen by several European countries should be prioritised;

11.  Attaches greatest emphasis to the need for fair cooperation with our partners and other respective countries and regions, while using soft powers to promote European values and to secure strong and durable partnerships; believes that the Strategy must create shared benefits, guarantee reciprocal market access, and prevent one-sided dependencies or debt traps, which jeopardise the autonomy of the participating countries, and should be conducted with mutual respect;

12.  Highlights the crucial importance of the Western Balkans as a priority for the Strategy; believes that the Strategy can create positive synergies with other political and economic processes in the region, notably regional integration; believes that existing infrastructure plans for the Western Balkan countries, such as the EU Connectivity Agenda for the Western Balkans, should be harmonised with the Strategy; welcomes the momentum for connectivity investment in the Western Balkans in the context of the Economic and Investment Plan for the region; highlights, moreover, the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the focus on connectivity as underscored in the joint communication of 18 March 2020;

Governance of the Strategy

13.  Stresses that the Strategy must be monitored and coordinated with the pursuit of internal connectivity within the EU and between the EU and its prospective members, such as through the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) or the Three Seas Initiative, strengthening shared values, standards and interests, and providing shared ownership of the Strategy for EU institutions and the Member States; takes the view that without active ownership by the Member States, the Strategy will be a car without wheels;

14.  Underlines the multidimensional nature of the Strategy, which will require effective coordination of existing strategies, policies and projects for international connectivity and interoperability; expects existing coordination between the EEAS and the Commission Directorates-General to be enhanced and streamlined in this regard;

15.  Underlines that the Strategy needs to have clearer leadership and a division of competences within the Commission at every respective level, including at the top; proposes, therefore, that the implementation of the Strategy be discussed regularly by the Commissioners’ Group for a Stronger Europe, which should serve as a connectivity coordination body, co-chaired by the Vice-President / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) and a Commission connectivity coordinator, ideally an Executive Vice-President;

16.  Recommends that the EEAS should provide the secretariat of the connectivity coordination body, while the corresponding working level should include all relevant Directors-General and be co-chaired by the Secretaries-General of the Commission and the EEAS in order to maximise synergies and efficiency;

17.  Underlines the importance of involving Parliament, the Council, the Member States and national parliaments in the Strategy; insists that the Commission undertake regular reporting outlining the achievements in implementing the Strategy, to be discussed in detail by Parliament and the Council; encourages the appointment of national connectivity coordinators in the Member States’ governments; takes the view that the creation of a dedicated Council working group could enhance connectivity coherence, operationalisation and ownership among the Member States; proposes that qualified majority voting should be used for connectivity, except in fields relevant or related to national security;

18.  Believes that the exchange of information with and active involvement of relevant stakeholders, including the EU’s financing institutions, is essential for the success of the Strategy, given the existing investment gaps in this area; recommends the creation of a high-level expert group on international connectivity as an advisory body to the Commission, including business representatives, as envisioned in the proposal for a business advisory group outlined in the joint communication of 19 September 2018, plus civil society and other stakeholders, including from the fields of human rights, the environment and labour rights, and international financial institutions, with a particular emphasis on the European Investment Bank (EIB) as the EU bank and in accordance with the criterion of gender parity;

19.  Strongly believes that European and Member States’ development banks, investment agencies and export credit agencies should play a central role in managing investment in international connectivity projects, with particular regard to mobilising private sector participation in the financing and implementation of projects and providing advice on investment needs or existing frameworks, depending on the country’s level of development; advocates the setting up of a one-stop interface for the private sector;

20.  Envisages roles for the EIB and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in this context; strongly believes that actively promoting private sector involvement in bankable international connectivity projects must be a cornerstone of the Strategy; requests that the ongoing work on strengthening the European architecture for development finance be expedited with a view to potentially achieving a fully-fledged European development bank; is in favour of cooperation with other international financial institutions on the basis of European values and strategic interests;

21.  Stresses that if the Strategy is to be credible, it needs to be equipped with the necessary tools and means to implement it on a scale that matches its ambition; commends the substantial amount of EU funding for international cooperation, not least the considerable size of grants in comparison to other major global powers, which amounted to EUR 345 billion between 2014 and 2018;

22.  Criticises the fact that the public awareness and visibility of the EU’s international contributions to the promotion and financing of connectivity policies has been underdeveloped and calls for adequate changes to be made without delay; underlines the need, moreover, to develop a dedicated communication policy for the Strategy and calls for a clearer and effective communication of the Strategy’s benefits, achievements and goals in order to ensure the necessary support for its success; highlights the potential of flagship projects in this regard;

23.  Considers that in order to achieve the goals of the Strategy, adequate public resources should be allocated under the 2021-2027 MFF; calls for the Strategy to be enshrined in the future regulations on the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument and Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance III, so as to enable the EU to achieve the objectives of the Strategy efficiently, using EU financial programmes such as InvestEU and, in particular, the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus, the External Action Guarantee and geographical investment facilities, such as the Neighbourhood Investment Facility, the Investment Facility for Central Asia and the Asia Investment Facility; emphasises, furthermore, the option of helping partner countries to develop indigenous financing mechanisms;

24.  Believes that while following a multi-dimensional approach, the Strategy should also be clearly focused on a definitive set of priorities; welcomes the notable inclusion of the EU’s connectivity agenda in the Trio Programme of the German, Portuguese and Slovenian European Council presidencies; emphasises the importance of identifying flagship projects for the relevant sectors, which should have strong European added value, represent a strategic public interest, and demonstrate the EU’s unique values-based approach; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to propose criteria for identifying such projects;

25.  Welcomes initiatives such as the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment and the resolution of the UN Environmental Assembly on sustainable infrastructure; encourages the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to promote the EU’s strategic approach to international connectivity in all multilateral and plurilateral forums, such as the UN General Assembly, ASEM or the G7;

Priorities of the Strategy

Green transition

26.  Highlights the role of the EU in the implementation of the Paris Agreement through the promotion of a circular economy and climate-resilient investments, among other initiatives; believes that the response to climate change, for the decarbonisation of economies and the preservation of biodiversity and the environment, should be an overarching priority of the Strategy, with particular regard to quality infrastructure development; points out that maintaining the existing infrastructure for environmentally friendly modes of transport in Europe and beyond is paramount; calls for a systematic greening of relevant connectivity investments; recommends, in this regard, that transparent tender criteria be set up on the lifecycle costs of products or services and compliance with EU standards and regulations; considers that the socially just and sustainable greening of development cooperation, infrastructure investment across the board and the energy dimension, in particular, are issues of high priority; regards cooperation on alternative energy sources and energy efficiency as key lighthouse projects; proposes that cooperation on developing renewable energy sources should be made a pillar of EU-African connectivity; regards capacity-building for sustainability as a core dimension; welcomes ambitious scientific cooperation to advance climate change mitigation and adaptation, protect biodiversity, and promote economic circularity, sustainable growth and a just transition;

Transport

27.  Strongly encourages the adoption of a global, coordinated approach by working closely with third countries to restore and maintain connectivity, resilient transportation infrastructure and industry in support of global supply chains; welcomes the collaboration between the EU and Asia on initiatives such as the Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia programme and the promotion of new sustainable transport initiatives with important Asian partners such as India and Central Asia;

28.  Stresses that the EU should connect the well-developed TEN-T framework with networks in Asia, while completing its own TEN-T projects within the EU such as Rail Baltica and others; welcomes the adoption of the EU Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans and the ongoing extension of the TEN-T in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries, which should be considered a key element of the Connectivity Strategy, given its geographical position; believes that a special TEN-T coordinator should be appointed for the enlargement and Eastern Partnership countries;

29.  Highlights the importance of rail connections; points out the necessity of ensuring a unified legal regime for the carriage of goods by rail across the Eurasian continent; calls for the extension of the application of the EU’s technical specifications, in particular safety standards for dangerous goods transport by rail and compliance with the corresponding OTIF(1) guidelines according to Annex 2 to the SMGS(2), and for the creation of new economic prospects by opening up markets and promoting investment opportunities;

30.  Stresses the importance of the ongoing negotiations of comprehensive air transport agreements with partner countries in Asia, in particular the agreement between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which would create fair and transparent market conditions based on a clear regulatory framework and, in particular, on adherence to high European Union standards; highlights the importance of EU support for Asian countries in mitigating the impact of civil aviation on climate change;

31.  Calls on the Commission to pursue further progress in its maritime transport initiatives to digitalise and simplify administrative formalities and strengthen maritime security at ports in Asia via the International Maritime Organization and maritime transport agreements; highlights the importance of further engaging with third countries in Asia through pertinent maritime transport agreements, which would help to regulate, facilitate and make more sustainable maritime traffic;

32.  Stresses that the Strategy must ensure that hauliers from Asia must adhere to EU standards in the road transport sector; calls for cooperation between the Commission and Member States with regard to the enforcement of EU and national legislation in the sector;

Digital transformation

33.  Places particular emphasis on the fact that digitalisation is a key dimension for the 21st century and underlines its impact on the everyday lives of every single person worldwide; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to step up their ambitions for the digital transformation; expects the EU to become a competitive global actor on a par with the US and China in digitalisation; considers, in this context, that the promotion of digital connectivity and digital access through very high capacity networks based on fibre and 5G is a matter of great priority for the EU; believes that the development of open strategic autonomy in this sector must include diversification of the supply chain of equipment manufacturers through the promotion of open and interoperable network architectures and digitalisation partnerships with third countries and regions who share our values and utilise technology in complete compliance with fundamental rights; urges the Commission to condition connectivity projects with third countries on the ethical use of technology both domestically and abroad; emphasises, in this connection, that the security aspect is paramount;

34.  Underlines the fact that the EU, as a norm-setter, should strive for co-leadership in setting, defending and advancing international norms, standards and practices grounded in a peaceful, secure, rule of law-based and open ICT environment and sustainable and responsible digitalisation, while addressing cybersecurity threats and protecting human rights and freedoms online, including the protection of personal data;

35.  Recommends that cooperation on data protection with ASEAN countries and with India, Japan, the US, Australia, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand and others be significantly ramped up in order to advance adequacy decisions for data flows; considers that provisions on e-commerce and digital trade in trade agreements should serve the objectives of the Strategy’s digital pillar; notes, with regard to data flows, that the EU has already tabled proposals in several negotiations in line with data protection and the General Data Protection Regulation(3); notes that the adequacy decision on Japan sets an example for furthering digital integration; advocates linking the digital connectivity agenda to the forthcoming EU Global Digital Cooperation Strategy;

36.  Stresses that 5G infrastructure is an element of Europe’s strategic resilience; calls on the Commission to devise a plan for developing European 5G and phasing-out 5G technology built by third countries which do not share European values and standards; urges the Commission to strongly condition connectivity projects with third countries on the ethical use of technology, both domestically and abroad; welcomes the provisions for cybersecurity in the Digital Europe Programme as regards the tender process; advocates the inclusion of the 5G toolbox approach in the promotion of digital connectivity, given its possibilities for extraterritorial application; encourages the Commission to work towards replicating the EU’s international mobile roaming agreements with connectivity partners; welcomes the Next Generation Internet initiative and investment in digital infrastructure projects, such as the Building Europe Link to Latin America deep sea cable; recommends that the Commission identify real needs for targeted digital Official Development Assistance; proposes that the Commission promote 6G development cooperation with like-minded countries as a flagship project;

People-to-people

37.  Believes that the people-to-people dimension is a fundamental pillar of the Strategy and should be prioritised further; calls, in this regard, for reciprocal mobility opportunities between Europe and Asia; highlights the need for adequate public diplomacy financing;

38.  Attaches great emphasis to the promotion of people-to-people contacts among students, vocational trainees, young professionals, academics, civil society, NGOs researchers and cultural fields, which is key to mutual understanding and respect; advocates such cooperation on the basis of inclusiveness, reciprocity and gender equality; calls, in particular, for the youth dimension to be strengthened through youth forums to mutually promote foreign language proficiency, student and academic exchanges, and the mutual recognition of diplomas; advocates, in this regard, the opening of the eTwinning platform for connectivity partner countries; recalls the opportunities for regional exchanges, such as between innovators and for city-to-city cooperation; highlights that connectivity opens up opportunities for Europe to be at the centre of the intersection between research, innovation and investment; takes the view that special attention to minority issues should be paid in the context of this pillar;

39.  Commends the initiatives adopted for the Western Balkans aiming to promote youth cooperation and exchanges, as well as vocational education and training, and encourages offering similar programmes to other partners of the Strategy, starting with the Eastern Partnership countries; notes that connectivity between the EU and the Western Balkans is integral to the Strategy as the countries in the region are prospective members of the EU;

40.  Commends the organisation of the EU-ASEAN Young Leaders Forum and Strategic Thinkers Forum in February 2018 and the Asia-Europe Foundation Young Leaders Summits alongside ASEM Summits; proposes that these conventions should be held regularly and that similar annual forums should also be established as part of the EU-African Union relationship;

41.  Calls on the Commission to align the Strategy with the forthcoming EU Strategy on Cooperation in Research and Investment; calls on the Commission to pursue its strategic approach to cooperation in research and innovation (R&I) by upgrading relations with like-minded partners, including by considering associated partner status, and by basing cooperation on such universal principles as academic freedom, open access, the protection of intellectual property, a level playing field, the integrity of research and the protection of personal data; encourages the adoption of country-specific research cooperation policies; highlights the importance of setting up criteria to identify sensitive sectors in the field of R&I, including in the area of dual-use technology;

Trade, investment, competitiveness and standards

42.  Notes that the EU should strengthen its links with the host countries and present them with a credible and sustainable alternative offer for connectivity financing;

43.  Believes that the people-to-people dimension is also essential for basing competitiveness on the EU’s values and for effective European economic diplomacy;

44.  Believes that trade policy should be instrumental in achieving the objectives of the Strategy by promoting fair and sustainable trade and investment; highlights the importance of strengthening economic resilience through the diversification of supply chains, as well as strengthening regional integration; stresses that the Strategy should go hand in hand with efforts to increase access to respective markets, including public procurement, and to promote an open and transparent investment environment, unlocking opportunities and contributing to global competitiveness; highlights the importance of cooperation on due diligence, intellectual property rights and geographical indications;

45.  Stresses, in this connection, the central role of international environmental, sustainability and social standards in trade and investment agreements; recalls the review of the Commission’s 15-point action plan and discussions in the Council on trade and sustainable development; calls on the Commission to implement trade defence instruments in full to ensure that European businesses are not subjected to unfair trading practices, and to implement trade and sustainable development chapters effectively in line with the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and ILO conventions, with a view to developing the Strategy and pursuing sustainable integration; is of the view that the Commission and the EEAS should employ a more strategic approach to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, including by stepping up action at the highest political level to strengthen its effectiveness vis-à-vis standards on human rights, international labour the environment and good governance;

46.  Underlines the importance of the EU’s strategic relationship and systemic rivalry with China and calls on the Member States and the EU institutions to address China with one voice and employ a coordinated approach; reiterates its call on China to move forward with an ambitious reform of the World Trade Organization, including comprehensive rules on industrial subsidies, and recognises the concerns over market-distorting practices by Chinese state-owned enterprises, forced technology transfers and data localisation, overcapacities and related dumped exports, and other unfair trading practices; believes that extending the level playing field to third markets is of paramount importance for the long-term opportunities of European businesses;

47.  Emphasises the role of international trade agreements negotiated by the EU and the importance of their proper implementation; is of the view that connectivity should be included in the Commission communication on the trade policy review; emphasises international norms and transparent standards to promote quality infrastructure and network interoperability; calls on the Commission to make existing agreements more ambitious by systematically including standardisation policy in bilateral partnerships and trade agreements in order to promote multilateral standard setting and the broad uptake of internationally agreed standards and transparent regulatory cooperation in full compliance with the right to regulate;

48.  Is of the view that the EU model of standardisation policy has the advantage of being innovative, open and inclusive, and must be enabled to continue to cope with the global competition between different standardisation paradigms; expects the Commission to play a proactive role in promoting standardisation policy; recommends, therefore, that coordinating responsibility for EU standardisation policy should be given to a high-ranking Commission official, ideally the Commissioner for the internal market; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to coordinate more closely with like-minded democratic partners in international standard-setting forums in order to promote international standards that support democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights;

Health

49.  Believes that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the urgency of prioritising the health sector as a new crucial area for cooperation, in particular on the resilience of health systems, access to medicines, medical equipment and vaccines, reinforcing the strategic autonomy of the EU in the area of health, avoiding one-sided dependencies, and ensuring safe and diverse pharmaceutical and health-related industrial supply chains, the exchange of best practices in crisis management and pandemic prevention policies, and reciprocity in managing travel and open borders; proposes linking the efforts of the EU’s health union with the Strategy and partnering with other regional mechanisms such as an ASEAN Infectious Disease Control Centre; emphasises that the EU should use health connectivity to learn from successful examples of pandemic management by like-minded partners such as New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan;

50.  Highlights the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the importance of coordinated measures to ensure that global transportation routes and supply chains remain open and secure;

Security

51.  Is convinced that the Strategy’s security dimension must be urgently developed taking into account the risks that connectivity could be weaponised; emphasises the need for a geopolitical approach to global cooperation in order for the EU to successfully face up to the new security challenges, including cybersecurity, digital connectivity, critical infrastructure and the potential dual use of technology; underlines the seriousness of the terrorist threats; highlights growing security concerns in the European Neighbourhood; urges the EEAS and the Member States to play a more proactive role in these issues;

52.  Emphasises the need to develop a stronger security dimension in our partnership with Africa; recalls the 2018 Council conclusions on enhanced EU security cooperation in and with Asia; takes note of the increasing relevance to the EU of security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region, as expressed in the Member States’ Indo-Pacific strategies; supports the initiative of developing a common EU Indo-Pacific strategy and cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including military-to-military exchanges; believes that openness, prosperity, inclusiveness, sustainability, transparency, reciprocity and viability should be guiding principles in the cooperation with the Indo-Pacific region;

Connectivity partnerships

53.  Strongly welcomes the establishment of the EU-Japan Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure, with its focus on sustainable connectivity with the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Indo-Pacific and Africa; hopes that the EU and Japan will actively promote the connectivity partnership among relevant target groups and manage to kick-start the operationalisation of the partnership in the first half of 2021;

54.  Welcomes the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force on 1 February 2019, and the increased coordination between the EIB, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, in particular on financing green connectivity; considers the Western Balkans and Southeast Asia as providing very good opportunities for Japan-EU connectivity cooperation with third partners; sees great potential for private sector involvement including SMEs; advocates, moreover, looking at security aspects of connectivity cooperation between Japan and the EU, including maritime security;

55.  Strongly welcomes ongoing negotiations for building a connectivity partnership with India; hopes that the rotating European Council presidencies and the forthcoming Indian and Italian G20 presidencies will use their leverage to make progress; notes the South Asia Regional Infrastructure Connectivity Initiative; takes note of India’s participation in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation and the International North–South Transport Corridor; considers, in view of the current circumstances, that India should play a greater role and that deeper cooperation between the EU and the South Asian states must be sought; advocates helping to coordinate the various connectivity strategies in Asia, of which the World Bank has counted 16 in total;

56.  Recalls that both the Russian Federation and Turkey also have interests in becoming stakeholders in EU-Asia connectivity; is willing to partner with them where possible; recognises that countries in Central Asia have benefited significantly from greater integration in the global economy over the past two decades; is of the opinion that the EU should play a much bigger role and become one of the key players in the region, using trade and investment as a driver for shared prosperity; expresses concern that projects funded by China in Central Asia lack transparency; insists on prioritising high labour and environmental standards and ensuring debt sustainability;

57.  Welcomes the exploratory exchanges between the EU and Korea on a connectivity partnership and hopes good headway will be made on this in 2021; advocates the establishment of an EU-ASEAN connectivity partnership in order to link with ASEAN’s existing master plan on connectivity and project pipeline, among other objectives; recognises that as the ASEAN region is the EU’s third largest trading partner after the US and China, there will be significant benefits to EU exporters of ensuring better market access and enhancing cooperation through comprehensive partnership agreements; advocates a regional EU-ASEAN free trade agreement; encourages the use of investments to reduce deforestation and diversify sustainable agriculture;

58.  Commends the achievements of the EU-ASEAN joint ministerial statement on connectivity of 1 December 2020, and calls on the EU to immediately start developing and implementing tools and frameworks for cooperation with ASEAN on connectivity;

59.  Takes note of Australia’s regional connectivity policy initiatives and the EU’s exchanges with Australia on connectivity in geographical areas of interest; urges closer cooperation with Australia in order to show solidarity between democracies; sees potential for cooperation with partners in the Mekong river basin;

60.  Highlights the need for connectivity cooperation with Taiwan with a view to learning from its best practices in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, enhancing people-to-people contacts, narrowing the digital gap in the Southeast Asia region, and exploring the option of an EU-Taiwan investment agreement;

61.  Calls on the Commission to assess the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement and China’s role therein;

62.  Expresses its firm belief that the EU should strengthen cooperation with the US; welcomes the US-initiated Blue Dot Network (BDN) concept; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to engage with the US on the BDN in order to strengthen transatlantic cooperation on rules-based and sustainable connectivity, while also highlighting concerns with regard to the latter; hopes for future cooperation with particular regard to upholding high quality standards for connectivity projects and fostering private sector involvement;

63.  Endorses the commitments to strengthen the partnership between the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean as highlighted in the 2019 joint communication, including on the digital economy and connectivity; stresses the importance of reinforcing the partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean, which fully share European fundamental values and interests;

64.  Points out that the EU has worked with China in the context of the EU-China Connectivity Platform, with moderate results; regards the Belt and Road Initiative as being at the centre of China’s assertive foreign policy; is willing to consider a partnership with the Belt and Road Initiative in specific cases where this does not compromise core EU principles, where the initiative meets international standards, and where the projects involved are scrutinised by the Commission to ensure they comply with EU norms and standards such as social, environmental and fiscal standards and sustainability, transparency, inclusiveness, the rule of law, respect for human rights, and reciprocity in order not to increase international leverage for the strong-arming of third countries and in order to ensure the integrity of the common market and the political cohesion of the EU; considers, in this context, that focus should be placed on improving Eurasian transport infrastructure, in particular multimodal and sustainable transport;

65.  Highlights the importance of the ongoing work of the EU-China Connectivity Platform in its efforts to explore opportunities for cooperation in the area of transport between the EU’s extended TEN-T network and the Belt and Road Initiative; underlines the necessity of a global and comprehensive approach to ensure free and fair competition for businesses in the area of transport infrastructure development with China, including full transparency and a level playing field; underlines, in this connection, the need to make contractual clauses in this area as transparent as possible and to uphold the essential interests of the EU;

66.  Notes that connectivity policies should reduce negative externalities, such as environmental impacts and pollution; highlights the importance of sustainability throughout the Strategy; encourages the EU to engage with Asian partner countries to make transport connectivity with Asia safer and more secure, not least in the field of data flows, mobility and cybersecurity;

67.  Underlines the importance of Europe’s outermost regions, especially those closer to Asia, and highlights their economic potential; encourages the Commission to facilitate investments in those territories in order to strengthen their connectivity and boost their economies;

68.  Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to develop robust monitoring capabilities in the connectivity strategies of other countries and regions, including as regards the financial resources actually deployed, the effects on financial stability, sustainable development, and adherence to human rights, the rule of law, good governance, and the principles of multilateralism; emphasises the potential of Team Europe in finding synergies in the EU and Member States’ connectivity efforts; advocates working together with partner countries to monitor long-term effects on structural policies, industrial and economic improvements and the alleviation of poverty;

Global connectivity

69.  Strongly emphasises the fact that the Strategy must pay particular attention to connectivity with the European Neighbourhood and with the neighbouring continent of Africa, given its increasingly geopolitical relevance for several global actors; expects these endeavours to reflect the EU’s experience with policies promoting connectivity implemented in Africa through development cooperation; calls for this goal to be discussed with the African Union at a high level and for it to yield an EU-Africa connectivity partnership by the end of 2021;

70.  Commends the Commission and the VP/HR for their willingness to put forward an Arctic strategy in 2021 and calls for the EU to be actively engaged in the Arctic; expresses its concern over the impact of climate change on this fragile region; takes particular note of the potential opening of a new shipping route to Asia due to the melting of sea ice, which could also be used for digital links such as fibre-optic cables, and takes note of China’s Arctic Silk Road initiative; expects sustainable connectivity to be at the heart of these efforts;

71.  Notes the success of the first Europa Connectivity Forum in 2019; regrets the cancellation of the forum in 2020 owing to COVID-19; looks forward to the next forum in 2021, pandemic permitting; is of the opinion that upcoming forums should be used to involve all Eurasian connectivity partners, including Russia and China, in multilateral discussions about their respective visions for the future economic, political and security order in Eurasia;

72.  Expects the Commission to present a new communication approach with a clear narrative in order to create adequate visibility and sufficient accountability for EU connectivity policies and their results; strongly calls for a rebranding of the EU’s Connectivity Strategy in clear and attractive language and terms that express the specific values-based European approach to connectivity, and a clear roadmap for implementing and achieving the Strategy;

o
o   o

73.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the President of the European Council, the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Member States, and the EU’s Connectivity Partners.

(1) Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail. (2) Agreement on International Goods Transport by Rail of the Organisation for Cooperation between Railways. (3) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on More fish in the seas? Measures to promote stock recovery above the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), including fish recovery areas and marine protected areas (2019/2162(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0017 A9-0264/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union, and to Articles 11, 39 and 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)(1),

–  having regard to Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive)(2),

–  having regard to Article 13 TFEU, which requires that in formulating the Union’s policies on fisheries, among and other domains, the Union and the Member States must take into account the fact that animals are sentient beings and therefore pay utmost attention to the relevant animal welfare requirements,

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures(3),

–  having regard to Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(4), and Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds(5),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing(6), and in particular to Article 3 thereof, the key principle of which that animals ‘shall be spared any avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations’ applies to fish,

–  having regard to Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning(7) (Maritime Spatial Planning Directive),

–  having regard to Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources(8), in particular with regard to fertilizer run-off,

–  having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents(9) and Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies(10),

–  having regard to the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, set out in the Commission communication of 20 May 2020 entitled ‘EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 – Bringing nature back into our lives’ (COM(2020)0380),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 January 2018 on international ocean governance: an agenda for the future of our oceans in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals(11),

–  having regard to the 2020 edition of the report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA 2020),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 20 May 2020 entitled ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’ (COM(2020)0381),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 16 June 2020 entitled ‘Towards more sustainable fishing in the EU: state of play and orientations for 2021’ (COM(2020)0248),

–  having regard to the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the outcome document of the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of June 2012 entitled ‘The Future we Want’,

–  having regard to the 2020 report of the Commission’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) on monitoring the performance of the common fisheries policy (STECF-Adhoc-20-01),

–  having regard to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and in particular to Target 11 of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which are an element of the CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,

–  having regard to the 2019 global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES),

–  having regard to the 2019 special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate,

–  having regard to the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) resolution on increasing marine protected area coverage for effective marine biodiversity conservation,

–  having regard to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, on the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources,

–  having regard to the Commission report of 25 June 2020 on the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (COM(2020)0259),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 January 2020 on the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity(12),

–  having regard to the 2017 World Bank report entitled ‘The sunken billions revisited: Progress and Challenges in Global Marine Fisheries’,

–  having regard to the Special Report No 1/2017 of the European Court of Auditors of 21 February 2017 entitled ‘More efforts needed to implement the Natura 2000 network to its full potential’,

–  having regard to European Environment Agency (EEA) Report No 17/2019 of 25 June 2020 entitled ‘Marine messages II’,

–  having regard to the decision of the European Ombudsman in case 640/2019/FP on the transparency of the Council of the EU’s decision-making process leading to the adoption of annual regulations setting fishing quotas (total allowable catches),

–  having regard to EEA report No 3/2015 of 1 October 2015 entitled ‘Marine protected areas in Europe’s seas: An overview and perspective for the future’,

–  having regard to the Commission report of 1 October 2015 on the progress in establishing marine protected areas (as required by Article 21 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC) (COM(2015)0481),

–  having regard to the Commission report of 31 July 2018 assessing Member States’ programmes of measures under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (COM(2018)0562),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 16 June 2020 entitled ‘Towards more sustainable fishing in the EU: state of play and orientations for 2021’ (COM(2020)0248),

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Fisheries (A9-0264/2020),

A.  whereas the common fisheries policy (CFP) is aimed at ensuring that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies; whereas, in order to reach the objective of progressively restoring and maintaining populations of fish stocks above biomass levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield, the maximum sustainable yield exploitation rate had to be achieved by 2015 where possible and, on a progressive, incremental basis at the latest by 2020 for all stocks;

B.  whereas SDG 14 calls for the oceans, seas and marine resources to be conserved and used sustainably;

C.  whereas the aim of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is to protect and preserve the marine environment, prevent its deterioration and restore marine ecosystems, and to achieve good environmental status (GES) for EU marine waters by 2020;

D.  whereas under the MSFD, good environmental status is based on 11 descriptors; whereas descriptor 3 applies to populations of all commercially exploited fish and shellfish which are within safe biological limits, exhibiting a population age and size distribution that is indicative of a healthy stock;

E.  whereas there are three primary assessment criteria under GES descriptor 3 – (I.) sustainability of exploitation, (II.) reproductive capacity and (III.) maintenance of the proportion of older and larger fish – but only 10,5 % of stocks can be assessed in the light of criteria (I.) and (II.) and there is no satisfactory common assessment methodology at European level for criterion (III.);

F.  whereas the collection of data on some fish stocks needs urgent improvement, particularly stocks in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and Macaronesia, with a view to carrying out a scientific assessment that is essential to the sustainable management of stocks;

G.  whereas fisheries management measures adopted under the CFP are bearing fruit, as the number of fish stocks exploited at sustainable levels is increasing, making higher yields possible for stocks which were overexploited;

H.  whereas still around 38 % of stocks in the North-East Atlantic and around 92 % of stocks that are scientifically assessed in the Mediterranean and Black Seas are overexploited, meaning exploited above maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels, according to the STECF, despite the legal requirement to stop overfishing by 2020; notes that 62,5 % of stocks in the Mediterranean and Black Seas were overexploited in 2017, according to the FAO 2020 SOFIA report;

I.  whereas the Commission’s proposed the total allowable catch (TAC) in the North-East Atlantic were in line with MSY for all 78 stocks for which scientific advice was available;

J.  whereas in 2019, the Council set TAC for 62 out of 78 species in line with MSY; whereas it is therefore expected that in 2020, more than 99 % of landings in the Baltic, North Sea and the Atlantic managed exclusively by the EU will come from sustainably managed fisheries;

K.  whereas in the northeast Atlantic, biomass has continued to increase since 2007, and in 2018 was 48 % higher than in 2003 for fully assessed stocks; whereas in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, the situation has remained essentially unchanged since the start of the data series in 2003, although since 2012 there may have been a slight increase in biomass;

L.  whereas fishing at maximum economic yield (MEY) refers to the level of capture at which economic benefits for fleets are maximised, which improves the resilience of the sector, and at which stocks are maintained above MSY;

M.  whereas for multispecific fisheries, species management based on the MSY model is impossible to apply, even in scientifically well-known and documented fisheries;

N.  whereas scientific studies on the subject have raised concerns about the long-term negative impact that certain uses of fishing techniques, such as bottom-contacting gear and fish aggregating devices, have on stocks, ocean biodiversity and the marine environment;

O.  whereas the CFP is not yet fully implemented and some of its measures such as the establishment of fish stock recovery areas have not been used;

P.  whereas globally, 66 % of the marine environment has been altered by human pressure, according to IPBES, and 34,2 % of fish stocks are fished at biologically unsustainable, levels according to the FAO;

Q.  whereas the IUCN advocates for the transformation of at least 30 % of all marine habitats by 2020 into a network of highly protected marine protected areas (MPAs), among other efficient area-based conservation measures, the aim being to have no extractive activities carried out in at least 30 % of the ocean, without considering the socio-economic consequences;

R.  whereas the FAO 2020 SOFIA report reiterates that management is the best tool for conservation and the only path to sustainability and that stocks under effective management are increasingly sustainable, with 78,7 % of current global marine fish landings coming from biologically sustainable stocks;

S.  whereas the 2030 EU biodiversity strategy calls for a legally binding objective to protect at least 30 % of the EU’s sea area, and for 10 % of the EU’s sea area to be strictly protected;

T.  whereas remote electronic monitoring, for example the through transmission of vessel position in close to real time, and the strengthening of on-the-spot controls play a positive role on the enforcement of MPAs;

U.  whereas the loss of marine biodiversity has socio-economic impacts on the fishing sector, coastal and overseas communities and society as a whole, and should therefore be prevented; whereas rebuilding fish populations would bring larger economic benefits than the current state of marine fish populations, according to the World Bank;

V.  whereas healthy habitats, including sandbanks, seagrass meadows and coral reefs, are essential to the restoration of marine ecosystem functioning and to the replenishment of fish stocks and to providing carbon sinks to mitigate climate change;

W.  whereas well managed MPAs are essential to enhance biodiversity and preserve the natural habitats of other species such as birds;

X.  whereas there is a strong scientific consensus that MPAs can be beneficial to fisheries because of their spillover effect and their positive effects on recruitment, for example through the protection of reproduction sites, juveniles and big mother fish with high reproductive capacities;

Y.  whereas pollution originating from the land, especially in partially enclosed sea basins, and from other marine activities also has an impact on fish stock recovery;

Z.  whereas the overall biomass of quota species within EU managed stocks was 48 % higher in 2018 than in 2003;

AA.  whereas wild-caught fish is by far the healthiest and most environmentally friendly source of protein on earth thanks to the low carbon footprint of the fishing industry; whereas seafood is therefore the best choice for fighting climate change;

AB.  whereas the European Ombudsman’s recommendation to proactively make public documents related to the adoption of the TAC regulations has so far not been followed by the Council of the EU;

AC.  whereas fishing at MSY continues to bring positive results in the North-East Atlantic;

Improving fisheries management to end overfishing

1.  Reiterates its call for full implementation of the CFP with the aim of restoring and maintaining populations of fish stocks above biomass levels capable of producing MSY;

2.  Emphasises that nature, fish and other living organisms have an intrinsic value, even if they remain unexploited by human activities;

3.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen scientific coverage with the objective that 100 % of the fish stocks exploited in European waters be assessed at the latest by 2025 and that the MSY can be calculated for all these stocks, where scientifically possible;

4.  Points out that the Member States are responsible for collecting data and that these data are essential to assessing the health of fish stocks; points out that under Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1004(13), the Commission must submit to Parliament and the Council a report on the regulation’s implementation and functioning;

5.  Calls on the Commission make its TAC proposals and on the Council to set TAC at MSY level, as provided for in the CFP Regulation;

6.  Prompts the Commission, the Member States and the scientific community to develop a science-based model for the optimisation of the management and exploitation of multispecific fisheries; notes that this model should enable the application of similar management objectives to the use of MSY across the CFP, making it possible to follow the evolution of the implemented management rules;

7.  Urges the Commission to strengthen the implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management, including by increasingly applying multi-species approaches, in order to minimise the negative impacts of fishing activities and other factors such as climate change on marine ecosystems, fish populations and society and to ensure ocean resilience to climate change; reiterates that fully documented fisheries and quality data is key to improving fisheries management; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take the necessary steps in order to improve data collection on recreational fisheries, considering their environmental impact and socio-economic value;

8.  Calls on the Commission to continue to support plans to improve selectivity and survival of non-target species, and with a view to implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, to establish which practices are harmful to stocks, ocean biodiversity and marine environments and to introduce measures to limit and change them;

9.  Considers that the EU, following the evaluation of the CFP by 2022, should, where necessary, adapt current fisheries management practices and accelerate the transition towards low-impact fisheries, in order not only to preserve fish stocks at current levels but also, more importantly, to rebuild fish stocks and restore marine ecosystems, in consultation with stakeholders, in particular the fisheries sector, and support such measures through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund;

10.  Considers that attention and support should be particularly focused on small-scale fisheries, which are potentially less predatory and more sustainable, not only in terms of biological resource management but also from a socio-economic point of view;

11.  Calls on the Commission to support the harmonisation of the indicators under criterion (III.) for GES under the MSFD, with the aim of setting benchmarks and an assessment methodology that are common across all Member States;

12.  Calls on the Commission to study the relevance of using indicators other than MSY in fisheries management that would take into account species interactions and socio-economic factors as well as the effects of climate change and pollution; notes that other indicators such as MEY are being studied and implemented by some countries;

13.  Points out that limiting the pressure of human activities requires more research and innovation in the fisheries sector with a view to developing good practices linked to the circular economy, sustainability and the selectivity of fishing gear;

14.  Underlines the importance of small-scale coastal fishing and believes that this sector can significantly facilitate transition to sustainable fish stock management; calls on each of the Member States accordingly to increase the percentage of national quotas allocated to this sector;

15.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that Member States adopt data collection programmes that cover the impact of fishing activities on the wider environment, including on the bycatch of sensitive species, and on the seabed;

16.  Demands that the Council proactively make public all documents related to the adoption of TAC regulations, in line with the European Ombudsman’s recommendation, and comply with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006;

Expanding the network of protected areas and improving its management

17.  Emphasises that, while the European Union has made progress and met the target of designating 10 % of Europe’s waters as protected areas, the network of MPAs is far from being fully effective, and that only a very small share of the existing MPAs have management plans and protection measures;

18.  Highlights that, when successful, MPAs offer large socio-economic benefits, especially for coastal communities and the fisheries and tourism sector, and that MPAs can perform key ecological functions for the reproduction of fish stocks (providing spawning grounds and nurseries) and improve their resilience;

19.  Welcomes the Commission’s proposal, in its 2030 biodiversity strategy, to have at least 30 % of sea area in the EU protected, including through fish stock recovery areas, as provided for under the CFP, and areas where the most destructive fishing techniques and economic activities are restricted;

20.  Calls for a third of this area (i.e. 10 % of European waters) to benefit from a high level of protection, including areas where all catches and all economic activities are prohibited (i.e. no-take zones);

21.  Calls on the Commission to accompany any legislative proposal with impact assessments based on the best available scientific advice and in close coordination with local communities and authorities;

22.  Urges the Commission to adopt guidelines for the MPA targets to be implemented in each EU maritime region, in order to ensure balanced geographic distribution and ecological representativeness;

23.  Urges the Member States to continue to designate MPAs under the Birds(14) and Habitats(15) Directives and the MSFD, in order to achieve those objectives;

24.  Calls for MPAs to be established as part of a coherent network of connected areas, including offshore and deep-sea areas; recalls the requirement to cease fishing with bottom-contacting gear below 400 m in areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are known to exist or are likely to occur;

25.  Urges the Commission to set strong science-based MPA management guidelines for Member States and to establish a classification of MPAs taking into account their stage of establishment, management plans and ecosystemic benefits, drawing on existing guidelines such as the global standards of the IUCN;

26.  Insists that the Commission must accompany fisheries agreements with third countries with management and governance measures such as protected marine areas, thus making it possible to improve fish stock management and tackle the many cumulative effects of these agreements, such as pollution, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the development of some practices such as industrial fisheries that put the sustainability of some stocks at risk;

27.  Urges Member States to set strong and effective management plans for the existing and future MPAs and to put in place stronger control, monitoring and surveillance measures to ensure that MPAs are respected;

28.  Calls for both the commercial and recreational fisheries sectors, as well as the relevant organisations with competence in the management of human and economic activities at sea (e.g. regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs), or the International Maritime Organization) to be involved in the control, monitoring and surveillance of MPAs;

29.  Stresses that greater scrutiny over fisheries management measures within Natura 2000 sites, submitted by EU Member States, is necessary in order to ensure that conservation objectives are achieved in line with Article 11 of the CFP,

30.  Emphasises that the designation of areas and development of management measures should be based on the best available scientific advice;

31.  Recognises that the success of MPAs and other protected areas depends on their having a firm scientific basis and on their acceptance by commercial and recreational fishers, coastal communities and other stakeholders, as well as on clear communication about what is being protected, how and why; calls therefore for the inclusion of the fisheries sector, including its artisanal component and scientific fisheries management bodies, as well as other relevant stakeholders, in the design, governance and monitoring of MPAs; calls for the participation of civil society to be encouraged through the establishment of marine education areas;

32.  Stresses the importance of having a comprehensive and coherent approach when establishing MPAs, by not only limiting commercial fishing activities but also tackling other activities such as fossil fuel exploration and exploitation, mining, large-scale aquaculture, dredging, offshore wind farms, transport, and recreational fisheries and other leisure activities;

33.  Invites the Member States to expand the network of fish stock recovery areas under the CFP, especially where there is clear evidence of heavy concentrations of fish below minimum conservation reference size or of spawning grounds; emphasises the need to include the evaluation of the designation and success of such areas in the upcoming report on the functioning of the CFP;

34.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in international negotiations on a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and in the framework of RFMOs, to champion an ambitious global mechanism to establish MPAs in the highs seas or in areas beyond national jurisdiction, to take a proactive role, after an agreement on marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction has been found, in the creation of new effectively managed area-based management tools including MPAs in the high seas; recalls that the establishment of MPAs in areas beyond national jurisdiction must be supported by socio-economic and ecological impact assessments based on the best available scientific advice;

35.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote the idea that the ocean in its entirety provides humanity with ecosystem services, and that the ocean must therefore be recognised as a global commons in international negotiations under the auspices of the UN;

Tackling other environmental factors threatening fish stock recovery

36.  Stresses that rapid and strong action to fight climate change is essential for the preservation of healthy marine organism populations and habitats, and therefore for the continuity of sustainable fishing activity and for food security in the long term; recalls that pursuant to Article 2 of the Paris Agreement on climate change, parties must aim at ‘increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production’;

37.  Underlines the positive contribution of MPAs to climate adaptation through strengthening ecosystem resilience; urges Member States to strengthen the role of MPA networks in their national climate adaptation strategies (NAS);

38.  Stresses that the rebuilding of fish stocks and their maintenance at a sustainable level also require tackling some anthropogenic effects linked to climate change, such as oxygen depletion and acidification, as well as various mainly terrestrial but also marine sources of pollution that have a negative impact on the rebuilding of fish stocks or contribute to their fragility, such as nitrates, waste water, fertilisers, pesticides, toxic chemicals, pollution from industrial activity and mass tourism, residues from aquaculture, plastic and microplastic pollution, sun creams, hormones, noise pollution, oil leaks and lost or discarded fishing gear;

39.  Calls on the Commission to publish a study on the impact of those diverse sources of pollution on the rebuilding of fish stocks and on marine ecosystems;

40.  Underlines the need to involve fishermen in the fight against pollution of the seas and oceans; calls on the Commission accordingly to urge Member States to adopt legislation authorising fishermen to bring to land any waste caught at sea; considers that these provisions should introduce a system of incentives for fishermen and for the use of appropriate collection systems;

41.  Stresses the importance of increasing the survival rate of non-target species by reducing injuries and stress caused during capture and release;

42.  Calls on the Commission to consider these requests and to respond to them in its new action plan to preserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, which it plans to present by 2021, and in its revision of the CFP, as well as in all forthcoming legislative proposals;

o
o   o

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

(1) OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 22. (2) OJ L 164, 25.6.2008, p. 19. (3) OJ L 198, 25.7.2019, p. 105. (4) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7. (5) OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7. (6) OJ L 303, 18.11.2009, p. 1. (7) OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 135. (8) OJ L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1. (9) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43. (10) OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13. (11) OJ C 458, 19.12.2018, p. 9. (12) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0015. (13) Regulation (EU) 2017/1004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 on the establishment of a Union framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the common fisheries policy and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 199/2008 (OJ L 157, 20.6.2017, p. 1). (14) Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7). (15) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7).

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the arrest of Aleksei Navalny (2021/2513(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0018 RC-B9-0090/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Russia, in particular that of 17 September 2020 on the situation in Russia: the poisoning of Alexei Navalny(1),

–  having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

—  having regard to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998,

–  having regard to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention),

–  having regard to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in particular Chapter 2, and specifically Article 29, which protects freedom of speech, and to the international human rights obligations to which Russia has committed itself as a member of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN,

–  having regard to the statements of the President of the European Council and of the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 17 January 2021 and of the President of the European Commission of 18 January 2021, following the detention of Alexei Navalny,

–  having regard to the statements of leaders of EU Members States on the detention of Alexei Navalny upon his arrival in Moscow,

—  having regard to the European Council conclusions of 1 October 2020,

—  having regard to the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council of 12 October 2020 and the political agreement reached to impose restrictive measures against those linked with the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny,

—  having regard to the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the cases of Navalnyye v Russia of 17 October 2017, Navalnyy v Russia of 15 November 2018, and Navalnyy v. Russia (No. 2) of 9 April 2019,

—  having regard to the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, also known as the European Magnitsky Act, adopted by the Council on 7 December 2020,

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

A.  whereas Alexei Navalny, a leading Russian politician, lawyer and anti-corruption activist, has uncovered numerous corruption affairs involving business enterprises and Russian politicians, led several public protests all over Russia and has become one of the most effective leaders of the Russian opposition;

B.  whereas Alexei Navalny is one of the biggest challengers of the Russian authorities and president Putin, and through his determination and bravery, represents a beacon of hope for all those in Russia who believe that freedom, democracy, political plurality and accountability are possible in their country;

C.  whereas on 17 January 2021, Alexei Navalny was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, upon his return to Russia after receiving medical treatment in Germany following his poisoning in Russia, and was denied access to his lawyers;

D.  whereas on 18 January 2021, Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 30 days in prison, pending trial, during an unprecedented and hastily organised hearing procedure which took place at a police station, without the presence of Navalny’s lawyer;

E.  whereas around 70 people, including journalists and supporters of Alexei Navalny, had been detained while waiting for his return;

F.  whereas Alexei Navalny had been transported to Germany with the agreement of the Russian authorities to receive medical treatment after being poisoned on 20 August 2020; whereas a joint investigative journalist network project, including the Bellingcat Investigation Team, managed to identify several of the perpetrators involved in the poisoning, all of them agents of the security services of the Russian Federation;

G.  whereas the Charité hospital in Berlin concluded that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group of military grade nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, which are only available to military structures and secret services in Russia; whereas the nature of the poisoning has been confirmed by multiple laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, as well as by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW);

H.  whereas under the Chemical Weapons Convention, any poisoning of an individual through the use of a nerve agent is considered a use of chemical weapons and whereas the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances constitutes a serious breach of international law and international human rights standards;

I.  whereas the EU, together with international partners, called on the Russian authorities to thoroughly investigate the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny using a prohibited chemical nerve agent, to fully cooperate with the OPCW to ensure an impartial international investigation, and to bring those responsible to justice; whereas no such thorough and impartial investigation by the Russian authorities has taken place to date and Russia has explicitly rejected any calls for an investigation;

J.  whereas on 15 October 2020 the EU, in the absence of any Russian investigation or cooperation with the OPCW, imposed sanctions against six Russian individuals and one entity involved in the crime;

K.  whereas the fact that the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny took place during the run-up to Russia’s local and regional elections in September 2020 sheds a particularly worrying light on the state of democracy, fundamental freedoms and human rights in the country;

L.  whereas Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service announced that Alexei Navalny was being detained pending a court hearing for violating the terms of an earlier suspended sentence, regarding the so-called Yves Rocher case, when in fact he was recovering from an assassination attempt orchestrated by the Russian authorities;

M.  whereas in a ruling from 17 October 2017, ECtHR ruled that Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg were unfairly convicted of financial crimes in the so-called Yves Rocher case in 2014 and that Russian courts handed down ‘arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable’ decisions in the case, and ordered the Russia Federation to pay the two brothers over EUR 80 000 in damages and costs;

N.  whereas Alexei Navalny has been attacked, detained, arrested and sentenced previously, in attempts to stop his political and public activities; whereas the Russian authorities used Alexei Navalny’s previous politically motivated convictions to bar him from running in the 2018 Russian presidential elections;

O.  whereas on 18 January 2021, the Russian authorities launched a new criminal case against Alexei Navalny, on fraud charges related to the transfer of money to various charities;

P.  whereas the rights to freedom of thought and speech, association, and peaceful assembly are enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation; whereas the Russian Federation is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ECHR, and is a member of the Council of Europe, and has therefore committed to complying with international standards and the principles governing the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Q.  whereas according to the renowned Russian human rights society Memorial, there are over 300 political and religious prisoners in the Russian Federation; whereas the EU shows solidarity with all dissidents and the Russian people, who, despite the threat to their freedom and their lives and the pressure from the Kremlin and the Russian authorities, continue to fight for freedom, human rights and democracy;

R.  whereas the situation of human rights and the rule of law continues to deteriorate in Russia, with systematic efforts by the authorities to silence free speech, limit the freedom of assembly, obstruct opposition activities, react with repression to any activities aimed at exposing corruption, and stifle the activities of Russian civil society;

S.  whereas the violation of international law in Ukraine and Georgia and the state sponsored assassinations and physical elimination of opposition leaders, journalists and others, as in the cases of Boris Nemtsov, Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Magnitsky and others, have gone unpunished; whereas these numerous assassination attempts by poisoning and other means, as well as the refusal to cooperate on the court case regarding the downing of flight MH17, have brought relations with the Russian Federation to a historic low point;

T.  whereas since December 2020 the European Union has had in its toolbox the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, which targets individuals and entities responsible, involved in or associated with serious human rights violations and abuse worldwide;

1.  Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny and of all other persons detained in relation to his return to Russia, whether they be journalists, team collaborators or citizens showing support;

2.  Strongly condemns the detention of Alexei Navalny and his supporters, and the politically motivated repression carried out against them by the Russian authorities, including through the use of the justice system; condemns, furthermore the attempt on Alexei Navalny’s life and expresses its utmost concern about the shrinking space for political opposition, dissident voices and civil society in the Russian Federation;

3.  Condemns in the strongest possible terms the behaviour of the Russian Federation, which it deems inappropriate for a member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE which has committed to respecting fundamental freedoms, human rights and the rule of law as enshrined in the ECHR and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; encourages the Council of Europe and the OSCE to take appropriate measures to evaluate the breaches of commitments made by the Russian Federation;

4.  Recalls that the detention of political opponents is against Russia’s international commitments, and insists that the judiciary be depoliticised and the rights to a fair trial and access to legal counsel be upheld; calls on the Committee of Ministers and the member states of the Council of Europe to use the powers enshrined in Article 46(4) of the ECHR to submit an infringement case against the Russian Federation to the ECtHR;

5.  Calls on the Russian authorities to put an end to the harassment, intimidation, violence and repression of independent and dissident voices by ending the prevailing impunity which has already led to the loss of lives of many journalists, activists and human rights defenders and opposition politicians, and to ensure that they are able to conduct their activities without fear for their lives or for those of their family members or friends;

6.  Considers that the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny and his immediate arrest upon return to Russia are aimed at deterring further exposure of serious corruption in the regime and are part of a systemic effort to silence and eliminate him, political opposition and other dissident voices in the country, in particular with a view to the upcoming parliamentary elections in autumn 2021; believes that in acting in this way, the regime reveals its disdain towards the people, ruthlessly pursues remaining in power, and deprives the people of any chance of democracy and freedom; expresses its solidarity with the democratic forces in Russia, which are committed to an open and free society;

7.  Highlights its determination to closely monitor the development of Alexei Navalny’s situation and his wellbeing, both physical and mental, for which the Russian authorities are solely responsible;

8.  Condemns the Russian Federation’s repeated use of chemical nerve agents against Russian citizens and recalls that the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances constitutes a reprehensible crime under international law, in particular under the Chemical Weapons Convention; continues to urge the Russian authorities to provide full and complete disclosure of its Novichok programme to the OPCW and, without any further delay, to investigate, bring to justice and hold to account those responsible for the crime committed against Alexei Navalny; reiterates its call for an international investigation into breaches of Russia’s international commitments in the area of chemical weapons;

9.  Calls on the Council to take an active stance on this matter at its next meetings and to significantly strengthen the EU’s restrictive measures vis-à-vis Russia, including by sanctioning the individuals and legal entities involved in the decision to arrest and imprison Alexei Navalny; considers, moreover, that the EU should impose additional targeted restrictive measures under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against all individuals who were involved in or bear responsibility for the attacks against Alexei Navalny;

10.  Urges the Council to introduce sanctions against Russian oligarchs related to the regime and members of President Putin’s inner circle as well as media propagandists who possess assets in the European Union and enjoy freedom of travel to the Member States; believes that these sanctions should also be extended to their immediate family members; maintains that the European Union should no longer be a welcoming place for Russian wealth of unclear origin;

11.  Calls on the EU and its Member States to devise a new strategy for the EU’s relations with Russia, centred around support for civil society, which promotes democratic values, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms and human rights; calls on the EU and its Member States to critically review cooperation with Russia in various foreign policy platforms and on projects such as Nord Stream 2, the completion of which the EU must stop immediately;

12.  Calls on the Russian Government and State Duma to revise the legal framework for elections and the legislation on foreign agents and undesirable organisations in order to facilitate pluralism and free and fair elections in accordance with international standards and create a level playing field for opposition candidates; demands that the Russian Government guarantees all democratic parties equal access and equal chances during the upcoming Duma elections, as non-registration of parties is an abuse of the registration procedure that destroys political competition and pluralist democracy; underscores that there is an ever increasing convergence of attitudes and tactics between the regime in Russia and the dictatorship in Belarus; observes that both regimes are fearing the growing demand for change among their people, which is why stealing elections presents itself as a convenient political solution to them;

13.  Regrets that Alexei Navalny was not allowed to address the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), as scheduled on 19 January 2021, while the Russian parliamentary delegation has recently been allowed to return to PACE;

14.  Reiterates its call on the European External Action Service and the Member States to continue closely monitoring the human rights situation in the Russian Federation and calls on the EU Delegation in Russia and the embassies of the Member States to continue monitoring court cases of civil society organisations, opposition politicians and activists, including the case of Alexei Navalny; calls for the EU to increase its support to Russian dissidents, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations, and independent media and reporters;

15.  Calls on the EU Member States to coordinate their positions on Russia and speak with one voice in bilateral and multilateral forums with the Russian authorities; stresses, moreover, that the EU should take advantage of the change of administration in Washington to strengthen transatlantic unity in protecting democracy and fundamental values against authoritarian regimes; recalls that Parliament stands by the Russian people in their struggle for fundamental freedoms, human rights and democracy;

16.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the President, Government and the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

(1) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0232.

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the latest developments in the National Assembly of Venezuela (2021/2508(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0019 RC-B9-0056/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Venezuela, in particular those of 31 January 2019 on the situation in Venezuela(1), of 16 January 2020 on the situation in Venezuela after the illegal election of the new National Assembly Presidency and Bureau (parliamentary coup)(2), and of 10 July 2020 on the humanitarian situation in Venezuela and the migration and refugee crisis(3),

–  having regard to the declarations by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) of 6 January 2021 and of 7 December 2020 on Venezuela and on the elections of 6 December 2020 for the National Assembly, and to the previous statements by the Spokesperson of 4 and 16 June 2020 on the latest developments in Venezuela,

–  having regard to the International Contact Group statements of 8 December 2020 on the Venezuelan National Assembly elections held on 6 December 2020, of 16 June 2020 that rejected as illegitimate the designation of the new National Electoral Council (CNE) directive by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), and of 24 June 2020 on the worsening political crisis in Venezuela,

–  having regard to the recent Lima Group statements, in particular that of 5 January 2021,

–  having regard to the statement of its Committee on Foreign Affairs of 11 June 2020 on the attacks on Venezuela’s National Assembly,

–  having regard to the statement of the co-chairs of its Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group of 2 December 2020 on the non-recognition of the European Parliament of the legislative elections in Venezuela on 6 December 2020,

–  having regard to the recent statements of the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States on the situation in Venezuela,

–  having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/898 of 29 June 2020 amending Decision (CFSP) 2017/2074 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Venezuela(4), which added 11 leading Venezuelan officials to the list of those subject to restrictive measures,

–  having regard to the first report of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela published on 16 September 2020,

–  having regard to the International Donors Conference in solidarity with Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean of 26 May 2020,

–  having regard to the Venezuelan Constitution,

–  having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC),

–  having regard to the report of the ICC entitled ‘Preliminary Examination Activities (2020) – Venezuela I’ of 14 December 2020,

–  having regard to Rule 132(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas the illegal and illegitimate parliamentary elections held in Venezuela on 6 December 2020 were conducted without complying with the minimum international standards for a credible process and failed to respect political pluralism, democracy, transparency and the rule of law; whereas the turnout was extremely poor and therefore the rejection of the elections by the Venezuelan people is evident; whereas the democratic forces in Venezuela agreed unanimously not to participate in this electoral farce; whereas 27 political parties signed the agreement, including the four largest opposition parties Voluntad Popular, Primero Justicia, Acción Democrática and Un Nuevo Tiempo; whereas the elections failed to meet the conditions required by Venezuelan laws;

B.  whereas the international community, comprising the European Union, the International Contact Group, the Lima Group and the United States, rejected the holding of parliamentary elections in 2020 owing to the complete lack of free and fair conditions and have not recognised the results of this electoral process as legitimate or representative of the will of the Venezuelan people; whereas this illegal election has further reduced the democratic space in the country to the bare minimum and has created major obstacles to the resolution of the political crisis in Venezuela;

C.  whereas on 26 December 2020, the legitimate National Assembly of 2015 chaired by Juan Guaidó proceeded to pass legislation in order to extend its constitutional and administrative mandate for one year until free, fair, verifiable and democratic elections could be held in Venezuela;

D.  whereas on 13 June 2020, the illegitimate TSJ appointed new members to the CNE without any legal power to do so; whereas, in accordance with Articles 187 and 296 of the Venezuelan Constitution, these appointments are the sole and exclusive responsibility of the National Assembly, a body democratically elected by the Venezuelan people; whereas the international community has not recognised any decision or ruling that has been unilaterally taken by these illegitimate bodies; whereas the officials responsible for these decisions have also been included on the Council’s sanctions list;

E.  whereas in July 2020, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, headed by Michelle Bachelet, found that ‘the decisions of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice diminish the possibility to build conditions for democratic and credible electoral processes’ and that these judicial decisions ‘appoint new National Electoral Council rectors without the consensus of all the political forces’;

F.  whereas on 10 January 2019, Nicolás Maduro illegitimately usurped presidential power before the TSJ, in breach of the constitutional order;

G.  whereas on 23 January 2019, the legitimately and democratically elected President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, was sworn in as interim President of Venezuela, in accordance with Article 233 of the Venezuelan Constitution;

H.  whereas the EU and Parliament have repeatedly called for ‘the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela through a credible political process’; whereas Nicolás Maduro has publicly rejected the possibility of urgently holding free and fair, transparent, inclusive and credible presidential, legislative and local elections in response to the requests from the VP/HR, the International Contact Group and Parliament;

I.  whereas Parliament, through its resolution of 31 January 2019, recognised Juan Guaidó as the legitimate interim President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution;

J.  whereas 25 out of the 27 Member States have recognised Juan Guaidó as the only legitimate interim president of the country until new free, transparent and credible presidential elections were called in order to restore democracy; whereas many other democratic states have done the same;

K.  whereas on 12 November 2020, the Council extended the restrictive measures against Venezuela until 14 November 2021; whereas these measures included an embargo on arms and on equipment for internal repression, as well as a travel ban and asset freezes on 36 Venezuelan leaders and top officials;

L.  whereas in 2017, Parliament awarded its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the democratic opposition and political prisoners in Venezuela;

M.  whereas COVID-19 has further exacerbated the already critical situation in Venezuela; whereas the collapse of the health system, hyperinflation, severe food and medicine shortages and a dire humanitarian crisis have forced around at least one sixth of the population to leave the country, with over five and a half million Venezuelans having left by the end of 2020;

N.  whereas the ICC Prosecutor’s Office announced on 14 December 2020, in advance of its preliminary report, after a detailed evaluation and analysis of the available information that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the civil authorities, members of the armed forces and individuals in favour of the Government in Venezuela are responsible for ‘imprisonment, torture, rape and/or other forms of sexual violence and persecution of a group or community for political reasons, and may have committed very serious crimes against humanity’; whereas a final decision will be taken on the matter in the first half of 2021; whereas on 16 September 2020 the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela reported that the government and security forces of the regime, with the knowledge of President Maduro and some of his ministers, had committed crimes against humanity including executions and torture, stating that the Venezuelan State must hold to account those responsible for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture, and prevent further acts of this nature from taking place;

O.  whereas the most recent report published by the CASLA Institute on 14 January 2021 provides evidence of the strategic planning of systematic repression and the continued crimes against humanity committed by the regime, and reveals new patterns of torture, the increase in illegal clandestine detention and torture centres, and the interference of other states in the instigation and execution of such crimes; whereas this report also highlights the inhumane conditions in which political prisoners are held underground and exposed to continuous physical and psychological torture, which does not meet the minimum standards of the Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council in its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977;

P.  whereas the political and indigenous prisoner of the Pemón ethnic group, Salvador Franco, died from illness in a Venezuelan jail on 3 January 2021, without having received any medical attention, despite the fact that since November 2020 he had held a court order to be transferred to a hospital, which was ignored;

Q.  whereas, since 5 January 2021, the regime has intensified its onslaught and persecution of the few free and independent media outlets that still remain in the country, confiscating their assets and tools, forcing them to stop their activity immediately;

R.  whereas, according to news reports and human rights activists, at least 23 people recently died in a clash between the police and gangs in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, as the government faces international scrutiny and investigation for killings by security forces;

1.  Reiterates that until truly free, credible, inclusive, transparent and fully democratic elections are held in Venezuela, it will continue to consider the National Assembly elected in December 2015, its president Juan Guaidó, and its Delegated Commission also led by Juan Guaidó, which were the last free expression of Venezuelans in an electoral process, as the single legitimate democratic representative political body in Venezuela; calls on the Council and the Member States to unequivocally recognise the constitutional continuation of the legitimate National Assembly of Venezuela elected in 2015 and the legitimate interim President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó;

2.  Regrets and rejects the illegal and illegitimate parliamentary elections resulting from the fraudulent electoral process organised on 6 December 2020 and reiterates that the electoral process neither complied with internationally accepted conditions and standards, nor with Venezuelan laws, nor was it free and fair, and nor did it represent the will of the Venezuelan people; recognises neither the legitimacy nor the legality of the fraudulent National Assembly established on 5 January 2021 on the basis of these non-democratic elections;

3.  Reiterates that the only sustainable solution to the multidimensional crisis in Venezuela, which has an impact on the entire region, is a political, peaceful and democratic way forward, involving credible, inclusive, free, fair and transparent presidential, parliamentary, regional and local elections that respect international standards, with guarantees for a level playing field and for the unimpeded participation of all political parties, and held under objective international observation;

4.  Expresses its solidarity with and full support to the people of Venezuela who are suffering the effects of a severe humanitarian and political crisis, which is currently being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; draws attention to the alarming migratory crisis and its spill-over effects across the entire region and praises the efforts and solidarity shown by neighbouring countries;

5.  Requests the unconditional and immediate release of the more than 350 political prisoners held in Venezuela, a figure certified by Foro Penal Venezolano and the Organization of American States;

6.  Reiterates the obligation to fully guarantee respect for and the protection of human rights in Venezuela and undertakes to be particularly vigilant with regard to any acts of repression, in particular against members of the democratic forces; denounces the threats made by the Vice-President of the illegally constituted National Assembly Iris Varela, to the effect that she will order the arrest and prosecution, confiscation of the assets and revocation of the nationality of members of the opposition and President Juan Guaidó;

7.  Condemns the most recent crackdown on freedom of expression perpetrated by the regime and the closure of newspapers and media outlets that are not politically aligned with the Maduro regime;

8.  Welcomes the recent Council decision of 29 June 2020 extending the targeted sanctions to 11 additional individuals, which does not harm the Venezuelan population, and calls for these sanctions to be strengthened and expanded immediately; considers that the EU authorities must consequently restrict the movements of the individuals on that list, as well as those of their closest relatives, and freeze their assets and visas; further calls for an immediate ban on the trade in and circulation of blood gold from Venezuela in the EU;

9.  Reiterates the importance of continued close cooperation with international allies, namely the new US administration and the Lima Group, in order to re-energise an extensive international diplomatic effort to bring back democracy, the rule of law and prosperity to the people of Venezuela; calls on the VP/HR and the Council for high-level policy coordinated with the US and the Lima Group, in order to contribute to a more comprehensive strategic approach to international diplomatic efforts and thoroughly assess the re-escalating situation in Venezuela;

10.  Calls on the legitimate National Assembly and its president Juan Guaidó to ensure full transparency in their management of funds in order to guarantee full accountability;

11.  Recalls that the crisis in Venezuela is the most underfinanced in the world and calls on the international community to honour its financial commitments and disburse the amounts committed for the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela as agreed by the Donors Conference;

12.  Fully supports the ICC investigations into the extensive crimes and acts of repression perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime; calls for the European Union to support the initiative of the ICC States Parties to open an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Maduro regime, in order to hold those responsible to account;

13.  Strongly supports the call by the UN Secretary-General for a full and independent investigation into the perpetrated killings to be carried out, in line with its previously adopted resolutions;

14.  Calls for a Contact Group between Members of the European Parliament and the democratically elected representatives of the Delegated Commission of the National Assembly to be set up in order to facilitate regular contact and dialogue with the legitimate democratic forces in Venezuela;

15.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the legitimate interim President of the Republic and National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Juan Guaidó, the governments and parliaments of the Lima Group countries, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(1) OJ C 411, 27.11.2020, p. 185. (2) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0013. (3) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0193. (4) OJ L 205 I, 29.6.2020, p. 6.

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on access to decent and affordable housing for all (2019/2187(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0020 A9-0247/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Treaty on European Union, in particular Article 3(3) thereof, and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular Articles 9, 14, 148, 151, 153, 160 and 168 thereof, and Protocol 26 thereto on services of general interest,

–  having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Title IV (Solidarity) thereof,

–  having regard to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in particular Articles 8 and 25 thereof,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

–  having regard to the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of September 2015 on the initial report of the European Union to the Committee of June 2014,

–  having regard to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in September 2015 and endorsed by the Council, in particular SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 3on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages,

–  having regard to the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing and its aim to ‘ensure access to decent, adequate, affordable and healthy housing for all(1)’,

–  having regard to the 2018 WHO Housing and health guidelines ‘Recommendations to promote healthy housing for a sustainable and equitable future(2)’,

–  having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) proclaimed by the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission in November 2017, and in particular its principles 19, ‘Housing and assistance for the homeless’, and 20, ‘Access to essential services’,

–  having regard to the revised European Social Charter, and in particular to Article 30 on the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion, Article 31 on the right to housing, and Article 16 on the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection,

–  having regard to the Action Plan of the EU Urban Agenda Housing Partnership of 2018(3),

–  having regard to the New Urban Agenda adopted in October 2016 at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), held every 20 years,

–  having regard to the report of the High-Level Taskforce on Investing in Social Infrastructure in Europe 2018(4),

–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 2017, ‘Towards a European Agenda for Housing’(5),

–  having regard to the 2016 statement by Eurocities on State aid and local public services(6),

–  having regard to the final communiqué of the 19th informal meeting of EU housing ministers held on 9 and 10 December 2013(7),

–  having regard to the resolution of 2014 of the mayors of large European cities on the right to housing(8),

–  having regard to the Commission staff working document of 26 April 2017 entitled ‘Taking stock of the 2013 Recommendation on “Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage”’ (SWD(2017)0258),

–  having regard to the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, of 30 December 2015 (A/HRC/31/54)(9), analysing homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response,

–  having regard to the Commission’s Social Investment Package of 2013,

–  having regard to the Commission recommendation of 20 February 2013 on ‘Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage’ (2013/112/EU),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 5 April 2011 entitled ‘An EU Framework for Roma integration strategies up to 2020’ (COM(2011)0173) and to the subsequent implementation and evaluation reports,

–  having regard to the Commission Communication entitled ‘A Quality Framework for Services of General Interest in Europe’ (COM(2011)0900),

–  having regard to the Commission Decision of 20 December 2011 on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to State aid in the form of public service compensation granted to certain undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest,

–  having regard to the Commission Communication of 14 October 2020 entitled ‘A Renovation Wave for Europe - greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives’ (COM(2020)0662),

–  having regard to its legislative resolution of 10 July 2020 on the proposal for a Council decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States(10),

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 June 2020 on European protection of cross-border and seasonal workers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis(11),

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 January 2020 on the European Green Deal(12),

–  having regard to its resolution of 10 October 2019 on employment and social policies of the euro area(13),

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 March 2019 on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance(14)

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2019 on the ‘European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social aspects in the Annual Growth Survey 2019’(15),

–  having regard to its resolution of 2 March 2020 on implementation of the EU Disability Strategy post 2020(16),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 November 2017 on combating inequalities as a lever to boost job creation and growth(17),

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 October 2017 on minimum income policies as a tool for fighting poverty(18),

–  having regard to its resolution of 7 July 2016 on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), with special regard to the Concluding Observations of the UN CRPD Committee(19),

–  having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2016 on ‘Refugees: social inclusion and integration into the labour market’(20),

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 May 2016 on poverty: a gender perspective(21),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 April 2016 on meeting the antipoverty target in the light of increasing household costs(22),

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 November 2015 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on child poverty(23),

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 November 2015 on cohesion policy and marginalised communities(24),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 January 2014 on an EU homelessness strategy(25),

–  having regard to its resolution of 11 June 2013 on social housing in the European Union(26),

–  having regard to the United Nations Report of 26 December 2019 on Guidelines for the Implementation of the Right to Adequate Housing of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context,

–  having regard to Council of Europe recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the Committee of Ministers on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity of 31 March 2010,

–  having regard to the May 2020 LGBTI Survey II conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights;

–  having regard to the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Housing for all’(27),

–  having regard to the June 2020 Commission Study entitled ‘Legal gender recognition in the EU: the journeys of trans people towards full equality’(28),

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0247/2020),

A.  whereas access to adequate housing is a fundamental right must be seen as a precondition for the exercise of, and access to, other fundamental rights and for a life in conditions of human dignity; whereas the national, regional and local authorities of the Member States have the obligation to define their own housing policy and to take the necessary measures to ensure that this fundamental right is respected in their housing markets;

B.  whereas, as stated in Article 151 TFEU, the Union and the Member States, having in mind fundamental social rights such as those set out in the European Social Charter signed at Turin on 18 October 1961 and in the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, have as their objectives the promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions, so as to make possible their harmonisation while the improvement is being maintained, proper social protection, dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources with a view to lasting high levels of employment, and combating exclusion;

C.  whereas the EU and its Member States have an obligation to ensure access for all to decent and affordable housing in accordance with fundamental rights such as Articles 16, 30 and 31 of the European Social Charter and the European Pillar of Social Rights;

D.  whereas, according to Article 36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the Union recognises and respects access to services of general economic interest as provided for in national laws and practices, in accordance with the Treaties, in order to promote the social and territorial cohesion of the Union; whereas services of general interest are classified as such by the public authorities of the Member States, and are therefore subject to specific public service obligations; whereas these services can be provided by the state or the private sector; whereas these services include social housing as a social service of general interest; whereas social services of general interest respond to the needs of vulnerable citizens, in line with the principles of solidarity and equal access; whereas, the Commission Communication on the Quality Framework for Services of General Interest in the EU guarantees access to essential services for all citizens and promotes quality in the field of social services;

E.  whereas SDG 11calls for specific targets for 2030 to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, for the upgrading of slums and for the enhancement of inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries;

F.  whereas a growing number of low- and middle-income people living in the EU have difficulty affording housing, are overburdened by housing and maintenance costs, live in housing where there are safety concerns, that is unhealthy, of low quality, inaccessible, energy-inefficient or overcrowded, or is homeless or at risk of eviction;

G.  whereas an increase in completed housing projects does not significantly improve access to housing for those whose income is too low to allow them to afford market rents, and too high to make them eligible for social housing; whereas this problem particularly affects single parents, large families and young people entering the labour market;

H.  whereas according to Eurofound estimates, inadequate housing costs the EU’s economies EUR 195 billion annually(29); whereas, in 2018, 17,1% of EU inhabitants lived in overcrowded dwellings(30); whereas in the EU 28,5 % of young people aged 25-34 live with their parents; whereas this figure is influenced by several, mainly socio-economic factors as well as by the availability of housing(31); whereas over two-thirds of the global population will be living in cities by 2030(32);

I.  whereas the proportion of the EU population spending more than 40 % of their disposable income on housing between 2010 and 2018 stood at 10,2% although substantial differences between EU Member States were recorded;

J.  whereas housing prices have been steadily growing every year and at a faster rate than disposable income; whereas housing is now the highest item of expenditure for European citizens;

K.  whereas the housing market is estimated to generate around EUR 25 trillion, and is therefore instrumental in job-creation and a driving force of economic activity, influencing labour mobility, energy efficiency, infrastructure demand and resilience, sustainable transport and urban development, among many other areas;

L.  whereas housing affordability and housing conditions for low-income owners and renters have deteriorated in recent decades; whereas almost 38 % of households at risk of poverty spent more than 40 % of their disposable income on housing; whereas the number of people at risk of poverty in the EU increases to 156 million if housing costs are taken into account;

M.  whereas rental costs in the EU have risen over the last decade, and house prices also increased in 22 Member States between 2007 and 2019;

N.  whereas the latest evidence collected after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic indicates that in the medium-term the economic recession and job losses may further increase housing cost overburden and homelessness rates in the EU;

O.  whereas the housing crisis more severely affects urban areas in many Member States, where it has become difficult to find affordable housing at market prices, including for middle-income households;

P.  whereas the housing crisis is happening in both wealthy and less wealthy countries, leading to social exclusion and spatial segregation; whereas access to decent and affordable housing is harder for vulnerable groups such as the working poor, women, young people, in particular young unemployed persons, single parents, large families, the elderly, especially those living alone, LGBTIQ persons, migrants, refugees, persons with disabilities, people with physical or psychiatric illnesses, and people from marginalised communities, including Roma;

Q.  whereas the COVID-19 crisis has aggravated housing insecurity, over-indebtedness, and the risk of eviction and homelessness, and shown the precarious situations of many people, especially the elderly, but also migrant workers and seasonal workers, who do not have access to housing that meets health and social-distancing requirements;

R.  whereas Eurofound’s COVID-19 survey showed that in April 2020 38 % of respondents had already seen their financial situation worsen, and 47 %(33) reported difficulties in making ends meet – a figure rising to 87 % among unemployed individuals; whereas among them, close to 30 % were already in arrears on their utility bills and 22 % on rent or mortgage payments, with one-fifth fearing for the stability of their accommodation situation due to rent arrears; whereas Eurofound research shows that in 2016, 14 % of people in the EU28 reported they were in arrears because they were unable to make payments as scheduled for rent or mortgages, consumer credits, loans from friends or family, or utility or telephone bills; whereas 21 % are at risk of over-indebtedness if the proportion of people with difficulties (or great difficulties) making ends meet, but without any arrears (yet) is included;

S.  whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the European labour market, which the International Labour Organization estimates at working-hour losses equivalent to 44 million full-time jobs in the second quarter of 2020; whereas the COVID-19 crisis has worsened the situation of non-governmental and charitable organisations that traditionally help people in difficult housing or life situations, and led to uncertainty about whether they can continue providing their services;

T.  whereas forced evictions are defined as the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection that are compliant with international human rights law; whereas forced evictions have long been recognised as a gross violation of human rights;

U.  whereas the lack of proper housing constitutes a serious challenge for many citizens in the EU; whereas there are currently no precise figures on the number of homeless people in the EU, and rigorously collected data constitutes the basis of any effective public policy;

V.  whereas homelessness rates have increased over the last decade in many Member States due to rising housing costs, the impact of the economic crisis, and subsequent policies including the freezing or cutting of social programmes and benefits;

W.  whereas the Housing First programme is an integrated strategy to combat homelessness combining supportive housing with social services and integration of homeless people into the labour market; whereas the adoption of its principles by Member States can significantly help reduce homelessness;

X.  whereas Principle 19 of the EPSR addresses housing assistance and homelessness; whereas the Commission has announced it would present an action plan to implement it by February 2021; whereas homelessness is a violation of the right to adequate housing and a number of other human rights including the right to non-discrimination, health, water and sanitation, security of the person, and freedom from cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment(34), and is thus fundamentally irreconcilable with the EU’s objectives of social progress and its social model; whereas homeless persons and persons living in informal housing are frequently subjected to criminalisation, harassment, stigmatisation, social exclusion and discriminatory treatment because of their housing status; whereas they are also frequently denied access to sanitation facilities, rounded up and driven from communities, and subjected to extreme forms of violence; whereas the life expectancy of homeless people is significantly lower than the general population’s;

Y.  whereas the definition of homelessness should include both its material aspect (the lack of minimally adequate housing) as well as its social aspect (a secure place to establish a family or social relationships, participate in community life and live a life in dignity)(35); whereas the COVID-19 crisis has shown that fighting homelessness is a public health matter, and that solutions can be found, for example by providing temporary housing and putting a moratorium on evictions, measures which have been implemented in several Member States;

Z.  whereas homelessness is rising in at least 24 Member States; whereas on any given night in the European Union 700 000 homeless people have to sleep in shelters or on the street, which is an increase of 70 % in the past 10 years;

AA.  whereas there is a shortage of affordable social housing and accessible housing; whereas 9,6 % of the EU-27 population live in households that spend 40 % or more of their equivalised disposable income on housing(36); whereas the housing cost burden is heavier for people with a disability, with the housing overburden rate being 12,5 % for people with a disability compared to 9,9 % for those with no disability;

AB.  whereas housing affordability has to be seen in its overall relation to income patterns and developments, as well as to distributional justice and excessive rises in housing costs, and has a clear gender dimension; whereas housing market failures endanger social cohesion in Europe, increase homelessness and poverty, and affect trust in democracy; whereas, to address all these challenges, national and local authorities must be able to adopt adequate housing policies, including State aid measures, in order to create conditions and support for investments in social and affordable housing;

AC.  whereas the level of public spending on social housing-related expenditure in Europe varies among countries, with some countries placing more emphasis on public housing support than others; whereas, however, the need for social housing grown since the 2008 financial crisis, as lower income individuals face increased financial pressures related to housing; whereas countries that apply a universalistic model of social housing tend to have large rental housing sectors, all with the overarching aim of promoting social mixing and preventing segregation based on socio-economic factors(37);

AD.  whereas in 2018 house prices rose in almost every Member State compared to 2015; whereas over the past three years EU house prices have risen by an average of 5 %;

AE.  whereas public investment in social housing has declined in recent years; whereas social housing spending (transfers and capital) by governments represents just 0,66 % of European GDP, which is low by recent historical levels and a downward trend;

AF.  whereas the EU’s housing stock is growing substantially yet the shortage of housing remains a significant problem;

AG.  whereas 10,3 % of people in the EU are overburdened by housing costs;

AH.  whereas inadequate housing conditions and homelessness negatively affect not only people’s physical and mental health, well-being, and quality of life, but also their access to employment and access to other economic and social services;

AI.  whereas access to recreational facilities, community centres, parks and green spaces also positively impacts living condition; whereas investments in social housing should also support the building of more physical community-based infrastructure (community centres, sport facilities, etc.) and for community programmes to further enhance people’s quality of life;

AJ.  whereas the WHO has identified housing as a key sector for actions to tackle health inequalities(38); whereas 2,1 % of European citizens do not have an indoor bathroom, shower or toilet facilities in their dwellings; whereas most of these citizens live in five Member States: Romania (27,7 %), Bulgaria (15,3 %), Lithuania (10,6 %), Latvia (9,9 %) and Estonia (5,3 %)(39); whereas rural areas have particularly suffered from underinvestment in access to sanitation and other basic utilities; whereas in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the European Union should ensure a high level of human health protection;

AK.  whereas, according to the Commission, households with children are generally at a higher risk of severe housing deprivation, and the proportion of children living in an overcrowded household is higher for children living in poverty than for the general population; whereas lack of access to social housing is a barrier for income-poor children caused by an insufficient supply of social housing, leading to long waiting times; whereas properly heated housing with safe water and sanitation and housing in general is a key element for children’s health, well-being, growth and development; whereas adequate housing is also conducive to children learning and studying(40);

AL.  whereas energy poverty is a persistent scourge, affecting millions of people in the EU, and whereas COVID-19 is deepening this crisis, with confinement leading to soaring energy consumption and bills; whereas, furthermore, as a consequence of COVID-19 large numbers of workers have lost their jobs or part of their income, despite the financial support measures and short-time work schemes that have been introduced by most Member States and supported by the EU; whereas housing benefits and rent subsidies are often not sufficient to cover actual housing costs, and, in some countries, very strict criteria prevent access to housing benefits for vulnerable groups;

AM.  whereas societies are ageing and undergoing demographic change; whereas housing needs change with age in line with changes in lifestyle or family situation; whereas barriers to housing include lack of accessibility, loneliness, safety concerns and maintenance costs;

AN.  whereas dwellings should be safe, comfortable and easy to maintain, all of which are particularly important for older people;

AO.  whereas the energy efficiency of housing stock has a direct impact on energy poverty and the cost of maintenance; whereas the gas and energy market is one of the most profitable sectors in the world, though almost 7 % of households in the EU are unable to pay their utility bills(41); whereas lower income households also pay more for energy; whereas the Renovation Wave can play a major role in energy saving, reducing costs and energy consumption, and therefore in helping alleviate energy poverty and improving comfort, sanitary and living conditions for all;

AP.  whereas decarbonisation of the EU economy by 2050 is a common objective in the fight against climate change, and the energy used for heating and cooling buildings is one of its main causes; whereas, through the European Green Deal, the European Union set itself the goal of making buildings more energy-efficient;

AQ.  whereas in more than half of EU Member States there are now over 500 dwellings per 1 000 inhabitants; whereas this figure is highest in countries that are tourist destinations, where holiday homes built for high-season holiday use in tourist hotspots do not help meet wider society’s housing needs(42);

AR.  whereas refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, especially those who are undocumented, internally displaced persons, stateless persons, persons with disabilities, children and young people, indigenous people, women, LGBTIQ persons, older persons and members of racial, ethnic and religious minorities are disproportionately represented among those living in homelessness, in informal accommodation or inadequate housing, and are often relegated to the most marginal and unsafe areas; whereas the aforementioned people often also experience intersectional discrimination as a result of their housing status; whereas in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the European Union aims to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;

AS.  whereas the Commission adopted its first LGBTIQ Equality Strategy on 12 November 2020;

AT.  whereas the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recommended to Member States in CM/Rec(2010)5 that measures should be taken to ensure that access to adequate housing can be effectively and equally enjoyed by all persons, without discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity; whereas it also recommended that appropriate attention should be paid to the risks of homelessness experienced by LGBTIQ persons, including young persons and children, who may be particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, including from their own families;

AU.  whereas the Commission’s study on legal gender recognition in the EU highlights discrimination against trans and gender non-conforming persons in access to the housing market, including the loss of their homes due to the divorce requirement of some gender recognition processes in the EU; whereas access to legal gender recognition increases trans persons’ likelihood of finding housing in cases where their documents are required to match their gender expression;

AV.  whereas the Commission has a substantial number of competences related to the housing market, including banking supervision, monetary policy, loans, and mortgage credit, including forbearance rules and debt settlement, as well as intervention capacity in the event of financial bubbles, public cost of social financing of housing and non-performing loans (NPLs); whereas according to Protocol 26 of the TFEU, the performance of services of general economic interest (SGEI) tasks, such as the provision of social and affordable housing, should be based on specific national, regional or locally entrusted tasks that reflect the needs and proportional support to housing and communities;

AW.  whereas speculative acquisitions of housing and land play a prominent role in the continuing escalation in housing prices; whereas a steep and continuous increase in house prices and market rents can be observed, in particular in cities and urban or suburban areas;

AX.  whereas forced evictions are defined as the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection that are compliant with international human rights law; whereas forced evictions have long been recognised as a gross violation of human rights;

Achieving adequate, energy-efficient and healthy housing

1.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make ensure that the right to adequate housing is recognised and enforceable as a fundamental human right through applicable European and national legislative provisions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure equal access for all to decent housing, including clean and high-quality drinking water, adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, connection to sewage and water networks, a high quality indoor environment and to affordable, reliable, sustainable energy for all, thereby contributing to eradicating poverty in all its forms, protecting the human rights of disadvantaged households and supporting the most vulnerable groups, so as to protect their health and well-being;

2.  Reaffirms its call for a EU-wide action for a winter heating disconnection moratorium, and calls for a winter truce to be introduced; condemns the circumvention of the moratorium by not connecting heating in the autumn, which therefore renders the moratorium ineffective; calls on the Commission to ensure that electricity suppliers adopt protection schemes to guarantee the domestic energy supply of those most in need, since access to basic utility services such as water, electricity and sanitation is essential for meeting sustainable development goals;

3.  Calls for the introduction at EU level of minimum mandatory requirements for healthy homes, including indoor air quality, which should at least be aligned with WHO guidelines; calls on the Member States to comply with and enforce the basic rules of public sanitation and public health, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on adequate housing, health and temperature and to share best practices and reflections undertaken at national level;

4.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to prioritise emissions reductions and energy efficiency through housing renovation; supports the Renovation Wave’s focus on tackling energy-poverty and worst performing buildings, in line with the objectives and principles of the European Green Deal, in order to ensure a socially just transition to a climate-neutral economy that leaves no one behind; calls for special attention to be paid to social housing, single family homes and owner-occupied multi-apartment buildings, as well as to tackling inadequate housing and housing accessibility; stresses, therefore, that tenants and owner-occupiers should be fully informed and involved in renovation projects, and should not see overall costs increase because of them;

5.  Calls on the Member States to conduct energy saving campaigns; underlines the role that minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) play in stimulating the volume and extent of renovation in worst-performing buildings, and welcomes the plan in the Renovation Wave to introduce mandatory minimum energy performance standards for existing buildings in the upcoming revision of the Energy Efficiency and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directives;

6.  Welcomes the Commission’s support in the Renovation Wave to financing solutions for low-income households; welcomes the model of housing cost neutrality (including rent, energy and operating costs, and local taxes), since it combines social and climate goals, and prevents ‘renovictions’(evictions on the grounds that a building needs large-scale renovation), ensuring that rent increases are fully balanced by energy-savings; stresses the need to protect tenants from eviction during housing renovations;

7.  Notes that in order to provide incentives for renovations, in particular in multi-apartment buildings, participation, communication and financial incentives will be key; calls on the Commission, Member States and financing institutions to ensure broad availability of renovation funding, and eligibility for all ownership categories to it, including in situations where there are no homeowners associations;

8.  Calls on the Commission to prioritise the Renovation Wave in the multiannual financial framework and Next Generation EU, putting people in vulnerable situations at the centre of recovery policies, and to ensure equal access to renovation projects for all, as investment in this field can act as a countercyclical intervention with a substantial job-creation potential; calls on the Member States to prioritise renovation in their recovery and resilience plans in order to contribute to achieving deep renovation of at least 3 % of the European building stock per year; demands that particular attention is also given to the buildings at high risk from earthquakes in Europe’s earthquake-prone regions;

9.  Calls on the EU and Member States to support the circular economy in the construction sector, and to apply circular principles with mandatory green criteria to buildings and products; calls on the EU and Member States, when considering options for renovation, to favour construction products made out of low-carbon, sustainable and non-toxic materials that are also easy to repair and reuse, and to encourage a fast transition to renewable sources of energy for heating and cooling; highlights that more environmentally-friendly homes built with more environmentally sustainable and durable materials will create both wide social and individual economic benefits; calls on the Commission and the Member States to introduce green social housing in their housing investment plans, including social housing sustainability criteria;

10.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that under public procurement rules innovation and long-term partnerships for renovation in the social housing sector are possible, such as the smart neighbourhood approach proposed under the Affordable Housing Initiative in the Renovation Wave;

11.  Calls on the Member States to promote programmes and incentives for families to live close to one another, to strengthen intergenerational ties, and to enable older people who have to leave their homes for financial or health reasons to find new accommodation that meets their needs without having to leave the communities they were part of for many years;

Combating homelessness and fighting discrimination

12.  Calls for an EU level goal to end homelessness by 2030; calls on the Commission to take more effective action to support Member States in reducing and eradicating homelessness as a priority in the context of the action plan on the EPSR;

13.  Calls on the Commission to propose an EU framework for National Homelessness Strategies, and further calls on the Member States to adopt the principle of Housing First, and to prioritise the provision of permanent housing to homeless people including through proactive and reactive measures as part of their National Homelessness Strategies, on the basis of systemic consultation with NGOs working in the field of homelessness, poverty and discrimination;

14.  Believes that the Commission should explore further the implementation of successful existing models, such as Housing First, through appropriate funding instruments such as the European Social Fund Plus and the European Regional Development Fund;

15.  Emphasises the need for inter-ministerial and intergovernmental collaboration in the development and implementation of these strategies, as well as for the participation of key stakeholders, and encourages the exchange of the best practices among the Member States;

16.  Stresses the importance of reliable data collection on homelessness, including youth homelessness, with the involvement of the relevant NGOs and authorities active in service provision for persons at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness; calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt a shared framework definition and coherent indicators on homelessness in the EU which would enable common understanding, systematic comparison and assessment of the extent of homelessness across EU countries; and would allow homelessness rates to be systematically monitored at EU level via institutions such as Eurostat; calls for the use of existing tools like the European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion;

17.  Calls on the Member States and the Commission to take measures and implement programmes for young people who reach the age of 18 and are at risk of being homeless; calls on the Commission to provide financial support for young people to move to independent living, improving access to information on funds for affordable housing, and ensuring that the revised Youth Guarantee contributes to tackling youth homelessness, which is increasing in many EU countries;

18.  Welcomes the attention to LGBTIQ homelessness, particularly LGBTIQ youth homelessness, in the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy; invites the Commission to create tools for enhanced data collection, to foster research across the EU, and to facilitate the exchange of approaches to tackling the problem of LGBTIQ homelessness between Member States;

19.  Reiterates its call of 16 January 2014 to put an end to the criminalisation of homeless people and to change the discriminatory practices used to prevent homeless people from accessing social services and shelter;

20.  Calls on the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for greater monitoring of hate crimes and incidents motivated by aporophobia; stresses that poverty and homelessness are not a crime; urges Member States to establish mechanisms in their public policies to guarantee the safety of homeless people and to introduce aporophobia in their public security policies as a hate crimes; calls on the Commission and the Member States to prohibit and tackle discrimination on the grounds of homelessness or other housing status, and repeal all laws and measures that criminalise or penalise people for being homeless or behaviours associated with being homeless, such as sleeping or eating in public spaces, as well as to prohibit the forced expulsion of homeless persons from public spaces, unless a safe housing alternative is provided to them, and the destruction of their personal belongings;

21.  Calls for Member States to ensure that exceptional measures to prevent homelessness and protect homeless people during the COVID-19 crisis, in particular moratoria on evictions and disconnections from the energy supply, and the provision of temporary housing, are maintained as long as needed and followed up with adequate and permanent solutions; calls on the Member States to support and promote the non-governmental and charitable organisations providing health and social services to homeless people, and helping to protect them from COVID-19;

22.  Recognises that in some emergency situations, such as when people are facing precarious administrative situations or for victims of domestic violence, emergency housing solutions such as shelters should be made available to those in need; calls on the Member States to ensure that no one is forced to sleep rough because of a lack of decent alternatives; calls on the Commission and the Member States to work together to promote unconditional access for all that need it to emergency shelter of adequate quality in situations of acute housing need; stresses, however, that this should only ever be temporary, and is not an alternative to structural solutions such as prevention and the provision of adequate housing and social support to respond to homelessness;

23.  Points out that women are particularly exposed to the housing crisis; emphasises that women are more affected by poverty, due in part to the wage and pension gap between women and men, and the fact that they more often have part time jobs; emphasises that women’s homelessness is often less visible, and that it needs to be specifically addressed; calls on the Commission and Member States to develop a gendered approach in their National Homelessness Strategies in order to support women experiencing homelessness, who have often suffered complex trauma and face re-traumatisation, such as through domestic violence and abuse, separation from their children, stigmatisation and the lack of safe and secure spaces; calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop a gendered approach in their housing policies, particularly by supporting women who face specific situations such as single parenthood;

24.  Recalls that social distancing and quarantine due to COVID-19 have had a dramatic impact on the number of cases of violence against women, including increased incidences of domestic violence and child abuse; recalls that women’s economic independence has been proved to be a key tool for tackling gender-based violence; calls therefore on the Commission and the Member States to provide financial support for women victims of gender-based violence moving to independent living, and enhanced access to information on funding for affordable housing, as ways to improve their economic independence and standard of living;

25.  Calls for a comprehensive and integrated antipoverty strategy with a designated poverty reduction target including for child poverty; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure children’s right to adequate housing is implemented, including by providing related support to parents having difficulties with keeping or accessing housing, so that they can remain with their children, with particular attention on young adults exiting child welfare institutions; calls on the Commission to present a European Child Guarantee no later than 2021, with a dedicated budget of EUR 20 billion, ensuring through its implementation that each child in the EU can have access to decent housing, inter alia;

26.  Calls on Member States to ensure equal access to decent housing for all, fight against racism and antigypsysm, and guarantee there is no discrimination on any of the grounds stipulated in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure the implementation of the Charter, as well as of the Racial Equality Directive, the EU framework for the implementation of National Roma Integration Strategies and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; demands that they pay particular attention to intersectional discrimination; calls on the Council to swiftly adopt the horizontal antidiscrimination directive; calls on the Commission to effectively evaluate the political commitment of Member States, and launch infringement procedures against those which do not enforce EU antidiscrimination legislation or which criminalise homeless;

27.  Urges the Member States to define and implement policies against slum landlords and rack-renters, and to share good practices on these policies;

28.  Notes with deep concern that the conditions of Roma people continue to be extremely worrying, with many often living in segregated settlements characterised by substandard living conditions; calls on the Member States to promote spatial desegregation, and engage Roma beneficiaries, in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all stages of housing projects, in order to effectively ensure they are provided with the information to benefit from existing funds, as well as the antidiscrimination policies and mechanisms to prevent forced evictions, and to provide sufficient and appropriate halting sites for non-sedentary Roma people; emphasises the urgent need for education and public awareness campaigns, as well as for public investments in this regard, which have also become even more necessary also due to the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic; urges the Commission and the Member States to utilise the planned Just Transition Fund as intended for improving the housing, health and employment situation in order to leave no one behind, including Romani people;

29.  Warns that in order for any eviction to comply with international human rights law, a number of criteria must be met, including meaningful engagement with those affected, exploration of all viable alternatives, relocation to adequate housing with the agreement of the households affected, so that no one is rendered homeless, as well as access to justice to ensure procedural fairness, and compliance with all human rights; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that where these criteria are not met, evictions are deemed to have been forced, and to constitute a violation of the right to housing; demands that forced evictions as defined under international human rights law are prohibited in all circumstances;

30.  Notes with deep concern that persons with disabilities often face several complex challenges and different types of rights deprivation in housing, such as their lack of the right to live in the community with equal opportunities, the lack of availability of the community-based services needed to safeguard the transition from institutional care to living in the community, the fact that they are often forced to live in segregated residential institutions, poverty, their lack of access to housing programmes, existing barriers to accessibility, etc.; reminds the Commission and the Member States that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities imposes obligations on them; calls for rapid deinstitutionalisation all across Europe, and for the use of available EU and national funds to create accessible, non-segregated housing and to provide the necessary community-based services for persons with disabilities for the sake of safeguarding their right to live independently in the community, and to have equal chances to participate in society;

31.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that no EU or Member State funds will be used for housing projects leading to segregation or social exclusion; calls on the Member States to always consider the quality of housing in terms of urban development, architecture and functionality so as to improve well-being for all; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote programmes and incentives that foster and strengthen intergenerational ties enabling people, in particular older people, who have to leave their homes for financial or health reasons to find new accommodation that meets their needs without having to leave their communities;

32.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to impose a general obligation to meet accessibility criteria in the planned Renovation Wave of public and private buildings, and to use its potential to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities and older persons, as well as for those with motor and sensory difficulties, in order to make housing comfortable for its inhabitants and ‘future proof’ in the light of the increasing demographic change;

An integrated approach to social, public and affordable housing at EU level

33.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make housing one of the cornerstones of the Action Plan of the EPSR; recalls that EU policies, funding programmes and financing instruments have a great impact on housing markets, the quality of the housing stock and on citizens’ lives; calls on the Commission to urgently develop an integrated EU-level strategy for social, public, non-segregated and affordable housing, creating an enabling framework for national, regional and local authorities to ensure the provision of safe, healthy, accessible and affordable quality housing for all; calls on the Commission, as part of this strategy, to improve its action to engage all levels of government in fully and consistently implementing the right to decent housing for all;

34.  Welcomes the inclusion of housing affordability in the European Semester; urges the Commission to ensure that all country-specific recommendations contribute positively to the full and consistent implementation of the principles of the EPSR, to the achievement of the UN SDGs, and the EU climate goals defined in the Green Deal; urges the Member States to implement the country specific recommendations on housing affordability; states that national affordable housing plans should be included in National Reform Programmes, and demands that the Commission and Member States establish specific strategies to address obstacles to the right to housing, such as discrimination, speculation, predatory lending, land-grabbing, conflicts, forced evictions, environmental degradation and vulnerability to disasters;

35.  Stresses the need to refine the House Price Index indicator; considers that housing is affordable if the occupant’s remaining budget is at least sufficient to cover other essential expenditure for a life in dignity; stresses the need to develop a comprehensive definition of housing affordability at EU level taking into account a broad range of indicators such as eviction and poverty rates; points out that the current reference threshold for the housing cost overburden rate of 40 % of the disposable income of a household insufficiently represents the number of households that is overburdened by housing costs; calls for a reassessment of the reference threshold, and invites Eurostat to produce a broader set of data on housing costs expenditure of households from 25 % to 40 % of disposable income at 5 % intervals;

36.  Urges the Commission to provide more accurate, quality and comparable data on housing markets, and to monitor housing affordability across the EU, including at local and regional level, through Eurostat’s European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and the European Energy Poverty Observatory, taking into account the fragmentation of national housing markets and differences between Member States;

37.  Calls upon the Council and Member States to reintroduce the Informal Meetings of Housing Ministers, to also involve Parliament in these, to open them to stakeholders and to present a revised format of the Housing Focal Points, in order to ensure a mechanism for the exchange of information between Member States, and provide a platform for the exchange of best practices on tackling homelessness and providing decent and affordable housing;

38.  Encourages Member States to collaborate on financing social investments aimed at solving housing problems with the social partners, civil society and the private sector, many of who play and can play a key role in the development and maintenance of adequate housing solutions for those in vulnerable situations;

39.  Calls on the of Member States to invest more in accessible nursing homes for the elderly, with quality care services, accessible to a wider range of the elderly population;

Ensuring security of tenure and inclusive housing markets

40.  Points out that 25,1 % of European tenants paying market price rents spend over 40 % of their income on rent, and that on average rents are constantly increasing(43); calls on the Member States and regional and local authorities to put in place legal provisions, including clear rental regulations, to protect the rights of tenants and owner-occupiers, and to foster security for both owners and tenants and prevent evictions, including after renovation measures, and including those living in a dwelling expropriated from the state a part of a restitution process; calls on the Member States and regional and local authorities to ensure rent transparency and to provide support for organisations working on the protection of tenants and owner-occupiers, and to set up low-threshold legal dispute settlement procedures;

41.  Invites the Member States to pursue housing policies that are based on the principle of neutrality between home ownership, private rented accommodation and rented social housing; calls on the Commission to respect this principle in the European Semester; believes that the right to housing should not be narrowly defined as access to social housing, but in wider terms as the right to live in a home in peace, security and dignity; emphasises the importance of setting transparent eligibility criteria for social and publicly-funded housing to ensure equal access to housing; encourages Member States to put in place national strategies to prevent social segregation through a wider geographical distribution of social housing, available to all citizens regardless of status, gender, religion or ethnicity; calls on the Member States to make it easier to access housing, and promote diverse neighbourhoods through improved access to credit facilities and renting with the right to buy for young people, low- and middle-income families, and people from socially and economically disadvantaged groups; encourages Member States to collaborate with the banking sector in order to issue state-guaranteed affordable loans for these groups, while preventing bubbles and overindebtedness;

42.  Calls on the Member States to be more active in correcting housing market inequalities, including by providing comprehensive information on the functioning of housing markets, the number and geographical distribution of transactions, price trends in specific market segments, and the potential for development in other specific segments;

43.  Emphasises that suitable policies and measures that support an adequate supply of housing are crucial to balancing and enhancing the economic development of housing in order to benefit the whole of society and ensure affordable and thriving living environment for all; believes that measures taken must be deliberate, concrete and targeted towards the implementation of the right to housing within a reasonable time frame, and that Member States must allocate sufficient resources and prioritise the needs of disadvantaged and marginalised individuals or groups living in precarious housing conditions; calls, therefore, on the Member States, with support of the Commission, to ensure the provision of sufficient, adequate and affordable social housing to cover the housing needs of these individuals and groups;

44.  Calls on the Member States to develop their house-building policies, which will boost economic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic;

45.  Notes with concern the increased financialisation of the housing market, in particular in cities, whereby investors treat housing as a tradable asset rather than a human right; calls on the Commission to assess the contribution of EU policies and regulations to the financialisation of the housing market and the ability of national and local authorities to ensure the right to housing; calls on the Member States and local authorities to put in place appropriate measures to counter speculative investment, to adopt policies favouring long-term investments in the housing market, and to develop urban and rural planning policies that favour affordable housing, social mix and social cohesion;

46.  Stresses that transparency on real estate ownership and transactions is vital to preventing distortions in the housing market and to preventing money laundering in this sector; reiterates the obligation in the Anti Money Laundering Directive for the Commission to report by 31 December 2020 on the need to harmonise information on real estate ownership and on the inter-connection of these national registers in order to prevent speculation; reiterates, therefore, its call of 26 March 2019 that Member States should have publicly accessible information in place on the ultimate beneficial ownership of land and real estate;

47.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to better protect mortgage borrowers against evictions; stresses that people who are evicted should be able to assert their rights in a court; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen current binding rules of conduct for creditors, credit servicers and credit purchasers to avoid misleading practices, harassment and violation of consumer’s rights, at least as far as mortgage loans are concerned, or if appropriate to adopt new rules; believes that such rules should in particular specify requirements for reasonable and viable forbearance measures in addition to those provided for in Article 28 of Directive 2014/17/EU; invites the Commission to assess the need for a legislative proposal on a minimum loan-to-value ratio in the market for mortgage credit; calls on the Commission to consider the impact on housing markets when proposing rules on securitisation;

48.  Points out that the expansive growth of short-term holiday rental is removing housing from the market and driving up prices, and can have a negative impact on liveability in urban and tourist centres; calls on the Commission to interpret the Services Directive in line with the European Court of Justice verdict (C-390/18), that establishes housing affordability and shortage of rental housing as ‘an overriding reason related to the public interest’, and therefore to give wide discretion to national and local authorities to define proportionate rules for hospitality services, including mandatory registration, limitation of permits and specific zoning policies, limitation of period, avoiding ‘touristification’, the emptying of urban centres, and the decline in quality of life there, to the detriment of residents; urges the Commission to include in the Digital Services Act a proposal for mandatory information-sharing obligations for platforms in the short-term accommodation rental market, in line with data protection rules, as this access to information is essential for authorities in order to ensure the availability of affordable housing;

49.  Reminds the Commission and Member States that failing to regulate the real estate market and the financial actors operating on that market in order to ensure access to affordable and adequate housing for all, would mean non-compliance with their obligations with respect to the right to housing;

50.  Calls for the housing sector to be included as a social service of general interest, and not only social housing, as this is essential to guarantee the right to affordable and decent housing for all;

Investing in social, public, affordable and energy-efficient housing

51.  Stresses that the investment gap for affordable housing amounts to EUR 57 billion per year(44); calls on the Commission and the Member States to close the investment gap in affordable housing as a matter of priority; calls in this regard for a reform of the economic governance framework allowing Member States to make the green and social public investments needed, including those related to the development and improvement of social, public, affordable and energy-efficient housing; calls, furthermore, for a harmonised accounting for amortisation methodology for affordable housing investments;

52.  Recalls that as a service of general economic interest (SGEI), social housing is exempted from State aid notification requirements; recalls that social housing is the only sector in the SGEI Decision for which the Commission mentions a target group (disadvantaged citizens or socially less advantaged groups), and that this is not the case for other social services; believes that this may limit the possibility to deliver social and affordable housing for all; acknowledges that there is no agreed common definition of social housing at EU level; warns, however, that a narrow definition of social housing limiting it only to ‘housing for disadvantaged citizens or socially less advantaged groups, which due to solvability constraints are unable to obtain housing at market conditions’ is restrictive and hinders Member States’ ability to define their SGEIs and services of general interest; stresses that SGEIs in housing should be principally guided by specific requirements determined by national, regional or local authorities, since these authorities have the competence to identify and address the housing needs and living conditions of different groups, which can differ greatly between rural and urban areas, and since these authorities play crucial roles in well-targeted decision making; urges the Commission to adapt the target group definition of social and publicly funded housing in the rules on SGEIs, so as to allow national, regional and local authorities to support housing for all groups whose needs for decent and affordable housing cannot be easily met under market conditions, while also ensuring that enough funding is allocated to the most disadvantaged, in order to unblock investment and ensure affordable housing, housing tenure neutrality and sustainable urban development, and to create socially diverse neiglhbourhoods and enhance social cohesion;

53.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to further increase investment in the EU in social, public, energy-efficient, adequate and affordable housing, and in tackling homelessness and housing exclusion; calls in this regards for investment through the European Regional Development Fund, the Just Transition Fund, InvestEU, ESF+, Horizon Europe and Next Generation EU, and especially through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII) and the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative Plus (CRII+); calls for greater synergies between these instruments; welcomes the financing of social and affordable housing loans through InvestEU and the EIB’s broader portfolio; calls on the Commission and the Member States to integrate social progress as an investment priority, together with the green and digital transitions, in the Recovery and Resilience Facility in order to protect vulnerable people against the negative impact of the current crisis, and to include social progress plans in the Recovery and Resilience Plans, outlining how EPSR principles are going to be implemented, and where social investments are going to be targeted, including investment in social housing; calls urgently on the Commission to ensure that EU funding and EIB financing become more accessible to local and regional social and public affordable housing providers; calls on the EIB to try to increase relevant landing via targeted technical assistance and closer cooperation with financial intermediaries and the Member States;

54.  Calls on the Commission to encourage the use of European programmes that support the rebuilding of homes in order to make housing affordable;

55.  Encourages Member States to ensure all future housing construction and rehabilitation projects aim to promote smart buildings, where water and energy consumption can be monitored and made more costs-efficient, in accordance with the European Union's climate objectives;

56.  Calls on the Commission, Member States and regional and local authorities to recognise, support and fund community led, democratic, and collaborative housing solutions, including community land trusts, as legitimate and viable means to provide market and social housing; calls for a sustainable approach to urban land use, for instance giving priority to the rehabilitation of abandoned houses over the building of new ones;

o
o   o

57.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/hlm/charter/Language_versions/ENG_Geneva_UN_Charter.pdf (2) https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-housing-and-health-guidelines (3) https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/final_action_plan_euua_housing_partnership_december_2018_1.pdf (4) Report of the High-Level Task Force on Investing in Social Infrastructure in Europe: ‘Boosting Investment in Social Infrastructure in Europe’ by Lieve Fransen, Gino del Bufalo and Edoardo Reviglio (January 2018). (5) https://dmsearch.cor.europa.eu/search/opinion (6) http://nws.eurocities.eu/MediaShell/media/EUROCITIES%20statement%20on%20state%20aid%20and%20local%20public%20%20services_16%2001%202016%20final.pdf (7) http://www.iut.nu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Housing-Ministers%C2%B4-Communiqu%C3%A9.pdf (8) https://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/resolution-for-social-housing-in-europe.pdf (9) https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/31/54 (10) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0194. (11) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0176. (12) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0005. (13) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0033. (14) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0240. (15) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0202. (16) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0156. (17) OJ C 356, 4.10.2018, p. 89. (18) OJ C 346, 27.9.2018, p. 156. (19) OJ C 101, 16.3.2018, p. 138. (20) OJ C 101, 16.3.2018, p. 2. (21) OJ C 76, 28.2.2018, p. 93. (22) OJ C 58, 15.2.2018, p. 192. (23) OJ C 366, 21.10.2017, p. 19. (24) OJ C 366, 21.10.2017, p. 31. (25) OJ C 482, 23.12.2016, p. 141. (26) OJ C 65, 19.2.2016, p. 40. (27) https://www.housingforall.eu/ (28) https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/legal_gender_recognition_in_the_eu_the_journeys_of_trans_people_towards_full_equality_web.pdf (29) https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/news/news-articles/inadequate-housing-is-costing-europe-eu194-billion-per-year (30) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Housing_statistics (31) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20190514-1 (32) https://www.un.org/en/events/citiesday/assets/pdf/the_worlds_cities_in_2018_data_booklet.pdf (33) https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2020/addressing-household-over-indebtedness (34) Final Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, p. 3. (35) Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, A/HRC/31/54. (36) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Housing_statistics#Housing_affordability (37) Council of Europe Development Bank, Housing inequality in Europe, 2017, p. 34. (38) https://www.who.int/social_determinants/Guidance_on_pro_equity_linkages/en/ (39) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20191119-1 (40) Feasibility study for a Child Guarantee: Target Group Discussion Paper on Children living in Precarious Family Situations. (41) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20200120-1 (42) https://www.oecd.org/els/family/HM1-1-Housing-stock-and-construction.pdf (43) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Housing_statistics (44) Report of the High-Level Task Force on Investing in Social Infrastructure in Europe: “Boosting Investment in Social Infrastructure in Europe”(2018).

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on the right to disconnect (2019/2181(INL))

P9_TA(2021)0021 A9-0246/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–  having regard to point (b) of Article 153(2) TFEU, in conjunction with points (a), (b) and (i) of Article 153(1) TFEU,

–  having regard to Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work(1),

–  having regard to Council Directive 91/383/EEC of 25 June 1991 supplementing the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship(2),

–  having regard to Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time(3),

–  having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union(4),

–  having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU(5),

–  having regard to Articles 23 and 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’),

–  having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights, in particular principle Nos 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10,

–  having regard to the conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO),in particular the 1919 Hours of Work (Industry) Convention (No. 1), the 1930 Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention (No. 30), the 1981 Collective Bargaining Recommendation (No. 163), the 1981 Convention on Workers with Family Responsibilities (No. 156) and its accompanying Recommendation (No.165), as well as the 2019 ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work,

–  having regard to the Council of Europe’s Revised European Social Charter of 3 May 1996, and in particular Article 2 (regarding the right to just working conditions, including to reasonable working hours and to rest periods), Article 3 (regarding the right to safe and healthy working conditions), Article 6 (regarding the right to collective bargaining) and Article 27 (regarding the protection of workers with family responsibilities) thereof,

–  having regard to Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

–  having regard to the European Social Partners Framework Agreements on Telework (2002) and Digitalisation (2020),

–  having regard to the European Added Value Assessment study of the European Added Value Unit of the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) entitled ‘The right to disconnect’(6),

–  having regard to the report of Eurofound of 31 July 2019 entitled ‘The right to switch off’,

–  having regard to the Eurofound Working Paper entitled ‘The right to disconnect in the 27 EU Member States',

–  having regard to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the criteria for determining working time, including on-call and standby time, on the significance of rest time, on the requirement to measure working time, and on the criteria for determining the status of a worker(7),

–  having regard to CJEU judgment in case C-518/15, according to which the stand-by time of a worker at home who is obliged to respond to calls from the employer within a short period must be regarded as 'working time'(8),

–  having regard to CJEU judgment in case C-55/18, according to which Member States must require employers to set up a system enabling the duration of daily working time to be measured(9),

–  having regard to the UNI Global Union’s report entitled ‘The Right to Disconnect: Best Practices’,

–  having regard to paragraph 17 of its resolution of 10 October 2019 on employment and social policies of the euro area(10),

–  having regard to Article 5 of the Decision of the European Parliament of 28 September 2005 adopting the Statute for Members of the European Parliament(11),

–  having regard to Rules 47 and 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0246/2020),

A.  whereas there is currently no specific Union law on the worker’s right to disconnect from digital tools, including information and communication technology (ICT), for work purposes;

B.  whereas digitalisation and the appropriate use of digital tools have brought many economic and societal benefits and advantages to employers and workers, such as increased flexibility and autonomy, the potential to improve work-life balance and reduced commuting times, but have also brought disadvantages giving rise to a number of ethical, legal and employment related challenges, such as intensifying work and extending working hours, thus blurring the boundaries between work and private life;

C.  whereas the ever greater use of digital tools for work purposes has resulted in an ‘ever-connected’, ‘always on’, or ‘constantly on-call’ culture, which can have detrimental effect on workers’ fundamental rights and fair working conditions, including fair remuneration, the limitation of working time and work-life balance, physical and mental health and safety at work and well-being, as well as, because of its disproportionate impact on workers with caring responsibilities, who tend to be women, equality between men and women; whereas the digital transition should be guided by respect for human rights and for the fundamental rights and values of the Union, and should have a positive impact on workers and working conditions;

D.  whereas the use of digital tools for extended periods of time may cause a reduction of concentration as well as cognitive and emotional overload; whereas monotonous repetitive manipulations and static posture over long periods of time may lead to muscle strain and musculoskeletal disorders; whereas the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified radio-frequency radiation as a possible carcinogenic; whereas pregnant women may be at particular risk when exposed to radio-frequency radiation;

E.  whereas the excessive use of technological devices can aggravate phenomena such as isolation, techno-addiction, sleep deprivation, emotional exhaustion, anxiety and burnout; whereas, according to the WHO, more than 300 million people globally suffer from depression and common mental disorders related to work and 38,2 % of the Union population suffers from a mental disorder each year;

F.  whereas the measures taken as a result of the COVID-19 crisis have changed the way in which people work and have demonstrated the importance of digital solutions, including the use of work-at-home schemes by companies, the self-employed and public administration bodies, across the Union; whereas, according to Eurofound, over a third of Union workers started working from home during the lockdown, compared to 5 % who usually worked from home, and there was a substantial increase in the use of digital tools for work purposes; whereas, according to Eurofound, 27 % of respondents working from home reported that they had worked in their free time to meet work demands(12); whereas remote working and telework have increased during the COVID-19 crisis and are expected to remain higher than before the COVID-19 crisis or even to increase further;

G.  whereas women are at a particularly high risk from and are more severely hit by the economic and social fallout resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, due to their predominant or still traditional role of carer of the home and family; whereas the increase of teleworking during the COVID-19 crisis can also pose a higher risk to young people and people with caring responsibilities, such as single parents, families with children and families with dependent relatives requiring care; whereas work and private life during a time of teleworking, social distancing and lockdown needs to be well balanced; whereas gender aspects should be addressed in the context of the right to disconnect;

H.  whereas the right to disconnect is a fundamental right which is an inseparable part of the new working patterns in the new digital era; whereas that right should be seen as an important social policy instrument at Union level to ensure protection of the rights of all workers; whereas the right to disconnect is of particular importance to the most vulnerable workers and those with caring responsibilities;

I.  whereas technological advances have added a new layer of complexity to monitoring and surveillance in the workplace; whereas the use of intrusive digital technologies in the workplace is to some extent addressed and regulated only in some Member States; whereas Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) provides that ‘everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her’; whereas this has been used across national jurisdictions to protect employees’ privacy in the employment context; whereas Article 8 ECHR and the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (GDPR)(13) should ensure that employees receive adequate information on the scope and nature of the monitoring and surveillance and that employers are required to justify the measures and minimise their impact by deploying the least intrusive methods;

J.  whereas the Eurofound study stated that 27 % of respondents working from home reported that they had worked in their free time to meet work demands;

1.  Stresses that digital tools, including ICT, for work purposes have increased flexibility with regard to the time, place and manner in which work can be performed and workers can be reached outside their working; whereas the appropriate use of digital tools can be an asset to employers and workers in terms of allowing greater freedom, independence and flexibility to better organise working time and working tasks, reduce time spent travelling to work, and facilitate the management of personal and family obligations, thus creating a better work-life balance; notes that the needs of workers differ greatly and emphasises in this regard the importance of developing a clear framework which promotes personal flexibility and the protection of workers’ rights at the same time;

2.  Highlights that constant connectivity combined with high job demands and the rising expectation that workers are reachable at any time can negatively affect workers’ fundamental rights, their work-life balance, and their physical and mental health and well-being;

3.  Acknowledges that the effective recording of working time can contribute to respecting contractual working time; stresses that, while it is important that working time is recorded for the purposes of ensuring agreed hours and legal limits are not exceeded, attention must be paid to effectiveness, given that regulations on this matter exist only in a few Member States;

4.  Notes that an increasing body of evidence underlines that the effects of a delimitation of working hours, work-life balance, some flexibility in the organisation of working time as well as active measures to improve well-being at work include positive impacts on workers’ physical and mental health, improved workplace safety and increased labour productivity due to reduced fatigue and stress, higher levels of employee job satisfaction and motivation and lower rates of absenteeism(14);

5.  Acknowledges the importance of using digital tools for work purposes properly and efficiently, for both workers and employers, with care to avoid any infringement of workers’ rights to fair working conditions, including a fair remuneration, the limitation of working time, and a work-life balance, as well as health and safety at work;

6.  Believes that interruptions of workers’ non-working time and the extension of their working hours can increase the risk of unremunerated overtime, work fatigue, psychosocial, mental and physical problems, such as anxiety, depression, burnout and technostress, and can have a negative impact on their health and safety at work, their work-life balance and their rest from work;

7.  Acknowledges Eurofound findings which show that people who regularly work from home are more than twice as likely to work in excess of the requisite maximum 48 hours per week and are at risk of resting for less than the requisite 11 hours between working days, as provided for by Union law, compared to those working on their employer’s premises; highlights that almost 30 % of such teleworkers report working in their free time every day or several times a week, compared to below 5 % of ‘office’-based workers and that teleworkers are also more likely to work irregular hours; stresses that the number of home-based workers in the Union reporting long working hours or who are unable to benefit from non-working time is increasing; notes, further, that regular teleworkers are more likely to report suffering from work-related stress and being affected by sleep disorders, stress and exposure to the light of digital screens, and notes that other effects on the health of teleworkers and ‘highly-mobile’ workers are headaches, eye strain, fatigue, anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders; acknowledges that regular home-based work can take a physical toll on workers, since workspaces set up ad hoc in the home as well as laptops and other ICT equipment may not meet ergonomic standards; calls on the Commission and Member States to improve research and data collection and to conduct a detailed assessment of those problems; stresses that the importance of addressing those issues increases in light of the predicted expansion of teleworking in the longer term;

8.  Points out that telework has been instrumental in helping to safeguard some employment and business during the COVID-19 crisis, but reiterates that, because of the combination of long working hours and higher demands it can also pose higher risks to workers with a negative impact on the quality of their working time and their work-life balance, as well as their physical and mental health; highlights the fact that particular difficulties arise when work is not tied to a specific place of work, when connectivity to work is constant and when work spills into family and private life;

9.  Stresses that workers’ right to disconnect is vital to protecting their physical and mental health and well-being and to protecting them from psychological risks; reiterates the importance and benefits of implementing psychosocial risk assessments at private and public company level and reiterates the importance of promoting mental health and preventing mental disorder at the workplace, creating better conditions for both employees and employers; recognises that committees on health and safety established by the social partners can play a positive role in ensuring more frequent and accurate risk assessments;

10.  Recalls that according to current legislation and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, workers are not required to be available to the employer constantly and without interruption and that there is a difference between working time, where a worker has to be at the disposal of the employer, and non-working time, where a worker has no obligation to remain at the disposal of the employer, and that on-call time is working time; acknowledges, however, that the right to disconnect is not explicitly regulated in Union law; recalls that the situation in the Member States varies widely, with a number of Member States and the social partners having taken steps to regulate in law, collective agreements or both, the use of digital tools for work purposes in order to provide safeguards and protection to workers and their families; calls on the Commission and Member States and encourages the social partners to exchange best practices and to ensure a coordinated common approach to the existing working conditions without being detrimental to social rights and mobility within the Union;

11.  Calls on the Commission to evaluate and address the risks of not protecting the right to disconnect;

12.  Calls on Member States and employers to ensure that workers are informed of and able to exercise their right to disconnect;

13.  Recalls the specific needs of and disparities between different sectors in relation to the right of disconnect; calls on the Commission to put forward, on the basis of a thorough assessment, a proper evaluation and a consultation of Member States and the social partners, a proposal for a Union directive on minimum standards and conditions to ensure that workers are able to exercise effectively their right to disconnect and to regulate the use of existing and new digital tools for work purposes, whilst taking into consideration the European Social Partners Framework Agreement on Digitalisation, which includes arrangements for connecting and disconnecting; recalls that the Framework Agreement provides for the social partners to take implementation measures within the next three years and that a legislative proposal before the end of that implementation period would disregard the role of social partners laid down in the TFEU; insists that any legislative initiative respects the social partners' autonomy at national level, national collective agreements, and national labour market traditions and models, and does not affect the right to negotiate, conclude and enforce collective agreements in accordance with national law and practice;

14.  Calls on the Commission to present a legislative framework with a view to establishing minimum requirements for remote work across the Union ensuring that teleworking does not affect the employment conditions of teleworkers; stresses that such framework should clarify working conditions, including the provision, use and liability of equipment, such as of existing and new digital tools, and should ensure that such work is carried out on a voluntary basis and that the rights, workload and performance standards of teleworkers are equivalent to comparable workers;

15.  Is of the opinion that the new directive should particularise, complement and fully respect the requirements laid down in Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time, in particular as regards the right to paid annual leave, in Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions, in Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers and in Council Directive 89/391/EEC on the safety and health of workers, and in particular the requirements in those directives that relate to maximum working hours and minimum rest periods, flexible working arrangements, and information obligations, and should not have any negative effect on workers; believes that the new directive should provide for solutions to address existing models, the role of the social partners, the responsibilities of employers and the needs of workers regarding the organisation of their working time when they use digital tools; highlights the fundamental importance of the correct transposition, implementation and application of Union rules and recalls that the employment and social acquis of the Union fully applies to the digital transition; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure proper enforcement through the national labour inspection authorities;

16.  Stresses that the right to disconnect allows workers to refrain from engaging in work-related tasks, activities and electronic communication, such as phone calls, emails and other messages, outside their working time, including during rest periods, official and annual holidays maternity, paternity and parental leave, and other types of leave, without facing any adverse consequences; stresses that certain autonomy, flexibility and respect for time sovereignty according to which workers must be allowed to schedule their working time around personal responsibilities, in particular caring for children or sick family members, should be respected; stresses that the increase in connectivity at the workplace should not lead to any discrimination or negative consequences with regard to recruitment or career advancement;

17.  Stresses that progress in new technological possibilities, such as artificial intelligence, play a critical role in shaping the workplace of the future and the appreciation of work efficiency and should not lead to a dehumanised use of digital tools or raise concerns as regards privacy and disproportionate and illegal collection of personal data, surveillance and monitoring of workers; stresses that new forms of workspace and work performance surveillance tools, allowing companies to track extensively workers’ activities, should not be seen as an opportunity to carry out systematic surveillance of workers; calls on the social partners as well as data protection supervisory authorities to ensure that any labour monitoring tools are used only where necessary and proportionate and ensure the right to privacy of employees and self-determination in their work; points out that if employees are allowed to use communication services provided by the employer for private purposes the employer has no right to have access to communication metadata or content and workers must be trained and informed in relation to the processing of their data; recalls that in work relations, the consent of an employee for the processing of personal data cannot normally be considered to be freely given and is therefore not valid, because there is a clear imbalance of power between the employee data subject and the employer controller;

18.  Reiterates that the respect for working time and its predictability is considered to be essential to ensure the health and safety of workers and their families in the Union;

19.  Stresses that the Commission, Member States, employers and workers must actively support and encourage the right to disconnect and promote an efficient, reasoned and balanced approach to digital tools at work, as well as awareness-raising measures, education and training campaigns relating to working time and the right to disconnect; stresses the importance of the reasonable use of digital tools, ensuring that the right to disconnect and all other rights that are designed to protect the mental and physical health of workers are effectively implemented and become established as an active component of working culture in the Union;

20.  Underlines the fact that employers should not require workers to be directly or indirectly available or reachable outside their working time and that co-workers should refrain from contacting their colleagues outside the agreed working hours for work purposes; recalls that time during which a worker is available or reachable for the employer is working time; stresses that, in light of the evolving nature of the world of work, there is an increased need for workers to be fully informed about their working conditions for the purpose of implementing the right to disconnect, which should occur in a timely manner and in written or digital form to which workers have easy access; points out that employers must provide workers with sufficient information, including a written statement, setting out the workers’ right to disconnect, namely at least the practical arrangements for switching off digital tools for work purposes, including any work-related monitoring or surveillance tools, the manner in which working time is recorded, the employer’s health and safety assessment, and the measures for protecting workers against adverse treatment and for implementing workers’ right of redress; reiterates the importance of equal treatment for cross-border workers and calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that workers are properly informed of their right to disconnect, including across borders;

21.  Stresses the importance of the social partners to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the right to disconnect, in accordance with national practices, and emphasises that the work that they have already carried out in this respect should therefore be taken into account; believes that Member States must ensure that workers are able to exercise effectively their right to disconnect, including by means of collective agreement; calls on the Member States to establish precise and sufficient mechanisms to ensure a minimum standard of protection in accordance with Union law and the enforcement of their right to disconnect for all workers;

22.  Calls on Member States to ensure that workers who invoke their right to disconnect are protected from victimisation and other negative repercussions and that there are mechanisms in place to deal with complaints or breaches of the right to disconnect;

23.  Stresses that all remote professional learning and training activities must be counted as work activity and must not take place during overtime or free days without adequate compensation;

24.  Stresses the importance of supporting individual training aiming to improve IT skills for all workers, in particular for persons with disabilities and more senior colleagues, in order to ensure good and efficient performance of their work;

25.  Calls on the Commission to include the right to disconnect in its New Occupational Safety and Health Strategy, and to explicitly develop new psychosocial measures and actions within the framework of Occupational Safety and Health;

26.  Requests that the Commission submit, on the basis of point (b) of Article 153(2), in conjunction with points (a), (b) and (i) of Article 153(1) TFEU, a proposal for an act on the right to disconnect, following the recommendations set out in the Annex hereto;

27.  Considers that the requested proposal does not have financial implications;

28.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the accompanying detailed recommendations to the Commission, the Council, and to the parliaments and governments of the Member States.

ANNEX TO THE RESOLUTION:

RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL REQUESTED

TEXT OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL REQUESTED

Proposal for a

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the right to disconnect

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular point (b) of Article 153(2), in conjunction with points (a), (b) and (i) of Article 153(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee(15),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(16),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure(17),

Whereas:

(1)  Points (a), (b) and (i) of Article 153(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provide that the Union is to support and complement the activities of the Member States in the fields of improving the working environment to protect workers' health and safety, of working conditions and of equality between men and women with regard to labour market opportunities and treatment at work.

(2)  Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Charter) provides that every worker has the right to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity, as well as the right to limitation of maximum working time, to daily and weekly rest periods and to an annual period of paid leave. Article 30 of the Charter provides for the right to protection in the event of unjustified dismissal and Articles 20 and 21 of the Charter provide for equality before the law and prohibit discrimination. Article 23 of the Charter requires equality between men and women to be ensured in all areas, including employment, work and pay.

(3)  The European Pillar of Social Rights provides that, regardless of the type and duration of the employment relationship, workers have the right to fair and equal treatment regarding working conditions, that the necessary flexibility for employers to adapt swiftly to changes in the economic context is to be ensured, that innovative forms of work that ensure quality working conditions are to be fostered, and that employment relationships that lead to precarious working conditions are to be prevented, including by prohibiting the abuse of atypical contracts (Principle No 5). It also provides that workers have the right to be informed in writing at the start of employment about their rights and obligations resulting from the employment relationship (Principle No 7), that the social partners are to be consulted on the design and implementation of economic, employment and social policies according to national practices (Principle No 8), that parents and people with caring responsibilities have the right to suitable leave and flexible working arrangements (Principle No 9), and that workers have the right to a healthy, safe and well-adapted work environment and data protection, as well as the right to a working environment adapted to their professional needs and which enables them to prolong their participation in the labour market (Principle No 10).

(4)  This Directive takes account of the conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization with regard to the organisation of working time, including, in particular, the 1919 Hours of Work (Industry) Convention (No. 1), the 1930 Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention (No. 30), the 1981 Collective Bargaining Recommendation (No. 163), the 1981 Convention on Workers with Family Responsibilities (No. 156) and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 165) as well as the 2019 ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work;

(5)  This Directive also takes account of the Council of Europe’s Revised European Social Charter of 3 May 1996, and in particular Article 2 (regarding the right to just working conditions, including to reasonable working hours and to rest periods), Article3 (regarding the right to safe and healthy working conditions), Article 6 (regarding the right to collective bargaining) and Article 27 (regarding the protection of workers with family responsibilities) thereof.

(6)  Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including the reasonable limitation of working time and periodic holidays with pay.

(7)  Digital tools enable workers to work from anywhere at any time and can, when used appropriately, contribute to improving workers’ work-life balance by allowing them more flexibility in the organisation of their private life. However, the use of digital tools, including ICT, for work purposes also has possible negative effects, such as resulting in longer working hours by inducing workers to work outside their working time, higher work intensity, as well as the blurring of the boundaries between working time and free time. If not used exclusively during working time, such digital tools may interfere with workers’ private lives. For workers with unremunerated caring responsibilities, digital tools can make it particularly difficult to find a healthy work-life balance. Women spend more time than men in fulfilling such caring responsibilities, work fewer hours in paid employment and may leave employment entirely.

(8)  Digital tools that are used for work purposes can create constant pressure and stress, have a detrimental impact on workers’ physical and mental health and well-being and can lead to psychosocial or other occupational illnesses, such as such as anxiety, depression, burnout, technostress, sleep disorders and musculoskeletal disorders. All those effects place an increasing burden on employers and social insurance systems and increase the risk of infringing workers’ right to working conditions that respect their health and safety. Given the challenges presented by the significantly increasing use of digital tools for work purposes, atypical employment relationships and teleworking arrangements, in particular in the context of the increase in teleworking that arose as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, leading to additional work-related stress and obscuring the divide between work and private life, it has become even more urgent to ensure that workers are able to exercise their right to disconnect.

(9)  The expanding use of digital technologies has transformed the traditional models of work and has created an ‘ever-connected’ and ‘always on’ culture. In that context, it is important to ensure the protection of workers’ fundamental rights, fair working conditions, including their right to a fair remuneration and the implementation of their working time, health and safety, and equality between men and women.

(10)  The right to disconnect refers to workers’ right not to engage in work-related activities or communications outside working time, by means of digital tools, such as phone calls, emails or other messages. The right to disconnect should entitle workers to switch off work-related tools and not to respond to employers’ requests outside working time, with no risk of adverse consequences, such as dismissal or other retaliatory measures. Conversely, employers should not require workers to work outside working time. Employers should not promote an ‘always on’ work culture in which workers who waive their right to disconnect are clearly favoured over those who do not. Workers reporting situations of non-compliance with the right to disconnect in the workplace should not be penalised.

(11)  The right to disconnect should apply to all workers and all sectors, both public and private and should be effectively enforced. The purpose of the right to disconnect is to ensure the protection of workers’ health and safety, and of fair working conditions, including work-life balance.

(12)  There is currently no Union law specifically regulating the right to disconnect and legislation in this domain varies widely across the Member States. However, Council Directives 89/391/EEC(18) and 91/383/EEC(19) have the purpose of encouraging improvements in the safety and health of workers with an unlimited, fixed-term or temporary employment relationship; Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(20) lays down minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time, including in relation to maximum allowed working hours and minimum rest periods to be respected; Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council(21)has the purpose of improving working conditions by promoting more transparent and predictable employment; and Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council(22) lays down minimum requirements to facilitate the reconciliation of work and private life for workers who are parents or carers.

(13)  Pursuant to Directive 2003/88/EC, workers in the Union have the right to minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time. In that context, that Directive provides for daily rest, rest breaks, weekly rest, maximum weekly working time and annual leave, and regulates certain aspects of night work, shift work and work patterns. It is settled case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that on-call time, during which a worker is required to be physically present at a place specified by the employer, is to be regarded as “wholly working time [...], irrespective of the fact that, during periods of on-call time, the person concerned is not continuously carrying on any professional activity”(23), and that standby time, which a worker is obliged to spend at home, while being available to the employer, is to be considered to be working time(24). Moreover, the CJEU has interpreted minimum rest periods as “rules of Community social law of particular importance from which every worker must benefit as a minimum requirement necessary to ensure protection of his safety and health”(25). However, Directive 2003/88/EC makes no express provision for a worker’s right to disconnect, nor does it require workers to be reachable outside working hours, during rest periods or other non-work time, but it does provide for the right to uninterrupted daily, weekly and annual rest periods, during which the worker should not be reached. Furthermore, there is no explicit Union provision that enforces the right to be unavailable at all times outside of the (contractually) agreed working hours.

(14)  The CJEU has confirmed that Directives 89/391/EEC and 2003/88/EC require employers to set up a system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured and that such a system be “objective, reliable and accessible”(26).

(15)  In its case law, the CJEU has established criteria for determining the status of a worker. The interpretation of the CJEU of those criteria should be taken into account in the implementation of this Directive. Provided that they fulfil those criteria, all workers in both the private and the public sectors, including on-demand workers, part-time workers, intermittent workers, voucher based-workers, platform workers, trainees and apprentices, fall within the scope of this Directive. The abuse of the status of self-employed persons, as defined in national law, either at national level or in cross-border situations, is a form of falsely declared work that is frequently associated with undeclared work. Bogus self-employment occurs when a person is declared to be self-employed while fulfilling the conditions characteristic of an employment relationship, in order to avoid certain legal or fiscal obligations. Such persons should fall within the scope of this Directive. The determination of the existence of an employment relationship should be guided by the facts relating to the actual performance of the work and not by the parties’ description of the relationship. For the purposes of this Directive, the term worker refers to any worker who has an employment relationship that fulfils the criteria of the CJEU.

(16)  In recent decades, standard employment contracts have declined and the prevalence of atypical or flexible working arrangements has increased, due in large part to the digitalisation of economic activities. There is Union law on some types of atypical work. Council Directive 97/81/EC(27) implements the framework agreement between the European social partners on part-time work and has the purpose of providing for the removal of discrimination against part-time workers, improving the quality of part-time work, facilitating the development of part-time work on a voluntary basis and contributing to the flexible organisation of working time in a manner which takes into account the needs of employers and workers. Council Directive 1999/70/EC(28) puts into effect the framework agreement between the European social partners on fixed-term contracts and has the purpose of improving the quality of fixed-term work by ensuring the application of the principle of non-discrimination and preventing abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term employment contracts or relationships. Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(29), which was adopted following the failure of the European social partners to adopt a framework agreement, has the purpose of ensuring the protection of temporary agency workers and improving the quality of temporary agency work by ensuring equal treatment and by recognising temporary work agencies as employers, while taking into account the need to establish a suitable framework for the use of temporary agency work with a view to contributing effectively to the creation of jobs and to the development of flexible forms of working.

(17)  The European social partners adopted framework agreements on telework in July 2002 and on digitalisation in June 2020. The framework agreement on digitalisation provides for possible measures to be agreed between the social partners with regard to workers’ connecting with and disconnecting from work. In light of developments since adoption of the framework agreement on telework in 2002, it has become evident that there is a need for an evaluation and a legal framework at Union level for some of the elements of that agreement.

(18)  Point (a) of Article 3(1) and Article 3(2) of Directive 2008/104/EC provide for the concept of ‘worker’ to be defined by national law. However, the CJEU has determined that the criteria established in its settled case-law are to be applied to assess whether someone has the status of a worker. In particular, whether “a person performs services for and under the direction of another person, in return for which he receives remuneration” is determinative and “the legal characterisation under national law and the form of that relationship, as well as the nature of the legal relationship between those two persons [are not] decisive in that regard”(30).

(19)  Some Member States have taken steps to regulate the right to disconnect for workers who use digital tools for work purposes. Other Member States promote the use of digital tools for work purposes without specifically addressing the risks, a third group of Member States applies general legislation to the use of digital tools and a fourth group has no specific legislation(31). Action at Union level in this area would provide for minimum requirements to protect all workers in the Union who use digital tools for work purposes, and, more specifically, their fundamental rights with regard to fair working conditions.

(20)  The purpose of this Directive is to improve working conditions for all workers by laying down minimum requirements for the right to disconnect. This Directive should be implemented in a manner that fully respects the requirements set out in Directives 89/391/EEC, 2003/88/EC, (EU) 2019/1152 and (EU) 2019/1158 and should not have any negative effect on workers.

(21)  The practical arrangements for the exercise of the right to disconnect by the worker and the implementation of that right by the employer should be able to be agreed by the social partners by means of collective agreement or at the level of the employer undertaking. Member States should ensure, such as through national labour inspection authorities, that employers provide workers with a statement setting out those practical arrangements.

(22)  Member States should ensure employers set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured, in accordance with the case-law of the CJEU, in particular its judgment of 14 May 2019, Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), C-55/18(32).

(23)  The autonomy of the social partners should be respected. Member States should support the social partners in establishing collective agreements to implement this Directive.

(24)  Member States should ensure, in accordance with national law and practice, the effective involvement of the social partners and promote and enhance social dialogue with a view to implementing this Directive. To that end, Member States should ensure that, after consulting the social partners at the appropriate level, a minimum set of working conditions are established to enable workers to exercise their right to disconnect. Member States should be able to entrust the social partners with the implementation of this Directive, in accordance with national law and practice, for the purpose of providing for or complementing that minimum set of working conditions.

(25)  Derogations from the requirement to implement the right to disconnect should be provided only in exceptional circumstances, such as force majeure or other emergencies, and subject to the employer providing each worker concerned with reasons in writing, substantiating the need for the derogation. The minimum set of working conditions implementing the right to disconnect should provide for the criteria for such derogations and for determining compensation for any work carried out outside working time. Such compensation should ensure that the overall goal of ensuring workers’ health and safety is respected.

(26)  Workers who exercise their rights provided for in this Directive should be protected from any adverse consequences, including dismissal and other retaliatory measures. Such workers should also be protected against discriminatory measures, such as a loss of income or of promotion opportunities.

(27)  Workers should have adequate and rapid judicial and administrative protection against any adverse treatment resulting from their exercising or seeking to exercise the rights provided for under this Directive, including the right of redress as well as the right to initiate administrative or legal proceedings to ensure compliance with this Directive.

(28)  Member States should lay down the arrangements for the implementation of the right to disconnect established in this Directive, in accordance with national law, collective agreements or practice. Member States should provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for breaches of the obligations under this Directive.

(29)  The burden of proof with regard to establishing that a dismissal or equivalent detriment did not take place on the grounds that a worker exercised or sought to exercise the right to disconnect should fall on the employer where a worker has established, before a court or another competent authority, facts capable of giving rise to a presumption that the worker has been dismissed or suffered other detrimental effects on such grounds.

(30)  This Directive lays down minimum requirements, thus leaving untouched Member States’ prerogative to introduce and maintain more favourable provisions. This Directive and its implementation should not constitute valid grounds for reducing the general level of protection afforded to workers in the field covered by this Directive.

(31)  The Commission should review the implementation of this Directive in order to monitor and ensure compliance with this Directive. To that end, Member States should submit regular reports to the Commission.

(32)  In order to assess the impact of this Directive, the Commission and the Member States are encouraged to continue to cooperate with one another, with support from the ELA, in order to develop comparable statistics and data on the implementation of the rights established in this Directive.

(33)  Since the objective of this Directive, namely to establish appropriate safeguards for the enforcement of the right to disconnect in the Union, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

1.  This Directive lays down minimum requirements to enable workers who use digital tools, including ICT, for work purposes, to exercise their right to disconnect and to ensure that employers respect workers’ right to disconnect. It applies to all sectors, both public and private, and to all workers, independent of their status and their working arrangements.

2.  This Directive particularises and complements Directives 89/391/EEC, 2003/88/EC, (EU) 2019/1152 and (EU) 2019/1158, for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 1, without prejudice to the requirements laid down in those Directives.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply:

(1)  “disconnect” means not to engage in work-related activities or communications by means of digital tools, directly or indirectly, outside working time;

(2)  “working time” means working time as defined in point (1) of Article 2 of Directive 2003/88/EC.

Article 3

Right to disconnect

1.  Member States shall ensure that employers take the necessary measures to provide workers with the means to exercise their right to disconnect.

2.  Member States shall ensure that employers set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured, in accordance with workers’ right to privacy and to the protection of their personal data. Workers shall have the possibility to request and obtain the record of their working times.

3.  Members States shall ensure that employers implement the right to disconnect in a fair, lawful and transparent manner.

Article 4

Measures implementing the right to disconnect

1.  Member States shall ensure that detailed arrangements are established, after consulting the social partners at the appropriate level, to enable workers to exercise their right to disconnect and that employers implement that right in a fair and transparent manner. To that end, Member States shall provide for at least the following working conditions:

(a)  the practical arrangements for switching off digital tools for work purposes, including any work-related monitoring tools;

(b)  the system for measuring working time;

(c)  health and safety assessments, including psychosocial risk assessments, with regard to the right to disconnect;

(d)  the criteria for any derogation by employers from their requirement to implement a worker’s right to disconnect;

(e)  in the case of a derogation under point (d), the criteria for determining how compensation for work performed outside working time is to be calculated in accordance with Directives 89/391/EEC, 2003/88/EC, (EU) 2019/1152 and (EU) 2019/1158, and with national law and practices.

(f)  the awareness-raising measures, including in-work training, to be taken by employers with regard to the working conditions referred to in this paragraph.

Any derogation under point (d) of the first subparagraph shall be provided for only in exceptional circumstances, such as force majeure or other emergencies, and subject to the employer providing each worker concerned with reasons in writing, substantiating the need for the derogation on every occasion on which the derogation is invoked.

2.  Member States may, in accordance with national law and practice, entrust the social partners to conclude collective agreements at national, regional, sectoral or employer level providing for or complementing the working conditions referred to in paragraph 1.

3.  Member States shall ensure that workers who are not covered by a collective agreement pursuant to paragraph 2 benefit from protection in accordance with this Directive.

Article 5

Protection against adverse treatment

1.  Member States shall ensure that discrimination, less favourable treatment, dismissal and other adverse measures by employers on the ground that workers have exercised or have sought to exercise their right to disconnect are prohibited.

2.  Member States shall ensure that employers protect workers, including workers’ representatives, from any adverse treatment and from any adverse consequences resulting from a complaint lodged with the employer or resulting from any proceedings initiated with the aim of enforcing compliance with the rights provided for in this Directive.

3.  Member States shall ensure that where workers who consider that they have been dismissed or subject to other adverse treatment on the grounds that they exercised or sought to exercise their right to disconnect establish, before a court or other competent authority, facts capable of giving rise to a presumption that they have been dismissed or subject to other adverse treatment on such grounds, it shall be for the employer to prove that the dismissal or other adverse treatment was based on other grounds.

4.  Paragraph 3 shall not prevent Member States from introducing rules of evidence which are more favourable to workers.

5.  Member States shall not be required to apply paragraph 3 to proceedings in which it is for the court or competent body to investigate the facts of the case.

6.  Paragraph 3 shall not apply to criminal proceedings, unless otherwise provided by Member States.

Article 6

Right of redress

1.  Member States shall ensure that workers whose right to disconnect is violated have access to swift, effective, and impartial dispute resolution and a right of redress in the case of infringements of their rights arising from this Directive.

2.  Member States may provide trade union organisations or other workers’ representatives with a possibility, on behalf or in support of the workers and with their approval, to engage in administrative proceedings with the objective of ensuring compliance with or enforcement of this Directive.

Article 7

Obligation to provide information

Member States shall ensure that employers provide each worker in writing with clear, sufficient and adequate information on their right to disconnect, including a statement setting out the terms of any applicable collective or other agreements. Such information shall include at least the following:

(a)  the practical arrangements for switching off digital tools for work purposes, including any work-related monitoring tools, as referred to in point (a) of Article 4(1);

(b)  the system for measuring working time, as referred to in point (b) of Article 4(1);

(c)  the employer’s health and safety assessments with regard to the right to disconnect, including psychosocial risk assessments, as referred to in point (c) of Article 4(1);

(d)  the criteria for any derogation from the employers’ requirement to implement the right to disconnect and any criteria for determining compensation for work performed outside working time, as referred to in points (d) and (e) of Article 4(1);

(e)  the employer’s awareness-raising measures, including in-work training, as referred to in point (f) of Article 4(1);

(f)  the measures for protecting workers against adverse treatment in accordance with Article 5;

(g)  the measures for implementing workers’ right of redress in accordance with Article 6.

Article 8

Penalties

Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive, or of the relevant provisions already in force concerning the rights which are within the scope of this Directive, and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall, by ... [two years after the date of entry into force of this Directive], notify the Commission of those rules and measures and shall notify it, without delay, of any subsequent amendment affecting them.

Article 9

Level of protection

1.  This Directive shall not constitute valid grounds for reducing the general level of protection already afforded to workers within Member States.

2.  This Directive shall not affect Member States’ prerogative to apply or to introduce laws, regulations or administrative provisions which are more favourable to workers or to encourage or permit the application of collective agreements which are more favourable to workers.

3.  This Directive is without prejudice to any other rights conferred on workers by other legal acts of the Union.

Article 10

Reporting, evaluation and review of the right to disconnect

1.  By ... [five years after the entry into force of this Directive] and every two years thereafter, Member States shall submit to the Commission a report on all relevant information regarding the practical implementation and application of this Directive, as well as evaluation indicators on the implementation practices of the right to disconnect, indicating the respective viewpoints of national social partners.

2.  On the basis of the information provided by the Member States pursuant to paragraph 1, the Commission shall, by ... [six years after entry into force of this Directive] and every two years thereafter, submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation and application of this Directive and consider the need for additional measures, including, where appropriate, amendments to this Directive.

Article 11

Transposition

1.  By … [two years after the entry into force of this Directive], Member States shall adopt and publish the measures necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.

They shall apply those measures from … [three years after the date of entry into force of this Directive].

When Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.

2.  As soon as this Directive has entered into force, Member States shall ensure that the Commission is informed, in sufficient time for it to submit its comments, of any draft laws, regulations or administrative provisions which they intend to adopt in the field covered by this Directive.

3.  In accordance with Article 153(3) TFEU, Member States may entrust the social partners, at their joint request, with the implementation of this Directive, provided that they ensure compliance with this Directive.

Article 12

Personal data

Employers shall process personal data pursuant to points (a) and (b) of Article 4(1) of this Directive only for the purpose of recording an individual worker’s working time. They shall not process such data for any other purpose. Personal data shall be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council(33) and Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(34).

Article 13

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the Union.

Article 14

Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at ...,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

(1) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1. (2) OJ L 206, 29.7.1991, p. 19. (3) OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p. 9. (4) OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 105. (5) OJ L 188, 12.7.2019, p. 79. (6) PE 642.847, July 2020; https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/642847/EPRS_BRI(2020)642847_EN.pdf (7) See, inter alia, judgments of the Court of Justice of 5 October 2004, Pfeiffer and others, C-397/01 to C-403/01, ECLI:EU:C:2004:584, paragraph 93; of 7 September 2006, Commission v United Kingdom, C-484/04, ECLI:EU:C:2006:526, paragraph 36; of 17 November 2016, Betriebsrat der Ruhrlandklinik, C‑216/15, ECLI:EU:C:2016:883, paragraph 27; of 21 February 2018, Matzak, ECLI:EU:C:2018:82, C-518/15, paragraph 66; and of 14 May 2019, Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), C-55/18, ECLI:EU:C:2019:402, paragraph 60. (8) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 21 February 2018, Matzak, ECLI:EU:C:2018:82, C-518/15, paragraph 66. (9) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 14 May 2019, Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), C-55/18, ECLI:EU:C:2019:402, paragraph 60. (10) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0033. (11) OJ L 262, 7.10.2005, p. 1. (12) https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/blog/covid-19-unleashed-the-potential-for-telework-how-are-workers-coping (13) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1). (14) Messenger, ILO, quoted in the European Added Value Assessment study of the European Added Value Unit of the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) entitled ‘The right to disconnect’ (PE 642.847, July 2020): https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/642847/EPRS_BRI(2020)642847_EN.pdf (15) OJ C... (16) OJ C... (17) Position of the European Parliament... (18) Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1). (19) Council Directive 91/383/EEC of 25 June 1991 supplementing the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship (OJ L 206, 29.7.1991, p. 19). (20) Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p. 9). (21) Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 105). (22) Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU (OJ L 188, 12.7.2019, p. 79). (23) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 5 October 2004, Pfeiffer and others, C-397/01 to C-403/01, ECLI:EU:C:2004:584, paragraph 93. (24) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 21 February 2018, Matzak, ECLI:EU:C:2018:82, C-518/15, paragraph 66. (25) Judgment of 7 September 2006, Commission v United Kingdom, C-484/04, ECLI:EU:C:2006:526, paragraph 38. (26) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 14 May 2019, Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), C-55/18, ECLI:EU:C:2019:402, paragraph 60. (27) Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC (OJ L 14, 20.1.1998, p. 9). (28) Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP (OJ L 175, 10.7.1999, p. 43). (29) Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on temporary agency work (OJ L 327, 5.12.2008, p. 9). (30) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 17 November 2016, Betriebsrat der Ruhrlandklinik, C‑216/15, ECLI:EU:C:2016:883, paragraph 27. (31) Eurofound. (32) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 14 May 2019, Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), C-55/18, ECLI:EU:C:2019:402. (33) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1). (34) Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37).

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on reforming the EU list of tax havens (2020/2863(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0022 B9-0052/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the resolution of the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States on a code of conduct for business taxation, adopted on 1 December 1997(1) with the objective of curbing harmful tax competition within the European Union,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 17 June 2015 entitled ‘A Fair and Efficient Corporate Tax System in the European Union: 5 Key Areas for Action’ (COM(2015)0302),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 28 January 2016 on an external strategy for effective taxation (COM(2016)0024),

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 8 March 2016 on the code of conduct on business taxation(2),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 5 July 2016 on further measures to enhance transparency and the fight against tax evasion and avoidance (COM(2016)0451), which includes an explanation of the EU listing process for non-cooperative tax jurisdictions,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 8 November 2016 on the criteria for and process leading to the establishment of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes,

–  having regard to the outcome of the Ecofin Council meeting of 5 December 2017,

–  having regard to the Council’s most recent updates to the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions of 6 October 2020(3),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 15 July 2020 entitled ‘An Action Plan for Fair and Simple Taxation Supporting the Recovery Strategy’ (COM(2020)0312),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 15 July 2020 on tax good governance in the EU and beyond (COM(2020)0313),

–  having regard to its resolutions of 25 November 2015 on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect(4), of 6 July 2016 on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect(5), and of 26 March 2019 on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance(6),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 December 2015 with recommendations to the Commission on bringing transparency, coordination and convergence to corporate tax policies in the Union(7),

–  having regard to the PANA Committee recommendation of 13 December 2017 to the Council and the Commission following the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion(8),

–  having regard to the Commission’s follow-up to the abovementioned European Parliament resolutions and recommendation(9),

–  having regard to the Commission’s proposal on public country-by-country reporting (pCBCR)(10), as well as to its position of 27 March 2019(11) on that proposal,

–  having regard to the Commission study entitled ‘The Impact of Tax Planning on Forward-Looking Effective Tax Rates’(12),

–  having regard to the Commission study entitled ‘Aggressive tax planning indicators’(13),

–  having regard to the study by the European Parliamentary Research Service entitled ‘An overview of shell companies in the European Union’(14),

–  having regard to the Commission country reports drawn up as part of its European Semester,

–  having regard to the ongoing work of the UN High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity,

–  having regard to the ongoing work of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) on the tax challenges arising from digitalisation,

–  having regard to the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community(15),

–  having regard to the questions to the Commission and to the Council on reforming the EU list of tax havens (O-000082/2020 – B9‑0002/2021 and O-000081/2020 – B9‑0001/2021),

–  having regard to Rules 136(5) and 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the motion for a resolution of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, prepared with the assistance of the Subcommittee on Tax Matters,

A.  whereas the existence of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes and harmful tax schemes, including in EU Member States, results in dramatic financial losses to EU Member States, which drains resources from national budgets and hampers governments’ capacity; whereas the cost of corporate tax avoidance is currently estimated at USD 500 billion per year(16); whereas this reduction in tax income is especially problematic in the context of the recovery from the sanitary, social and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and for the financing of the green transition;

B.  whereas according to the Eurobarometer survey of Autumn 2016, 86 % of EU citizens are in favour of tougher rules on tax avoidance and tax havens(17);

C.  whereas the Union adopted its first list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (‘the list’) on 5 December 2017; whereas that list included 17 non-EU countries or territories; whereas the Union has revised the list 12 times;

D.  whereas according to the Corporate Tax Haven Index 2019, the top-ranked jurisdictions in the corporate tax haven rankings are: (1) the British Virgin Islands, (2) Bermuda, (3) the Cayman Islands, (4) the Netherlands, (5) Switzerland, (6) Luxembourg, (7) Jersey, (8) Singapore, (9) the Bahamas, (10) Hong Kong and (11) Ireland;

E.  whereas 95 jurisdictions have been assessed against the three criteria set out in the Council conclusions of 8 November 2016, namely tax transparency, fair taxation and implementation of the OECD BEPS minimum standards;

F.  whereas over 135 countries and jurisdictions are collaborating on the implementation of the BEPS action plan, partly motivated by the risk of being included on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions; whereas in the listing process nearly 40 countries were asked to reform more than 120 harmful tax practices;

G.  whereas the State of Tax Justice 2020 report found that a mere 2 % of global tax losses were caused by jurisdictions on the EU list; whereas the Cayman Islands were found to be the jurisdiction responsible for the most global tax losses, costing others over USD 70 billion a year, or 16.5 % of the total tax losses;

H.  whereas the Council last revised the list on 6 October 2020, removing the Cayman Islands and Oman and adding Barbados and Anguilla; whereas the Cayman Islands still have no corporate income tax and are one of the top 10 destinations for phantom investments according to the International Monetary Fund(18), which raises questions about transparency and about a possible preferential approach to some countries;

I.  whereas the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions currently consists of American Samoa, Anguilla, Barbados, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, the Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu;

J.  whereas several other jurisdictions have made commitments to implementing good tax governance principles with regard to either transparency or fair taxation criteria;

K.  whereas public access to documents and the work of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation remains limited, notably in relation to the EU listing process; whereas the European Ombudsman has a mandate to look into the EU institutions’ application of the EU’s rules on public access to documents(19) and notably the power to inspect all EU documents, whether confidential or not, and can issue recommendations as to whether or not they should be published;

L.  whereas in its communication on tax good governance in the EU and beyond, the Commission highlighted the need to reform the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation and to review the list;

M.  whereas using the most conservative apportionment formula, the EU has the highest losses globally as a result of profit shifting to tax havens and is estimated to lose about 20 % of its corporate tax revenue every year(20);

1.  Recognises the positive impact that the list has already had, but regrets that it does not live up to its full potential as jurisdictions currently on the list cover less than 2 % of worldwide tax revenue losses, making the list confusing and ineffective(21); seeks to strengthen the list through increased transparency and consistency, stricter and more impartial listing criteria, and stronger defensive measures against tax avoidance; deplores the removal of countries with a clear record of promoting BEPS, such as the Cayman Islands, from the list; regrets the insufficient explanation provided to the general public despite European public opinion supporting tighter rules on tax havens;

Governance and transparency of the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions

2.  Observes that the initial listing process was proposed by the Commission in both its communication on an external strategy for effective taxation and its communication on further measures to enhance transparency and the fight against tax evasion; notes that the Code of Conduct Group, mainly through its subgroup on third parties, has been tasked with carrying out the preparatory work for the establishment of the list, despite the fact that this was not in the original mandate of the group; questions the ability and suitability of such an informal grouping to carry out this mission;

3.  Considers that the EU list needs to be reformed at EU level; recommends that its process be formalised, notably via a legally binding instrument; believes this reform should be carried out by the end of 2021 to protect the EU from any further revenue losses in the post-COVID-19 recovery period; demands that the Council task the Commission, with the support of Member States and with the appropriate involvement of the European Parliament, with the assessment of third jurisdictions on the basis of clear and transparent criteria, as well as with making a listing proposal to the Council that should be released publicly before the Council formally adopts the list and its revisions; calls on the Council to grant Parliament an observer role at the Code of Conduct Group discussions; believes that such changes would ensure the impartiality, objectivity and accountability of the listing process;

4.  Highlights the importance of transparency in the listing process so as to allow for public scrutiny and increase the democratic accountability of decision-makers; seeks full transparency regarding the position of Member States; calls on the Code of Conduct Group, therefore, to disclose the participating authorities, topics of discussion, technical assessments, minutes or summaries and conclusions adopted; considers that to improve accountability and transparency, sources of data for the screening of jurisdictions should be made easily accessible when available to the public; considers that the methodology for assessing third-country regimes should be refined and fully disclosed; invites the Code of Conduct Group to systematically release a comprehensive summary of its interactions with third countries, the subject matter discussed and the commitments made by third countries during each step of the assessment process;

5.  Notes that the lack of transparency may lead to decisions being misinterpreted and risks undermining public trust in the listing process, particularly when the outcome of the EU list differs from the lists of tax havens created in a transparent manner by third parties; recalls the initial list compiling Member State lists, as referred to by the Commission in its communication entitled ‘A Fair and Efficient Corporate Tax System in the European Union: 5 Key Areas for Action’ and which contained 30 jurisdictions listed by 10 or more Member States;

6.  Welcomes the steps already taken with regard to transparency, such as the publication of biannual progress reports and the release of certain letters sent to third-country jurisdictions; calls for the letters sent by the Council to third jurisdictions that are not yet compliant with EU listing criteria to include a demand to publish all correspondence with the EU and to consider any response in the negative as a lack of cooperation from the jurisdiction concerned; regrets that these documents are only accessible upon finalisation of the assessment process; calls for all letters and commitments made by third jurisdictions to be made publicly available as soon as they are received; calls for the public information to be made available on a user-friendly platform;

7.  Calls for a regular exchange between the Chair of the Code of Conduct Group and Parliament, including at least one formal appearance at a public hearing per year;

8.  Underlines that Parliament’s role in relation to the Code of Conduct Group should be formalised, including with regard to governance and the criteria of the listing process, such as through an opinion-giving process;

9.  Notes that the EU listing process concerns only third countries; notes that the influence of the Union in tackling tax evasion and harmful tax practices worldwide depends on the example it sets at home; highlights the need for consistency between the listing criteria and the criteria for harmful tax practices within the EU; recalls the statement made by the Chair of the Code of Conduct Group during the TAX3 Committee hearing of 10 October 2018 about the possibility of screening Member States against the same criteria set for the EU list in the context of the revision of the mandate of the Code of Conduct Group; notes that one Member State has received a partially compliant rating on its compliance with the international standard on transparency and the exchange of information on request by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum)(22) and observes that third countries are listed by the Council in the event of such a rating(23); underlines in this regard that some Member States have regularly received country-specific recommendations on the need to address aggressive tax planning(24); highlights that the Commission acknowledges that some of the aforementioned Member States have taken measures to improve their tax systems to address the Commission’s criticisms, but notes that the Commission still indicates that tax rules are currently facilitating aggressive tax planning in those Member States; reiterates its call, issued in the TAX3 resolution, on the Commission and the Council to follow up on the country-specific recommendations issued to the Member States concerned until substantial tax reforms are implemented and to propose actions where and when the need arises, but to regard, in the meantime, at least those Member States as EU tax havens; looks forward to these governments addressing the concerns and reducing tax avoidance throughout their jurisdictions; commits to regularly evaluating any initiatives taken by governments to follow such recommendations and to propose actions where and when the need arises;

10.  Recalls that the procedure laid down in Article 116 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, under which Parliament and the Council act in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, should be applied when harmful tax practices lead to market distortion within the Union;

11.  Invites the Code of Conduct Group to increase the inclusiveness and external acceptance of the process by consulting developing countries and civil society organisations; suggests that a working group or a consultative body be set up with non-EU countries, in particular developing countries, members of civil society and experts, so as to facilitate dialogue on the decisions made;

Updating the EU listing criteria in order to adapt them to current and future challenges

12.  Reiterates the importance of the list’s transparency criterion; calls for clarity on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership, in line with the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive; notes the unequal playing field between countries adhering to the OECD Common Reporting Standard and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA); considers, therefore, that the lack of reciprocity of the US FATCA should be examined under the transparency criterion;

13.  Considers that the fair taxation criterion should not be limited to the preferential nature of tax measures, but should look at broad tax exemptions and transfer pricing mismatches; recalls that the current listing process for third countries does not include a standalone criterion on 0 % or very low tax rates; calls on the Commission and the Code of Conduct Group to include in the assessment tax measures leading to low levels of taxation in line with the ongoing negotiations on Pillar II of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework, particularly as regards minimum taxation; calls on the Commission and the Council to propose a minimum effective level of taxation that would constitute a standalone criterion for the EU list; recommends that any minimum effective rate should be set at a fair and sufficient level, and should also take account of the EU average statutory corporate income tax rate(25) to discourage profit shifting and prevent damaging tax competition;

14.  Calls on the Commission to consider the benefits of adopting an initiative similar to Pillar II of the Inclusive Framework for the EU listing criteria, in the event that there is no political consensus at OECD level on the implementation of those measures by the end of 2021;

15.  Notes that some of the most harmful third jurisdictions, including the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, were removed from the list upon their introduction of very minimal substance criteria and weak enforcement measures; highlights that such decisions may raise questions regarding the authenticity of specific activities and the impartiality of the decision-making process, and undermine public trust; calls for the strengthening of the screening criteria, including substance requirements based on a formulaic approach, as well as proportionality requirements and their monitoring, to increase the effectiveness of the list and its ability to meet new challenges posed by the digitalisation of the economy; calls on the Council to include the automatic listing of third jurisdictions with a 0 % corporate tax rate or with no taxes on companies’ profits as a standalone criterion; notes with concern that third countries may repeal non-compliant tax regimes but substitute them with new ones that are potentially harmful to the EU; recalls the importance of public country-by-country reporting information in order to monitor the substance requirements;

16.  Stresses the importance of BEPS minimum standards in the screening of third countries, in particular Actions 5, 6, 13 and 14; stresses the importance of identifying other BEPS standards to be included as listing criteria;

17.  Supports the broadening of the geographical scope of the EU list, while taking into account the position of least-developed countries; underlines that the fact that some developing countries might lack the resources to swiftly implement newly agreed tax standards should be systematically considered in future assessments; urges the Council, therefore, not to consider development aid cuts that would have a direct impact on the ultimate aid beneficiaries as countermeasures; notes, however, that countries with financial centres of a significant size should not enjoy similar levels of tolerance;

18.  Notes that there is significant divergence between the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions and its national equivalents; notes the Commission’s ambition to better align the national lists with the EU list; calls for the upward convergence and harmonisation of criteria to ensure higher standards and coherence;

19.  Welcomes the Commission’s suggestion to take into account, when screening tax jurisdictions, the methodology developed for the identification of high-risk third countries for the purpose of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, to ensure that the two listing processes are mutually reinforcing;

20.  Notes the efforts to establish a level playing field following the departure of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union; calls for a thorough assessment of said jurisdictions, including continued assessment of the UK’s overseas territories and Crown dependencies, in accordance with the standards set by the Code of Conduct Group; highlights that a future relationship between the EU and the UK should be based on mutual values and geared towards common prosperity, which automatically excludes aggressive tax competition; regrets the absence of potential rebalancing measures in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK, in case of future UK divergence on issues related to tax evasion and money laundering;

21.  Calls for an equal and impartial assessment of the EU’s major trading partners; calls, in particular, for a clear assessment of the US as regards the transparency criteria;

Coordination of defensive measures

22.  Acknowledges the reputational impact of inclusion on the list as an incentive for jurisdictions’ engagement in the screening process; underlines that this is not enough to effectively counter the negative effects that such jurisdictions have on the Member States and the internal market, as the reputational impact on certain jurisdictions of their inclusion on the list is undermined by the shortcomings of the listing process described above, particularly the lack of transparency, soft criteria and the limited geographical scope;

23.  Welcomes the link between tax good governance standards and the use of EU funds established in the Financial Regulation(26), the European Fund for Sustainable Development Regulation(27), the European Fund for Strategic Investment Regulation(28) and the External Lending Mandate Decision(29), and recognises these standards to be a precondition for support provided by the EU; warns, however, against any detrimental effect, whether current or potential, on the citizens of developing countries; highlights the importance of developing equivalent conditions to be applied to corporations and aggressive tax planning enablers and facilitators in public procurement procedures;

24.  Calls for State aid rules and Member States’ national support programmes to ensure that businesses with economic links to non-cooperative jurisdictions, such as those resident for tax purposes in such jurisdictions, are not eligible for support; emphasises the importance of this in the context of intra-European solidarity and trust-building between Member States; recalls that transparency through public country-by-country reporting for all sectors is needed to ensure that this is the case; calls on the Council to urgently conclude discussions and adopt its general approach on the legislative proposal;

25.  Supports and calls for the strengthening of the additional audit and due diligence requirements for companies and investors established in non-cooperative jurisdictions; sees defensive measures as critical in order for the list to have impact;

26.  Notes that strict countermeasures would reduce tax avoidance incentives; highlights that the EU toolbox of defensive measures is undermined by discretionary application by individual Member States; calls on the Commission, therefore, to consider putting forward a legislative proposal for coordinated defensive measures against tax avoidance and evasion, taking into account the negotiations on Pillar II of the Inclusive Framework or on a minimum effective tax rate at EU level, which could include the following:

notes that any tax measures applied to companies should be conditional on linking rules indicated when specific harmful criteria are met by the transaction or by the taxpayer concerned; considers that these measures should be equally applicable in relations between a Member State and a third country and in relations between Member States;

27.  Notes the ‘grey list’ for jurisdictions that are not compliant but are committed to change; calls on the Council and Member States to introduce specific measures such as increased audits or enhanced ‘know your customer’ policies for transactions and due diligence for those jurisdictions;

28.  Calls on the Commission to list which agreements between the EU and third countries or regions have failed to include a ‘good governance clause’ as required by paragraph 3.1 of the Commission communication on an external strategy for effective taxation and outlined in the Council conclusions of 25 May 2018, which adopted the standard provisions agreed for agreements with third countries(30); invites the Commission and the Council to explain the lack of such a clause;

o
o   o

29.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

(1) Annex I to the Conclusions of the Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin) Council meeting of 1 December 1997 concerning taxation policy – Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 1 December 1997 on a code of conduct for business taxation (OJ C 2, 6.1.1998, p. 1). (2) https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/08/ecofin-conclusions-code-conduct-business-taxation/ (3) OJ C 331, 7.10.2020, p. 3. (4) OJ C 366, 27.10.2017, p. 51. (5) OJ C 101, 16.3.2018, p. 79. (6) Text adopted, P8_TA(2019)0240. (7) OJ C 399, 24.11.2017, p. 74. (8) OJ C 369, 11.10.2018, p. 132. (9) The joint follow-up to the European Parliament (ECON) resolution with recommendations to the Commission on bringing transparency, coordination and convergence to corporate tax policies in the Union and the European Parliament (TAXE) resolution on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect, adopted by the Commission on 16 March 2016; the follow-up to the European Parliament (TAX2) resolution on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect, adopted by the Commission on 16 November 2016; the follow-up to the European Parliament (PANA) non-legislative resolution of 12 December 2017 on the European Parliament draft recommendation to the Council and the Commission following the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion, adopted by the Commission in April 2018; and the follow-up of 27 August 2019 to the European Parliament (TAX3) resolution on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance. (10) Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 April 2016 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches (COM(2016)0198). (11) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0309. (12) European Commission, ‘The Impact of Tax Planning on Forward-Looking Effective Tax Rates’, Taxation paper No 64, 25 October 2016. (13) European Commission, ‘Aggressive tax planning indicators – Final Report’, Taxation paper No 71, 7 March 2018. (14) Kiendl Krišto I. and Thirion E., ‘An overview of shell companies in the European Union’, European Parliamentary Research Service, October 2018. (15) OJ C 384 I, 12.11.2019, p. 1. (16) Cobham and Janský (2018); https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jid.3348 (17) https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/51abaf14-6b6e-11e7-b2f2-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF (18) https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2019/09/the-rise-of-phantom-FDI-in-tax-havens-damgaard.htm (19) Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43) (20) Tørsløv, Wier and Zucman (2020); http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/TWZ2020.pdf (21) https://www.taxjustice.net/reports/the-state-of-tax-justice-2020/ (22) https://www.oecd.org/tax/exchange-of-tax-information/global-forum-reveals-compliance-ratings-from-new-peer-review-assessments-for-anguilla-chile-china-gibraltar-greece-korea-malta-papua-new-guinea-and-uruguay.htm (23) OJ C 331, 7.10.2020, p. 3. (24) https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/2020-european-semester-country-specific-recommendations-commission-recommendations_en (25) Tax policies in the European Union: 2020 Survey, DG Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission, p. 100. (26) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1). (27) Regulation (EU) 2017/1601 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 September 2017 establishing the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), the EFSD Guarantee and the EFSD Guarantee Fund (OJ L 249, 27.9.2017, p. 1). (28) Regulation (EU) 2015/1017 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2015 on the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the European Investment Advisory Hub and the European Investment Project Portal and amending Regulations (EU) No 1291/2013 and (EU) No 1316/2013 — the European Fund for Strategic Investments (OJ L 169, 1.7.2015, p. 1). (29) Decision No 466/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 granting an EU guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses under financing operations supporting investment projects outside the Union (OJ L 135, 8.5.2014, p. 1). (30) https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/05/25/tax-fraud-standard-provion-agreed-for-agreements-with-third-countries/

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on mitigating the consequences of earthquakes in Croatia (2021/2504(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0023 RC-B9-0057/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union,

–  having regard to Article 174, Article 175, third paragraph, and Article 212 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund(1), amended by Regulation (EU) No 661/2014(2) and Regulation (EU) 2020/461(3),

–  having regard to Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism(4), amended by Regulation (EU) 2018/1475(5) and Decision (EU) 2019/420(6),

–  having regard to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 May 2018 and the subsequent update of 14 January 2020 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument (COM(2020)0023),

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006(7), amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/1839(8), Regulation (EU) 2016/2135(9), Regulation (EU) 2017/825(10), Regulation (EU) 2017/1199(11), Regulation (EU) 2017/2305(12), Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046(13), Regulation (EU) 2018/1719(14), Regulation (EU) 2019/711(15), Regulation (EU) 2020/460(16), Regulation (EU) 2020/558(17), Regulation (EU) 2020/1041(18)and Regulation (EU) 2020/1542(19),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EU) 2016/369 of 15 March 2016 on the provision of emergency support within the Union(20), amended by Council Regulation (EU) 2020/521(21),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 14 October 2020 entitled ‘A Renovation Wave for Europe – greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives (COM(2020)0662),

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps (‘EU Aid Volunteers initiative’)(22), corrected by a Corrigendum on 24 April 2014(23),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning humanitarian aid(24), amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003(25), Regulation (EC) No 219/2009(26) and Regulation (EU) 2019/1243(27),

–  having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management(28), in particular point 11 thereof, and to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources(29),

–  having regard to the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2020 on the mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund to provide assistance to Croatia and Poland in relation to a natural disaster and to provide for the payment of advances to Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in relation to a public health emergency (COM(2020)0960),

–  having regard to the Council decision of 30 October 2020 adopting the Council’s position on draft amending budget No 9 of the European Union for the financial year 2020(30),

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 November 2020 on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 9/2020 of the European Union for the financial year 2020 accompanying the proposal to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund to provide assistance to Croatia and Poland in relation to a natural disaster and to provide for the payment of advances to Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in relation to a public health emergency(31),

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 28 November 2008 calling for civil protection capabilities to be enhanced by a European mutual assistance system building on the civil protection modular approach,

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 November 2007 on the regional impact of earthquakes(32),

–  having regard to its resolution of 19 June 2008 on stepping up the Union’s disaster response capacity(33),

–  having regard to Rule 132(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas major devastating earthquakes have struck Croatia over the past year, with one hitting the city of Zagreb and the counties of Zagreb and Krapina-Zagorje on 22 March 2020 with a magnitude of 5,5, another two hitting Sisak-Moslavina county on 28 and 29 December 2020 with magnitudes of 5,2 and 6,4 respectively, and a final earthquake hitting the same county on 6 January 2021 with a magnitude of 5,0;

B.  whereas the earthquake in March 2020 was the strongest to hit the Zagreb area since 1880, damaging over 26 000 buildings, of which 1 900 were declared unusable, and causing over EUR 11,5 billion in damage;

C.  whereas the city of Zagreb and the counties of Zagreb and Krapina-Zagorje are still recovering from that earthquake, which caused one fatality, left 26 people injured, and had enormous socio-economic, cultural and infrastructural repercussions and long-lasting psychological effects;

D.  whereas the European Parliament approved an allocation of EUR 683,7 million from the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) in November 2020 to deal with the aftermath of the Zagreb earthquake in March 2020;

E.  whereas the most recent earthquakes in central Croatia practically destroyed the town of Petrinja and seriously affected the nearby towns of Glina, Sisak, Hrvatska Kostajnica, Majske Poljane and other villages in Sisak-Moslavina county, as well as Zagreb and Karlovac counties;

F.  whereas the tremors caused eight fatalities and left 36 people injured, with 30 people saved from the rubble; whereas over 45 000 buildings(34) were damaged and more than 70 000 people were directly affected, with the earthquake also being felt in Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and, to a lesser extent, in Germany, Slovakia and Czechia;

G.  whereas on 22 March and 29 December 2020 Croatia activated the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and requested winter tents, lighting systems and lighting towers, electric heaters, folding beds, sleeping bags and housing containers;

H.  whereas on 4 January 2021 the Croatian Government declared a state of catastrophe in the hardest hit counties, specifically Sisak-Moslavina county and parts of Zagreb and Karlovac counties;

I.  whereas aftershocks continued in the following weeks and are still being felt in the affected areas and well beyond the epicentre of the strike; whereas people are facing constant distress amid uncertainty and fears of possible new tremors, which continue to happen on a daily basis and pose a risk of further buildings collapsing owing to the occurrence of subsequent earthquakes; whereas all of this has been happening in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could trigger mental health issues and post-traumatic illness in the upcoming period;

J.  whereas the regions and cities affected have suffered tremendous material and socio-economic damage not seen since the Homeland War in the 1990s and need to be rebuilt urgently and swiftly, in addition to a long-lasting recovery programme; whereas the quakes have driven large numbers of the inhabitants of the affected areas to the brink of despair and caused various indirect forms of damage in the surrounding areas; whereas the areas in question were already extremely socially disadvantaged and poor in economic terms and whereas the recent earthquakes will have further negative financial and socio-psychological consequences for their residents and the entire region;

K.  whereas according to estimates, roughly 90 % of the houses in Petrinja need to be pulled down; whereas smaller parts and villages around Glina, such as Majske Poljane, were partly without access to electricity and water even before the earthquake, which has now left residents further isolated from basic infrastructure and services;

L.  whereas there are indications that the earthquakes have caused significant damage to embankments and flood defence systems, which may bring about further harm to the already devastated areas in the current season of increased rainfall and floods;

M.  whereas local and regional infrastructure has been severely damaged, historical and cultural heritage ruined, and economic activities haltered, particularly agriculture, livestock and animals, on which the local population is most reliant;

N.  whereas local agricultural facilities such as buildings, machinery, equipment, production fields and feed storage have been severely damaged and whereas a significant number of livestock and pet animals perished or were left behind, suffering the consequences of the earthquake;

O.  whereas the earthquake has significantly hindered the functioning of public and health institutions and infrastructure such as roads and electricity; whereas special focus should be placed on building the basic infrastructure that was lacking prior to the earthquake and whereas access to basic needs and services should be promptly re-established in all parts of the affected areas;

P.  whereas a significant number of schools have to be completely demolished and some university buildings, such as the Faculties of Metallurgy and of Teacher Training in Sisak, can no longer be used for the purposes of carrying out their educational activities at the beginning of the new school semester; whereas these institutions had already been put under strain by the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the children can neither attend classes physically nor use the online education facilities from their homes;

Q.  whereas Sisak Health Centre had to be swiftly evacuated moments after the earthquake, exposing patients with COVID-19 and other patients to increased health risk, including persons with disabilities and children; whereas the health centres in Glina and Petrinja, including pharmacies, suffered major damage; whereas the earthquakes have placed an additional burden on the Croatian health and care systems and have accelerated the spread of COVID-19, particularly in the affected areas;

R.  whereas some territories in the European Union are more vulnerable than others and are at high seismic risk; whereas sustainable reconstruction efforts and earthquake-proof and resilient building projects need to be properly coordinated and monitored in order to remedy the economic and social losses, while respecting transparency, best practices and public procurement rules;

S.  whereas the rapid and professional reaction by the national, regional and local authorities, civil protection and rescue units, the Croatian Armed Forces, various humanitarian organisations and in particular hundreds of volunteers have greatly mitigated the immediate consequences of the earthquake;

T.  whereas the COVID-19 crisis and the spread of the virus further complicates the execution of rescue and recovery activities; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic is a burden on the Croatian economy and necessitates additional financial resources;

1.  Expresses its deepest solidarity and sympathies with all the individuals affected by the earthquakes, with their families, and with Croatia’s national, regional and local authorities involved in relief efforts;

2.  Praises the ceaseless and swift efforts undertaken in the devastated areas by the rescue units, civil protection forces, Croatian Armed Forces, volunteers, civil society organisations, international organisations, local, regional and national authorities, and all other relevant actors in an effort to save lives, contain the damage and bring back the basic activities needed to maintain a decent standard of living; expresses its gratitude to all individuals, organisations and initiatives that expedited these efforts and sent support and assistance;

3.  Welcomes the solidarity of the Member States and other countries that are lending their support to this emergency in the form of mutual assistance, including basic necessities, financial aid, volunteers and other assistance, thereby helping to relieve the burden of the interventions; welcomes the solidarity shown by the EU institutions and the international community through mutual assistance in emergency situations; stresses, therefore, the importance of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in fostering cooperation among national civil protection authorities across Europe in adverse situations and in minimising the effects of exceptional events;

4.  Calls on the Commission and the Croatian authorities to identify all possible ways to provide immediate help and support in ensuring decent and safe living conditions for the many people who have been deprived of their homes and still lack safe accommodation, at least in the form of containers, which could provide a minimum degree of shelter during the harsh winter conditions over the coming months;

5.  Calls for particular attention to be devoted to persons with disabilities, elderly people, and children and adolescents with critical needs, as the most vulnerable individuals in society; welcomes, in that regard, all assistance already provided by organisations on the ground;

6.  Stresses the importance of taking particular care over the large number of livestock, farm and pet animals injured or dispersed following the earthquake; welcomes, in this regard, the considerable efforts of and collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture, local and regional authorities, and animal welfare NGOs;

7.  Underlines the seriousness of the situation on the ground, which is putting considerable and intense financial pressure on the national, regional and local public authorities in Croatia and may lead to irreversible population decline in the affected areas, with the people affected facing devastating social and economic consequences and extreme psychological and social pressures;

8.  Encourages the Croatian authorities, together with Commission experts, to swiftly and thoroughly assess the overall damage in Sisak-Moslavina county in order to begin renovation and seismic-resistant reconstruction work as soon as conditions allow; stresses that great importance needs to be attached to stimulating sustainable economic revitalisation and people’s livelihoods when the regional recovery and reconstruction work begins;

9.  Encourages Croatia’s national, regional and local authorities to closely monitor the reconstruction activities and to ensure that they comply with requirements for earthquake-resistant buildings and infrastructure and apply best professional practices and expertise from other Member States; calls on the Croatian authorities and the institutions responsible to take account of the experiences from the post-war reconstruction process in the affected areas in order to clarify whether irregularities in building practices led to poor quality and contributed to the devastating consequences of the recent earthquakes; welcomes the Croatian Government’s decision to publish the register of companies which took part in the reconstruction process as a first step towards this aim;

10.  Highlights the problems of forecasting associated with earthquake systems in the highly seismic regions of Southeast Europe; calls on the Commission, together with the Member States, to strengthen research and education with a view to putting in place a system that ensures better preparedness in order to prevent and manage similar crises and minimise the impact of similar disasters;

11.  Calls for greater coordination and cooperation between the research and development institutions of the Member States, in particular those facing similar risks; calls for enhanced early warning systems in the Member States and the creation and strengthening of links between the various early warning systems;

12.  Calls on the Croatian authorities to prioritise renovation in its recovery and resilience plan, devoting particular attention to comprehensive preventative renovations that ensure the highest seismic standards for housing and buildings at greatest risk in its most earthquake-prone regions;

13.  Emphasises that in cases of severe earthquakes, such as those recently witnessed in Croatia, mitigating the consequences takes considerable time, which should be taken into account when it comes to a future revision of the EUSF to ensure that there is sufficient absorption time for funding beyond the current application deadlines; underlines the importance, moreover, of strengthening EUSF spending not only for damage repair, but also for resilience in relation to climate change, natural disasters and public health emergencies in order to emerge stronger from disasters;

14.  Welcomes the support from the European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund for disaster risk prevention, resilience, energy and seismic retrofitting in the current financial period; encourages the Croatian authorities to include these measures in their planning and programming for the 2021-2027 EU budget allocations accordingly; calls on the Commission to demonstrate flexibility with regard to programming and the amending of national operational programmes when it comes to dealing with natural disasters;

15.  Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the EU and Croatian institutions, to devise a swift way of distributing the necessary financial and other assistance to ensure a speedy recovery of the affected areas, to make all possible financial means available to help Croatia oversee a rapid recovery and provide assistance to all those in need, and to minimise the administrative burden in accessing help and support for people on the ground;

16.  Stresses the importance of prioritising residents of the affected areas for COVID-19 vaccination; encourages the Croatian Government to implement the decision it has announced to redirect a significant proportion of its vaccine supply to Sisak-Moslavina county in order to immediately protect the health of all residents, helpers and workers on the ground; welcomes, in that regard, the decision of the Member States to give part of their vaccination supplies to Croatia;

17.  Points out to the Commission that the new damage caused by the recent earthquakes to buildings also damaged during the earthquake in March 2020 will require a further assessment and renovation projects; urges the Commission, furthermore, to include targeted measures to deal with earthquakes and their consequences in planning and legislation under the Renovation Wave;

18.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of Croatia, the regional and local authorities of the affected areas, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

(1) OJ L 311, 14.11.2002, p. 3. (2) OJ L 189, 27.6.2014, p. 143. (3) OJ L 99, 31.3.2020, p. 9. (4) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 924. (5) OJ L 250, 4.10.2018, p. 1. (6) OJ L 77 I, 20.3.2019, p. 1. (7) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 320. (8) OJ L 270, 15.10.2015, p. 1. (9) OJ L 338, 13.12.2016, p. 34. (10) OJ L 129, 19.5.2017, p. 1. (11) OJ L 176, 7.7.2017, p. 1. (12) OJ L 335, 15.12.2017, p. 1. (13) OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1. (14) OJ L 291, 16.11.2018, p. 5. (15) OJ L 123, 10.5.2019, p. 3. (16) OJ L 99, 31.3.2020, p. 5. (17) OJ L 130, 24.4.2020, p. 1. (18) OJ L 231, 17.7.2020, p. 4. (19) OJ L 356, 26.10.2020, p. 1. (20) OJ L 70, 16.3.2016, p. 1. (21) OJ L 117, 15.4.2020, p. 3. (22) OJ L 122, 24.4.2014, p. 1. (23) OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, p. 122. (24) OJ L 163, 2.7.1996, p. 1. (25) OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1. (26) OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 109. (27) OJ L 198, 25.7.2019, p. 241. (28) OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. (29) OJ L 433 I, 22.12.2020, p. 28. (30) OJ C 372 I, 4.11.2020, p. 1. (31) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0313. (32) OJ C 282 E, 6.11.2008, p. 269. (33) OJ C 286 E, 27.11.2009, p. 15. (34) According to preliminary estimates by the Croatian Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets (https://mgipu.gov.hr/en).

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the gender perspective in the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period (2020/2121(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0024 A9-0229/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union, and Articles 6, 8 and 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–  having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights and, in particular, its principles 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 16 and 20,

–  having regard to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’, and, in particular, Goal 1 which seeks to end poverty, Goal 3 which seeks to ensure people can live healthy lives, Goal 5 which seeks to achieve gender equality and improve living conditions for women, and Goal 8 which seeks to achieve sustainable and economic growth,

–  having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women of 18 December 1979,

–  having regard to Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of 3 May 2008,

–  having regard to the EU directives from 1975 onwards on various aspects of equal treatment for women and men (Council Directives 79/7/EEC(1), 86/613/EEC(2), 92/85/EEC(3) and 2004/113/EC(4), Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(5), Council Directive 2010/18/EU(6) and Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(7)),

–  having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU(8),

–  having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (‘Istanbul Convention’),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

–  having regard to the Joint Staff Working Document of 21 September 2015 entitled Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020’ (SWD(2015)0182),

–  having regard to the proposal for a Council decision of 4 March 2016 on the conclusion, by the European Union, of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (COM(2016)0109),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 February 2020 on the EU priorities for the 64th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women(9),

–  having regard to its resolution of 30 January 2020 on the gender pay gap(10),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 February 2019 on experiencing a backlash in women’s rights and gender equality in the EU(11),

–  having regard to its resolution of 28 November 2019 on the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention and other measures to combat gender-based violence(12),

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 November 2018 on care services in the EU for improved gender equality(13),

–  having regard to its resolution of 29 November 2018 on the situation of women with disabilities(14),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 April 2018 on empowering women and girls through the digital sector(15),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 January 2018 on women, gender equality and climate justice(16),

–  having regard to its resolution of 3 October 2017 on women’s economic empowerment in the private and public sectors in the EU(17),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 June 2017 on the need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap(18),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 March 2017 on equality between women and men in the European Union in 2014-2015(19),

–  having regard to its resolution of 4 April 2017 on women and their roles in rural areas(20),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 February 2017 on promoting gender equality in mental health and clinical research(21),

–  having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2016 on the situation of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU(22),

–  having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2016 on external factors that represent hurdles to European female entrepreneurship(23),

–  having regard to its resolution of 9 September 2015 on women’s careers in science and universities, and glass ceilings encountered(24),

–  having regard to its resolution of 9 June 2015 on the EU Strategy for equality between women and men post 2015(25),

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 10 December 2019 on Gender-Equal Economies in the EU: The Way Forward,

–  having regard to the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) entitled ‘COVID-19 and the world of work. Fourth edition’, published on 27 May 2020,

–  having regard to the analysis by the ILO entitled ‘Sectoral impact, responses and recommendations related to COVID-19’,

–  having regard to the report by the OECD entitled ‘Women at the core of the fight against COVID-19’, published in April 2020,

–  having regard to the Commission Staff Working Document of 6 March 2019 entitled ‘2019 Report on equality between women and men in the EU’ (SWD(2019)0101),

–  having regard to the report by UN Women entitled ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’, published on 9 April 2020,

–  having regard to the UN Women report entitled ‘From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the Wake of COVID-19’, published on 2 September 2020,

–  having regard to the UN Women publication entitled ‘Online and ICT* facilitated violence against women and girls during COVID-19’,

–  having regard to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report entitled ‘Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Family Planning and Ending Gender-based Violence, Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage’, published on 27 April 2020,

–  having regard to the statement by UNFPA entitled ‘Millions more cases of violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, unintended pregnancy expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic’, published on 28 April 2020,

–  having regard to the Statement of 24 March 2020 by the President of the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), Marceline Naudi, on the need to uphold the standards of the Istanbul Convention in times of a pandemic,

–  having regard to the Joint Research Centre report entitled ‘How will the COVID-19 crisis affect existing gender divides in Europe?’,

–  having regard to the Gender Equality Index 2019 from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), published on 15 October 2019,

–  having regard to the report by EIGE entitled ‘Tackling the gender pay gap: not without a better work-life balance’, published on 29 May 2019,

–  having regard to the report by EIGE entitled ‘Beijing +25: the fifth review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the EU Member States’ published on 5 March 2020,

–  having regard to the 2020 dataset for the survey by Eurofound entitled ‘Living, Working and COVID-19’,

–  having regard to the survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) entitled ‘A long way to go for LGBTI equality’, published on 14 May 2020,

–  having regard to the report by the FRA entitled ‘A persisting concern: anti-Gypsyism as a barrier to Roma inclusion’, published on 5 April 2018,

–  having regard to the survey by the FRA entitled ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey’, published on 5 March 2014,

–  having regard to the ILGA Europe policy brief entitled ‘COVID-19: domestic violence against LGBTI people’,

–  having regard to the European Women’s Lobby publication entitled ‘Putting equality between women and men at the heart of the response to COVID-19 across Europe’,

–  having regard to the IPPF European Network publication entitled ‘How to address the impact on women, girls and vulnerable groups and their sexual and reproductive safety’,

–  having regard to the European Women’s Lobby policy brief entitled ‘Walk-the-talk: EU funds must mirror women’s equality’,

–  having regard to the European Women’s Lobby policy brief entitled ‘Women must not pay the price for COVID-19!’,

–  having regard to the study by Professor Sabine Oertelt-Prigione entitled ‘The impact of sex and gender in the COVID-19 pandemic’, published on 27 May 2020,

–  having regard to the joint report by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights and the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network entitled ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights during the COVID-19 pandemic’, published on 22 April 2020,

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0229/2020),

A.  whereas the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences have clear gender perspectives as they affect women and men differently and have highlighted existing inequalities and shortcomings with regard to gender equality and women’s rights; whereas therefore a gender-sensitive response is needed;

B.  whereas COVID-19 affects different groups in society in different ways and to varying degrees, including women and men, young people, older people, persons with disabilities, victims of gender-based and domestic violence, people from different socio-economic backgrounds, children, single parents, and minority groups including Roma, LGBTQI+ people and refugee and migrant women, and it also has intersectional implications; whereas women and girls will be affected disproportionately in the short, medium and long term and the pandemic has exacerbated existing structural gender inequalities, in particular for girls and women from marginalised groups;

C.  whereas initial official mortality figures show that older men have a higher death rate from the virus than women, while women are more at risk of contracting the virus due to their disproportionately high representation among frontline workers in essential sectors during the current crises;

D.  whereas the EU and the Member States were not prepared for such a health crisis; whereas access to health without discrimination is a fundamental human right; whereas pre-existing barriers in access to critical care services were seriously aggravated by the health crisis; whereas as a result of the cancellation or postponement of ‘non-essential’ health services, a delay, and sometimes barriers, arose in accessing critical care for urgent complaints, including for women; whereas, in this regard, access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and services were hampered with serious consequences, and some legal attempts were made to limit the right to safe and legal abortion in certain Member States; whereas critical needs for women include access to maternity care and safe delivery, availability of contraception, safe abortion and IVF services, and provisions for clinical management in the case of rape; whereas, due to the extraordinary situation in the national health systems, and as essential services and goods become more limited during the crisis, women and girls risk losing their fundamental right to health services; whereas efforts to contain outbreaks can divert resources from routine health services and exacerbate already limited access to sexual and reproductive health services;

E.  whereas reports and figures from several Member States during and following the confinement period revealed a worrying increase in domestic and gender-based violence, including physical violence, psychological violence, coercive control and cyber violence; whereas violence is not a private issue but a societal concern; whereas lockdown measures make it more difficult for victims of intimate partner violence to seek help as they are often confined with their abusers, and limited access to support services such as women’s shelters and hotlines and insufficient support structures and resources can exacerbate an already existing ‘shadow’ pandemic; whereas the number of beds in shelters for women and girls who are victims of violence is only half of that required by the Istanbul Convention; whereas the lives and wellbeing of many vulnerable groups of women are increasingly at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis; whereas femicides are not counted in the official death statistics for COVID-19, but may well be related to the outbreak and the lockdown measures taken during this period; whereas confinement and isolation measures may have led to a higher risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) with cases going undetected due to the interruption of schooling; whereas economic and social stresses are exacerbating factors which could lead to an increase in domestic and gender-based violence in the long term and make it harder for women to leave abusive partners;

F.  whereas the greater use of the internet during the pandemic increases online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence and the online sexual abuse of children and especially girls; whereas human rights defenders, women in politics, female journalists, women belonging to ethnic minorities, indigenous women, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, and women with disabilities are particularly targeted by ICT-facilitated violence; whereas in Europe the risk of experiencing online violence is highest among young women aged between 18 and 29(26);

G.  whereas a majority of workers delivering essential services in the current crisis are women, including 76 % of healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, midwives, staff in residential care homes), 82 % of cashiers, 93 % of child care workers and teachers, 95 % of domestic cleaners and helpers, and 86 % of personal care workers(27) in the EU; whereas it is thanks to them for whom physical distancing is often not an option and who thus bear the increased burden of possibly spreading the virus to their relatives, that our economic, social and healthcare systems, our public life and our essential activities are maintained;

H.  whereas wages in many essential and significantly female-dominated sectors can be low, with often only the minimum wage being paid; whereas horizontal and vertical labour market segregation in the EU is still significant, with women overrepresented in less profitable sectors; whereas 30 % of women work in education, health and social work, compared to 8 % of men, and 7 % of women work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics compared to 33 % of men(28); whereas the ILO warns that certain groups will be disproportionately affected by the economic crisis, including those entering the labour market, thereby increasing inequality, and that women have less access to social protection and will bear a disproportionate burden; whereas there is reason for concern about job losses in women-dominated professions due to the crisis; whereas male-dominated sectors are likely to recover earlier than typical female-dominated ones; whereas the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan should sufficiently address those sectors where women are overrepresented; whereas the Commission’s proposal for a recovery plan highlights that investment in digital transitions holds the key to Europe’s future prosperity and resilience; whereas the Gender Equality Index for 2019 revealed persistent inequalities between men and women in the digital sector, and whereas efforts are needed to mitigate gender gaps and labour market segregation during the digital transformation of the labour market;

I.  whereas women are more likely to be in temporary, part-time and precarious employment than men (26,5 % compared to 15,1 % of men(29)), and have therefore been, and will be in the long run, significantly impacted by job losses and furloughing due to the crisis;

J.  whereas research from Eurofound shows that the COVID-19 crisis poses a serious risk of rolling back decades of gains achieved in gender equality in labour market participation, particularly if activity is further hampered in sectors overrepresented by women(30); whereas research shows that the reduction in the gender employment gap stagnated between 2015 and 2018, and the persisting disparities in employment participation cost Europe more than EUR 335 billion per year, corresponding to 2,41 % of EU GDP in 2019(31);

K.  whereas the gendered impact of the crisis is well evidenced by the work of EIGE and UN Women among others; whereas however the full impact of the crisis is difficult to measure given the lack of comparable gender-disaggregated data across the Member States; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the European labour market; whereas the situation must be carefully examined by sector with gender- and age-disaggregated data, through both the crisis and recovery periods; whereas the full economic, employment and social consequences of the pandemic are still unknown, but preliminary studies, including from Eurofound, suggest significant job losses in service and industrial sectors, as well as contact sectors including retail, leisure and personal services, which are female-dominated; whereas conversely other sectors have preserved employment security despite the crisis, including the public, medical and ICT sectors;

L.  whereas start-up entrepreneurs have been significantly impacted by the crisis;

M.  whereas COVID-19 has exposed a long-standing problem in care provision in many EU Member States; whereas care needs to be viewed holistically along a continuum, from childcare to after-school care, to care for those with disabilities to care for older persons;

N.  whereas the closure of schools, care centres and workplaces has increased the unequal distribution of non-paid domestic and care responsibilities within the home for women who, often in addition to balancing working from home, were left without sufficient support for child and elderly care; whereas remote working is not a substitute for childcare; whereas women usually spend 13 hours more each week than men on unpaid care and housework(32); whereas the COVID-19 crisis has been an opportunity for men to become more involved in care responsibilities, yet has also revealed how uneven the share of care and housework still is, which will most likely affect women and girls more severely; whereas balancing telework and family responsibilities adds additional strain, and women therefore face an increased emotional, mental and social burden; whereas this could result in fewer achievements at work and have an impact on their professional development compared to their male peers;

O.  whereas a disproportionate and extreme burden has been placed on single parents, 85 % of whom are women amounting to 6,7 million single-mother households in the EU(33), almost half of which are at serious risk of social exclusion or poverty;

P.  whereas survey results(34) show that COVID-19 had a heavier impact on women with young children than on men with the same household situation; whereas almost one third (29 %) of women with young children found it hard to concentrate on their work, compared to 16 % of men with young children; whereas twice as many women with children (29 %) were likely to feel too tired after work to do household work, compared to 16 % of men; whereas in April 2020 women with children aged 0-11 were more likely to feel tense than men with children in the same age range (23 % vs 19 %), or to feel lonely (14 % vs 6 %) and depressed (14 % vs 9 %);

Q.  whereas the Commission’s proposal for a recovery plan highlights investment in the green transition; whereas the impact of climate change is experienced differently by women, as they face higher risks and burdens for various reasons; whereas gender equality and the inclusion of women in decision-making is a prerequisite for sustainable development and the efficient management of climate challenges; whereas all climate action must include a gender and an intersectional perspective;

R.  whereas certain groups within society such as single parents, victims of violence, women belonging to racial and ethnic minorities, older and young women, women with disabilities, Roma women, LGBTQI+ persons, women in prostitution, refugees and migrants are particularly vulnerable to the virus or its health and socio-economic consequences, given the measures taken and existing infrastructure and service deficiencies;

S.  whereas women experiencing homelessness continue to encounter specific challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with temporary and emergency accommodation being particularly vulnerable to disease transmission, gender-based violence and a lack of access to hygiene and healthcare facilities;

T.  whereas COVID-19 is a global pandemic affecting every country in the world; whereas the pandemic will have devastating consequences for populations, especially women and girls, in countries with underfunded health systems and the populations of conflict-affected countries; whereas the pandemic will put more than 47 million women and girls worldwide below the poverty line by 2021(35);

U.  whereas, according to recent data from UNFPA, the delay or interruption of community outreach programmes and education on harmful practices globally is estimated to lead to 2 million more cases of FGM and 13 million more child marriages over the next decade compared to pre-pandemic estimates;

V.  whereas the provision of services should be based on data-driven identification of needs, with budgetary resources being allocated on the basis of this research; whereas budgets and the allocation of resources must take into account the different needs and circumstances of men and women;

W.  whereas women are not as equally involved as men when it comes to decision-making in the recovery phase, due to the existing glass ceiling; whereas women, and their representative civil society organisations, must play an active and central role in decision-making processes to ensure that their perspectives and needs are taken into account in the decision-making, design, implementation and monitoring of the recovery phase and related measures at local, regional, national and EU levels;

X.  whereas issues concerning women’s rights and the promotion of gender equality must be mainstreamed and discussed at the highest level, in particular with a view to the implementation of the EU Gender Equality Strategy; whereas, while the European Parliament has a committee dedicated to women’s rights and gender equality and the Commission has a Commissioner exclusively responsible for equality, there is no specific Council configuration on gender equality and Ministers and Secretaries of State in charge of gender equality have no dedicated forum for discussion and decision-making;

Y.  whereas the essential actions identified herein will build resilience and preparedness for future crises;

General remarks

1.  Stresses the need for a gender-sensitive approach, with gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting principles reflected in all aspects of the response to the COVID-19 crisis, to preserve and protect women’s rights throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic period and to enhance gender equality;

2.  Underlines the need to apply the lessons learned from past and current crises to future policy development and implementation so as not to repeat past mistakes, as well as the need to prepare gender-sensitive responses for all stages of future crises to prevent negative consequences for women’s rights; calls on the Commission to facilitate the creation of a standing network for sharing best practices between Member States on how to tackle the gender-related aspects of COVID-19; calls on the Council to establish a dedicated configuration on gender equality and a formal working party in order to deliver common and concrete measures to address the challenges in the field of women’s rights and gender equality and ensure that gender equality issues are discussed at the highest political level;

3.  Stresses that the Commission and Member States should conduct gender impact assessments as a matter of course, including for measures that form part of the recovery plan; resolves to incorporate and strengthen gender equality in Next Generation EU through Parliament’s position;

4.  Urges the Commission to examine the prevalence of the virus among workers in essential sectors during the current crisis, particularly the female and minority ethnic populations in view of their disproportionately high representation in these sectors; urges the Commission and the Member States to respond with appropriate action to bolster their safety at work and calls on the Member States to improve their working conditions, including through the Framework Directive(36), Directive 92/85/EEC and the post-2020 EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work;

5.  Calls on the Member States, the Commission, Eurostat and EIGE to regularly gather data on COVID-19 disaggregated by sex, age and intersecting discrimination, amongst other factors, as well as data on the socio-economic impact of the virus; stresses that recovery measures must be informed by and based on gender-disaggregated data to ensure responses are comprehensive, with special attention to areas where data is scarce and incomparable, such as violence against women and care services; emphasises that such data must be systematically produced and made publicly available; emphasises the need for the Commission and the Member States to support capacity building by national statistics bodies and other relevant actors in this regard;

6.  Emphasises the necessity of equal representation of women and men, including from the most vulnerable groups, in leadership and the decision-making process when enacting and lifting measures in crises, as well as in all stages of the design, adoption and implementation of recovery plans, so that their specific needs and circumstances are fully and appropriately taken into account and effective and targeted measures planned to ensure that the necessary support package is responsive to their needs; invites the Member States to establish dedicated taskforces with the involvement of relevant stakeholders and representatives from women’s civil society organisations during such crises to ensure gender mainstreaming; calls on the national parliaments of the Member States to create committees on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women and girls to ensure a dedicated space for the discussion and monitoring of the crisis and its gender impacts; welcomes the Commission’s intention to encourage the adoption of the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures(37) (the Women on Boards Directive) and urges the Council to unblock and adopt it; further stresses that more women must be involved in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and other crisis response mechanisms both at EU and national level; commits, furthermore, to ensuring panels in Parliament’s hearings and workshops are gender-balanced and to enriching the discussions on recovery measures through diversity;

7.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to closely monitor and strongly respond to disinformation, negative public discourses, insufficient prioritisation, restricted or denied access to relevant services and regressive initiatives related to women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights and gender equality; calls on the Commission to monitor the shrinking space for civil society organisations and demonstrations related to the aforementioned topics due to confinement measures as matters of democracy and fundamental rights during the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period; notes that appropriate measures shall be taken when it is established that breaches of the principles of the rule of law in a Member State affect or seriously risk affecting the sound financial management of the EU budget or the protection of the financial interests of the Union in a sufficiently direct way; calls on the Member States to ensure that restrictive emergency measures serve the purpose of combating the pandemic only, are time-limited and are compatible with fundamental rights;

COVID-19 health-related aspects and the gender impact

8.  Expresses its concern at the high mortality rate from COVID-19; notes the initial higher mortality rate among men and urges the World Health Organization (WHO) and relevant EU agencies to examine the different health impacts on men and women; calls on the Commission to continue to monitor the situation with a view to understanding the long-term health impacts of the virus on women and men; emphasises that clinical research into the virus must involve gender-balanced representation to assess how the virus and any potential vaccine or treatment could affect women and men differently;

9.  Urges the Member States to ensure access to essential aspects of women’s and men’s quality medical and psychological healthcare unrelated to COVID-19, such as cancer screening and treatment, maternal and neo-natal healthcare and urgent care for those suffering from heart attacks and strokes; urges the Member States to operate according to WHO guidelines in these areas;

10.  Regrets that access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services was neglected, restricted or even attacked in some Member States during the crisis; underlines the need for the Member States to guarantee quality and affordable access without discrimination to SRHR services, information and commodities during the crisis and post-crisis period and in similar emergency situations, by recognising that these are essential, life-saving and often time-sensitive services and should be delivered in accordance with WHO guidelines and a patient-centred, human-rights-based approach; strongly rejects any attempts to back-track on SRHR and LGBTQI+ rights and highlights that opponents of SRHR should not be allowed to abuse this crisis as a channel for limiting women’s rights, such as the right to safe abortion; calls on the Commission to facilitate the exchange of best practices among Member States while also involving civil society organisations, who are often expert in these areas, as regards new methods in delivering SRHR-related care and ways of addressing gaps in the provision of services; stresses the importance of communicating with service providers to clarify that these services remain essential and should be consistently provided; emphasises that all maternity services must be available and adequately staffed and resourced;

11.  Urges the Member States to invest in robust and resilient health systems and to commend and support essential workers such as health and social workers by ensuring safe working conditions, providing appropriate equipment, establishing conditions for fair pay, offering professional development, including through higher education, and ensuring access to services such as childcare and mental health services;

12.  Urges the Commission to factor in emergency circumstances such as COVID-19, including their impact on gender-specific healthcare considerations such as SRHR, in its health-related policy responses, for example the EU4Health Programme, the EU Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Health Strategy; calls on the Commission and the Member States to address the health-related aspects of the 2020-2025 Gender Equality Strategy when implementing the EU4Health Programme, such as SRHR being an integral part of health and an essential aspect of well-being and the advancement of gender equality; requests that investments in services essential for gender equality be boosted and that gender health experts and gender balance be incorporated into the implementation of the EU4Health Programme;

13.  Recalls that access to healthcare is a human right and requires adequate funding; reminds the Member States to take account of women’s and men’s unique needs when bolstering healthcare system capacities and critical infrastructure as a consequence of COVID-19, specifically when it comes to health expenditure, disease detection and response, emergency preparedness, research and development and the health workforce;

14.  Calls on the Member States to boost mental health support initiatives during and after this crisis, in view of the stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness brought on by lockdown, as well as of economic concerns and gender-based violence or other factors connected to the crisis, taking into account the differential impact on women and men, and also to invest financial resources to ensure adequate services are available when required; calls on the Commission to organise an EU-wide mental health campaign;

Gender-based violence during COVID-19

15.  Urges the Member States, in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to address the gender-based violence faced by women and girls, including trans women, as well as intersex, non-binary and gender non-conforming persons; urges the Member States to continue analysing data on and tendencies in the prevalence of and reporting on all forms of gender-based and domestic violence, as well as the consequences for children, while confinement measures are in place and during the period immediately afterwards; acknowledges that public responses have been insufficient in addressing violence against women and girls and taking adequate account of the need to prevent violence against women in emergency response plans, as well as for future emergencies, with there being a lack of focus on introducing exemptions to confinement rules, setting up helplines and information sharing tools and signals, and ensuring continued access to healthcare services, as well as preserving safe access to legal clinics and shelters or alternative accommodation with sufficient capacity, police and justice services, emergency courts for the issuing of appropriate restraining and/or protection orders and ensuring they are considered essential; asks the Member States to establish safe and flexible emergency warning systems, offer new assistance services by phone, email and text message for direct police outreach and online services such as helplines, concealed apps, digital platforms, pharmacy networks, and provide emergency funding to support services, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations (CSOs); calls on the Member States to ensure that support services take a coordinated approach to identifying women at risk, to ensure that all these measures are available and accessible to all women and girls within their jurisdiction, including those with disabilities, regardless of their migration status, and to provide gender-sensitive training for healthcare workers as well as front line police officers and members of the judiciary; invites the Member States to share national innovations and best practices in addressing gender-based violence to better identify and promote efficient practices, and calls on the Commission to promote those practices;

16.  In the light of the pandemic, calls on the Member States to ensure a coordinated approach between governments and public services, support facilities and the private sector and to update protocols for victims of gender-based violence to help them to seek help, report crimes and access health services, as well as encouraging witnesses to report such crimes; calls on the Commission to develop a European Union protocol on violence against women in times of crisis and emergency to prevent violence against women and to support victims of gender-based violence during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic; highlights that this protocol should include essential protection services for victims; welcomes the German Presidency’s proposal to establish an EU-wide helpline in all EU languages for victims of domestic and gender-based violence and urges the Council to support it;

17.  Calls on the Commission to promote awareness-raising, information and advocacy campaigns tackling domestic and gender-based violence in all its forms such as physical violence, sexual harassment, cyber-violence and sexual exploitation, particularly in relation to newly created prevention measures and flexible emergency warning systems, in order to encourage reporting in coordination and cooperation with recognised and specialised women’s organisations; calls on the Commission to work with technology platforms in the scope of the Digital Services Act to address illegal online activities, including online violence against women and girls in all its forms, as the internet has been widely used since the beginning of the pandemic for work, education and entertainment, and will continue to be;

18.  Recalls that the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women has noted that the COVID-19 crisis has illustrated the lack of proper implementation of central conventions to protect and prevent gender-based violence; calls on the Council to urgently conclude the EU’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention on the basis of a broad accession without any limitations, and to advocate its ratification, swift and proper implementation, and enforcement by all Member States; calls on the remaining Member States to ratify the convention swiftly and to allocate adequate financial and human resources to preventing and combating violence against women and gender-based violence, as well as to the protection of victims, in particular during crisis periods; urges the Member States to take GREVIO’s recommendations of into account and to improve their legislation to bring it more in line with the Istanbul Convention’s provisions, in particular as regards common definitions for acts of gender-based violence;

19.  Calls on the Council to add violence against women to the list of criminal offences in the EU, and calls on the Commission to propose a directive to tackle all forms of gender-based violence so as to put in place a strong legal framework, to coordinate the sharing of best practices between the Member States, to promote accurate and comparative data collection, to accurately measure the extent of such violence, to consider the possibility of producing forecasts, and to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of key services to victims; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to carry out a new EU survey on gender-based violence with the results to be presented in 2023; stresses the need to collect harmonised data on gender-based violence and calls on the Member States to collect and provide the relevant data when requested, including to Eurostat;

20.  Reiterates its strong support for both the Justice programme and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme; welcomes the creation of the new Union Values strand within the CERV and stresses that it should focus on protecting, promoting and raising awareness of rights by providing financial support to civil society organisations that are active at local, regional and transnational level; recalls Parliament’s position on ensuring adequate funding for those programmes; welcomes the additional allocation for the flagship programmes as agreed in the final negotiations on the MFF for 2021-2027 between Parliament and the Council, from which the CERV programme will benefit; welcomes the provisional agreement for the EU budget for 2021, which allocates an additional EUR 6,6 million to the CERV programme; stresses the need for adequate funding from these allocations for actions aimed at preventing and combating gender-based violence under the DAPHNE specific objective and welcomes the earmarking agreed for that purpose; stresses the need for the EU to be more ambitious in defending our values and to provide adequate funding for these activities; calls, in addition, for the urgent implementation of clear gender-targeted measures, through earmarking, to address the specific needs of women following the crisis, in particular in the fields of employment, gender-based violence and SRHR, including in other programmes and instruments within Next Generation EU and the MFF for the 2021-2027 period, in line with the dual approach of the Gender Equality Strategy; calls on the Member States and the Commission to consider this when submitting national COVID-19 response plans, with due regard to existing measures and funding, and with gender equality at the heart of the economic recovery; calls on the Member States and the Commission to apply gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in the recovery measures;

21.  Notes with serious concern the impact of the crisis on LGBTQI+ persons, in particular young persons, many of whom have had to social distance or quarantine in hostile family environments, increasing their risk of being subjected to domestic and LGBTQI+-phobic violence; notes that a greater-than-average rate of LGBTQI+ people are unemployed or working in precarious jobs with limited and unstable financial resources, resulting in them remaining in a hostile or abusive environment; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that all COVID-19-specific initiatives regarding domestic, gender-based and sexual violence take the increased risk to and specific challenges of LGBTQI+ people into account, and that victim support services and special COVID-19 initiatives responding to domestic violence explicitly reach out to LGBTQI+ victims of domestic violence;

22.  Calls on the Member States to ensure the provision of effective, accessible, affordable and quality medical and psychological support for victims of gender-based violence, including sexual and reproductive health services, especially in times of crisis where such support must be deemed essential; asks the Commission to work closely with the Member States to ensure the full implementation of the Victims’ Rights Directive(38), with a focus on the gender perspective following its recent implementation report(39), and with a view to strengthening the rights of victims of gender-based violence in the new Victims’ Rights Strategy;

COVID-19, the economy, the recovery and the gender impact

23.  Calls for the Commission, Parliament and the Council to take into account the fact that the COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affects women in the socio-economic sphere, including their income and employment rate, and will result in even more profound inequalities between men and women and discrimination in the labour market, and calls on them to work with the Member States to closely examine and make specific provision for women’s and men’s socio-economic needs following the crisis, and to examine horizontal and vertical labour market segregation when implementing programmes within the 2021 EU budget, the next MFF and Next Generation EU, ensuring all programmes incorporate the gender perspective and gender budgeting as well as ex-post gender impact assessments as indicated in the Commission’s 2020-2025 Gender Equality Strategy; calls for the strategy’s effective implementation and monitoring; calls on the Member States to incorporate a chapter with targeted actions to advance gender equality as part of the national recovery and resilience plans, developed in cooperation with national equality bodies;

24.  Emphasises that there will be a need to re-examine the nature and location of work after the crisis; emphasises that working from home is not a substitute for childcare or the need for provision of and access to affordable quality childcare services, nor is it a substitute for disability-related workplace adjustments; points out that flexible work as agreed with employers can provide opportunities for women and men to work from home or from local co-working spaces, and has the potential to lead to a greater work-life balance, potentially resulting in long-term gender-inclusive growth; notes that this approach has the potential to boost rural areas and infrastructure; calls on the Commission to guarantee that the Barcelona targets are met; urges the Member States to ratify the 2019 ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190) without delay, and implement it along with its accompanying recommendation (No. 206), which covers all venues where work-related violence and harassment may occur, such as public and private places of work, as well as work-related communications;

25.  Calls on the Commission to collect disaggregated and comparable data on the provision of different types of care, including childcare, care for older persons and care for persons with disabilities, as well as the carer’s gender, age and employment status, to feed into a study examining the care gap, with a view to devising an EU Care Strategy that would take a holistic and life-long approach to care, taking into account the needs of both carers and those who receive care; notes that the strategy must respect the competences of Member States and regions, but should aim to improve cooperation and coordination at EU level through relevant initiatives and investment, including under the InvestEU programme and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, with benefits for informal and formal carers and the people they care for; stresses that cooperation and action at EU level, together with the efficient use of EU funds, can contribute to the development of quality, accessible and affordable care services;

26.  Emphasises that investment in care is important for ensuring gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, building resilient societies and improving the regularisation of employment, social security and pensions in female-dominated sectors, and also has a positive effect on GDP as it allows more women to take part in paid work; highlights the need for changing models in the provision of care as seen as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and related measures; against this background, calls on the Commission to facilitate the exchange of best practices on the quality, accessibility and affordability of care services, as well as the different models of care services; urges the Commission to examine the situation of informal carers and to share best practices on how Member States can regularise their work; calls on the Member States to address the needs of carers upon retirement; calls in this regard for a proposal for a Council recommendation on social protection and services for carers;

27.  Urges the Member States to encourage men, through for example incentivising measures, to take up flexible working arrangements, as a disproportionate number of women usually avail themselves of such arrangements; urges the Member States to fully transpose and implement without delay the Work-Life Balance Directive and calls on the Commission to closely and systematically monitor the implementation of the directive by the Member States on an annual basis; encourages the Member States to address work-life balance deficiencies by going beyond the standards laid down in the directive, particularly given the necessity to address circumstances exposed by COVID-19 measures and their consequences as regards medical protocols in facilities, including quality childcare facilities;

28.  Calls on the Member States to establish, while measures to face the COVID-19 crisis are still in place, special leave for caregivers and working parents that is non-transferrable and fully remunerated;

29.  Recognises the uniquely challenging circumstances that single parents, of whom a large majority (85 %) are women, have been faced with during the pandemic and post-crisis period as a result of multiple burdens, including the continuous provision of care, concerns as to custody arrangements, potential economic concerns and loneliness; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take into account and further examine their specific situation, including the additional burdens in terms of working, schooling and caring, access to lawyers and the implementation of custody agreements;

30.  Highlights the importance of increasing women’s participation in the economy and ensuring more inclusive growth as a part of the solution to the post-pandemic recovery, as equal opportunities and greater labour market participation among women can increase jobs, economic prosperity and competitiveness in the EU; encourages the Member States to follow the Commission’s Guidelines for Employment Policies in the EU, having due regard to their national labour market models; in this regard, calls on the Member States to take due account of labour market segregation, precarious employment, pay and pension gaps with a view to improving working conditions and social protection through tailored policies;

31.  Stresses that equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between women and men must be a guiding principle for the Commission, Parliament and all Member States when designing response measures to the COVID-19 crisis; urges the Commission to meet its commitment to present binding measures on pay transparency promptly in order to effectively address gender pay and pension gaps, as economic indicators suggest that these gaps are further widening as a consequence of the pandemic; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to consider the Member States‘ best practices, while taking due account of the unique conditions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the different labour market models in the EU; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to revise Directive 2006/54/EC;

32.  Stresses the challenges for the domestic and home care sector and its workers; calls on the Member States to ratify ILO Convention 189 on domestic workers and to ensure that the sector is eligible for measures aimed at mitigating the financial impact of the crisis so that they may resume their activity in adequate conditions; calls on the Member States to ensure the regularisation of the domestic work sector;

33.  Welcomes the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII) and CRII Plus package, which mobilise cohesion policy to support the most exposed sectors and also calls for targeted measures to address sectors predominantly employing women; stresses the importance of the Commission’s instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE), which ensures income support for unemployed or furloughed workers; stresses the need to assess the impact of these instruments on the situation of women and men in the EU labour market and accordingly readjust future policies; emphasises the need for retraining and upskilling programmes for women to take account of shifts in the labour market as a consequence of COVID-19;

34.  Calls on the Commission to support entrepreneurs, in particular women entrepreneurs, as they seek to develop and build on skills or interests gained during the COVID-19 period, including through entrepreneurship opportunities for mothers, lone parents and others who less frequently engage in entrepreneurial activity, to advance their economic independence and to improve access to and awareness of loans, equity finance and microfinancing through EU programmes and funds so that the crisis becomes an opportunity to progress through adaptation and transformation as part of the green and digital economies; calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to place special emphasis on supporting SMEs, particularly SMEs led by women that often face unique challenges when it comes to accessing requisite financing and will also require support during the recovery phase; calls on the Commission, EIGE and Eurostat to increase data collection on female-led SMEs, self-employed women and women-led start-ups, and on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

35.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase the presence in and contribution of women to the artificial intelligence the science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the digital sectors, as well as the green economy; calls for a multi-level approach to address the gender gap in all levels of digital education and employment in order to bridge the digital divide that has been revealed as work and schooling, as well as many services and facilities, have suddenly moved online; stresses that closing the digital gap will increase gender equality not only in terms of the labour market but also through access to technologies in the personal sphere; calls on the Commission to gender mainstream the Single Market Strategy and the Digital Agenda with a view to effectively addressing the under-representation of women in growing sectors for the future EU economy; welcomes the Commission’s Women in Digital Scoreboard, which monitors women’s participation in the digital economy, internet use, internet user skills, specialist skills and employment; stresses its importance in helping the Member States and the Commission to make informed decisions and set relevant targets, particularly given the implications of COVID-19;

36.  Notes the importance of considering the special situation of women who are returning from maternity leave to ensure that they can access government support without discrimination;

37.  Stresses the challenges for the agricultural sector and food supply in the EU, as well as the specific situation of women in rural areas; emphasises the need to maintain the existing thematic sub-programme for women in rural areas through the common agricultural policy strategic plans financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development; stresses that this sub-programme seeks to encourage women’s employment and female entrepreneurship; calls, in this regard, for EU funds to be earmarked to improve living and working conditions in rural areas; calls in addition for a reflection upon rural women’s roles in safeguarding the environment and biodiversity under the European Green Deal; calls on the Member States to exchange best practices on the professional status of assisting spouses in the agricultural sector and requests that the Commission prepare guidance in this regard;

COVID-19 and intersectionality

38.  Stresses that intersecting and structural discrimination create additional barriers and challenges and negative socio-economic impacts for specific groups of women, and that the safety, protection and socio-economic well-being of all persons must therefore be secured and their specific needs addressed by taking due account of an intersectional approach to the crisis and post-crisis measures;

39.  Highlights the importance of including women and girls in the design of accessible and targeted information, and for this information to be disseminated in all settings, particularly in times of crisis;

40.  Underlines that due to a higher life expectancy and higher likelihood of experiencing health problems, older women often account for the majority of residents in long-term care facilities(40), which have become virus hotspots in many countries due to, inter alia, a lack of sufficient resources and knowledge to guarantee the safety and protection of residents; calls on the Commission to analyse the different settings of formal, long-term care provision and their level of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic; calls on the Member States to examine the provision of care for older persons in both residential care facilities and community-based care settings, including through the provision of 24-hour home care or live-in care, and to ensure the wellbeing of older women, including access to care and healthcare services and economic independence; calls on the Council to establish targets for the provision of accessible, affordable and quality long-term care that are equivalent to the Barcelona objectives;

41.  Regrets that many women with disabilities, including those who depend on others for everyday care, and particularly those living in institutions and other closed settings and with high support needs, were significantly impacted by the pandemic, but were unable to access their usual support networks or maintain physical distancing, and had difficulties accessing services and goods; calls on the Member States to ensure that these support networks are deemed essential services and are adequately adapted to the circumstances, and that provision for the specific needs of people with disabilities, in particular women and girls, is made in future crisis and emergency planning measures; calls on the EU and the Member States to ensure the rights of all women and girls with disabilities as enshrined in the CRPD, including their right to independent living and access to education, work and employment;

42.  Invites the Member States to ensure support for migrant women and men is provided through access to critical healthcare during the crisis; highlights the need for refugee and reception centres to take due account of women’s and girls’ needs and risks in view of the known challenges of social distancing and maintaining hygiene, as well as their vulnerability to gender-based violence, and to provide adequate funds to alleviate these risks;

43.  Highlights the unique circumstances of women experiencing homelessness and women in prostitution and their increased vulnerability to gender-based violence, as well as a lack of access to hygiene and healthcare facilities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent emergency measures; calls on the Member States to ensure services and adequate support is extended to those in precarious situations, including women at risk of or in poverty, and women who are homeless or vulnerable to social exclusion; welcomes the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, which provides additional resources to tackle material deprivation and social assistance; highlights the need for homeless and undocumented women to have access to healthcare; notes that the circumstances of these societal groups have been taken into consideration in the Commission’s Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion; calls on the Member States to appropriately consider women experiencing homelessness in their pandemic response plans;

44.  Highlights the additional needs of minority groups, such as women with a Romani background, who face entrenched discrimination and ongoing violations of their rights due to a lack of access to basic infrastructure, services and information, especially during confinement;

45.  Emphasises the essential nature of support services for LGBTQI+ persons, including mental health support, peer support groups and support services for victims of gender-based violence;

46.  Deplores instances of xenophobic and racial discrimination, which increased in the light of the crisis, and urges the Commission and the Member States to take a zero-tolerance approach to racist attacks and to adopt an intersectional approach in their responses that addresses the needs of marginalised population groups, including racial and ethnic minorities;

47.  Urges the Member States to approve and implement the Anti-Discrimination Directive and guarantee that multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination are eradicated in all EU Member States;

48.  Stresses the need for Member States to secure children’s continued access to education, with due attention paid to groups from marginalised socio-economic backgrounds, vulnerable children and girls at risk of or in poverty, who are at greater risk of early or forced marriage; underlines the need to ensure that distance learning is fully accessible to all; highlights the needs of all young people to have the necessary resources and support during school closures and to facilitate their re-entry into the education system once the crisis is over;

External Action

49.  Emphasises that the global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic requires a global response; highlights the vulnerable position of women and girls in many parts of the world – especially in fragile and conflict-affected states – in relation to COVID-19, for example due to lack of access to healthcare, including SRHR, vulnerability to gender-based violence, including FGM and early or forced marriage, employment status, lack of access to education and extreme poverty and hunger; notes that in many partner countries women are employed in feminised sectors such as the garment industry and food production which have been hardest hit, with knock-on impacts for their families’ and communities’ poverty levels and the economic independence and health and safety of women and girls; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that financial support given to partner countries to cope with the crisis is also allocated to support women and girls; calls for strengthened support for women’s human rights defenders and women’s rights organisations and their participation in all levels of decision-making; emphasises that all possible efforts must be made to ensure that a future vaccine will be available to all;

50.  Welcomes the Team Europe package put forward by the Commission to support partner countries in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences and stresses the need for a gender-sensitive approach and earmarked gender equality spending in the allocation of these funds; emphasises the need for a gender-sensitive response to COVID-19 in the implementation of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession III to take account of the unique circumstances of women and girls and to stimulate post-crisis opportunities; encourages the continuation and prioritisation of education in emergencies during this time; calls on the EU and its Member States to prioritise global solidarity by maintaining a sufficient level of official development assistance funding and by supporting partner countries’ responses to the crisis in a comprehensive manner; calls on the EU to focus on strengthening access to healthcare, including SRHR, in its humanitarian and development response to the COVID-19 pandemic, international development, and the new Gender Action Plan III; emphasises that gender mainstreaming and budgeting principles should be followed across all of the NDICI geographic and thematic programmes;

51.  Calls on the Commission to put in place a values-based EU trade policy that ensures a high level of protection for labour and environmental rights and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, including gender equality; recalls that all EU trade and investment agreements must be gender-mainstreamed and include an ambitious and enforceable chapter on trade and sustainable development; recalls that the negotiation of trade agreements could represent an important tool for advancing gender equality and empowering women in third countries; calls for the promotion of and support for the inclusion of specific gender chapters in EU trade and investment agreements on the basis of their added value, building on existing international examples;

52.  Calls on the Commission to put women and girls at the heart of its global response and to fully involve them, listen to their voices and empower them to be an active part of the response to the pandemic;

Gender and the recovery

53.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to fully assess the gender-specific impacts of and needs arising from the crisis and its socio-economic consequences; calls on the Commission and the Member States to allocate extra and targeted budgetary resources to help women recover from the crisis, including in the implementation of the recovery package, particularly in the fields of employment, violence and SRHR, as well as to monitor this spending and gender mainstream all budgetary, policy and legislative proposals, in line with its commitments in the Gender Equality Strategy; calls on the Commission to strengthen the connection between climate change policies, digital policies and gender equality in its upcoming proposals; emphasises that preparatory action is the best way to build resilience in all areas for future crises;

54.  Calls for the inclusion of gender equality as one of the policy priorities to be tackled in the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe and for the EU to ensure gender balance in its bodies and involve women’s rights organisations and women organisations in its work to ensure women’s needs are taken into account after the COVID-19 pandemic;

55.  Calls on the EU and the Member States to maintain a supportive environment for civil society organisations, notably through political support and a sufficient level of funding;

o
o   o

56.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (OJ L 6, 10.1.1979, p. 24). (2) Council Directive 86/613/EEC of 11 December 1986 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity, including agriculture, in a self-employed capacity, and on the protection of self-employed women during pregnancy and motherhood (OJ L 359, 19.12.1986, p. 56). (3) Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (tenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (OJ L 348, 28.11.1992, p. 1). (4) Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services (OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 37). (5) Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (OJ L 204, 26.7.2006, p. 23). (6) Council Directive 2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 implementing the revised Framework Agreement on parental leave concluded by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC and repealing Directive 96/34/EC (OJ L 68, 18.3.2010, p. 13). (7) Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC (OJ L 180, 15.7.2010, p. 1). (8) OJ L 188, 12.7.2019, p. 79. (9) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0039. (10) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0025. (11) OJ C 449, 23.12.2020, p. 102. (12) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0080. (13) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 80. (14) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 164. (15) OJ C 390, 18.11.2019, p. 28. (16) OJ C 458, 19.12.2018, p. 34. (17) OJ C 346, 27.9.2018, p. 6. (18) OJ C 331, 18.9.2018, p. 60. (19) OJ C 263, 25.7.2018, p. 49. (20) OJ C 298, 23.8.2018, p. 14. (21) OJ C 252, 18.7.2018, p. 99. (22) OJ C 50, 9.2.2018, p. 25. (23) OJ C 11, 12.1.2018, p. 35. (24) OJ C 316, 22.9.2017, p. 173. (25) OJ C 407, 4.11.2016, p. 2. (26) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/604979/IPOL_STU(2018)604979_EN.pdf (27) https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/frontline-workers (28) EIGE, Gender Equality Index, 2019. (29) https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/economic-hardship-and-gender (30) Eurofound, COVID-19 Survey, 2020. (31) Eurofound, Closing gender gaps in employment: defending progress and responding to COVID-19 challenges (2020). (32) https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/unpaid-care-and-housework (33) https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/how-will-covid-19-crisis-affect-existing-gender-divides-europe (34) Eurofound, COVID-19 survey 2020. (35) UN Women, ‘From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the wake of COVID-19’. (36) Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1). (37) COM(2012)0614. (38) Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 57). (39) Commission report of 11 May 2020 on the implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (COM(2020)0188). (40) https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/gender-impacts-health

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the EU Strategy for Gender Equality (2019/2169(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0025 A9-0234/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union, and Articles 6, 8, 10, 83, 153, 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–  having regard to Articles 21 and 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–  having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) thereof, in particular goal 5 and its targets and indicators,

–  having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of 18 December 1979,

–  having regard to the directives from 1975 onwards on various aspects of equal treatment for women and men (Directive 79/7/EEC(1), Directive 86/613/EEC(2), Directive 92/85/EEC(3), Directive 2004/113/EC(4), Directive 2006/54/EC(5), Directive 2010/18/EU(6) and Directive 2010/41/EU(7)),

–  having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU(8) (‘Work-Life Balance Directive’),

–  having regard to the Commission proposal of 14 March 2012 for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures (Women on Boards directive) (COM(2012)0614),

–  having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention),

–  having regard to the proposal for a Council decision of 4 March 2016 on the conclusion, by the European Union, of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (COM(2016)0109),

–  having regard to the Commission Staff Working Document of 6 March 2019 entitled ‘2019 Report on equality between women and men in the EU’ (SWD(2019)0101),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 February 2020 on the EU priorities for the 64th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women(9),

–  having regard to its resolution of 30 January 2020 on the gender pay gap(10),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 February 2019 on experiencing a backlash in women’s rights and gender equality in the EU(11),

–  having regard to its resolution of 28 November 2019 on the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention and other measures to combat gender-based violence(12),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 April 2018 on gender equality in the media sector in the EU(13),

–  having regard to the Gender Equality Index 2019 from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), published on 15 October 2019,

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 January 2019 on gender equality and taxation policies in the EU(14),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2018 on gender equality in EU trade agreements(15),

–  having regard to its resolution of 3 October 2017 on women’s economic empowerment in the private and public sectors in the EU(16),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 June 2017 on the need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap(17),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 March 2017 on equality between women and men in the European Union in 2014-2015(18),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 February 2017 on promoting gender equality in mental health and clinical research(19),

–  having regard to International Labour Organization (ILO) Equal Remuneration Convention 100 of 1951, and to ILO Violence and Harassment Convention 190 of 2019,

–  having regard to the Commission recommendation of 7 March 2014 on strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women through transparency(20),

–  having regard to the Commission’s Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019,

–  having regard to the Commission’s communication of 20 November 2017 entitled ‘EU Action Plan 2017-2019: Tackling the gender pay gap’ (COM(2017)0678),

–  having regard to the Commission’s 2019 report on equality between women and men in the EU,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 13 June 2019 on ‘Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Key Policies and Measures’,

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 May 2016 on poverty: a gender perspective(21),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 November 2017 on combating inequalities as a lever to boost job creation and growth(22),

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality(23),

–  having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2016 on external factors that represent hurdles to European female entrepreneurship(24),

–  having regard to its resolution of 4 April 2017 on women and their roles in rural areas(25),

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 November 2018 on care services in the EU for improved gender equality(26),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 April 2020 on EU coordinated action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences(27),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 January 2018 on women, gender equality and climate justice(28),

–  having regard to its resolution of 28 April 2016 on gender equality and empowering women in the digital age(29),

–  having regard to its resolution of 9 June 2015 on the EU Strategy for equality between women and men post 2015(30),

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 10 December 2019 on Gender-Equal Economies in the EU: The Way Forward,

–  having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights and, in particular, its principles 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, 12 and 15,

–  having regard to the EU Gender Action Plan II and to the Joint Staff Working Document entitled ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020’ (SWD(2015)0182),

–  having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of its review conferences,

–  having regard to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), its Programme of Action, and the outcomes of its review conferences,

–  having regards to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Paris Agreement of 2016 and the Enhanced Lima work programme on gender and its Gender Action Plan of December 2019,

–  having regard to the survey by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) entitled ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey’, published in 2014,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

–  having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 7 May 2020 entitled ‘Demographic challenges in the EU in light of economic and development inequalities’,

–  having regard to the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life,

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Culture and Education and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0234/2020),

A.  whereas the right to equal treatment is a defining fundamental right recognised in the European Union Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and is essential for its further development;

B.  whereas the Member States scored on average 67,4 out of 100 in the EU Gender Equality Index 2019, a score which has improved by just 5,4 points since 2005;

C.  whereas harmful structures and stereotypes throughout the world perpetuate inequality, and whereas dismantling these structures and stereotypes will advance gender equality; whereas advancing gender equality and investing in women and girls not only benefits society as a whole, but is also a goal in itself; whereas it is important to examine the persistence and root causes of the leaky pipeline phenomenon; whereas a strong women’s rights movement is needed to uphold democratic values, fundamental rights and women’s rights in particular, and whereas threats to women’s rights also represent threats to democracy;

D.  whereas discrimination on the basis of gender is often combined with discrimination based on identities such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and class and/or migration status triggering double and multiple discrimination; whereas a horizontal intersectional perspective is essential in any gender equality policy in order to recognise and address these multiple threats of discrimination; whereas EU policies have not deployed an intersectional approach thus far and have focused mostly on the individual dimension of discrimination, which does not address its institutional, structural and historical dimensions; whereas applying an intersectional analysis not only allows us to understand structural barriers, but also offers evidence to create benchmarks and set a path towards strategic and effective policies against systemic discrimination, exclusion and gender inequalities, and whereas such efforts must address all forms of discrimination to achieve gender equality for all women;

E.  whereas the EU has adopted important legislation and made crucial progress towards achieving gender equality; whereas, however, these efforts have slowed down in recent years, while movements opposing gender equality policies and women’s rights have flourished, trying to re-establish traditional gender roles as the norm, questioning the status quo and blocking further progress; whereas these movements opposing gender equality policies, family diversity, same-sex marriage, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), as well as gender mainstreaming, try to influence national and European policy-making in order to roll back, in a worrying manner, already established fundamental rights, and whereas threats to women’s rights always also mean threats to democracy and social and economic progress;

F.  whereas health rights, particularly sexual and reproductive health rights, are women’s fundamental rights, should be enhanced and cannot be watered down in any way or removed;

G.  whereas there is a visible backlash in some Member States, including within the areas of economic empowerment of women, and there is a risk that gender equality could further slip down the agenda of Member States;

H.  whereas one in three women in the EU aged 15 or over has experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence(31), one in two has experienced sexual harassment and 1 in 10 has faced online harassment;

I.  whereas violence against women in all its forms (physical, sexual, psychological, economic or cyber violence) is a violation of human rights and one of the biggest obstacles to achieving gender equality; whereas a life free from violence is a prerequisite for equality; whereas gender-based violence in health such as, for example, obstetric and gynaecological violence, are forms of violence that have only come to light in recent years and whereas violence against older women still remains largely under-recognised; whereas disinformation campaigns to undermine gender equality also block progress on the issue of eliminating violence against women, as has been seen in relation to the Istanbul Convention, leading to public opposition and harmful political decisions in some Member States;

J.  whereas trafficking in human beings represents one of the most flagrant violations of fundamental rights and human dignity; whereas women and girls make up 80 % of the registered victims of trafficking and 95 % of the registered victims of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation; whereas trafficking in human beings is a growing branch of organised crime, a form of slavery and a human rights violation, and concerns mostly women and children, especially for the purpose of sexual exploitation; whereas the prostitution market fuels the trafficking of women and children, and exacerbates violence against them; whereas Member States need to design their social and economic policies in such a way as to help vulnerable women and girls to leave prostitution, including by introducing specific social and economic policies designed to help them;

K.  whereas poverty and social exclusion have structural causes that need to be eradicated and reversed, in particular, through policies on employment, housing, mobility and access to public services; whereas prostitution, trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, for sexual exploitation is a form of slavery and incompatible with human dignity, particularly in countries where the sex industry has been legalised; whereas, as a result of the increase in organised crime and its profitability, human trafficking is on the rise around the world; whereas the prostitution market fuels the trafficking of women and children and exacerbates violence against them, particularly in countries where the sex industry has been legalised;

L.  whereas psychological or sexual harassment at the workplace or harassment with important consequences for personal and professional aspirations is, according to the UN, experienced by almost 35 % of women worldwide and harms women’s self-esteem, as well as their negotiating position for fairer remuneration; whereas fair remuneration and economic independence are an essential prerequisite for enabling women to leave an abusive and violent relationship;

M.  whereas equality between men and women can only be achieved by ensuring their equality before the law, as well as equal opportunities in access to education, training and employment;

N.  whereas traditional gender roles and stereotypes still influence the division of labour at home, in education, at the workplace and in society; whereas unpaid care and domestic work is mostly carried out by women, impacting employment and career progression and contributing to the gender pay and pension gap; whereas work-life balance measures, such as the Work-Life Balance Directive, are important first steps, which need, first and foremost, to be properly transposed by the Member States, fully implemented on time and also complemented by further measures in order to involve more men in unpaid care work, stressing its equal importance when compared to professional work, care duties and to foster the equal earner – equal carer model; whereas traditional structures, unpaid care work and disincentives in national taxation policies contribute to pushing or keeping women in second earner status, which has negative consequences for women and their economic independence, as well as for society as a whole;

O.  whereas estimates show that 80 % of all care across the EU is provided by informal carers who are mostly women (75 %), indicating the existence of a gender care gap strongly influencing the gender pension gap; whereas more than 50 % of carers under the age of 65 combine care with employment, resulting in difficulties for work-life balance; whereas carers may often be employed in low-skilled and low-paid jobs, which can be adapted to their caregiving schedule, as well as be obliged to reduce their working hours or leave paid work; whereas between 7 % and 21 % of informal carers reduce their working hours, and between 3 % and 18 % withdraw from the labour market; whereas the provision of quality care in the EU varies greatly both within and between the Member States, between private and public settings, urban and rural areas and different age groups; whereas data on the provision of care in the EU are rather fragmented and a holistic approach is missing, which would address the demographic challenges the EU is facing with the resultant pressure on public expenditure;

P.  whereas shortcomings exist in matching childcare systems in the various Member States to the needs of parents, including single parents (mainly single mothers), and difficulties persist in reconciling family, private and professional life, especially for women; whereas women over the age of 45 are often perceived as under-employed and are employed under far worse conditions than men, especially when they return to work after maternity or parental leave or when they are forced to reconcile work with caring for dependants;

Q.  whereas, in order to promote work-life balance, a well-thought-out system of care-related leave with high-quality, easily accessible and affordable care facilities should be provided, and expenditure on these facilities should be considered part of infrastructure investments; whereas these services are a precondition for women’s participation in the labour market and in leading positions in science and research;

R.  whereas maternity protection is a right that must be upheld in full, and whereas an increase in maternity leave periods with full rights and pay at 100 % should be a reality;

S.  whereas the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, even if enshrined in law, is not always guaranteed; whereas collective bargaining is an important asset in reversing and overcoming inequalities between men and women in the labour market; whereas the EU gender gap in hourly pay is 16 %, although this varies significantly between Member States; whereas the gender pay gap rises to 40 % when employment rates and overall labour market participation are considered; whereas the ramifications of the gender pay gap include a 37 % gender gap in pension income; whereas with regard to labour market participation, 8 % of men in the EU are working part-time compared to 31 % of women, revealing persistent inequalities, the root causes of which need to be tackled;

T.  whereas, although the participation of women in the labour market has grown, there are persistent gender gaps which can put women in vulnerable or precarious situations; whereas the gender employment gap in the EU stands at 11,6 %(32); whereas women are under-represented in well-paid sectors and decision-making positions, and work more frequently in jobs that they are overqualified for, with one in five women workers in the EU belonging to the lowest wage group, compared to 1 in 10 of men; whereas the ramifications of the gender pay gap include a 37 %(33) gender gap in pension income, a situation that will persist for decades to come, and an unequal level of economic independence between women and men; whereas ambitious efforts are needed to close all these gender gaps;

U.  whereas the under-representation of women in the labour market also results in their unequal participation in decision-making or wages, and therefore limits women’s potential to change economic, political, social and cultural structures; whereas vertical and horizontal segregation in occupation and discriminatory practices in recruitment and promotion are one of the main causes of the gender pay gap; whereas gender quotas, zipper list systems and subsequent sanctions in cases of non-compliance or non‑functioning procedures have proven to be efficient measures to secure parity and to work against unequal power relations;

V.  whereas there is an economic argument in women’s full participation in the economy, as gender employment gap costs Europe EUR 370 billion per year(34);

W.  whereas access to comprehensive and age-appropriate information, and to sexuality and relationship education, as well as access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights, including family planning, contraceptive methods and safe and legal abortion, are essential to achieving gender equality and eliminating gender-based violence; whereas violations of women’s SRHR, including the denial of safe and legal abortion care, are a form of violence against women; whereas comprehensive sexuality and relationship education, and girls’ and women’s autonomy and ability to free and independent decisions about their bodies and lives, are preconditions for their economic independence and thus for gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence;

X.  whereas women have been at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and whereas the present crisis is having a disproportionate impact on women, girls and gender equality; whereas these impacts range from a worrying increase in gender-based violence and harassment, unpaid and unequal care and domestic responsibilities, through restricted access to SRHR, to massive economic and work impacts for women, particularly healthcare workers, caregivers and workers in other feminised and precarious sectors; whereas specific measures to counterbalance this are needed; whereas recovery programmes or transition funds should be allocated in a gender-balanced manner; whereas austerity measures have been proven harmful to women, women’s rights and gender equality in the past;

Y.  whereas respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, including gender equality, is a prerequisite for the creation and distribution of diverse cultural and educational expressions, as all cultural and creative sectors have a considerable influence on our beliefs, values and perception of gender issues;

Z.  whereas women and girls face a number of obstacles in the field of sports and are not only subject to violence, but also face discrimination in pay, prize money and working conditions, and are widely under-represented on the boards of sports organisations and media;

AA.  whereas women constitute only 34,4 % of the self-employed in the EU and 30 % of start-up entrepreneurs;

AB.  whereas poverty and social exclusion in Europe disproportionately affect women, in particular single mothers, women with disabilities, elderly women, women from rural and remote areas, and migrant and ethnic minority women; whereas 15 % of households with children at EU level are single-parent households; whereas, on average, 85 % of these households are run by single mothers, while 47 % of single-parent households were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2017; whereas homelessness among women is a growing problem; whereas the Anti-Discrimination Directive, which would provide greater protection through a horizontal approach still remains blocked in the Council;

AC.  whereas gender equality and the inclusion of women in decision-making is a prerequisite for sustainable development and the efficient management of climate challenges in order to achieve a fair and just transition that leaves no one behind; whereas the climate crisis is exacerbating gender inequalities and makes it harder to achieve gender justice; whereas the impact of climate change is experienced differently by women, as they are more vulnerable and face higher risks and burdens for various reasons, ranging from unequal access to resources, education, job opportunities and land rights to social and cultural norms, stereotypes and their diverse intersectional experiences; whereas all climate action must include a gender and an intersectional perspective; whereas women’s rights must be strengthened to dampen the effects of climate change on women, and opportunities must be created to facilitate women playing stronger roles in the climate change discussions and decisions as leaders, professionals and technical agents for change;

AD.  whereas women in rural areas face numerous challenges, including lower living standards, more limited employment opportunities, relative isolation from markets, limited access to infrastructure, including rural infrastructure, public services and healthcare, access to education (including sexuality education) and information on educational opportunities, and are under-represented in decision-making forums; whereas they may perform invisible work on farms owing to the lack of a formal status for assisting spouses, resulting in problems in their work being recognised by national systems;

AE.  whereas 46 million women and girls with disabilities live in the European Union; whereas this figure represents nearly 60 % of the overall population of persons with disabilities; whereas most disabilities are acquired with age;

AF.  whereas more than half of women of working age with disabilities are economically inactive; whereas in all Member States the severe material deprivation rate of women with disabilities is higher than that of women without disabilities;

AG.  whereas the Gender Equality Index for 2019 reveals persistent inequalities between men and women in the digital sector and highlights the need for a gender perspective in and gender impact assessment of all policies addressing the digital transformation; whereas closing the digital gender gap with better access to technology and the internet for girls and women is of paramount importance; whereas women are an untapped resource in emerging fields, such as digital, AI and ICT, with women accounting for just 16 % of the almost eight million people working in ICT in Europe; whereas the proportion of men working in the digital sector is three times greater than the proportion of women; whereas boosting the employment of more women in the digital sector and other sectors of the future is vitally important to fight the gender pay and pension gaps and guarantee their economic independence, as well as to create new opportunities for employment, including for groups normally excluded from the labour market; whereas in this regard it is essential that women’s participation in digital entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and ITC education and employment is encouraged; whereas by integrating more women into the digital jobs market, there is potential for an EUR 16 billion GDP boost to the European economy; whereas gender inequalities and discrimination have been reproduced through the design, input and use of artificial intelligence (AI); whereas incomplete data sets and incorrect bias can distort an AI system’s reasoning and jeopardise gender equality in society;

AH.  whereas collecting gender-disaggregated data is essential to making inequalities visible and creating targeted policies, and is of the utmost importance for a gender-focused approach to all issues at stake, such as, among others, gender-based violence, disabilities, cancer and rare or chronic diseases, the impact of climate change, digital skills and STEM; whereas gender-sensitive data is still lacking in different areas of the EU’s and Member States’ policies;

AI.  whereas women are disproportionately under-represented in the news and information media; whereas the unequal portrayal of women and men in the media perpetuate stereotypes affecting the image of women and men;

AJ.  whereas gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting and gender impact assessments are essential tools for achieving gender equality in all EU policy areas; whereas gender equality is addressed in EU policies through various funds and instruments, and whereas enabling optimal synergies between them is a very important tool; whereas this is especially important for the socio-economic measures taken in the aftermath of the COVID-19 health crisis, including the EU Recovery Plan;

AK.  whereas the gender equality strategy 2020-2025 and the strengthening of gender-sensitive policies at EU level are essential to ensure that the impact of the COVID-19 crisis does not widen gender inequality and that the responses to it contribute to reducing discrimination against women;

AL.  whereas the COVID-19 crisis has also impacted sex workers, increasing their risk of loss of income and poverty, and is characterised by the continued lack of a framework and enforcement of their human rights;

AM.  whereas united action is essential to upwardly converge and harmonise women’s rights in Europe through a strong pact between Member States by sharing and committing to the most ambitious legislation and best practices currently in force in the EU;

AN.  whereas, while there is a Commissioner exclusively responsible for Equality and the European Parliament has a committee dedicated to Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, there is no specific Council configuration on Gender Equality and ministers and secretaries of state in charge of gender equality have no dedicated forum for discussion;

General remarks

1.  Welcomes the adoption of the Commission communication entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’, delivered on time within the first 100 days of the new Commission, as a strong sign for political engagement with European gender equality policies and as a decisive, clear and ambitious policy framework to further realise women’s rights and gender equality, and counter attacks against them; supports the Commission’s goal of a European Union without discrimination and structural inequalities, for all people in all their diversity; underlines the importance of the chosen dual approach, consisting of targeted measures and the commitment to consistently implement gender mainstreaming and intersectionality as cross-cutting principles, and welcomes the strong link between the areas of work and the elimination of stereotypes, gender biases and discrimination, and calls for strong monitoring mechanisms in order to regularly measure and evaluate the success of the strategy and its measures;

2.  Stresses, however, the need for an opportunities-based approach within the gender equality strategy; asks the Commission to take ‘equal opportunities for women’ as the starting point to further roll out the strategy;

3.  Welcomes the priority given to gender equality by the new Commission and its President, as well as the nomination of a dedicated Commissioner for Equality, and awaits the annual report on equality as a useful evaluation tool to assess progress and to spot the existing gaps and the needs for gender mainstreaming in the policy framework;

4.  Welcomes the announcement of several complementary EU initiatives, such as a European disability strategy with binding measures post-2020, the LGBTI+ strategy and the Post-2020 EU Framework on Roma Equality and Inclusion Strategies, and calls for a strategic framework to connect them, and for an intersectional approach to be adopted in all of them; stresses the importance of monitoring the situations being addressed and of flexibly adapting the gender equality and other relevant strategies to results, as well as to the upcoming challenges, using current policies or suggesting new tools, as the recent COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated; reiterates the need to step up specific measures for non-discrimination, and the equality and protection of women subject to structural gender inequalities, and reminds the Commission that further efforts in this direction are needed;

5.  Regrets the fact that the strategy remains vague on the issue of timelines for several, highly welcomed, measures and that it sets neither concrete gender equality targets to be achieved by 2025 nor clear monitoring tools; calls, therefore, on the Commission to establish a concrete roadmap with timeframes, objectives, a yearly review and monitoring mechanism, clear and measurable indicators of success and additional targeted actions; calls in addition for guidelines to be put forward, as well as a roadmap on how to implement the intersectional and gender mainstreaming approaches, including gender budgeting, effectively in EU policy making, and for specific tools (such as indicators, targets and monitoring tools) to be developed, as well as for adequate human and financial resources to be allocated, allowing their application in all EU policies; calls for clear timeframes with regard to the development of the announced framework for the cooperation of internet platforms, the EU strategy on the eradication of trafficking in human beings, the gender equality strategy in the audiovisual industry (as part of the MEDIA sub-programme) and the EU-wide communication campaign on combating gender stereotypes;

6.  Calls on the Commission to respect the commitments of the 2020 Work Programme in any revision and to deliver a proposal for binding pay transparency measures, an EU strategy on victims’ rights and a new EU strategy towards the eradication of trafficking in human beings regrets that the proposal for binding pay transparency measures was not introduced in 2020 as planned;

7.  Urges the Member States to approve and implement the Anti-Discrimination Directive and guarantee that multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination are eradicated in all EU Member States;

8.  Recalls the need to combat multi-layered discrimination, especially against vulnerable groups, including women with disabilities, black women, migrant, ethnic minority and Roma women, older women, single mothers, LGBTIQ+ people and homeless women, and stresses the importance of ensuring that they benefit from the objectives and actions of the EU strategy for gender equality 2020-2025; calls on the Commission to lay down explicit guidelines on the implementation of the intersectional framework, which should prioritise the participation of the groups affected by the intersecting forms of discrimination in order to assess the differential impact of policies and actions so as to tailor responses in each area that are grounded in the principle of non-discrimination;

9.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in line with the aims of the strategy, to systematically incorporate a gender perspective at all stages of the response to the COVID-19 crisis and promote women’s involvement at all levels of the decision-making process; underlines that it would be a wrong signal to postpone some elements of the new strategy and urges the Commission therefore to stay on track with the new strategy; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take due account of women’s needs while designing and distributing funds agreed within the ‘NextGenerationEU’ recovery plan for Europe;

10.  Stresses the need to ensure the reliable and adequate collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data to act as the basis for decision-making by securing and expanding the funding, and capacities of the EIGE;

11.  Calls on the Member States to regularly exchange best practices and commit to an upward convergence and harmonisation of women’s rights in Europe by introducing the most ambitious national measures and practices currently in force in the EU Member States into their respective legislation;

12.  Calls, furthermore, for the Gender Equality Index by the EIGE to be incorporated within the Commission’s monitoring process, and for the development of a gender pension gap indicator, following Parliament’s recommendations in its resolution of 14 June 2017 on the need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap(35), to be monitored within the gender equality strategy as the only strategy which gathers together all of the inequalities women experience throughout their lives; calls further for other indicators on gender pay and care gaps, the gender digital divide, etc. to be considered;

13.  Calls on the Council to establish a configuration on Gender Equality gathering ministers and secretaries of state in charge of gender equality in a single dedicated forum in order to deliver common and concrete measures to address the challenges in the field of women’s rights and gender equality, and to ensure that gender equality issues are discussed at the highest political level;

14.  Calls on the Member States to create a formal Council configuration on Gender Equality, in order to provide the Ministers and Secretaries of State in charge of gender equality with a dedicated forum for discussion, and to better facilitate gender mainstreaming across all EU policies, including employment and social policy;

15.  Regrets the lack of reference in the gender equality strategy 2020-2025 to the protection of women and girls at risk of social exclusion, poverty and homelessness; calls on the Commission to address these issues in the forthcoming action plan on integration and inclusion, in order to prevent these women from being excluded from social and economic policies, thus further deepening the poverty cycle;

16.  Calls on the Council to adopt Council conclusions to approve the gender equality strategy and identify concrete actions to implement it;

Eliminating violence against women and gender-based violence

17.  Supports the Commission’s commitment to combating gender-based violence, supporting and protecting the victims of these crimes, and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable for their crimes; supports the Commission’s plan to continue pushing for the EU-wide ratification of the Istanbul Convention; underlines, in this context, the need for specific measures to address the existing disparities in laws, policies and services between Member States and the increase in domestic and gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic; draws attention, however, to the fact that several attempts to convince reluctant Member States have failed and that Hungary’s Government recently decided not to ratify the Convention at all; warmly welcomes, therefore, the Commission’s intention to propose measures in 2021 to achieve the objectives of the Istanbul Convention if the EU’s accession remains blocked; calls for preparatory actions to be started now in order to launch additional legally binding measures and an EU framework directive to prevent and combat all forms of gender-based violence, addressing among other issues, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced abortion, sterilisation and marriages, and for it to include sexual exploitation, trafficking, cyber violence, the publication of revenge porn and online hate speech against women with a strong intersectional approach; welcomes the initiative extending the areas of crime to encompass specific forms of gender-based violence in accordance with Article 83(1) TFEU; recalls that these new legislative measures should be complementary to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention;

18.  Welcomes the plan to table an additional recommendation, as well as possible legislation, on the prevention of harmful practices, and to launch an EU network on the prevention of both gender-based and domestic violence; requests that the definitions and goals of the Istanbul Convention be applied and that women’s rights and civil society organisations (CSOs) be involved on a continuous basis; urges that appropriate follow-up measures be put forward, all respecting the principle of non-discrimination; highlights the importance of the engagement – when appropriate according to a given Member State’s structure – of local and regional governments in this process; underlines the role of education, including boys’ and men’s education, and calls for the countering of gender stereotypes in this regard; calls for the proper protection of women victims of domestic violence to be ensured, increasing states’ means and effective responses;

19.  Underlines the need to collect disaggregated data on all forms of gender-based violence; welcomes the announcement of a new EU-wide survey on the prevalence and dynamics of all forms of violence against women; stresses the need for comprehensive and comparable gender-disaggregated data at EU level and for the harmonisation of data collection systems among Member States;

20.  Stresses the need to protect women who are minors, who belong to minorities or have a health problem or disability as potential victims and targets of different forms of violence; supports the Commission’s plan to present and finance measures to combat possible abuse, exploitation and violence against these particularly vulnerable groups;

21.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to safeguard inclusive equality for women and girls with disabilities in all areas of life, to ensure their sexual and reproductive rights, to provide them with protection from domestic violence and violence by care and support service providers, and to launch sensitisation and capacity-building programmes to this end for professionals in the fields of healthcare, social and care services, education, training and employment services, law enforcement and the judiciary;

22.  Stresses the scope and impact of violence and harassment in the workplace and the need for concrete measures at EU level to address these issues and to fight against psychological and sexual harassment; points out that informal carers, domestic workers and farm workers, among others, in particular lack protection and visibility, and calls on the Member States to adopt ILO Convention 189, in order to strengthen the rights of workers, especially women, in the informal economy and to ensure that complaint mechanisms are independent, confidential and accessible to all women without discrimination, and that specific measures are provided to protect complainants from employer retaliation and repeated victimisation; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to adopt, as an employer, a new comprehensive legal framework with a set of preventive and reactive measures against harassment in the workplace;

23.  Regrets the lack of reference to the gender dimension of trafficking for purposes of labour exploitation, especially in the case of domestic workers, due to the limitations inherent to the family home as a workplace with respect to the possibilities of carrying out inspections and monitoring work activity; recalls its resolution of 28 April 2016 on women domestic workers and carers in the EU, and asks the Commission and the Member States to promote investigations in this area, in order to improve the mechanisms for the identification and protection of the victims, and to involve NGOs, trade unions, public authorities and all citizens in the detection process;

24.  Is deeply worried about the nature, extent and gravity of violence and harassment in the world of work, and the impact of all forms of violence against women and girls in work situations; welcomes in this regard the recently adopted ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment at work and calls on the Member States to ratify and implement it without delay; calls also on the Commission and the Member States to introduce effective and binding measures to define and prohibit violence and harassment in the world of work, including effective access to gender-responsive, safe and effective complaint and dispute resolution mechanisms, training and awareness-raising campaigns, support services and remedies;

25.  Believes that women workers suffering gender-based violence should be entitled to a reduction in or reorganisation of their working hours and to a change of workplace; considers that gender-based violence should be included in workplace risk assessments;

26.  Condemns the campaign against the Istanbul Convention that targets violence against women and the deliberate campaign to discredit it; is worried about the rejection of the zero-tolerance norm for violence against women and gender-based violence, which is based on a strong international consensus; points out that this questions the essence of human rights, such as equality, autonomy and dignity; stresses the key role played by CSOs in combating gender-based violence and supporting victims, and urges the Commission, therefore, to provide adequate funding for associations pursuing these aims; welcomes the commitment within the new victims’ rights strategy to address the specific needs of women and girls who are victims of violence, especially with a view to ensuring victims’ rights, protection and compensation; calls on the Council to urgently conclude the EU’s ratification and full implementation of the Istanbul Convention and to advocate its ratification by all Member States;

27.  Emphasises the need to recognise and combat all types of violence and harassment in the educational system, schools, universities, traineeships, programmes for professional development and all other programmes, across the whole sector;

28.  Welcomes the proposed specific measures to tackle cyber violence which disproportionally affects women and girls (including online harassment, cyberbullying and sexist hate speech), in particular activists, women politicians and other public figures visible in public discourse; welcomes, in this context, the announcement that this phenomenon will be tackled in the Digital Services Act and that it envisages working with the tech platforms and the ICT sector in a new framework of cooperation, in order for the latter to address the issue through adequate technical measures such as prevention techniques and response mechanisms to harmful content; urges the Member States and the EU to adopt further measures, including binding legislative measures, to combat these forms of violence in the framework of a Directive on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women, and for Member States to be given support in the development of training tools for the services involved at all stages, from prevention and protection to prosecution, such as the police force and the justice system, together with the information and communication sector, while also safeguarding fundamental rights online;

29.  Is concerned about the lack of an explicit prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of a person’s gender identity and gender expression in EU law; notes the persistence of discrimination, harassment and exclusion from the labour market of LGBTIQ+ people; recalls its resolutions of 14 February 2019 on the future of the LGBTI List of Actions(36) and of 18 December 2019 on public discrimination and hate speech against LGBTI people(37); welcomes the adoption of the first ever LGBTI+ strategy, and calls on the Commission to follow up on its LGBTI List of Actions 2016-2019 with specific measures to tackle discrimination at work on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics;

30.  Welcomes the recently adopted, first ever EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2020-2025) which will address the specific needs of victims of gender-based violence, in particular a specific approach for psychological violence against women and the impact on their mental health on the long run; stresses the need to address the current gaps in the EU legislation and asks the Commission to put forward, without delay, a proposal for a review of the Victims’ Rights Directive with regard to international standards on violence against women, such as the Istanbul Convention, with a view to enhancing the legislation on victims’ rights and the protection and compensation of victims; stresses the need for all victims to have effective access to justice through the implementation of the Victims’ Rights Directive, which is still lacking in some Member States; asks for the continued promotion of victims’ rights also through existing instruments such as the European Protection Order;

31.  Draws the attention of the Commission and the Member States to the extremely dramatic situation of children orphaned by gender-based violence or forced to live in an environment of domestic violence, and urges them to take these situations into account when tackling the problem of domestic violence;

32.  Urges the Commission to present the long-awaited EU strategy on the eradication of trafficking in human beings and underlines the need for a clear recognition of the gendered nature of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, where women and girls are the most affected; acknowledges that sexual exploitation for surrogacy and reproductive purposes or purposes such as forced marriages, prostitution and pornography is unacceptable and a violation of human dignity and human rights; requests, therefore, that the strategy look closely at the situation of women in prostitution, with a special focus on the link between prostitution and the trafficking of women and minors, in the EU and worldwide, and the emerging use of the internet for purposes of exploitation; highlights the important role and work of the EU-Anti-Trafficking Coordinator and urges the Commission to appoint the new Coordinator without further delay, to closely monitor the implementation of the Anti-Trafficking Directive by the Member States; insists on the importance of including measures and strategies to reduce demand;

33.  Calls for stronger measures concerning legislation on sexual offences and underlines that sex must always be voluntary; calls on the Commission to include recommendations to all Member States to amend the definition of rape in their national legislation so that it is based on the absence of consent;

34.  Welcomes the EU-wide communication campaign on combating gender stereotypes, as well as violence-prevention measures focusing on men, boys and masculinities; calls for clearer measures to target destructive masculinity norms, as gender stereotypes are a root cause of gender inequality and affect all areas of society;

35.  Calls for more attention and support to orphanages and foster homes for the victims of violence, which have been closed or whose shelter capacity has been heavily limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, obliging women or young girls and children to face the prospect of quarantine in their abuser’s home;

36.  Underlines the fact that violence against women is often the main reason why women experience homelessness; urges the Commission, therefore, to take the necessary measures to prevent violence against women leading to or prolonging homelessness;

37.  Welcomes the announcement of a recommendation on the prevention of harmful practices, alongside possible legislation, to combat FGM, forced sterilisation, early and forced marriage and so-called honour-related violence, which specifically injures children and young girls;

Women and the economy

38.  Reiterates its calls on the Commission and the Member States to further develop and improve the collection of gender-disaggregated data(38), statistics, research and analysis, as well as support for and measures to improve institutional and CSO capacity-building as regards data collection and analysis, in particular regarding the participation of women in the labour market and in areas such as informal employment, entrepreneurship, access to financing and to healthcare services, unpaid work, poverty and the impact of social protection systems; also urges the EIGE and all other relevant EU institutions and agencies to work on and incorporate new indicators, such as in-work poverty, time-poverty, gaps in time use, the value of care work (paid and/or unpaid), and the take-up rates of women and men, including in relation to the Work-Life Balance Directive; calls on the Commission to use these data to effectively implement gender impact assessments of its policies and programmes, and those of other EU agencies and institutions;

39.  Supports the revision of the Barcelona targets and the call on Member States to ensure adequate investments in care services and long-term care services, including from available EU funding, as well as to ensure affordable, accessible and high-quality childcare, including early childhood education, giving, in particular, young mothers the opportunity to work and/or study, and recalls in this context principle 11 of the European Pillar of Social Rights; calls for financial support for and the sharing of best practices among Member States which have not yet achieved the targets; welcomes, furthermore, the development of guidance for Member States on tackling financial disincentives in relation to social, economic and taxation policies; underlines the goal of equal carers and equal earners, which needs to be at the heart of these efforts and welcomes, in this context, the Work-Life Balance Directive as a first step;

40.  Calls on the Commission to put forward a Care Deal for Europe, taking a comprehensive approach towards all care needs and services, and setting minimum standards and quality guidelines for care throughout the life cycle, including for children, elderly persons and persons with long-term needs; invites the Commission and the Member States to collect disaggregated data on the provision of care services; urges the Member States to swiftly and fully transpose and implement the Work-Life Balance Directive so as to ensure a fair division of work and family life, and invites them to go beyond the Directive’s minimum standards by introducing measures such as fully paid leave, the promotion of men’s equal role as carers, thereby tackling gender stereotypes in take-up of paternity and/or maternity leave, the recognition of the role of informal carers by ensuring their access to social security and their right to pension entitlements, support for services adapted to the specific challenges and needs of parents and/or family members taking care of persons with disabilities or long-term illnesses or of the elderly, and flexible working arrangements that are not to the detriment or at the expense of the worker’s wages, access to social and labour rights and allowances, and that respect workers’ right to disconnect; urges the Commission to monitor annually, closely and systemically the implementation by the Member States of the Work-Life Balance Directive;

41.  Calls for affordable and good quality childcare and long-term care services that enable a return to employment, particularly for women, and facilitate a good work-life balance;

42.  Stresses the need to create a crèche and pre-school education network; points out that this is a broad social responsibility and should be a universal service that is actually accessible to all children and families who wish to use this network;

43.  Encourages Member States, on the basis of a pooling of best practices, to introduce, for the benefit of both women and men, ‘care credits’ to offset breaks from employment taken in order to provide informal care to family members and periods of formal care leave, such as maternity, paternity and parental leave, and to count these credits towards pension entitlements fairly; considers that such credits should be awarded for a short set period in order not to further entrench stereotypes and inequalities;

44.  Urges the Member States to take specific measures to combat the risk of poverty in old age and retirement, increasing pensions and boosting social benefits; takes the view that income inequalities between men and women in retirement must be overcome and that this calls for pensions to be increased, and for public, universal and solidarity-based social security systems to be maintained and enhanced, ensuring that they are redistributive and provide a fair and decent income after a lifetime of work, safeguarding the sustainability of public social security systems by creating jobs with rights and improving wages;

45.  Calls for the Commission, the Parliament and the Council to closely examine women’s needs and participation in the labour market, as well as horizontal and vertical labour market segregation, while designing programmes within the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), as well as the recovery plan NextGenerationEU;

46.  Considers it a priority to take action to support the family, including in terms of providing adequate and affordable childcare facilities, which will make a positive contribution to women’s participation in the labour market and their retirement prospects;

47.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to monitoring the correct transposition of the Work-Life Balance Directive into national legislation by 2022 as required and to ensuring its full implementation;

48.  Calls on the Commission to collect data on the provision of different types of care (childcare, care for older people and persons with disabilities or persons requiring long‑term care), feeding into a study examining the care gap to act as the basis of an initiative for a European care strategy; notes that the strategy in question has to respect the competences of the Member States as laid down in the Treaties, but would aim to improve cooperation and the coordination of all measures which could be beneficial for informal carers in the EU and the people they are taking care of; stresses that cooperation at European level, together with the efficient use of EU funds, can contribute to the development of quality, accessibility and affordability care services;

49.  Welcomes the Council’s decision to activate the ‘general escape clause’, and calls on the Member States to invest in public services, including free childcare and healthcare, in order to create new, quality jobs and to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the crisis; considers that austerity measures have long-term detrimental consequences, particularly on women, and must not be enforced in the post-COVID-19 crisis;

50.  Welcomes the instrument for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE); calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that SURE addresses losses in income for women;

51.  Stresses the need to boost investment in services significantly, particularly healthcare, education and transport services, with a view to addressing populations’ needs and contributing to the independence, equality and emancipation of women;

52.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to table binding measures on pay transparency which can be a useful tool to detect gaps and discrimination within the same sector and bridge the gender pay gap; regrets nonetheless the delay in publishing this proposal and asks the Commission to put forward the proposal as soon as possible; stresses in this regard the importance of the full cooperation and involvement of the social partners and all stakeholders in line with national practices and traditions; points out, however, that the issue of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women across different occupational sectors still needs to be addressed to cover differences in pay for work of equal value in the gender-segregated labour market, with lower wages in some sectors, which mostly employ women, such as nursing, care, retail, sales and the education sector, compared to, for example, the manufacturing sector or technical professions which employ more men; strongly recommends the inclusion of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value between women and men, which could be defined as follows: ‘Work shall be deemed of equal value if, based on a comparison of two groups of workers which have not been formed in an arbitrary manner, the work performed is comparable, taking into account factors such as the working conditions, the degree of responsibility conferred on the workers, and the physical or mental requirements of the work’; points out that gender-neutral job evaluation tools and classification criteria need to be developed for this purpose;

53.  Welcomes the Commission’s evaluation of the existing framework on equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, the launching of a consultation process on how to improve gender equality in the world of work, the forthcoming Pension Adequacy Report, and the consideration of the provision of pension credits for care-related career breaks in occupational pension schemes;

54.  Calls on the Commission to present, within the next year, a revision of Directive 2006/54/EC in line with the recent evaluation of the functioning and implementation of the EU’s equal pay laws, and in accordance with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union; considers that such a revision should include a definition of ‘work of equal value’ across all occupational sectors, which incorporates the gender perspective, as well as a reference to multiple forms of discrimination and additional measures to ensure the enforceability of the Directive;

55.  Recalls its resolution of 30 January 2020 on the gender pay gap; calls for an immediate revision of the action plan and for an ambitious new gender pay gap action plan by the end of 2020, which should set clear targets for the Member States to reduce the gender pay gap over the next five years and ensure that such targets are taken account of in the country-specific recommendations; highlights, in particular, the need to include an intersectional perspective in the new action plan; calls on the Commission and the Member States to involve the social partners and CSOs in developing the new policies to close the gender pay gap and to improve and further develop statistics, research and analysis in order to better measure and monitor progress in closing the gender pay gap, paying particular attention to groups experiencing multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination; calls on the Commission to pay attention to the factors leading to the pension gap and to support Member States in their measures to reduce it by establishing a gender pension gap indicator to assess the accumulated inequalities experienced by women throughout their lives;

56.  Notes that tax policies have varying impacts on different types of households; stresses that individual taxation can be instrumental in terms of achieving tax fairness for women; underlines the negative impacts of certain forms of taxation on women’s employment rates and their economic independence, and notes that tax policies should be optimised to strengthen incentives for the labour market participation of women; draws attention to the potential negative consequences of joint taxation on the gender pension gap; stresses that tax systems should move away from the assumption that households pool and share their funds equally; underlines the impact of period poverty on many European women resulting from expensive menstrual hygiene products and the high levels of taxation of these products in many Member States and thus urges the Member States to take action against this form of indirect tax discrimination and against period poverty;

57.  Recalls that funding and taxation policies have a strong gender component; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to gender mainstreaming throughout the MFF, in particular with regard to the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), in order to promote women’s participation in the labour market, work-life balance and female entrepreneurship, but regrets the lack of gender budgeting in the new MFF and Structural Funds; calls on the Commission to further promote and improve the use of gender budgeting, and on the Member States to integrate the gender perspective in taxation polices, including gender audits of fiscal policies, in order to eliminate tax-related gender biases;

58.  Recalls once again the need to put a stronger focus on gender equality within the different phases of the European Semester process and calls for the introduction of a gender equality pillar and an overarching gender equality objective in the successor to the Europe 2020 strategy; urges that clear gender equality indicators be incorporated and that statistical methods and analysis be developed for monitoring progress on gender equality, with an intersectional perspective, in the country-specific challenges identified in the social scoreboard;

59.  Highlights that 70 % of the global health and social workforce are women, often only paid the minimum wage and whose working conditions are precarious, and calls for the levelling up of wages and working conditions in strongly female-dominated sectors such as care, health and retail sales, as well as for the eradication of the gender pay and pension gaps, and labour market segregation;

60.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in consultation with the social partners, to develop gender-sensitive workplace health and safety guidelines specifically targeted to frontline professions, in order to protect workers in these professions in the event of future outbreaks; underlines that changes in labour conditions such as teleworking, while offering opportunities for improving flexible working arrangements and work-life balance, can also impact on the ability to disconnect and increase the workload, with women being affected far more than men owing to their predominant or traditional role as home and family caretakers; calls, therefore, on the Commission to come forward with a gender-sensitive legislative proposal on the right to disconnect, as well as a directive on mental well-being in the workplace aimed at recognising anxiety, depression and burnout as occupational diseases, and to establish mechanisms for prevention and for the reintegration of affected employees into the workforce;

61.  Calls on the Commission to revise Directive 92/85/EEC, with a view to ensuring that women throughout Europe can benefit on an equal footing with men from the free movement of workers(39);

62.  Stresses the need for Member States to present evidence-based, well-designed labour market policies and reforms that de facto improve women’s working conditions and increase quality employment;

63.  Calls on the Commission to present a European strategy on social protection to address the free movement of workers and, in particular, the feminisation of poverty, with a special focus on lone-parent households headed by women;

64.  Underlines that equal opportunities and higher levels of labour market participation among women can increase jobs, economic prosperity and competitiveness in Europe; calls on the Commission and Member States to set goals to reduce precarious jobs and involuntary part-time work in order to improve the situation for women in the labour market;

65.  Calls on the Commission to have a specific approach for single mothers, as single mothers are particularly economically vulnerable since they often earn less than men and are more likely to leave the labour market when they become a parent; calls on the Commission to enhance, in this context, the enforcement of existing legal tools on the cross-border collection of alimony, with public awareness-raising about their availability; urges the Commission to work closely with the Member States to identify practical problems linked with alimony collection in cross-border situations and to develop tools to effectively enforce payment obligations;

66.  Notes that female labour market participation is lower than that of men; underlines the importance of lowering income tax to encourage labour market participation;

67.  Urges the Member States to take further action in combating discrimination against women in the labour market;

68.  Recalls that the world of work remains unequal as regards income, career perspectives, feminised sectors, access to social protection, and education and training; recalls that all these dimensions have to be addressed to achieve gender equality;

69.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure equal participation and opportunities in the labour market for men and women, and to address the feminisation of poverty in all its forms, including poverty in old age, particularly by factoring gender into the availability of and access to adequate pension entitlements in order to eliminate the gender pension gap, and by improving working conditions in feminised sectors and professions such as hospitality, tourism, cleaning services and the care sector; points out the importance of addressing the cultural undervaluation of jobs dominated by women, the need to combat such stereotypes and the over-representation of women in atypical forms of work; calls on the Member States to ensure equal treatment for migrant women (also through a revision of the system of recognition of professional qualifications), as well as for other particularly vulnerable groups of women; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen collective bargaining coverage at sectoral level and the involvement of the social partners in policymaking, in order to foster stable and quality employment; stresses the need for strategies to encourage and support women’s entrepreneurial initiatives;

70.  Notes that the growing gig economy has implications for workers who are less unionised and at risk of job precariousness due to factors such as unstable working hours and income, their lack of coverage by employment rights, uncertainty surrounding social security and pensions, or lack of access to career development and retraining; is concerned that the associated insecurity and precariousness, aggravated by the confinement imposed by the current crisis, has a particularly negative impact on women, who still carry the burden of care in a highly gendered labour market, especially those who experience intersecting forms of discrimination; calls on the Member States to implement targeted social protection measures for women freelancers and women employed in the gig economy; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU;

71.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to adopting an action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights; underlines the need to mainstream the gender perspective using an intersectional approach in line with principles 2 and 3 of the Pillar;

72.  Stresses that the gender pay gap in the media sector is high and female journalists are more likely than men to face harassment, violence, sexism and discrimination; recalls the second chapter of the European Pillar of Social Rights on fair working conditions; calls, therefore, on Member States to safeguard the right to fair and safe working conditions of all workers in the media sector;

73.  Calls on the Member States to take measures to ensure access for migrant and refugee women to healthcare, employment, food and information services, and to mitigate protection risks, particularly violence between men and women and the trafficking of women;

74.  Encourages the Member States to take firm measures to sanction businesses that fail to comply with labour legislation and discriminate between men and women; takes the view, furthermore, that conditionality should be applied in the allocation of EU funds to companies that have high working standards and do not discriminate against women;

75.  Urges the Commission to campaign for more women in economic decision-making positions by highlighting the economic and societal advantages thereof, and sharing best practices such as public indices on companies’ equality performance; urges the Commission to continue working with the Member States, as well as the current and incoming EU presidencies, to urgently break the deadlock in the Council and adopt the proposed Directive on ‘Women on Boards’ and to develop a strategy with Member States for meaningful representation of all women from diverse backgrounds in decision-making roles, including in all EU institutions;

76.  Recalls that the under-representation of women in public and political life undermines the proper functioning of democratic institutions and processes; calls, therefore, on the Member States to encourage and support measures to facilitate the balanced participation of men and women in decision-making at national, regional and local levels;

77.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt measures to combat the phenomenon of the glass ceiling, such as extensive parental leave, access to high-quality, affordable childcare, and the elimination of all forms of direct and indirect discrimination linked to promotions in the labour market;

78.  Welcomes the support for gender parity in elected bodies such as the European Parliament; calls for the introduction of binding measures such as quotas, and stresses that it must serve as a role model in this regard; welcomes, furthermore, the Commission’s announcement that it intends to lead by example with regard to management positions and calls for strategies to guarantee a meaningful representation of women from diverse backgrounds in decision-making roles in the Commission; notes the efforts which have already been made to do so in the composition of the current Commission and stresses the same ambition is needed for Parliament; calls on the Member States to introduce binding quotas in their electoral systems to ensure the equal representation of women and men in both the European and the national parliaments;

79.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to promote the participation of women as voters and candidates in the 2024 European Parliament elections; in this regard, stresses the need for a revision of the Electoral Act in order to provide for the possibility of the temporary replacement of Members of the European Parliament who are availing themselves of their right to maternity, paternity or parental leave; calls on the Commission to revise the Electoral Act accordingly and on the Council to endorse this revision;

80.  Calls for women also to be able to fulfil their life plans in rural and peripheral areas; points out that the requisite infrastructure for this must be available, new areas of business developed, the return to work facilitated and the participation of a whole range of cooperation partners encouraged in order to support, encourage, facilitate and promote access to the labour market for such women, to ensure equal opportunities and improve social cohesion in villages;

81.  Emphasises the active and crucial role of women in the economy of rural areas, and regrets the fact that significant gender differences persist within agricultural employment and regarding access to social security, training, maternity leave and retirement pensions; calls on the Commission, the Member States and regional and local authorities to support projects addressed to women in particular, on creating innovative agricultural activities in rural and depopulated areas in order to strengthen their position in the agricultural market, which can be a source of new jobs; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to identify funding opportunities under the second pillar of the common agricultural policy (CAP) in order to increase women’s access to land and to address their working conditions in rural areas, especially those of seasonal workers;

82.  Calls on the Commission to step up its efforts in putting forward concrete measures and specific funds to combat the feminisation of poverty and of precarious work, with a particular focus on women facing multiple forms of discrimination;

83.  Reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States regarding its resolution of 28 April 2016 on women domestic workers and carers in the EU; urges the Commission to introduce a framework for the professionalisation of domestic work and care, leading to the recognition and standardisation of the relevant professions and skills and to the possibility of career building, and to encourage the Member States to establish systems for professionalisation, training, continuous skills development and recognition of women domestic and care workers’ qualifications, as well as to create public employment agencies to strengthen professionalisation;

84.  Calls on the Member States to promote and develop policies within the performing arts sector, which respect the value of equal opportunities, as well as gender equality in all activities, with an emphasis on mitigating the negative effects of long-lasting disparities and inequalities such as the gender divide across the music sector where the ratio of men to women is roughly 70 % to 30 % respectively across all regions and in Europe, with women representing 20 % or less of registered composers and songwriters, and earning on average 30 % less than men working within the sector, with women composing only 2,3 % of the classical works performed at concerts and owning only 15 % of record labels;

85.  Is concerned about the limited social mobility that hinders labour mobility among women; stresses the need to improve opportunities for labour mobility within the EU;

Digital policies for gender equality

86.  Regrets the under-representation of women in the digital economy, AI, ICT and STEM sectors in terms of education, training and employment, and points out the risk of this reinforcing and reproducing stereotypes and gender bias through the programming of AI and other programs; highlights the possible benefits and opportunities, but also the potential challenges of digitalisation for women and girls, and urges the Commission to ensure the adoption of concrete gender mainstreaming measures in the implementation of the single market strategy and the digital agenda preventing, in good time and in advance, any negative impact of digitalisation on women and girls, and ensuring a clear link between commitments on ending stereotypes and comprehensive actions to ensure women’s independence in the formation of the digital labour market; calls on the Commission to propose concrete measures for technologies and AI to be transformed into tools in the fight to eradicate gender stereotypes and to empower girls and women to enter STEM and ICT fields of study and to stay on these career paths;

87.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to address horizontal and vertical segregation in employment and discriminatory practices in decisions concerning recruitment and promotion, including policies that promote the integration of women from marginalised groups into the labour market;

88.  Calls for the structure of traditional gender norms and the gender-specific attribution of jobs and activities to be further broken down with the aim of overcoming persisting prejudices and gender stereotypes; stresses the importance of sensitising all those involved in the process of selecting study courses and careers in this regard;

89.  Underlines the importance of access to and the development of digital skills for older women, women in rural areas and women and girls in disadvantaged positions with limited access to new technologies, in order to remain connected to active life and to facilitate their keeping in contact with friends and relatives;

90.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to use Horizon Europe to provide insights and solutions on addressing potential gender biases in AI; asks, however, that all possible funding be used to support projects which encourage girls and women to improve their digital skills, and which make them familiar with STEM;

91.  Notes that, in times of events such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the role of and opportunities for teleworking and distance working increase; calls on the Commission to include the role of teleworking and distance working in the strategy as an important factor in achieving work-life balance;

Gender mainstreaming in all EU policies and funding of gender equality policies

92.  Stresses that gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting are essential tools to assess and target the effects of different policy actions and budgetary use on men and women and should be used throughout the policymaking process and budgetary actions;

93.  Reiterates the importance of gender mainstreaming as a systematic approach to achieving gender equality; welcomes, therefore, the Commission’s newly established task force on equality and calls for this task force to be adequately trained and resourced and to periodically report to the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality about its work; underlines the importance of transparency and the involvement of women’s rights organisations and CSOs from diverse backgrounds; urges the Commission to incorporate provisions making the consideration of inputs from the task force compulsory for Directorates-General and develop training courses for all staff, as well as processes to monitor and assess mainstreaming in accordance with its mission;

94.  Calls for the Commission, Parliament and the Council to create a thematic sub-programme for women in rural areas through the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plans financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD); stresses that this sub-programme should seek to encourage women’s employment and female entrepreneurship, using opportunities linked to agro-tourism and the development of digital villages, improving female farmers’ access to land, credit and financial instruments, skills and performance through education, training and advisory services, increased participation in local action groups and the development of local partnerships under the Leader programme; calls in this regard for the earmarking of EU funds for better living and working conditions in rural areas, including better access to services and the development of infrastructure, with a particular focus on access to broadband internet, as well as supporting entrepreneurial initiatives and access to credit, thereby empowering women in rural areas; calls on the Member States to exchange best practices on professional status for assisting spouses in the agricultural sector, thereby addressing women’s social security rights, including maternity leave or pension entitlements, and requests that the Commission prepare guidance in this regard;

95.  Calls on the Commission to advance female entrepreneurship and access to loans and equity finance through EU programmes and funds, and welcomes its intention to introduce new measures to promote women-led start-ups and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in 2020, and to strengthen gender equality under Horizon Europe; stresses that the requirement for gender equality plans from applicants is a crucial tool for advancement in this area; stresses the need for awareness-raising regarding existing and future EU funding possibilities for women and girl entrepreneurs, and to increase the visibility of women leaders to establish stronger role models and break existing stereotypes;

96.  Stresses that the response to the COVID-19 epidemic should be used to establish additional budget resources that the Member States could mobilise to support victims of violence;

97.  Is deeply concerned about the fact that the European Green Deal and related initiatives include neither a gender perspective nor any reference to gender equality; urges that gender mainstreaming be incorporated into EU environmental and climate policies, such as the Green Deal, and stresses that these policies must be informed by gender impact assessments to ensure that they address existing gender inequalities and other forms of social exclusion; calls on the Commission to step up financial and institutional support to promote gender-just climate action and establish strong policy measures to encourage the equal participation of women in decision-making bodies and national- and local-level climate policy, which is vital for achieving long-term climate justice, and that recognition and support be given to women and girls as agents for change;

98.  Calls on the Commission to design a roadmap to deliver on the commitments of the renewed Gender Action Plan agreed at COP25 and to create a permanent EU gender and climate change focal point, with sufficient budget resources, to implement and monitor gender-responsible climate action in the EU and globally;

99.  Stresses the need to increase the resources available to the EU programmes dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights ; calls on the Commission to step up its efforts to implement gender budgeting as an integral part of the budgetary procedure at all stages and in all its budget lines, and include independent budget lines for targeted actions; underlines that every new measure, mechanism or strategy should undergo a gender impact assessment; calls on the Commission and the Council, in this context, to invest in the care economy and to adopt a Care Deal for Europe, to complement the European Green Deal; welcomes the fact that, for the first time ever, gender mainstreaming will be a horizontal priority in the MFF and will be accompanied by a thorough gender impact assessment and monitoring of the programmes;

100.  Calls on the Commission to take gender equality and a life cycle perspective into account in shaping the latest European policies and strategies, which will contribute to increasing women’s economic independence and reducing inequalities in this area in the long term;

101.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take action in order to ensure that women can benefit from the opportunities created by the green transition; underlines that gender should be mainstreamed in the employment policies related to sustainability and just transition in order to deliver policies that allow for proper work-life balance and ensure equal pay, a decent income, personal development and adequate social protection; urges that projects financed under environmental programmes and access to investments for climate action should incorporate a gender perspective;

102.  Calls on the Member States and the Commission to increase gender equality and women’s empowerment in sport at large, given the powerful and undeniable role sport can play in helping women and girls break down gender stereotypes, in building confidence and in strengthening their leadership skills; calls on the Member States and the Commission to provide effective platforms to promote female role models and leaders with international, national and local reach; calls on the Member States to promote and develop policies to combat the gender-based remuneration gap and disparities in prize monies, any kind of violence against women and girls in sports and to ensure more coverage of women in the sports media and in decision-making positions; calls on the Commission to include sport in the planned campaign against stereotypes;

103.  Calls for the EU to adopt an intersectional and gender equality perspective to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and to allocate substantial funding from the Recovery and Resilience Instrument to gender equality measures, in particular in highly feminised sectors, and for the advancement of women’s rights; calls for the funding to be based on a measurable gender mainstreaming principle through which a fair, adequate and coherent distribution of funding can be guaranteed; calls, furthermore, for a dedicated gender equality coronavirus fund to support the fight against existing inequalities;

104.  Reaffirms the need to further incorporate the gender perspective in the upcoming disability equality strategy 2021, with due attention to improved access to the labour market through targeted measures and actions;

105.  Recalls its resolution of 29 November 2018 on the situation of women with disabilities(40); urges the Commission to put forward a consolidated proposal in the framework of the post-2020 European disability strategy that includes the development of positive actions targeting women with disabilities to ensure their full and effective participation in the labour market and to eliminate the discrimination and prejudices they face, including measures to promote employment, training, job placements, equal career paths, equal pay, accessibility of and reasonable accommodation in the workplace and further learning, paying attention to their digital inclusion and the need to safeguard work-life balance; also requests that measures regarding the gender pay, pension and care gaps explicitly address the needs of parents and carers of children with disabilities, especially women and single-parent households; takes note of the need for a Disability Rights Guarantee with specific measures that address the needs of women with disabilities, as well as for a reinforcement of the Youth Guarantee;

106.  Asks the Commission to reach the most vulnerable women in particular; calls, therefore, for the Commission to make sure that all relevant actions of the strategy leave no woman behind;

107.  Draws attention to the lack of a gender perspective in the field of health and safety at work; stresses that gender mainstreaming should be an integral part of the development of occupational safety and health (OSH) policies and prevention strategies across all sectors, including in the upcoming Commission review of the strategic framework for health and safety at work post-2020; urges the Commission, the Member States and the social partners to consider as occupational diseases and work-related illnesses those that have not yet been recognised as such, which are particularly prevalent in feminised jobs, as well as diseases affecting women specifically, to mainstream gender equality in health and safety in professions dominated by men, where there are still many gaps, including in relation to sanitary installations, work equipment or personal protective equipment, to ensure maternity protection and safety at the workplace and return-to-work measures after maternity leave, and to evaluate labour risks in feminised sectors, including the home, when dealing with domestic work and care;

108.  Asks the Commission, in the light of the proven benefits of human milk for newborns, to promote breastfeeding, especially for pre-term infants; calls on the Commission to support policies which enhance the uptake of human milk, including both breastfeeding and donated milk, for pre-term infants, and to promote the cross-border use of milk banks to ensure that women in border regions can avail themselves of this support when necessary;

109.  Urges that disability be included as an aspect in all general gender equality initiatives promoted in the European Union; urges that disabled victims of gender violence who are wards of court or in any other limited legal capacity scheme are guaranteed protection, urging for this purpose effective access to justice for this group of persons and training and capacity-building for professionals in the special services that act in these proceedings (such as criminal justice or health professionals); urges the establishment of an accessible education system free of stereotypes that allows girls and women with disabilities to choose the fields they study and work in in light of their own wishes and talents, without being restricted by inaccessibility, prejudice and stereotypes; supports the involvement of women with disabilities as models for change in gender equality and women’s rights movements; urges the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities, including those in institutions, in all breast and cervix cancer prevention plans in the Member States, as well as the inclusion of this group in all anti-HIV/Aids programmes and other programmes to eradicate sexually transmitted diseases; urges that all indicators and data collected on gender equality issues be broken down by age, disability and gender;

Countering backlashes against gender equality

110.  Reiterates the need for a regular exchange of best practices between Member States, the Commission and key stakeholders (such as healthcare professionals, regulators and CSOs) on gender aspects in health, including guidelines for comprehensive sexuality and relationship education, SRHR and gender-sensitive responses to epidemics; calls on the Commission for further measures and support to guarantee SRHR during the implementation of the current gender equality strategy and to include SRHR in its next EU health strategy; calls on the Commission to support Member States in strengthening their health systems and providing high-quality and universal access to all healthcare services, and to reduce disparities in access to healthcare services, including SRHR services, between and within Member States; calls in this regard on Member States to guarantee safe, timely and full access to SRHR and the necessary healthcare services;

111.  Asks the Commission to address health inequalities within the forthcoming EU health strategy which should focus on access to preventive healthcare at all stages of life, the health and safety of women in the workplace, and a specific gender focus in the Europe’s beating cancer plan; underlines once more the importance of gender-specific medicine and research, and stresses, therefore, that investment in the differences between women and men in relation to their health should be supported through Horizon Europe in order to enable healthcare systems to be more responsive to the different needs of women and men;

112.  Calls on the Commission to support research into non-hormonal contraception for women, providing them with more alternatives, as well as to support research on contraceptives for men, aiming to provide for equality in access to and the use of contraceptives, as well as shared responsibility;

113.  Demands support for women’s rights defenders and women’s rights organisations in the EU and worldwide, including organisations working on SRHR and LGBTI+, through increased and earmarked financial support in the next MFF; underlines in addition their financial difficulties resulting from the current crisis and calls for increased funding in order to sufficiently fund their continued work; is deeply concerned about the backlash against established women’s rights and gender equality in some Member States and, in particular, about the attempts to further criminalise abortion care and undermine young people’s access to comprehensive sexual education in Poland, and about the adopted reform that attacks transgender and intersex rights in Hungary; calls for continuous monitoring of the state of play in relation to women’s rights and gender equality, including disinformation and regressive initiatives in all Member States, and for an alarm system to highlight regression; calls on the Commission to support studies analysing the link between anti-democratic movements and attacks and disinformation campaigns on women’s rights and gender equality, as well as on democracy, and calls on the Commission to analyse their root causes and strengthen its efforts to counter them, developing fact checks, counter-narratives and awareness-raising campaigns;

114.  Calls on the Commission to carry out a global campaign against the increasing attacks they are suffering and to secure the release of human rights defenders, focusing special attention on women’s rights defenders; calls for the immediate introduction in the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders of an annex aiming to recognise and develop additional strategies and tools to better and more effectively respond to and prevent the specific situation, threats and risk factors faced by women’s human rights defenders;

115.  Urges the Commission and Member States to protect women who are particularly vulnerable to multiple discrimination, recognising the intersectional forms of discrimination that women experience based on gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, disability, social status, sexual orientation and gender identity, and migration status, and to ensure that the actions implemented take account of and respond to the specific needs of these groups;

116.  Recalls its resolution of 12 February 2019 on the need for a strengthened post-2020 Strategic EU Framework for National Roma Inclusion Strategies(41), which states that in most Member States no improvement has been observed in access to employment, that there are serious concerns relating to housing and little progress regarding poverty, and that there is a need for a strong gender dimension in the EU framework; is concerned about hate speech against Roma in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the additional restrictions introduced by some Member States to put Roma communities in quarantine, and fears the negative consequences for the most vulnerable groups among Roma, such as girls, young women, older women, persons with disabilities or LGBTIQ+; welcomes the adoption of the EU strategic framework on Roma equality and inclusion, making it possible to analyse the impact that the coronavirus is having on Roma communities and to adopt measures to avoid a backlash against them;

117.  Urges the Commission to establish a concrete framework for the rights and protection of sex workers during and after a crisis; further insists on the importance of including measures and strategies that tackle the discrimination faced by sex workers in access to funding, housing, healthcare, education and other services;

118.  Highlights that the audiovisual and print media is one of the sectors with considerable cultural, social and economic weight, both reflecting and shaping society and culture; regrets the fact that women are severely under-represented in key creative positions in this sector, including in the film industry across Europe and worldwide; calls on the Commission to address gender stereotypes in the media and promote gender-equal content; stresses the importance of fostering media literacy and providing all relevant stakeholders with gender-sensitive media education initiatives; calls on the Member States to adopt legislation prohibiting sexist advertising in the media and promoting training and practical courses on countering gender stereotypes in schools of journalism, communication, media and advertising; calls on the Commission to help with the sharing of best practices in the field of fighting sexist advertisements; calls on the Member States to develop and implement policies to eradicate persisting inequalities within the whole audiovisual sector in order to provide and improve opportunities for women and girls;

Gender equality through external relations

119.  In line with Article 8 TFEU stating that the EU should, in all its activities, aim to eliminate inequalities and promote equality between men and women, calls for coherence between and the mutual reinforcement of the EU’s internal and external policies on the principles of multiple discrimination, gender mainstreaming and gender equality, countering gender stereotypes and norms, as well as harmful practices and discriminatory laws, and promoting women’s equal enjoyment of the full range of human rights through external relations; highlights in particular, in this context, the EU’s trade policies, development cooperation and human rights policies; stresses the primary role of women’s empowerment in order to effectively implement development policies; recalls the importance of education for women’s and girls’ empowerment in both the EU and partner countries; underlines that education is not only a right, but also a crucial tool to fight against early and forced marriages and teenage pregnancies; insists on the need for EU external policy to help keep girls in schools and continue their education in partner countries as a matter of priority; welcomes the renewed commitment to women’s and girls’ rights and the reference to the SDGs and, in particular, to SDG 5 as a key framework for the gender equality strategy;

120.  Calls on the Commission, in partnership with the Member States, to monitor and work towards the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, the ICPD Programme for Action and the outcomes of their review conferences, and of all the SDG targets, including targets 3.7 and 5.6, both within and outside the EU, using indicators in line with the UN global indicator framework for the SDGs;

121.  Welcomes the new Gender Action Plan III (GAPIII) as a key instrument for promoting gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment in external relations; stresses that this document needs to be accompanied by clear, measurable and time-bound indicators, including an allocation of roles and responsibilities to the different actors; welcomes the fact that the new action plan maintains the 85 % target for all new programmes to contribute to gender equality; regrets that the new 20 % target for the programmes to have gender equality as a principal objective was not established; demands that the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument prioritise gender equality and women’s rights across geographic and thematic programmes along these lines; welcomes the shift in the institutional culture of the Commission’s services and the European External Action Service in order to more effectively deliver on the EU’s commitments regarding women’s rights and gender equality;

122.  Calls on the Commission to further strengthen the role of the EU as a catalyst for gender equality worldwide;

123.  Calls on the Commission to foster a deeper understanding of the particular needs of migrant and asylum-seeking women and girls in accessing health and education support and financial security to prevent the risk of their being exploited and to ensure that their rights are respected;

124.  Notes that the Commission must address the particular situation of women’s protection against gender-based violence in migration and asylum reception facilities, and calls for adapted infrastructure for women and girls, and adequate training for staff at these facilities where needed;

125.  Welcomes a values-based EU trade policy with a high level of protection of labour and environmental rights, as well as respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, including gender equality; recalls that all EU trade and investment agreements must be gender mainstreamed and include an ambitious and enforceable chapter on trade and sustainable development; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to ensuring, for the first time, the inclusion of a specific chapter on trade and gender equality in the modernised Association Agreement with Chile, building on existing international examples;

126.  Reiterates its continuous support for the work of the Commission in this field;

o
o   o

127.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (OJ L 6, 10.1.1979, p. 24). (2) Council Directive 86/613/EEC of 11 December 1986 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity, including agriculture, in a self-employed capacity, and on the protection of self-employed women during pregnancy and motherhood (OJ L 359, 19.12.1986, p. 56). (3) Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (OJ L 348, 28.11.1992, p. 1). (4) Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services (OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 37). (5) Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (OJ L 204, 26.7.2006, p. 23). (6) Council Directive 2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 implementing the revised Framework Agreement on parental leave concluded by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC and repealing Directive 96/34/EC (OJ L 68, 18.3.2010, p. 13). (7) Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC (OJ L 180, 15.7.2010, p. 1). (8) OJ L 188, 12.7.2019, p. 79. (9) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0039. (10) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0025. (11) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0111. (12) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0080. (13) OJ C 390, 18.11.2019, p. 19. (14) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0014. (15) OJ C 162, 10.5.2019, p. 9. (16) OJ C 346, 27.9.2018, p. 6. (17) OJ C 331, 18.9.2018, p. 60. (18) OJ C 263, 25.7.2018, p. 49. (19) OJ C 252, 18.7.2018, p. 99. (20) OJ L 69, 8.3.2014, p. 112. (21) OJ C 76, 28.2.2018, p. 93. (22) OJ C 356, 4.10.2018, p. 89. (23) OJ C 285, 29.8.2017, p. 78. (24) OJ C 11, 12.1.2018, p. 35. (25) OJ C 298, 23.8.2018, p. 14. (26) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 80. (27) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0054. (28) OJ C 458, 19.12.2018, p. 34. (29) OJ C 66, 21.2.2018, p. 44. (30) OJ C 407, 4.11.2016, p. 2. (31) FRA survey 2014, the most comprehensive at EU level in the field, based on data from 28 Member States. (32) Commission communication entitled ‘ A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152). (33) European Parliament resolution of 30 January 2020 on the gender pay gap (Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0025). (34) https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/news/news-articles/gender-employment-gap-costs-europe-eu370-billion-per-year (35) OJ C 331, 18.9.2018, p. 60. (36) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0129. (37) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0101. (38) See Parliament’s resolution of 30 January 2020 on the gender pay gap. (39) Directive 2014/54/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on measures facilitating the exercise of rights conferred on workers in the context of freedom of movement for workers (OJ L 128, 30.4.2014, p. 8). (40) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 164. (41) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0075.

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on closing the digital gender gap: women’s participation in the digital economy (2019/2168(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0026 A9-0232/2020

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3), second subparagraph, of the Treaty on European Union and Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–  having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–  having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, and, in particular, the area of concern ‘Women and the Media’,

–  having regard to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention (No 190) and to the ILO Violence and Harassment Recommendation (No 206), both of 2019,

–  having regard to the outcome document of 16 December 2015 of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 6 May 2015 entitled ‘A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe’ (COM(2015)0192), and the mid-term review of 10 May 2017 on its implementation entitled ‘A Connected Digital Single Market for All’ (COM(2017)0228),

–  having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights and, in particular, its principles 1, 2, 3 and 20,

–  having regard to Pillars II (‘Creating the right conditions for digital networks and services to flourish’) and III (‘Maximising the growth potential of our European economy’) of the Commission’s digital single market strategy,

–  having regard to the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020),

–  having regard to the Commission studies entitled ‘ICT for work: Digital skills in the workplace’ and ‘Women in the Digital Age’,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 1 July 2020 entitled ‘European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience’ (COM(2020)0274),

–  having regard to the Commission report of 1 October 2013 entitled ‘Women active in the ICT sector’,

–  having regard to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) study of 26 January 2017 entitled ‘Gender and digital agenda’,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 30 May 2016 on ‘Developing media literacy and critical thinking through education and training’,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 6 December 2018 on ‘Gender Equality, Youth and Digitalisation’,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 10 December 2019 on ‘Gender‑Equal Economies in the EU: The Way Forward’,

–  having regard to the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of 19 December 2018 entitled ‘The future of gender equality strategy after 2019: the battles that we win never stay won’,

–  having regard to the Declaration of Commitment on Women in Digital (WID), signed in 2019 by 27 EU ministers and Member States’ representatives plus Norway,

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 May 2012 with recommendations to the Commission on application of the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 12 March 2013 on eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU(2),

–  having regard to its resolution of 12 September 2013 on the Digital Agenda for Growth, Mobility and Employment: time to move up a gear(3), and, in particular, the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs,

–  having regard to its resolution of 8 October 2015 on the application of Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation(4),

–  having regard to its resolution of 28 April 2016 on gender equality and empowering women in the digital age(5),

–  having regard to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2019 on ‘Information and Communication Technologies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’,

–  having regard to the WSIS Forum 2020 on ‘Fostering digital transformation and global partnerships: WSIS Action Lines for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’,

–  having regard to the question to the Commission on empowering women and girls through the digital sector (O-000004/2018 – B8‑0010/2018),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 April 2018 on empowering women and girls through the digital sector(6),

–  having regard to its interparliamentary committee meeting held on International Women’s Day 2018 on empowering women and girls in the media and ICT,

–  having regard to the in-depth analysis entitled ‘Empowering women on the Internet’, published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies on 30 October 2015(7),

–  having regard to the study entitled ‘The underlying causes of the digital gender gap and possible solutions for enhanced digital inclusion of women and girls’ published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies on 15 February 2018(8),

–  having regard to the study entitled ‘Cyber violence and hate speech online against women’ published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies on 16 August 2018(9),

–  having regard to the study entitled ‘Education and employment of women in science, technology and the digital economy, including AI and its influence on gender equality’ published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies on 15 April 2020(10),

–  having regard to the survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) entitled ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey’, published in 2014,

–  having regard to Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA(11),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 19 June 2012 entitled ‘The EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012-2016’ (COM(2012)0286) and the mid-term report of 17 October 2014 on the implementation thereof (SWD(2014)0318),

–  having regard to the Women in Digital scoreboard(12),

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0232/2020),

A.  whereas, according to Article 8 TFEU, in all its activities, the Union must aim to eliminate inequalities, and to promote equality, between men and women; whereas in order to achieve gender equality, girls and young women need equal access to technology and digital training, and to be safe online; whereas Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 refers to gender equality and the empowerment of women, and this involves the use of technology and the internet;

B.  whereas digitalisation has fundamentally changed most aspects of our lives in ways that create countless opportunities but also present new challenges; whereas the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath are likely to result in permanent changes to life in Europe, in which digitalisation will have a major role; whereas the impact of digitalisation on women’s employment prospects and the ramifications of teleworking need to be researched and evaluated; whereas balancing telework, private life and caregiving responsibilities adds additional strain, and women therefore face an increased emotional, mental and social burden; whereas, due to the pandemic, the labour market is facing up to the challenge with a major digital transformation;

C.  whereas gender stereotypes constitute a serious obstacle to equality between women and men, contributing to gender segregation in education and employment, further widening the gender gap in the digital sector and preventing women’s full participation as users, innovators and creators; whereas common stereotypes associate high-level intellectual ability with men more than with women, and these stereotypes are endorsed by, and influence the interests of, children as young as the age of six, specifically girls;

D.  whereas the Gender Equality Index for 2019 reveals persistent gender inequalities in the digital sector;

E.  whereas Eurostat data from 2018 showed that about 1,3 million people were studying Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the European Union and that girls and women were largely in a minority, accounting for only 17 % of all ICT students in the EU;

F.  whereas 73 % of boys aged between 15 and 16 feel comfortable using digital devices that they are less familiar with, compared with 63 % of girls in the same age bracket(13) who are less confident, despite the fact that they possess the skills to outperform boys in digital literacy;

G.  whereas gender stereotypes greatly influence subject choices; whereas very few teenage girls in EU Member States (less than 3 %) express an interest in working as an ICT professional at the age of 30(14); whereas teachers and parents can deepen gender stereotypes by discouraging girls from pursuing a career in ICT; whereas eliminating gender-specific expectations about professions and fostering female role models in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and ICT can encourage girls to study ICT;

H.  whereas women in the information and communication sector earn 19 % less than men; whereas the gender pay gap directly contributes to the gender pension gap(15); whereas the salary levels of men and women must be consistent with the principle of fairness and equality;

I.  whereas all around the globe, women as a demographic group use the internet less often than men, either to install software or to use online radio and television, online banking or e-commerce services;

J.  whereas in the past couple of years, there has been an increase in the number of women working in cybersecurity, the figures nevertheless remain significantly low, with women representing fewer than 20 % of cybersecurity professionals in Europe;

K.  whereas in the future more than 90 % of jobs are expected to require some degree of e-skills and digital literacy;

L.  whereas women are more likely to struggle to find their place in the ICT job sector as a result of various barriers, such as gender stereotypes and male-dominated workplaces lacking in diversity; whereas there is considerable vertical and horizontal segregation in the ICT sector and women are often overqualified for the positions they occupy; whereas only a small minority of women occupy senior software engineering positions;

M.  whereas software use and creation are becoming key assets for the digital transformation; whereas the gender gap in software developers and engineers is a matter of concern in terms of the involvement of women in the sector, as well as potential conscious and unconscious gender-discriminatory biases in AI applications, videogames and toys, and other applications;

N.  whereas the FRA’s survey on violence against women shows that 14 % of women have experienced cyber harassment since the age of 15(16); whereas high incidences of sexual harassment have been reported in STEM education sites, including in schools, universities and workplaces, which further excludes women from the sector; whereas many women have been the victims of new forms of online sexual and psychological harassment during the COVID-19 period, including zoom-bombing, stalking or threats; whereas measures to address these new forms of sexual and psychological harassment are urgently needed; whereas the objectification, hyper-sexualisation and exploitation of women online, in particular via internet pornography, have a devastating effect on the construction of sexuality and on gender equality more generally;

O.  whereas ICT is a sector with a low proportion of female workers; whereas a great number of women abandon their higher-level education, academic opportunities and careers in the ICT sector (the phenomenon known as the ‘leaky pipeline’), mainly due to a poor work-life balance, organisational constraints and a male-dominated environment; whereas the annual productivity loss for the European economy due to women leaving their digital jobs to become inactive is EUR 16.1 billion(17);

P.  whereas the IT sector has witnessed a significant increase in female board members, but is also the sector with the highest percentage of all-male boards;

Q.  whereas digital competence means the capacity to acquire, process and communicate digital information, and is affected by socio-cultural and economic background; whereas women spend more time than men on unpaid care and domestic work; whereas this restricts their leisure time, time in paid work or opportunities to acquire digital competence and skills in internet usage; whereas actions aimed at raising awareness, challenging gender stereotypes and norms, and at achieving a better redistribution of unpaid childcare and housework would enable greater participation by women in (digital) labour markets and training, and allow them to gain better digital competence;

R.  whereas only a marginal percentage of venture capitalists, business angels and investors are women; whereas as girls tend to study fewer ICT and STEM subjects from primary school throughout secondary school to university, this leads to women working in significantly lower numbers within these fields in the job market and as founders and owners of private companies and start-ups; whereas the lower percentage of women participating in technology has a direct effect on all societal developments and creates an innovation bias affecting the kinds of innovations and new technologies that are released to consumers;

S.  whereas trends show a decrease in the numbers of women taking up ICT-related higher education compared to 2011; whereas of the 8 million ICT specialists in the EU, women make up 17 %; whereas, if more women were to enter the digital jobs market, the sector would hugely benefit from an untapped talent pool of skills and variety of perspectives, which could create an annual EUR 16 billion GDP boost for the European economy;

T.  whereas, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report of 2018, only 22 % of AI professionals globally are female, compared to 78 % who are male, which accounts for a gender gap of 72 % yet to be closed; whereas in 2019, USD 92 of every USD 100 invested in European tech companies went to founding teams that were all men(18);

U.  whereas digital inclusion means the ability of all individuals and communities to have access to and use of ICT; whereas lack of access, affordability and education, as well as gender-related expectations and socio-cultural norms, lower educational participation in STEM and ICTs, the limited use of digital tools and lower activity on social platforms resulting from cyber violence towards girls and women are all factors which exclude the latter from digital inclusion; whereas the gender digital inclusion dimension has to be part of all EU initiatives and investments related to ICT and digitalisation;

V.  whereas digital financial inclusion means digital access to and use of formal financial services that are suited to needs and delivered responsibly at an affordable cost; whereas laws and norms that can undermine women’s right to participate in the labour force, control assets, establish and access funding to grow formal businesses and to make their own economic decisions are the main reasons for women’s financial exclusion; whereas approximately one billion women still do not have access to formal financial services, owing to their lack of access to identification documents, mobile phones, digital skills and lack of financial knowledge, as well as a result of inappropriate products; whereas better access to and usage of responsible digital financial services can help build women’s economic power and economic independence;

W.  whereas the ability of women to access and use digital technologies is affected by many factors, including investments, regulations and competition; whereas women and girls in rural and hard-to-reach regions face challenges and barriers to access the internet and digital technologies and infrastructure, preventing them from being able to fully embrace the digital potential of modern technology; whereas, especially in developing countries, women and girls in rural areas generally work in agriculture and their work is often unpaid and precarious, which leads to them living in technology-poor environments and to difficulties in the accessibility of digital technologies;

General remarks

1.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to align the measures fostering the digital transition with the Union’s goals on gender equality; stresses that the digital transition should not leave anyone behind; welcomes the Commission’s commitments to boosting the participation of women in the digital economy and information society included in the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025; calls on the Commission to continue to address the serious gender gap within the ICT sector in the digital agenda, the European digital strategy and all other digitalisation skills and education policies and initiatives, with concrete measures aimed specifically at increasing the participation of women and girls in the sector; stresses that increasing women’s participation in the digital sector can have an important impact on combating gender inequalities, stereotypes and discrimination, improving access to the labour market for women and their working conditions, as well as addressing the gender pay gap; calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide appropriate funding to programmes aimed at attracting more girls and women to study and work in STEM, to set up entrepreneurship programmes that finance women and girls who start tech projects or new companies, to develop strategies aimed at increasing girls’ and women’s digital inclusion, and digital financial inclusion, in fields relating to STEM, AI and the research and innovation sector, and to adopt a multi-level approach to address the gender gap at all levels of education and employment in the digital sector;

2.  Calls on the Commission to take equal opportunities for women and men and the digital gender gap into due account while negotiating programmes within the next multiannual financial framework and funds and loans under the Recovery Plan, and to increase awareness of these mechanisms among women; stresses that gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting with measurable indicators should be part of the policies supporting ICT development; calls on the Commission to ensure the gender mainstreaming of the Digital Services Act and all upcoming proposals related to the digital realm;

3.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the full implementation of the Ministerial Declaration of Commitment on ‘Women in Digital’; calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of Member States’ cross-sectoral national plans on women in digital;

Education

4.  Underlines the importance of ensuring gender mainstreaming in digital education at all levels, including extra-curricular, informal and non-formal education, also for teaching staff; calls for specific strategies for different age ranges;

5.  Encourages the Commission and the Member States, as well as developers, businesses and universities, to address the gender gap in the ICT sector and cooperate in finding solutions and sharing best practices on better inclusion of girls in subjects relevant for digital education from an early age onwards; calls for the EU and the Member States to develop, support and implement the actions promoted by the UN and its bodies;

6.  Calls on the Commission to thoroughly address the issue of the low numbers of women participating in ICT studies and careers, and ensure a strong gender perspective in the digital Europe programme and updated digital education action plan, including accessibility and affordability of digital equipment; calls on educational entities to include a gender component in all STEM and ICT-related curricula, educational materials and teaching practices from an early age to encourage girls to take up and continue studying mathematics, coding, ICT classes and science subjects in schools; encourages the Commission and the Member States to work with educational institutions and civil society organisations to assess and redesign ICT educational formats;

7.  Underlines the importance of women and girls being co-authors of their own future in STEM and ICT becoming an integral part of education in pre-school and primary school, abandoning harmful gender role stereotypes for girls and boys;

8.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take into account the gender perspective in the development of digital education policies to enable both male and female students to face future challenges; calls on the Commission and the Member States to set up mentoring schemes with female role models in ICT within all levels of education; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote awareness-raising campaigns directed at both students and their parents to fight gender stereotypes in school projects and jobs; stresses the importance of crediting women for their work so that girls do not see only male names in science books, but also have female role models;

9.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support lifelong learning in order to facilitate women’s professional transition to ICT-related positions, as well as training and schemes to boost the e-skills, upskilling and reskilling of girls and women; stresses that the Council’s recommendation on vocational education and training and the updated skills agenda for Europe must ensure a gender perspective;

10.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to adopt policies and measures to address the leaky pipeline phenomenon;

11.  Calls for gender equality to become a consistent and structural part of future EU youth strategy and policies;

Employment and entrepreneurship

12.  Urges the Member States to fully transpose and implement the Work-Life Balance Directive and calls on the Commission to monitor it effectively to ensure that both parents can benefit from paternity, parental and carer’s leave; encourages the Member States to consider ICT as a means to promote work-life balance and to observe trends in the digitalisation of the world of work, including the digital sector, in order to adapt their existing work-life balance measures, if necessary, and to promote and strengthen their systems aimed at an equal distribution of caregiving responsibilities; in this context, encourages the Commission and Member States to introduce policies to address the situation of the self-employed, particularly women entrepreneurs in the ICT and digital sectors, and their need for access to social protection systems, maternity leave and childcare; points out that teleworking allows women to work from home and has the potential to lead to a better work-life balance; notes, however, that it has to be monitored and properly regulated by the Member States;

13.  Stresses that the gender pay gap has a negative impact on social security benefits and the pension gap for women, including in the digital sector; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to present binding measures on pay transparency by the end of 2020, while giving due consideration to the unique circumstances of Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises, and the various labour market models that exist in the EU, in order to effectively address the gender pay and pension gaps and old-age poverty;

14.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to promote gender equality in companies in the ICT and related sectors and in the digital economy, and to adopt horizontal policies to reduce the gender gap in the digital economy through targeted measures, including European funds to finance female-led projects in the digital sector, the promotion of a minimum number of women researchers participating in ICT projects, training courses for HR departments on ‘unconscious gender-discriminatory bias’ to promote gender-balanced recruitment, the designing of prizes and incentive schemes for companies and organisations actively implementing gender-neutral policies linked to measurable targets, the promotion of gender mainstreaming in companies’ strategies in the production, design and marketing of ICT products, annual reports on diversity and the gender pay gap by ICT companies, public procurement policies and/or guidelines on the purchase of ICT services from providers that apply a gender balance in the composition of their companies and boards, facilitating the distribution of European funds to companies that take into account gender balance criteria and encouraging the implementation of gender equality plans and protocols to improve and monitor companies’ performance as regards women’s participation, including at management and leadership levels, as well as mentorship programmes;

15.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to fully assess the causes and factors that lead to a high drop-out rate of women from digital careers; calls on the Commission and the Member States to analyse the effect that the lack of work-life balance has on women’s ability to participate in the upskilling training needed to keep up the required skill level in the ICT sector; calls on the Commission and Member States to develop mechanisms and programmes to integrate women and girls into education, training and employment initiatives in the digital sector, irrespective of their legal migration status;

16.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to foster women’s entrepreneurship and engagement in innovation and to increase financing opportunities for female entrepreneurs and female-led digital start-ups, and to improve the accessibility of existing funds so that they have equal opportunities to compete in the digital single market and encourage a more gender-balanced composition of financing institutions;

17.  Encourages the Commission and the Member States to reinforce the funding for research on gender‑related issues in ICT;

18.  Considers it to be of the utmost relevance to have more women role models and to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the ICT sector; calls on male role models to speak out for gender equality in the digital economy; stresses the need for ICT companies to introduce human resources practices that promote diversity, such as gender balance in middle and senior management positions, and on company boards; welcomes the Commission’s stated intention to encourage the adoption of the 2012 proposal for a Directive on gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (the Women on Boards Directive) and urges the Council to unblock and adopt it;

The culture, media and audiovisual sectors

19.  Stresses the impact of the cultural, media, advertising and audiovisual sectors in the development and intensification of gender stereotypes and promotion of normative and cultural barriers, replicated through the language and images disseminated;

20.  Calls on the audiovisual and media industries to increasingly portray women in STEM and ICT-related professions, and to introduce depictions of diversity and opportunity within STEM and ICT; calls on the media industries to include women on discussion panels, in newspaper articles and in other spaces where public opinion and discourse on technological subjects is shaped;

21.  Recalls the importance of eliminating conscious and unconscious gender‑discriminatory bias from algorithms, AI applications, videogames and toys that perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes and lead to the reduced participation of women in the digital, AI and ICT fields; stresses the need to address the innovation bias within the ICT sector, whereby the designers and developers of services, software and user applications are mostly men and the users mainly women;

Women’s civic, political and economic empowerment

22.  Stresses that ICTs can greatly increase women’s ability to take part in electoral processes, public consultations, surveys and debates, as well as to organise and advocate women’s rights; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take the gender dimension into account when devising e-government initiatives; underlines the effectiveness of using the internet for campaigns, forums and boosting the visibility of female role models;

23.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to engage constructively with and support digital civil society organisations and to encourage such organisations to get involved in internet governance; calls on the Commission and the Member States also to work closely with and involve women and women’s civil society organisations in order to better respond to and alleviate the concerns that exist in the everyday life of women and girls when designing and implementing public tech policies, and to promote women’s economic and digital inclusion;

24.  Encourages the Member States and the Commission to organise awareness-raising, training and gender mainstreaming campaigns to highlight the impact of ICT proficiency on the economic empowerment of women;

25.  Considers that women need to be encouraged to play a more critical role in the design, development, construction and maintenance of smart cities or smart villages;

Data collection

26.  Welcomes the creation of the Women in Digital scoreboard as an integral part of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), as well as the four new indicators proposed by the EIGE in its 2018 report entitled ‘Gender equality and youth: opportunities and risks of digitalisation’;

27.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States, as well as platforms and businesses, to collect comparable gender- and age-disaggregated data on the use of ICT, as well as to propose initiatives, including research, to understand and address the root causes of the digital gender gap; urges the Commission and the Member States to collect and utilise existing sex-disaggregated data to promote more research into the interaction of the different factors which impede women’s and girls’ digital inclusion; stresses that harmonised data collection facilitates the comparison and sharing of data and examples of best practices by the Member States;

Combating gender-based violence: Cyber violence

28.  Acknowledges with great concern the rise in digital crimes and acts of intimidation, bullying, doxing, harassment and violence against women in the digital world; stresses the importance of digital and media literacy, cyber-hygiene and cyber safety; calls for funds and campaigns to raise awareness and educate women in how to secure their accounts and communications to protect themselves online, and in respectful social communication on the internet to warn women about potential harassers or aggressors, as well as to inform them how to seek help in case of an incident; considers that such campaigns should combat gender-based violence and gender stereotypes, educate men in how to behave towards women online and ensure women’s continued freedom of expression and meaningful participation in public discourse; considers, in addition, that companies and developers should address gender-based online violence and abuse on their infrastructures through effective reporting and suspension mechanisms; calls on the Member States to facilitate reporting channels and to support the development of training tools for the police force, the justice system and the information and communication technology sector to empower law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate and prosecute malicious attackers and support the victims of online harassment and violence;

29.  Calls for the EU institutions, agencies and bodies, as well as the Member States and their law enforcement agencies, to cooperate and take concrete steps to coordinate their actions to counter the use of ICT to commit crimes, including online sexual harassment and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and to collect sex-disaggregated data concerning online gender-based violence; welcomes the Commission’s announcement of a survey on gender-based violence; urges the Commission and the Member States to provide appropriate funding for the development of AI solutions that prevent and combat cyber violence, online sexual harassment, the exploitation of women and girls, and harassment at the workplace; calls on the Member States to review their criminal law to ensure that new forms of digital violence are defined, acknowledged and criminalised, as well as to ratify the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention of 2019, which applies, inter alia, to work-related communications;

30.  Considers it essential for the achievement of gender equality to create comprehensive, age-appropriate sexual and relationship education which includes combating cyber violence and online sexual harassment, as well as combating online objectification and the hyper-sexualisation and sexual exploitation of women; calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt policies and measures to address the occurrences of sexual harassment at STEM educational sites and schools, as well as within the ICT sector; calls on employers to adapt HR measures to tackle both old and new forms of online harassment, with mandatory training courses and emergency numbers for victims;

31.  Calls for further legally binding measures and for a directive to prevent and combat gender-based violence, including cyber violence, which is often directed at women such as public figures, politicians and activists, as well as online hate speech against women; calls on the Commission to ensure that the forthcoming proposal for a Digital Services Act and the new framework for cooperation between internet platforms address online platforms’ responsibilities regarding user-disseminated hate speech and other harmful, abusive and sexist content, to protect women’s safety online; calls on the Commission to develop harmonised legal definitions of cyber violence and a new Code of Conduct for online platforms on combating online gender-based violence;

Emerging fields

32.  Calls on national public administrations and the EU institutions to work with the private sector to create Europe-wide role model campaigns, encouraging women junior professionals to opt for the cybersecurity professions, which would significantly reduce the skills gap, boost the economy, and improve the overall resilience of the cybersecurity industry in Europe;

33.  Stresses the need for further regulatory efforts to ensure that AI respects the principles and values of gender equality and non-discrimination as enshrined in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

34.  Highlights that a need exists to deepen understanding, through a gender lens, of emerging fields such as algorithmic decision-making, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency and dataveillance, and to set out strategies to address them;

Gender equality in development policies

35.  Expresses its concerns about the possibility of an increase in the digital gender gap in developing countries and regions in the current crisis; stresses the importance of promoting women’s and girls’ digital proficiency, digital accessibility and digital affordability as instruments to obtain gender equality in development strategies; stresses the need to channel development funds into the promotion of the digital education of girls and women, and to support female-led projects in the digital sector, especially those with a social impact;

36.  Recalls that persons with disabilities, ethnic and minority groups, women from different socio-economic backgrounds, older women and women in rural areas, as well as refugee and migrant women, may face difficulties in accessing digital services and related infrastructure; stresses the importance of an intersectional approach to all gender mainstreaming initiatives as regards increasing women’s access to and use of digital services, and to education and employment in the digital economy and society; calls on the Member States to tackle the digital exclusion of all vulnerable groups in society and to make ICT education accessible to them by adapting teaching methods and timetables to take account of the different factors determining women’s access to education;

o
o   o

37.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ C 264 E, 13.9.2013, p. 75. (2) OJ C 36, 29.1.2016, p. 18. (3) OJ C 93, 9.3.2016, p. 120. (4) OJ C 349, 17.10.2017, p. 56. (5) OJ C 66, 21.2.2018, p. 44. (6) OJ C 390, 18.11.2019, p. 28. (7) In-depth analysis – ‘Empowering women on the Internet’, European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C – Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, 30 October 2015. (8) Study – ‘The underlying causes of the digital gender gap and possible solutions for enhanced digital inclusion of women and girls’, European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C – Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, 15 February 2018. (9) Study – ‘Cyber violence and hate speech online against women’, European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C – Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, 16 August 2018. (10) Study – ‘Education and employment of women in science, technology and the digital economy, including AI and its influence on gender equality’, European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C – Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, 15 April 2020. (11) OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p. 1. (12) https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/women-digital-scoreboard (13) EIGE Indicator 6. Source: EIGE factsheet entitled ‘Gender equality and digitalisation in the European Union’, published on 11 October 2018. (14) EIGE factsheet entitled ‘Gender equality and digitalisation in the European Union’, published on 11 October 2018. (15) https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/women-ict (16) FRA survey – https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/604979/IPOL_STU(2018)604979_EN.pdf (17) Commission study entitled ‘Women in the Digital Age’ (2018). (18) https://2019.stateofeuropeantech.com/chapter/diversity-inclusion/article/state-di-european-tech/

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the crackdown on the democratic opposition in Hong Kong (2021/2505(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0027 RC-B9-0068/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its resolutions of 19 June 2020 on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) national security law for Hong Kong and the need for the EU to defend Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy(1) and of 18 July 2019 on the situation in Hong Kong(2), to its resolutions of 24 November 2016 on the case of Gui Minhai, jailed publisher in China(3) and of 4 February 2016 on the case of the missing book publishers in Hong Kong(4), and to its resolution of 17 December 2020(5), in particular with regard to the importance of creating effective European corporate due diligence legislation,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on China, in particular those of 12 September 2018 on the state of EU-China relations(6) and of 16 December 2015 on EU-China relations(7),

–  having regard to its previous recommendations relating to Hong Kong, in particular that of 13 December 2017 to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) on Hong Kong, 20 years after handover(8),

–  having regard to the declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU of 7 January 2021 on the mass arrest of people involved in the July 2020 pro-democracy primary elections in Hong Kong, to the statement by the Spokesperson of 29 December 2020 on the trial of 10 Hong Kongers, to the declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU of 12 November 2020 on the disqualification of Members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, to the statement by the Spokesperson of 2 November 2020 on the arrest of several pro-democracy lawmakers and former lawmakers in Hong Kong, to the statement by the Spokesperson of 24 September 2020 on the arrest of Joshua Wong and other pro-democracy activists, to the statement by the Spokesperson of 10 August 2020 on recent arrests and raids under the National Security Law in Hong Kong, to the declaration of the High Representative on behalf of the EU of 3 August 2020 on the postponement of the Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong, and to the declaration of the High Representative on behalf of the European Union of 1 July 2020 on the adoption by China’s National People’s Congress of a National Security Legislation on Hong Kong,

–  having regard to the press statement of its Conference of Presidents of 6 July 2020,

–  having regard to the adoption of the National Security Law in Hong Kong by the Standing Committee of the China’s National People’s Congress on 30 June 2020,

–  having regard to the G7 Foreign Ministers’ statement of 17 June 2020 on Hong Kong,

–  having regard to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) adopted on 4 April 1990, which entered into force on 1 July 1997,

–  having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the question of Hong Kong of 19 December 1984, also known as the Sino-British Joint Declaration,

–  having regard to the 13th annual Structured Dialogue that took place in Hong Kong on 28 November 2019,

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the VP/HR of 12 March 2019 entitled ‘EU-China – A strategic outlook’ (JOIN(2019)0005),

–  having regard to the EU’s ‘One China’ policy,

–  having regard to Rule 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas on 5 January 2021 the Hong Kong police arrested 53 representatives of the democratic opposition and activists on charges of subversion under the National Security Law (NSL) for Hong Kong; whereas among those detained were the organisers and candidates of last July’s democratic primaries in the run-up to the elections to the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, former Legislative Council members, district councillors, and an American lawyer involved in the pro-democracy movement; whereas on the instructions of the Hong Kong Police, banks also froze HKD 1.6 million related to the 53 individuals; whereas in the meantime all but three of these individuals have been released on bail pending further investigation;

B.  whereas this was the latest in a long series of arrests of representatives and activists of the democratic opposition and other actions aimed at undermining democratic institutions in Hong Kong since the entry into force of the NSL on 1 July 2020; whereas 93 opposition figures have been arrested under the law since its introduction; whereas on 1 September 2020 the UN human rights experts affirmed that the law ‘implicates both serious concerns of legality as well as undue limitations on freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly’;

C.  whereas Hong Kong’s Security Minister has declared that those arrested were suspected of trying to paralyse the government through their plans to use their democratic rights and gain a majority of the seats in the legislature;

D.  whereas numerous pro-democracy figures have been subject to politically motivated disqualification from elected offices, based on a National People’s Congress resolution of 10 November 2020 to make patriotism a legal requirement for lawmakers, leading to the resignation of almost all opposition members from the Legislative Council; whereas Hong Kong’s previously independent judiciary is increasingly coming under attack by the Chinese Communist Party and the state-controlled press;

E.  whereas, on 15 January 2021, Hong Kong Broadband Network blocked a pro-democracy website at the request of the Hong Kong authorities under the NSL; whereas this first instance of internet censorship under the NSL raises concerns that the Hong Kong authorities plan on using this legislation to further limit freedom of expression and of information online; whereas this would have damaging consequences for both civil liberties and democracy;

F.  whereas the Hong Kong Government took the decision to postpone the Legislative Council elections originally scheduled for 6 September 2020 by one year, clearly in an effort to hamper the opposition, which for the first time had stood a real chance of winning a majority; whereas immediately after the entry into force of the NSL, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam declared that the primaries were illegal and might violate the NSL;

G.  whereas, on 23 August 2020, the Chinese authorities apprehended 12 Hong Kong activists who were allegedly trying to flee Hong Kong by boat; whereas 10 of the 12 activists were handed down prison sentences ranging between 7 months and 3 years on charges of illegally crossing the border in a trial that did not respect the defendants’ right to due process; whereas one of these activists, Kok Tsz-Lun, is a 19-year-old student and a dual Chinese and Portuguese national, and is therefore an EU citizen; whereas the defendants were detained, held incommunicado and put on trial in Shenzhen; whereas they were also denied the possibility of choosing their representation;

H.  whereas they were detained and their trial held in Shenzhen was in violation of the principles of a fair trial and due process; whereas, on 15 January 2021, Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei had his licence to practice law revoked by the Sichuan Provincial Justice Department for representing one of these 12 activists; whereas human rights lawyer Ren Quanniu faced a hearing in the Henan Provincial Judicial Department on 19 January 2021 to contest the Judicial Department’s decision to initiate the process to revoke his licence over the same issue; whereas both lawyers are at risk of losing their licence after trying to represent Hong Kong activists who were intercepted by the Chinese authorities while attempting to flee to Taiwan by boat; whereas 10 diplomats, including some representing EU Member States, were barred from observing Lu Siwei’s hearing in Chengdu on 13 January 2021;

I.  whereas on 10 August 2020 Jimmy Lay, the media mogul and founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was arrested on grounds of violating the NSL;

J.  whereas the NSL is in clear violation of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and the 1990 Basic Law of the HKSAR, which guarantees the autonomy and the independence of the executive, legislative and judiciary, as well as basic rights and freedoms such as freedom of speech, assembly, association and of the press for 50 years after handover of sovereignty; whereas the NSL also prevents Hong Kong from abiding by its international human rights obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), whose implementation by Hong Kong will soon be reviewed;

K.  whereas Human Rights Watch’s annual report states that China is in the middle of its darkest period for human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre;

L.  whereas the European Union continues to have deep concerns regarding the PRC NSL for Hong Kong; whereas this is a sensitive issue, with far-reaching consequences for Hong Kong and its people, for EU and foreign citizens, for EU and international civil society organisations, and for business confidence in Hong Kong; whereas the NSL increases the risks faced by EU citizens in Hong Kong;

M.  whereas the EU has always strongly supported the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle and the preservation of Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy in line with the Basic Law and international commitments; whereas in the current circumstances these principles are on the verge of being irreversibly undermined;

N.  whereas in December 2020 the EU and China agreed in principle on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI);

1.  Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of those arrested in Hong Kong in the first two weeks of 2021, and of all those previously arrested on charges pursuant to the NSL, and for all charges against them to be dropped; urges the authorities to respect Hong Kong’s rule of law, human rights, democratic principles and high degree of autonomy under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle, as enshrined in the Hong Kong Basic Law and in line with domestic and international obligations;

2.  Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Hong Kong activists detained on 23 August 2020 while allegedly trying to flee by boat, and for all charges against them to be dropped; calls on the European External Action Service (EEAS), through the EU Delegation in China, to continue providing due assistance to Kok Tsz-Lun, a dual Chinese and Portuguese national and, therefore, an EU citizen, who was also one of the 10 sentenced in Shenzhen; calls on the Chinese authorities to immediately reinstate the licences of their defenders, human rights lawyers Lu Siwei and Ren Quanniu;

3.  Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all peaceful Hong Kong protesters arrested in recent years, including Joshua Wong, Ivan Lam, and Agnes Chow, and for all charges against them to be dropped; calls for independent, impartial, effective and prompt investigations into the use of force by the Hong Kong police against protesters;

4.  Calls on the Hong Kong authorities to immediately refrain from making further use of the NSL to suppress the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association; stresses the importance of preventing, as a next step, the disqualification of district councillors, as well as any change to the electoral law that would further limit the space of the pro-democracy camp, which runs counter to the legal guarantees of the Hong Kong Basic Law and to international obligations and standards;

5.  Calls for the full withdrawal of the law entitled ‘Decision of the National People’s Congress on Establishing and Completing the Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Region’s Legal System and Implementation Mechanisms for the Preservation of National Security’, which damages Hong Kong’s international status by eroding its autonomy and democracy, the independence of the justice system and its respect for human rights; underlines that the people of Hong Kong should enjoy the freedoms and high degree of autonomy guaranteed under both the Basic Law and the ICCPR to which Hong Kong is a party;

6.  Stresses that the introduction of the NSL is a breach of the PRC’s commitments and obligations under international law, namely the Sino-British Joint Declaration, prevents the establishment of a relationship of trust between China and the EU, and undermines future cooperation;

7.  Expresses concern at the increasing number of attacks against the Hong Kong judiciary by the Chinese Communist Party and the state-controlled Chinese press aimed at directly calling judicial independence into question; is concerned that the NSL could be further invoked, as a next step, to undermine the independence of the judiciary of Hong Kong, since the Chief Executive is being given the power to appoint judges to prosecute national security cases, and since those charged could be extradited to mainland China and tried in Chinese courts;

8.  Strongly welcomes the decision by the UK Government to create a pathway to citizenship for the more than one million Hong Kong residents who hold British National Overseas (BNO) passports; condemns the threats by China to withdraw its recognition of such passports as a valid travel document and is concerned at the latest information that China is allegedly considering excluding BNO passport holders from Hong Kong public office or even denying them the right to vote in Hong Kong elections; calls on the Council, the EEAS and the Commission to improve coordination in order to achieve the successful and effective implementation of the package of measures for Hong Kong adopted in July 2020; calls on the EEAS to provide a more transparent assessment of these measures, including the urgency of setting up a ‘lifeboat scheme’ for citizens of Hong Kong in the event of a further deterioration of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

9.  Urges all EU and European diplomatic personnel to do everything they can to provide protection and support to peaceful activists in Hong Kong, including by attending trials, requesting prison visits and consistently and resolutely reaching out to the local authorities, applying in full the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders and other relevant EU policies, including the new EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy;

10.  Is deeply disturbed by the reports that the Hong Kong authorities are considering prosecuting Danish lawmakers Uffe Elbæk and Katarina Ammitzbøll for helping Hong Kong activist Ted Hui to go into exile in the UK; believes that the proposed charges against the Danish lawmakers are illegitimate and false, and expresses strong concern at the determination of the Chinese Communist Party to clamp down on Hong Kong voices of dissent across the democratic world through an extraterritorial application of the NSL; urges China to release unjustly detained EU citizens, such as Irish citizen Richard O’Halloran; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to conduct a risk assessment of how Hong Kong’s NSL could affect European citizens;

11.  Remains particularly outraged at the continuing detention of Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, and urges robust and steady intervention by the EU and the Member States at the highest level to secure his release; calls for the release of dual Hong Kong-Portuguese national Kok Tsz-Lun, and urges that he be allowed access to Portuguese consular staff and the counsel of his choice;

12.  Welcomes the decisions by EU Member States and other international partners to suspend extradition treaties with Hong Kong; highlights the importance of continuing to observe trials and of continuing to assess and prepare responses to the possible implications of the NSL outside Hong Kong; reiterates its call on the Member States to suspend their extradition treaties with the PRC, to prevent the extradition of, for example, Uyghurs, citizens of Hong Kong, Tibetans or Chinese dissidents in Europe to stand political trial in the PRC;

13.  Condemns the role of European-based banks in aiding the Chinese authorities’ use of the NSL by freezing the assets and bank accounts belonging to former pro-democracy lawmakers and religious leaders;

14.  Recalls that Hong Kong has enjoyed open internet access, but is concerned that the NSL grants the police the power to order internet providers to block websites; expresses its strong concern at the recent declarations by the internet service provider Hong Kong Broadband Network that it intended to reject any sites that could incite ‘illegal acts’ based on the NSL, and, consequently, at the tangible risk that Hong Kong could be integrated into the Chinese firewall; urges the Hong Kong authorities to immediately withdraw all takedown orders which have already been issued and to restore full internet accessibility;

15.  Urges the Council to intensify its discussions on and assessment of the package of measures on Hong Kong and to promptly consider the introduction of targeted sanctions against individuals in Hong Kong and China, including Carrie Lam, Teresa Yeuk-wah Cheng, Xia Baolong, Xiaoming Zhang, Luo Huining, Zheng Yanxiong, Ping-kien Tang, Wai-Chung Lo and Ka-chiu Lee, under the EU human rights global sanction regime, taking into account, in the course of 2021, the imperative to restore civil and political rights, and compliance with the condition that the representatives of the democratic opposition be freed and allowed to take part in the forthcoming elections, fully in line with the Basic Law of the HKSAR;

16.  Regrets the fact that the decision on a political conclusion of the CAI has not reflected Parliament’s requests in previous resolutions on Hong Kong to use investment negotiations as a leverage tool aimed at preserving Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, as well as its basic rights and freedoms; regrets the fact that, by rushing to reach this agreement while not taking concrete action against ongoing grave human right violations, for example in Hong Kong, Xinjiang province and Tibet, the EU risks undermining its credibility as a global human rights actor; points out that Parliament will carefully scrutinise the agreement, including its provisions on labour rights and reminds the Commission that it will take the human rights situation in China, including in Hong Kong, into account when asked to endorse the investment agreement or future trade deals with the PRC;

17.  Urges the EU and all its Member States to act in a united and resolute fashion towards the establishment of a UN independent monitoring body on China, by proactively expanding coalitions of like-minded countries by holding an ‘Arria’ formula meeting on China at the UN Security Council, by urging the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to launch a Human Rights Council investigation into the abuses, and by urging the UN Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy on China; urges the EEAS and the Member States which are members of the UN Human Rights Council to step up their efforts to publicly raise concerns about China’s rights violations, for example by taking the initiative to call for a Special Session on the human rights situation in China, including Hong Kong, during the 2021 Council cycle, and underlines that China’s membership of the Council requires that it be held to a higher standard of human rights security;

18.  Calls for the EU to push for the UN Secretary-General or the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint a UN Special Envoy or Special Rapporteur on the situation in Hong Kong, joining in with the initiative by the Chairs of the UK, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Foreign Affairs Committees; calls on the Council and the VP/HR to work with the international community to establish an international contact group on Hong Kong;

19.  Calls on the international community to honour its promises to the people of Hong Kong and take urgent and unprecedented action to hold China to account for these violations of international law; reiterates its call for the EU and the Member States to consider bringing a case before the International Court of Justice on the grounds that China’s decision to impose the NSL on Hong Kong and its subsequent application violate the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the ICCPR;

20.  Welcomes the newly established bilateral EU-US Dialogue on China, launched on 23 October 2020; calls for enhanced coordination with international partners, including the incoming US administration, with regard to all aspects of relations with the PRC and Hong Kong; insists that human rights, with a particular focus on the situation in Hong Kong, feature prominently on the agenda of the forthcoming EU-US Dialogue;

21.  Observes that the PRC’s policy of abandoning the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ approach has greatly alienated the people of Taiwan, and emphasises its willingness to cooperate with international partners in order to help secure democracy in Taiwan;

22.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Government and Parliament of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chief Executive and the Assembly of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

(1) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0174. (2) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0004. (3) OJ C 224, 27.6.2018, p. 78. (4) OJ C 35, 31.1.2018, p. 46. (5) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0375. (6) OJ C 433, 23.12.2019, p. 103. (7) OJ C 399, 24.11.2017, p. 92. (8) OJ C 369, 11.10.2018, p. 156.

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the human rights situation in Turkey, in particular the case of Selahattin Demirtaş and other prisoners of conscience (2021/2506(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0028 RC-B9-0072/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Turkey, in particular those of 8 February 2018 on the current human rights situation in Turkey(1), of 13 March 2019 on the 2018 Commission Report on Turkey(2), and of 19 September 2019 on the situation in Turkey, in particular the removal of elected mayors(3),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 6 October 2020 on EU enlargement policy (COM(2020)0660) and to the accompanying Turkey 2020 Report (SWD(2020)0355),

–  having regard to the Negotiating Framework for Turkey of 3 October 2005,

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998(4) concerning the global human rights sanctions regime,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 10 and 11 December 2020, and to other relevant Council and European Council conclusions on Turkey,

–  having regard to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Grand Chamber of 22 December 2020 in the case of Demirtaş v Turkey (14305/17),

–  having regard to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of 20 November 2018 in the case of Demirtaş v Turkey,

–  having regard to Rule 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas Turkey is an EU candidate country and a long-standing member of the Council of Europe; whereas, as member of the Council of Europe, Turkey is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and bound to the provisions and the case law of the ECtHR;

B.  whereas, since mid-September 2020, Turkish police have been carrying out large-scale dawn raids across Turkey in which dozens of politicians, political activists, lawyers, and other civil society actors have been detained under ‘terrorism’-related charges; whereas on 31 December 2020 the new law on Preventing Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction entered into force in Turkey, with only six of its articles including means and regulations to combat the financing of terrorism and the rest granting the Turkish Interior Ministry and the President extensive authority to restrict the activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), business partnerships, independent groups and associations and to diminish their role;

C.  whereas Mr Selahattin Demirtaş, former member of the Turkish Parliament between 2007 and 2018, former co-chair of the Turkish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and presidential candidate during the elections of 2014 and 2018 (receiving 9,76 % and 8,32 % of the votes), has been detained for more than 4 years on unsubstantiated charges and in spite of two ECtHR rulings in favour of his release;

D.  whereas Mr Demirtaş was initially detained on 4 November 2016 with eight other democratically elected HDP Members of Parliament, including the former HDP co-chair Ms Figen Yüksekdağ, and was prosecuted on charges of ‘membership of a terrorist organisation’ ‘spreading terrorist propaganda’ and many other crimes, which was the start of the Turkish Government’s ongoing assault on the party and part of a broader pattern of politically motivated prosecutions and incarcerations; whereas, despite winning 65 mayoralties across the country in local elections in 2019, just six HDP mayors remain in office today, with the rest removed from office or jailed and replaced with government-appointed trustees;

E.  whereas on 20 September 2019, the same day on which Mr Demirtaş should have been released in accordance with a decision of the Istanbul 26th Assize Court, the Ankara chief prosecutor cited an old and dormant ongoing investigation as grounds for detaining Mr Demirtaş and Ms Yüksekdağ once again; whereas Mr Demirtaş therefore remains in pre-trial detention in relation to an investigation into the October 2014 protests that took place against the siege of Kobane by ISIS and in criticism of the Turkish Government’s inaction and silence in the face of an imminent massacre, which turned violent and claimed dozens of lives;

F.  whereas on 22 December 2020, the ECtHR Grand Chamber ruled that in initially detaining Mr Demirtaş and then prolonging his detention for over 4 years, the Turkish Government had pursued an ulterior motive of preventing him from carrying out his political activities, depriving voters of their elected representative, and ‘stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of political debate: the very core of the concept of a democratic society’, and had violated Article 18 of the ECHR; whereas the final ruling concluded that there were insufficient reasons for continued detention and again ordered Mr Demirtaş’ immediate release; whereas according to the ECtHR, Turkey also violated freedom of expression (Article 10 of the ECHR), the right to liberty and security (Articles 5(1) and 5(3) of the ECHR) and the right to elect and to be elected (Article 3(1) of the ECHR); whereas the ECtHR found no clear link between Mr Demirtaş’ speeches and terrorism offences;

G.  whereas on 7 January 2021, a Turkish penal court approved the indictments of 108 defendants, including former HDP co-chairs Mr Demirtaş and Ms Yuksekdag, as part of a probe into the deadly 2014 terror incidents, rebuffing demands by the ECtHR for Mr Demirtaş’s release and demanding 38 aggravated life sentences for the defendants, of whom 27 are in custody;

H.  whereas, despite the ruling of Turkey’s Constitutional Court of 9 June 2020 that Mr Demirtaş’s lengthy pre-trial detainment violates his constitutional rights, he remains detained in an Edirne F-type high-security prison; whereas he is but one of the many illegitimately people imprisoned in Turkey on politically motivated charges;

I.  whereas the recurrent political statements made at the highest level by Turkish Government officials and leaders of the ruling coalition about the case of Mr Demirtaş and the close temporal links between the political statements and the clearly illegal actions of the judiciary, provide yet more evidence of the political motivations behind the case and severely undermine the independence of the Turkish judiciary;

J.  whereas, in another case, on 10 December 2019, the ECtHR ruled that the pre-trial detention of a prominent civil society figure, Mr Osman Kavala, was in violation of the ECHR and that the Turkish authorities had to secure Mr Kavala’s immediate release; whereas despite the ECtHR’s ruling, on 9 October 2020, the Istanbul Court extended Mr Kavala’s detention on charges of espionage and attempts to overthrow constitutional order during the Gezi Park protests in 2013; whereas Turkey has continued to act in violation of the ECHR by failing to release Mr Kavala from detention in spite of the calls from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe;

1.  Calls for Mr. Demirtaş’s immediate and unconditional release from detention in compliance with the 2018 judgment of the ECtHR and confirmed by the ruling of its Grand Chamber of 22 December 2020 and to drop all charges against him and Ms Yüksekdağ, former co-chairs of the opposition HDP and the other imprisoned members of the party; stresses that the Turkish authorities must let them exercise their democratic mandates independently and free from threats and impediments; reiterates its support to all those who continue to work to end these and other cases of sheer injustice and to return Turkey to the path of a fully-fledged democracy;

2.  Reminds the Turkish authorities that their failure to release Mr Demirtaş constitutes a direct violation of the ECHR and of its domestic law, an unjustifiable prolongation of the violation of Mr Demirtaş’s rights and a blatant breach of Turkey’s obligation to implement the rulings of the ECtHR; insists that the ECtHR judgment means that the Turkish authorities must release him immediately;

3.  Stresses that the ECtHR judged the lengthy and unlawful pre-trial detention of Mr Demirtaş to be politically motivated; expresses its deep concerns over the irregular practices and political statements made around this case, which suggest that the Turkish Government interfered in judicial affairs related to the prolonged detention of Mr Demirtaş;

4.  Calls on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to urgently review, in its next meeting on 21 March 2021, Turkey’s refusal to execute the judgment of the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in the case of Demirtaş v Turkey, to adopt a declaration on the matter, and to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Government of Turkey implements this judgment without any further delay; is fully confident that the German Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will take all appropriate and necessary measures to ensure the implementation of the Grand Chamber ruling in Mr Demirtaş’s case; calls on the EU Delegation to the Council of Europe to redouble its efforts in ensuring the implementation of the ECtHR judgments on Turkey;

5.  Condemns the Turkish authorities’ treatment of Mr Demirtaş, which violates his rights under the ECHR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Turkish domestic law, and his human dignity as enshrined in Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey; considers the unlawful extension of Mr Demirtaş’ detention for more than 4 years a cruel and politically motivated punishment that is causing irreparable personal and political damage to him, his family and his party; calls on Turkey to refrain from further intimidation measures against him and to guarantee his human rights as enshrined in the Turkish Constitution and in European and international law;

6.  Urges the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Commission and the Member States to continue to bring up the case of Mr Demirtaş and all other cases of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, politicians and academics subjected to arbitrary detention with their Turkish interlocutors, and to provide diplomatic and political support for them; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase the use of emergency grants for human rights defenders and to ensure the full implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders by the Delegation of the EU and Member State diplomatic representations to Turkey; urges the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey to continue to closely monitor the case of Mr Demirtaş and other prisoners, including through attending their trials, and to continue to raise their situations with the Turkish authorities;

7.  Is deeply concerned about the disregard shown by the Turkish judiciary and authorities for ECtHR rulings and the increasing non-compliance of Turkish lower courts with the judgments of the Turkish Constitutional Court; calls on Turkey to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the ECHR and the decisions of the ECtHR; urges its full cooperation with the Council of Europe in strengthening the rule of law, minority rights, democracy and fundamental rights; hopes that the ECtHR will be able to expedite its decisions in numerous cases involving the situation in Turkey; urges the Turkish Government to ensure that all individuals have the fundamental right to due process and to have their cases examined by a fully independent and functioning judicial system, in accordance with international standards;

8.  Is deeply concerned about the constant attacks and pressure on the opposition parties, in particular the continuous specific and politically motivated targeting of the HDP and its youth organisations by the Turkish authorities, which undermines the proper functioning of democratic system, and calls on the Turkish authorities to immediately end their crackdown against them; expresses particular concern as to the ongoing debate about the closure of the HDP and the lifting of the immunities of nine HDP MPs, both for the same Kobane protests of October 2014 for which Mr Demirtaş is being detained; highlights the case of Cihan Erdal, member of the youth wing of the Turkish Green/Left party, who was detained on 25 September 2020 and indicted on 7 January 2021 together with more than 100 defendants, including Selahattin Demirtaş, as part of the ‘Kobane case’; is seriously concerned about the continuous political and judicial harassment of Canan Kaftancıoğlu, Istanbul provincial chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), who was sentenced on September 2019 to almost 10 years in prison on a politically motivated cases, for which a Supreme Court decision is pending, and who was indicted in December 2020 in a new case for which she faces another 10 years;

9.  Expresses its great concern at the shrinking space for civil society and the ongoing deterioration of fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey; highlights, in particular, concerns over Turkey’s sustained backsliding as regards the independence of the judiciary; calls on the Turkish authorities to put an end to its judicial harassment of human rights defenders, academics, journalists, spiritual leaders, lawyers and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community, whose fundamental rights have been infringed, especially after the failed coup d’état attempt; urges the Turkish Government to immediately release the prominent civil society figure Osman Kavala in compliance with the ECHR judgment of May 2020 and following the repeated calls and resolutions from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe;

10.  Recalls the recently approved EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, a mechanism for monitoring and sanctioning the serious violations of human rights, as is the case in Turkey, targeting individuals, entities and bodies involved in or associated with serious human rights violations;

11.  Is highly concerned about the situation of media freedom in Turkey; calls on the Turkish authorities to immediately reply and act on all alerts issued with regard to Turkey on the Council of Europe Platform and to promote the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists; calls on the Turkish authorities to ensure fair access to justice and to end politically motivated lawsuits against journalists and media professionals, such as the recent case of journalist Melis Alphan, who was charged with disseminating terrorist propaganda and faces up to 7 years and 6 months in prison; expresses its serious concern over the monitoring of social media platforms and condemns the shutdown of social media accounts by Turkey’s authorities; considers this to be a further restriction of the freedom of expression and a tool to repress civil society;

12.  Takes note of Turkey’s intention to turn a new page in its relations with the EU, its determination to implement reforms and its full commitment to the accession process, as expressed by President Erdogan and other top government officials on 9 January 2021; is of the view that respecting and applying the rulings of the ECtHR would be an important step in confirming the credibility of such statements using real data; reiterates the EU’s openness to a new start; underlines, however, that better and deeper relations are fully dependent on, inter alia, tangible improvements in respect for democratic principles, the rule of law and fundamental rights within Turkey;

13.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the German Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and the President, Government and Parliament of Turkey, and requests that this resolution be translated into Turkish.

(1) OJ C 463, 21.12.2018, p. 56. (2) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0200. (3) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0017. (4) OJ L 410 I, 7.12.2020, p. 1.

European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the human rights situation in Vietnam, in particular the case of human rights journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan (2021/2507(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0029 RC-B9-0077/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Vietnam, in particular those of 15 November 2018 on Vietnam, notably the situation of political prisoners(1), of 14 December 2017 on freedom of expression in Vietnam, notably the case of Nguyen Van Hoa(2), and of 9 June 2016 on Vietnam(3),

–  having regard to its resolutions of 12 February 2020 on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam(4), and on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Investment Protection Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, of the other part (IPA)(5),

–  having regard to the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, of the other, signed on 27 June 2012, which entered into force in October 2016 (PCA) ,

–  having regard to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA),

–  having regard to the 10th EU-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue of 19 February 2020,

–  having regard to the European External Action Service (EEAS) statement by its spokesperson of 6 January 2021 on the sentencing of three journalists (Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan),

–  having regard to the message by the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam regarding the decision of the Court of Appeal of Ho Chi Minh City of January 2021 to uphold the heavy sentence handed down to the members of the Hiến Pháp Group,

–  having regard to the UN Special Rapporteurs’ joint statement of 14 January 2021 entitled ‘Viet Nam: Arrests send chilling message before key Party meeting’,

–  having regard to the press briefing notes of the Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of 8 January 2021 on Viet-Nam, and to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’s statement of 3 June 2020 entitled ‘Asia: Bachelet alarmed by clampdown on freedom of expression during COVID-19’,

–  having regard to the joint allegation letters by UN Special Procedures of 17 September 2020 on the three journalists and of 22 January 2020 on two individuals including journalist Pham Chi Dung, and to the respective responses by the Vietnamese Government of 28 December 2020 and 18 March 2020,

–  having regard to the third periodic report of Viet Nam (CCPR/C/VNM/3) of 11 and 12 March 2019 and to the UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations thereon of 29 August 2019,

–  having regard to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) of 2011,

–  having regard to the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders,

–  having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,

–  having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam acceded in 1982,

–  having regard to Rules 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas on 5 January 2021, human rights defenders and journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan, members of the Independent Journalist Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), were sentenced to heavy prison terms of 15, 11 and 11 years respectively by the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City for, among other charges, ‘making, storing and spreading information, materials and items for the purpose of opposing the State’; whereas the scope of their respective reporting includes government mismanagement and corruption, the treatment of human rights defenders by the Vietnamese authorities, and the pro-democracy movement in Vietnam;

B.  whereas the Vietnamese authorities continue to imprison, detain, harass and intimidate human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers, human rights lawyers, civil society activists and trade unionists in the country; whereas human rights defenders face long prison sentences for their human rights work and for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression, both online and offline; whereas Vietnam currently holds in detention the largest number of political prisoners in Southeast Asia, including 170 prisoners of conscience, of whom 69 are being held solely for their social media activity; whereas most political prisoners are detained under vaguely worded national security clauses which are inconsistent with the Vietnamese Constitution and international human rights treaties such as the ICCPR, to which Vietnam is a State Party;

C.  whereas political and human rights activists face harsh conditions in detention, including denial of access to medical care, legal counsel and family contact, and are often subjected to violence, torture or other forms of ill-treatment; whereas their often expeditious trials do not meet basic standards of impartiality, fairness, and independence of the courts; whereas confessions are regularly extracted under duress and televised;

D.  whereas Pham Chi Dung, an independent journalist campaigning in defence of the environment, democracy, media freedom, political pluralism, the rule of law, and the development of civil society, has been in arbitrary detention since November 2019 on charges of ‘cooperating with foreign media to deliver distorted information’; whereas these charges were brought after he sent a video message to MEPs urging them to postpone the ratification of the EVFTA until progress had been made on human rights in the country; whereas Pham Chi Dung had previously been detained for six months in 2012 on the same charges;

E.  whereas shortly after Pham Chi Dung’s arrest, the IJAVN’s website was shut down by the authorities; whereas Ngyuen Tuong Thuy was arrested in his Hanoi apartment on 23 May 2020 and Le Huu Minh Tuan was arrested on 12 June 2020; whereas all three human rights defenders had been subjected to harassment and intimidation by the Vietnamese authorities prior to their arbitrary arrest and conviction;

F.  whereas according to civil society reports, close to 80 % of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam are in prison for their social media activity; whereas at least two global social media platforms have substantially increased their compliance with Vietnam’s freedom of speech restrictions and censorship laws, including through the censorship of peaceful criticism of the state, the expansion of geo-blocking and the removal of ‘propaganda against the Party and the State’, in breach of universal standards such as the UNGPs, and their own codes of conduct;

G.  whereas Vietnam ranks 175 out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders 2020 World Press Freedom Index; whereas nearly all media outlets in Vietnam are state-owned and controlled, and there is censorship, including of foreign broadcasters and publications; whereas the Vietnamese Government continues to prohibit the operation of independent or privately owned media outlets and exerts strict control over radio and TV stations and printed publications; whereas in April 2016, the National Assembly passed a media law severely restricting press freedom in Vietnam;

H.  whereas on 12 June 2018, Vietnam’s National Assembly passed a cybersecurity law aimed at tightening online controls, which requires providers to delete posts considered ‘threatening’ to national security; whereas this law places harsh restrictions on freedom of expression online and aims to severely limit the right to privacy;

I.  whereas the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Vietnamese Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international conventions which Vietnam has signed up to, including the ICCPR; whereas, in the context of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review, Vietnam accepted recommendations to guarantee freedom of opinion and expression and lift restrictions on it;

J.  whereas on 1 January 2018, Vietnam’s first ever law on belief and religion came into effect, obliging all religious groups in the country to register with the authorities and to inform them about their activities; whereas the authorities can reject or hinder registration applications and ban religious activities which they arbitrarily deem to be contrary to the ‘national interest’, ‘public order’ or ‘national unity’;

K.  whereas the Criminal Code of Vietnam contains repressive provisions which are abusively used to silence, arrest, detain or sentence, or restrict the activity of, human rights defenders, dissidents, lawyers, trade unions, religious groups and non-governmental organisations, notably those that express critical views of the Government of Vietnam;

L.  whereas the death penalty is still applied in the country, but the number of executions is unknown since Vietnamese authorities classify death penalty statistics as a state secret;

M.  whereas EU-Vietnam relations are founded on the EU-Vietnam PCA, of which human rights are an essential element, and which provides for the suspension of bilateral cooperation instruments, including bilateral trade preferences, in the event of serious and systematic violations of human rights;

N.  whereas, under the EU-Vietnam PCA, and in particular Articles 1, 2 and 35 thereof, Vietnam has committed to cooperating with the European Union in the promotion and protection of human rights; whereas such cooperation includes the implementation of international human rights instruments, such as the ICCPR, to which Vietnam is a State Party; whereas a clear link exists between the EU-Vietnam PCA and the EVFTA, wherein both parties committed to fulfil their human rights obligations; whereas the essential elements clause in the EU-Vietnam PCA allows for appropriate measures in the event of severe and systematic violations of human rights;

O.  whereas the second Joint Committee under the EU-Vietnam PCA, which met online on 15 December 2020, reviewed proposals for cooperation in the field of human rights, including the implementation of the ICCPR, and accepted the recommendations made in the Universal Periodic Review;

1.  Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan and all other journalists, human rights and environmental defenders, trade unionists and prisoners of conscience detained and sentenced for merely exercising their right to freedom of expression, and to drop all charges against them;

2.  Is appalled by and condemns the escalating crackdown on dissent and increasing violations of human rights in Vietnam, including the sentencing, political intimidation, surveillance, harassment, unfair trials and forced exiles of and assaults on political activists, journalists, bloggers, dissidents and human rights defenders for exercising their freedom of expression, which are clear breaches of Vietnam’s international human rights obligations;

3.  Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately cease other forms of harassment, including judicial harassment and intimidation of journalists, human rights and environmental defenders, activists and all individuals engaged in the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and other human rights, both online and offline;

4.  Expresses deep concern over the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in Vietnamese prisons, which increase the risk of infection with COVID-19 and other diseases; reiterates the call of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to release all those detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and those detained for dissenting views; insists that, pending their release, the Vietnamese authorities must ensure, in all circumstances, the physical safety and psychological well-being of all prisoners, including Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan, and ensure that the treatment of all other political prisoners and detainees is in line with international standards; stresses the fact that the right to access lawyers, medical professionals and family members is an important safeguard against torture and ill-treatment;

5.  Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to end the censorship of independent news and media produced by both domestic and international news outlets, including the IJAVN, to cease restrictions on online information sources and internet usage, and to provide a safe space and enabling environment for journalists, citizen journalists, bloggers and others who express themselves online;

6.  Expresses its concern about the reported participation of global social media networks in attempts by the Vietnamese authorities to limit freedom of expression, and urges global social media platforms not to be complicit in the ongoing censorship in Vietnam;

7.  Calls on the Government of Vietnam to remove all restrictions on freedom of religion and to put an end to the harassment of religious communities;

8.  Urges the Vietnamese Government to revise the provisions of the Criminal Code of Vietnam, notably Articles 117, 118 and 331, which unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and to amend the Law on Cybersecurity and Decrees 15/2020/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations of regulations on postal services, telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology and electronic transactions, and 72/2013/ND-CP on the management, provision, and use of internet services and information content online, in order to bring them into conformity with international human rights standards; stresses, in particular, that a reform of the Criminal Code is also necessary to ensure the effective implementation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 98 and 87, which Vietnam has committed to ratifying;

9.  Calls on Vietnam to accelerate the pace of the ratification of ILO Convention 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and to ensure its prompt entry into force, and to provide a credible roadmap for the implementation of ILO Convention 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour and Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining; calls on the authorities of Vietnam to recognise independent labour unions and to protect all workers, especially women and children, against discrimination, sexual harassment, violations of the legal overtime threshold, and breaches of safety and health obligations;

10.  Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to support the implementation of the UNGPs, and calls on companies based in or operating within the EU to comply with the UNGPs and both international and human rights law;

11.  Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to introduce an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty, as a step towards abolition; calls for a review of all death sentences to ensure that the trials adhered to international standards, and for the accession of Vietnam to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which aims for the abolition of the death penalty;

12.  Underscores that respect for human rights constitutes a key foundation of the bilateral relations between Vietnam and the EU and is an essential element of the EU-Vietnam PCA and the EVFTA;

13.  Welcomes the strengthened partnership and human rights dialogue between the EU and Vietnam, especially the establishment of the EP Joint Parliamentary Monitoring Group (JPMG) with the National Assembly of Vietnam to monitor the implementation of the EVFTA and the IPA, which could facilitate dialogue beyond trade; recalls the importance of the human rights dialogue as a key instrument to be used in an effective manner to accompany and encourage Vietnam to implement the necessary reforms; calls on the EEAS, the Commission and the EU Special Representative for Human Rights to strengthen the human rights dialogue with Vietnam at the highest levels;

14.  Acknowledges the institutional and legal link between the EVFTA and the PCA, which ensures that human rights are placed at the core of the EU-Vietnam relationship; calls on the Parties to make use of the agreements in order to improve the human rights situation in Vietnam, and underlines the importance of a constructive and effective human rights dialogue between the EU and Vietnam; reminds the Government of Vietnam, in the light of the magnitude of the ongoing human rights violations, that the EU-Vietnam PCA, which is linked to the EVFTA, allows for appropriate action to be taken in the event of serious breaches of human rights, taking a tougher stance vis-à-vis the Vietnamese Government; welcomes the opportunity to raise human rights issues in the meetings of the JPMG on the EVFTA with the Vietnamese Parliament, and also welcomes the fact that the first such meeting took place in December 2020;

15.  Calls upon the Commission and the EEAS to swiftly carry out a comprehensive human rights impact assessment on what the EVFTA could mean for human rights, which is what Parliament asked for in its resolution on the ratification of the agreement; calls for the adoption of an action plan to effectively address Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown and its failure to abide by its human rights obligations, and calls on the Commission and the EEAS to regularly report to Parliament on the implementation of that action plan;

16.  Reiterates its call for the EU and Vietnam to set up an independent monitoring mechanism on human rights and an independent complaints mechanism, providing affected citizens and local stakeholders with effective recourse to remedy;

17.  Regrets that the Domestic Advisory Groups on the EVFTA are not yet operational, and reiterates its call for a broad and balanced representation of independent, free and diverse civil society organisations within those groups, including independent Vietnamese organisations from the labour and environmental sectors and human rights defenders; calls on the Vietnamese authorities to refrain from any undue interference in the composition and functioning of the body as well as threats or retaliation against its selected members;

18.  Urges Vietnam to issue a standing invitation to the UN Special Procedures to visit Vietnam, in particular the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, and give them free and unfettered access to all parties they wish to consult;

19.  Calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the EEAS and the Commission to support journalists, civil society groups and individuals defending human rights in Vietnam in an active manner, including by calling for the release of journalists, human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience in all contact they have with the Vietnamese authorities; urges the EU Delegation in Hanoi to provide all appropriate support to the imprisoned human rights defenders, including by arranging prison visits, trial monitoring and the provision of legal assistance;

20.  Calls on the EU Delegation to raise the cases mentioned in this resolution, as raised by UN bodies and experts, including, among many others, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Ho Duc Hoa, Tran Anh Kim, Le Thanh Tung, Phan Kim Khanh, Tran Hoang Phuc, Hoang Duc Binh, Bui Van Trung, Truong Minh Duc, Nguyen Trung Ton, Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Bac Truyen, Le Dinh Luong, Nguyen Van Tuc, Nguyen Trung Truc, Pham Van Diep, Nguyen Nang Tinh, Tran Duc Thach, Pham Doan Trang, Can Thi Theu, Trinh Ba Phuong, Trinh Ba Tu, Dinh Thi Thu Thuy, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh, Ngo Van Dung, Le Quy Loc and Ho Dinh Cuong;

21.  Urges the EU Foreign Affairs Council to discuss the human rights situation in Vietnam; calls on the Member States, preferably ahead of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, to strongly voice their concerns regarding the worsening human rights situation in Vietnam; encourages the EU and its Member States to intensify their international efforts to promote, at the UN Human Rights Council, a joint initiative with like-minded partners, and particularly with the new US administration, with a view to working towards concrete human rights improvements in Vietnam;

22.  Calls for the EU to continue to work towards an effective control system for the export, sale, update and maintenance of any form of security equipment, arms and dual-use goods, including internet surveillance technology, in order to avoid their use for internal repression by states with a worrying human rights record, including Vietnam;

23.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign affairs and Security Policy, the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Government and National Assembly of Vietnam, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(1) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 66. (2) OJ C 369, 11.10.2018, p. 73. (3) OJ C 86, 6.3.2018, p. 122. (4) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0027. (5) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0029.