European Parliament legislative resolution of 10 February 2021 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility (COM(2020)0408 – C9-0150/2020 – 2020/0104(COD))

P9_TA(2021)0038 A9-0214/2020

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2020)0408),

–  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 (C9‑0150/2020),

–  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 16 July 2020(1),

–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 14 October 2020(2),

–  having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the committees responsible under Rule 74(4) of its Rules of Procedure, the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 22 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 joint deliberations of the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Committee on Transport and Tourism, the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Regional Development,

–  having regard to the position in the form of amendments of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality,

–  having regard to the letter from the Committee on Constitutional Affairs,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A9-0214/2020),

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

2.  Approves the joint statement by Parliament, the Council and the Commission annexed to this resolution;

3.  Approves the joint statement by Parliament and the Commission annexed to this resolution;

4.  Takes note of the statements by the Commission annexed to this resolution;

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

6.  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 10 February 2021 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2021/… of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility

(As an agreement was reached between Parliament and Council, Parliament's position corresponds to the final legislative act, Regulation (EU) 2021/241.)

ANNEX TO THE LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

Joint STATEMENT by the European Parliament, Council and Commission on the establishment of reporting requirements to enable the issuance of bonds contributing to environmental objectives for NextGenerationEU

The Commission recalls the shared political ambition of the European Green Deal. Within this framework it underlines its ambition to raise at least 30 % of the funds to be borrowed in the capital markets for the needs of NextGenerationEU through the issuance of bonds contributing to environmental objectives.

The three Institutions agree to seriously explore the possibility of introducing rules establishing reporting obligations for the Member States, in order to ensure availability of information for the purpose of evaluating the contribution to environmental objectives of the funds borrowed in the capital markets. To that end, the Commission will endeavour to make a legislative proposal to this end during the first quarter of 2021.

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COMMISSION ON DATA COLLECTION FOR EFFECTIVE CONTROLS AND AUDITS

The European Parliament and the Commission recall the need to ensure effective controls and audits for the purposes of avoiding double funding and preventing, detecting and correcting fraud, corruption and conflict of interests in relation to the measures supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The two institutions consider essential that Member States collect and record data on final recipients and beneficiaries of Union funding in an electronic standardised and interoperable format and use the single data mining tool to be provided by the Commission.

Additional STATEMENT by the Commission on data collection for effective controls and audits

The European Commission recalls its unilateral declaration on this matter under the Common Provisions Regulation, which applies mutatis mutandis to Article 22 of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation.

Commission STATEMENT on the methodology for climate tracking

The Commission considers that, in order to ensure consistency, the methodology of Annex VI of the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility should be incorporated in the Common Provisions Regulation.

(1) OJ C 364, 28.10.2020, p. 132. (2) OJ C 440, 18.12.2020, p. 160.

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the European Central Bank - annual report 2020 (2020/2123(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0039 A9-0002/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the European Central Bank (ECB) Annual Report 2019,

–  having regard to the ECB’s ‘Feedback on the input provided by the European Parliament as part of its resolution on the ECB Annual Report 2018’,

–  having regard to the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the ECB, in particular Articles 15 and 21 thereof,

–  having regard to Articles 123, 127(1), (2) and (5), 130, 132 and 284(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

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

–  having regard to the Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area and measures adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB on 4 June 2020,

–   having regard to the ECB survey on the access to finance of enterprises in the euro area for October 2019 to March 2020, published on 8 May 2020,

–  having regard to the ECB staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area published on 10 September 2020,

–  having regard to the monetary dialogues with the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, of 6 February and 8 June 2020, and of 28 September 2020,

–  having regard to its position of 28 March 2019 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment(1),

–   having regard to occasional paper No 247 of the ECB Crypto-Assets Task Force of September 2020 entitled ‘Stablecoins: Implications for monetary policy, financial stability, market infrastructure and payments, and banking supervision in the euro area’,

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 March 2019 on gender balance in EU economic and monetary affairs nominations(2),

–  having regard to the ECB report of October 2020 on a digital euro,

–  having regard to the ECB occasional paper No 201 of November 2017 entitled ‘The use of cash by households in the euro area’,

–  having regard to the 2020 update of the ECB’s Environmental Statement,

–  having regard to Rule 142(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A9-0002/2021),

A.  whereas the Commission’s Summer 2020 Economic Forecast, taking into account economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, projects that the euro area economy will contract by 8,7 % in 2020 and grow by 6,1 % in 2021, and the EU-27 economy will contract by 8,3 % in 2020 and grow by 5,8 % in 2021;

B.  whereas, according to the ECB staff macroeconomic projections of September 2020, annual inflation for the euro area in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) will be 0,3 % in 2020, 1,0 % in 2021 and 1,3 % in 2022 on average, while inflation projections show substantial variance across the euro area;

C.  whereas, according to Eurostat, the unemployment rate in August 2020 was 7,4 % in the EU and 8,1 % in the euro area; whereas the unemployment rate is expected to increase; whereas the unemployment rate is uneven across the Union; whereas extraordinary regional inequalities persist in unemployment, both within and among the Member States; whereas a high youth unemployment rate remains a serious issue to be tackled in the EU;

D.  whereas the ECB data on the HICP for 2020 shows a deflationary impact owing to the COVID-19 crisis in several member states;

E.  whereas the ECB’s September projections for global real GDP (excluding the euro area) are for a fall of 3,7 % in 2020, followed by a rebound of 6,2 % in 2021 and of 3,8 % in 2022;

F.  whereas, notwithstanding the repeated calls of the European Parliament to receive a gender-balanced shortlist of at least two names for ECB Executive Board positions, the shortlist for the appointment of a new member of the Executive Board to replace Yves Mersch was composed only of men; whereas women continue to be strongly underrepresented on the Governing Council of the ECB;

G.  whereas in 2019, the ECB’s net profit amounted to EUR 2,366 billion, compared with EUR 1,575 billion in 2018; whereas this increase can mainly be attributed to the increase in net interest income on the US dollar portfolio and on the asset purchase programme (APP) portfolio;

H.  whereas at the end of 2019, the size of the Eurosystem balance sheet had reached a high of EUR 4 671 425 million, the second-biggest high of all-time after the high of 2018;

I.  whereas SMEs, which remain the backbone of the EU’s economy and societies, and which enhance economic and social cohesion, need further support;

J.  whereas SMEs have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis; whereas developments in the general economic outlook have negatively affected their access to finance;

K.  whereas the TFEU defines the ECB’s mandate as being to maintain price stability and support the general economic policies in the Union, with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Union;

L.  whereas the EU has committed to climate neutrality by 2050 and it is the ECB’s mission to help achieve it; whereas the missions of the ECB are not limited to price stability but also include the safety and soundness of the banking system and the stability of the financial system;

M.  whereas, according to the November 2019 Eurobarometer survey, public support for the European economic and monetary union with one single currency, the euro, was 62 % in 2019;

N.  whereas on 18 March 2020, the ECB announced a Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) as a new, temporary programme for public and private sector asset purchases with an envelope of EUR 750 billion, in order to counter risks to monetary policy transmission in the euro area caused by the coronavirus pandemic;

O.  whereas on 4 June 2020, the ECB Governing Council decided to increase the PEPP envelope to EUR 1,35 trillion, to extend the horizon for PEPP net purchases until at least the end of June 2021, and that maturing principal payments under the PEPP will be reinvested until at least the end of 2022; notes, moreover, that net purchases under the APP will continue at a monthly rate of EUR 20 billion, together with the purchases under the additional EUR 120 billion temporary envelope until the end of 2020;

P.  whereas other policy measures were taken to provide liquidity, such as targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) and PELTRO, a pandemic-specific liquidity facility;

Q.  whereas the European Deposit Insurance Scheme has been considerably delayed, despite the proposals by the Commission and the ECB on the urgent need to protect deposits at EU level;

General overview

1.  Welcomes the role of the ECB in safeguarding euro stability; highlights that the statutory independence of the ECB, as laid down in the Treaties, is a prerequisite for it to fulfil its mandate, as well as to safeguard its democratic legitimacy; notes that independence requires that the ECB must not seek or take instructions from Union institutions or bodies, from any government of a Member State or from any other body; stresses that this independence must not be infringed on, and highlights moreover that central bank independence should always be complemented by a corresponding level of accountability; stresses that the TFEU states that, besides its primary mandate of maintaining price stability, the ECB must also support the general economic policies in the Union with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Union, as long as they are not in conflict with the primary mandate; underlines that sustainable development, convergence, full employment, and social progress are general objectives of the Union as defined in Article 3 TFEU;

2.  Welcomes the setting up of a climate change centre as a new unit within the ECB;

3.  Stresses the irreversible nature of the single currency; emphasises that the euro is not only a monetary project but also a political one;

4.  Is concerned about the unprecedented healthcare, economic and social crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a sharp contraction of the euro area economy and rapidly deteriorating labour market conditions, including the rise of unemployment; notes that euro area activity is expected to rebound, although the speed and scale of the rebound remains highly uncertain and uneven across Member States;

5.  Is concerned, moreover, that the balance of risks to the growth outlook remains to the downside in a context of exceptional uncertainty where the extent of the contraction and the recovery will depend on the duration and effectiveness of the containment measures, the success of fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse impact on incomes and employment, and the extent to which supply capacity, domestic demand and international supply chains are permanently affected;

6.  Calls for an urgent re-evaluation of systemic risk in the financial sector following the pandemic; welcomes, in this regard, the establishment of a working board relating to the pandemic at the European Systemic Risk Board; advises that a qualitative assessment of idiosyncratic risk be included in future stress tests;

7.  Welcomes the ECB’s efforts at maintaining price stability; notes that the target for inflation has not been systematically attained and that further vigilance is needed; highlights that the euro area has registered deflation in the past months; highlights that deflation poses significant risks to the euro area economies, which might call for strong ECB intervention;

8.  Welcomes the fact that the ECB is discussing the adaptation of its inflation measurements; notes that the HICP is a very narrow concept of inflation measurement which underestimates inflation in the euro area due to an inadequate share of housing costs in the HICP basket(3); calls for a re-adjustment of the basket to reflect the fact that European households spend 24 % of their income on housing-related expenditure; encourages the ECB to also take into account the asset price inflation caused inter alia by low interest rates; acknowledges the challenges to the transmission of monetary policy;

9.  Acknowledges President Lagarde’s strong call for ‘full alignment of fiscal and monetary policies’ as well as the commitment ‘to use all the tools that will produce the most effective, efficient, and proportionate outcome’ to support the euro area’s economic recovery; underlines that there are strong complementarities between fiscal and monetary policies; welcomes the ECB’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme to support the economic recovery of the euro area;

Monetary policy

10.  Welcomes the quick and substantial ECB monetary policy response to the COVID-19 crisis in a context of emergency; acknowledges the positive impact of this response on the economic situation of the euro area; expects that the ECB will maintain its support as long as it is needed; takes note of the statement of ECB Supervisory Board member Yves Mersch that such flexibility will not be extended to other operations;

11.  Stresses that monetary policy alone will not suffice to achieve a sustainable economic recovery; emphasises that reforms that strengthen competitiveness and social cohesion are necessary to restore and enhance economic growth across the Union; believes that the potential of monetary policy alone to facilitate recovery is limited and, while respecting the independence of the ECB, calls on the ECB to study the possibility of using other policy measures that have the potential to stimulate the economy, within the confines of its mandate; stresses the spillover effects of a very accommodative monetary policy, such as the impact on savers or the risk of asset price inflation; warns Member States against taking the low-interest rate environment for granted, as a rise in interest rates could have an adverse impact on the servicing of public debt;

12.  Warns, however, against the risk of excessive valuations on bond markets, which risk being difficult to handle if interest rates start to rise again, particularly for countries involved in an excessive deficit procedure or those with high levels of debt;

13.  Notes the importance of active monetary policy in alleviating the pressure of financial constraints on small and medium-sized enterprises; acknowledges that the percentage of SMEs facing financial constraints decreased from 18 % in 2009-12 to 8 % in 2016-19; underlines that the COVID-19 crisis is having a strong impact on SMEs; recognises the importance of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU; points out, in this respect, the need to encourage private and public investments as well as reforms, and calls, therefore, for further efforts to ensure the financing of the real economy;

14.  Asks the ECB to monitor the proportionality of quantitative easing to the risks in its balance sheets, asset price inflation and the potential misallocation of resources;

15.  Notes the impact of long-term low interest rates; underlines that low interest rates, on the one hand, offer opportunities to consumers, companies, including SMEs, workers and borrowers, who can benefit from stronger economic momentum, lower unemployment and lower borrowing costs; recognises the diverging distributional consequences of the ECB’s policies; calls on the ECB to examine the impact of its policies on wealth inequality; regrets, on the other hand, the increase of unviable and highly indebted business, the reduced incentive for governments to pursue growth and sustainability-enhancing reforms, as well as detrimental effects on insurers and pension funds, and stresses the financial burden this places on many citizens across the Union;

16.  Notes the linkage between monetary policy and increasing housing prices in the euro area; emphasises that the persistently high housing cost overburden rate of 9,6 % in 2018 is expected to increase due to the pandemic, and calls on the ECB to evaluate the regional and sectoral impact and the inter-generational fairness of its quantitative easing programme on the cost of living across the Union;

17.  Understands that the severity of the crisis has forced the ECB to shift attention away from its monetary policy framework strategy review; takes note of President Lagarde’s commitment during the monetary dialogue held on 28 September 2020 to interact closely with Parliament and to ensure regular dialogues;

18.  Stresses that any monetary policy framework strategy review should acutely consider the nature of the European economy, which is increasingly services-bound and digitalised, and should assess the extent to which this impedes the transmission of monetary policies into the real economy;

Actions against climate change

19.  Notes, respecting the independence of the ECB, the impact of climate change on inflation dynamics and transmission risks in monetary policy; recalls the impact of the ECB in maintaining price stability; recalls that the ECB, as a European institution, is bound by the Paris Agreement;

20.  Takes note of President Lagarde’s commitment to examine climate-friendly changes to ECB’s operations and ‘to explore every avenue available in order to combat climate change’; calls on the ECB to align its collateral framework with climate change-related risks and to disclose its level of alignment with the Paris Agreement, as well as examining such alignment in the banking sector;

21.  Calls for a proactive and qualitative risk management approach which integrates climate change-related systemic risks;

22.  Welcomes the fact that the purchases of green bonds and their share of the ECB’s portfolio continue to increase;

23.  Encourages efforts to increase research capabilities regarding the impact of climate change on financial stability and the euro area;

Other aspects

24.  Calls on the ECB to continue its efforts to ensure the stability of financial markets for all possible contingencies related to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU;

25.  Expresses concern about the steadily increasing divergence of TARGET2 balances within the ESCB; notes that the interpretation of these divergences is contested;

26.  Takes note of the outcomes of the analysis of the ECB Crypto-Assets Task Force; calls on the ECB to address the risks of money laundering, terrorism financing and other criminal activities related with the anonymity provided by crypto-assets; calls on the ECB to increase its monitoring of the development of crypto-assets, including stable coins, and the increased risks to cyber-security;

27.  Welcomes the ECB’s analysis and preparatory work towards the introduction of a digital euro; notes that a digital euro does not constitute a crypto-asset; underlines that a digital euro would have to satisfy a range of minimal requirements including robustness, safety, efficiency and protection of privacy; stresses that a digital euro must not endanger cash as a means of payment; supports the ECB’s recommendation that the issuance of a digital euro should be accessible outside the euro area, in a way that is consistent with the objectives of the Eurosystem, in order to stimulate demand for the euro among foreign investors and thus to foster a stronger role for the euro internationally; calls on the ECB to ensure an adequate balance between allowing regulatory financial innovation in the FinTech area and ensuring financial stability;

28.  Shares the ECB’s concerns regarding the rapid growth of the non-bank financial sector, also known as shadow banking; stresses the need for adequate regulation in this field; stresses the need for the ECB to mitigate the systemic risk that arises due to the increasing number of non-bank regulated entities clustered around banks for access to their payments system;

29.  Welcomes the ongoing efforts of the ECB to further strengthen its response and recovery capabilities in the event of a cyberattack on its own organisation; notes with concern the recent technical failures of the TARGET2 settlement system in October and November 2020; welcomes the subsequent investigation of these failures by the ECB and asks for disclosure of the results to Parliament;

30.  Recognises the ECB’s success in anti-counterfeiting, as evidenced by the continuously low share of counterfeit banknotes in total circulation; welcomes the introduction of modernised 100 euro and 200 euro notes with enhanced security features in 2019; points out the importance of cash as a means of payment for EU citizens; calls on the ECB not to further reduce the amount of different banknotes in circulation;

31.  Calls on the ECB to explore ways of strengthening the international role of the euro, as this would increase the EU’s ability to frame its policy stance independently vis-à-vis other global powers and is a key element in safeguarding European economic sovereignty; notes that making the euro more attractive as a reserve currency will further enhance its international use; underlines that strengthening the role of the euro requires the deepening of the European economic and monetary union; welcomes the repeated calls of the ECB for the completion of the banking union; stresses that the creation of a well-designed European safe asset could facilitate financial integration and help mitigate the negative feedback loops between sovereigns and the domestic banking sectors;

32.  Welcomes Bulgaria and Croatia’s entry into ERM II in July 2020; supports a swift target date for the adoption of the euro in both countries; welcomes the comprehensive screening of Croatian and Bulgarian banks by the ECB in July and August 2019; draws attention to the requirement, laid down in the Treaties, for every Member State, except for Denmark, to adopt the single currency once they have met the Maastricht convergence criteria;

33.  Calls on the ECB to continue its fruitful cooperation also with the non-euro area Member States;

Accountability

34.  Echoes President Lagarde’s openness to greater dialogue and stresses the need to further enhance the ECB’s accountability and transparency arrangements; emphasises the need to reflect on how scrutiny of the ECB by the European Parliament as well as through dialogue with national parliaments may be enhanced; calls for the negotiation of a formal interinstitutional agreement to formalise and go beyond the existing accountability practices regarding monetary functions;

35.  Expresses strong concern that only two of the 25 Members of the ECB’s Governing Council are women, despite repeated calls from Parliament and from senior figures in the ECB, including its President Christine Lagarde, to improve gender balance in EU economic and monetary affairs nominations; emphasises that Executive Board Member nominations should be prepared carefully, with full transparency and together with Parliament in line with the Treaties; calls on the Council to draw up a gender-balanced shortlist for any upcoming vacancies and to share this with Parliament, thus allowing Parliament to play a more meaningful advisory role in the appointment process; regrets that no satisfactory progress has been made to date; recalls that the equal treatment of men and women is a constitutional principle that must be strictly adhered to;

36.  Recalls that only two out of six Members of the ECB Executive Board are women; points out that, notwithstanding the numerous requests made by Parliament to the Council to remedy the lack of gender balance within the ECB Executive Board, the Council has not taken this request seriously; recalls Parliament’s commitment not to take into account lists of candidates where the gender balance principle has not been respected; calls on the governments of the Member States, the European Council, the Council, the Eurogroup and the Commission to actively work towards gender balance in their upcoming proposals for shortlists and appointments;

37.  Welcomes the detailed, section-by-section and substantial feedback provided by the ECB to Parliament’s resolution on the 2018 ECB Annual Report; calls on the ECB to continue this commitment to accountability and to keep on publishing its written feedback to Parliament’s resolutions on the ECB Annual Report each year;

38.  Takes note of the German Federal Constitutional Court decision of 5 May 2020 on the ECB, as well as the ECB Governing Council statement of the same day; acknowledges the ECB’s continuous proportionality assessment of all programmes; notes the ECB’s subsequent decision to disclose non-public documents related to the public sector purchase programme (PSPP) to the European Parliament, the German Federal Government, the Bundestag and the Bundesbank;

39.  Acknowledges, and congratulates the ECB and President Lagarde on, the ongoing efforts to improve communication and transparency with Parliament; agrees with President Lagarde, furthermore, that the ECB has to enhance its communication to citizens on the impact of its policies; suggests, on the other hand, a regular dialogue in camera between members of Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and relevant ECB representatives following the publication of the latest available account of the proceedings of the Governing Council to assess ECB decisions ahead of and in parallel with the monetary dialogues;

40.  Welcomes the publication of the ECB Ethics Committee’s opinions for cases of conflict of interest and post-mandate gainful employment by the members of the ECB’s Executive Board, Governing Council and Supervisory Board; calls on the ECB to ensure the independence of the members of its Internal Audit Committee, to ensure that the Ethics Committee is not chaired by a former President or other past members of the Governing Council, nor by anyone liable to have a conflict of interest, and to emulate this transparency on potential conflicts of interest and post-mandate gainful employment;

41.  Notes that the ECB is ‘reconsidering’ its policy of allowing the Chief Economist to make private phone calls with major investors following meetings where policy decisions are made, but considers that this practice must end immediately as it lacks transparency;

42.  Reinforces its call for the adoption of an enhanced whistleblowing policy and a revision of the ECB’s Staff Rules, aligned, as a minimum, with the standards and goals stated in Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers(4), to both protect and enable whistleblowers by helping them raise concerns confidently without fear of retaliation, including by providing anonymity where required;

43.  Calls for a more detailed disclosure of social and employee matters as well as governance affairs inspired by the Directive 2014/95/EU on non-financial reporting(5);

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44.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the European Central Bank.

(1) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0325. (2) OJ C 23, 21.1.2021, p. 105. (3) cf. ‘Persistent low inflation in the euro area: Mismeasurement rather than a cause for concern?’ (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2018/614214/IPOL_IDA(2018)614214_EN.pdf). (4) Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17). (5) Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups (OJ L 330, 15.11.2014, p. 1).

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the New Circular Economy Action Plan (2020/2077(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0040 A9-0008/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 11 March 2020 entitled ‘A new Circular Economy Action Plan: For a cleaner and more competitive Europe’(COM(2020)0098), and the staff working document ‘Leading the way to a global circular economy: state of play and outlook’ (SWD(2020)0100),

–  having regard to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 12 “Responsible consumption and production” and SDG 15 “Life on land”,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 14 October 2020 on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability Towards a Toxic-Free Environment (COM(2020)0667)(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 10 July 2020 on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability(2),

–  having regard to the Commission Communication of 10 March 2020 entitled "A New Industrial Strategy for Europe" (COM(2020)0102),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 20 May 2020 entitled "An EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 bringing nature back into our lives" (COM(2020)0380),

–  having regard to the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report of May 2019,

–  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 11 October 2018 entitled “A sustainable Bioeconomy for Europe: Strengthening the connection between economy, society and the environment” (COM(2018)0673),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 16 January 2018 ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ (COM(2018)0028),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 March 2019 on a European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy(3),

–  having regard to its resolution of 28 November 2019 on the climate and environment emergency(4),

–  having regard to its resolution of 4 July 2017 on a longer lifetime for products: benefits for consumers and companies(5),

–  having regard to its resolution of 9 July 2015 on resource efficiency: moving towards a circular economy(6),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 September 2018 on implementation of the circular economy package: options to address the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation(7),

–  having regard to its resolution of 10 July 2020 on a comprehensive European approach to energy storage(8),

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) 2020/741 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 2020 on minimum requirements for water reuse(9),

–  having regard to the proposal for the 8th Environment Action Programme presented by the Commission on 14 October 2020, in particular the priority objective of accelerating the transition to a circular economy set out in Article 2(2)(c) of the proposal,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 11 December 2019 on ‘The European Green Deal’ (COM(2019)0640),

–  having regard to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special reports on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems, and on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, and the special IPCC report ‘Global Warming of 1.5°C’, its fifth assessment report (AR5) and its synthesis report of September 2018,

–  having regard to the first Circular Economy Action Plan launched in 2015 (Commission communication of 2 December 2015 entitled ‘Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy’ (COM(2015)0614)) and the actions taken under that plan,

–  having regard to its resolution of 10 July 2020 on a Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability(10),

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 January 2020 on the European Green Deal(11),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 September 2018 on a European strategy for plastics in a circular economy(12),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 September 2018 on implementation of the circular economy package: options to address the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation(13),

–  having regard to its resolution of 31 May 2018 on the implementation of the Ecodesign Directive(14),

–  having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment(15) (“Single Use Plastics Directive”),

–  having regard to the revision of EU waste legislation, adopted in 2018: Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste(16) (“Waste Framework Directive”); Directive (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste(17) (“Packaging Waste Directive”); Directive (EU) 2018/850 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste(18) (“Landfill Directive”); and Directive (EU) 2018/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directives 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment(19),

–  having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures(20) (the ‘CLP Regulation’),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 26 January 2017 on the role of waste-to-energy in the circular economy (COM(2017)0034),

–  having regard to the Global Resources Outlook 2019(21), and Resource Efficiency and Climate Change(22) reports by the International Resource Panel,

–  having regard to the Science publication “Evaluating scenarios toward zero plastic pollution”(23),

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

–  having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, the Committee on International Trade, the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A9-0008/2021),

A.  whereas the International Resource Panel, in its report ‘Global Resources Outlook 2019’, estimates that half of the total greenhouse gas emissions and more than 90 % of biodiversity loss and water stress come from resource extraction and processing; whereas the global economy uses the equivalent of 1,5 planets’ worth of resources and whereas 3 planets would be needed already now, if everyone consumed at the rate of the average EU resident, and whereas a significant reduction in our overall use of natural resources and in our waste production should be the overarching objective of the circular economy; whereas this will require a decoupling of economic growth from resource use, keeping in mind the distinction between absolute and relative decoupling;

B.  whereas these figures illustrate the central role of sustainable use of resources, in particular primary raw materials and the need to step up action at all levels and across the world; whereas the concept of circular economy is in its nature horizontal and will contribute significantly to the achievement of other environmental objectives including the objectives of the Paris Agreement;

C.  whereas the transition to a circular economy plays a crucial role in reducing the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and achieving the EU’s 2030 climate target and the net-zero GHG emissions objective by 2050 at the latest, and requires a profound transformation of value chains across the economy;

D.  whereas a shift to a circular economy has the potential to promote sustainable business practices and whereas European companies and economies are expected to be at the forefront of those implementing, but also benefiting from, in a global race towards circularity, due to the EU’s well developed business models, our circular knowledge and recycling expertise;

E.  whereas the principles of circular economy should be the core element of any European and national industrial policy, and of the national Recovery and Resilience Plans of Member States in the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Facility;

F.  whereas the overall energy consumption in the EU is significant and the circular economy action should also involve energy efficiency and the sustainable sourcing of energy sources;

G.  whereas the circular economy is relevant to various SDGs including Goal 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’’ as well as Goal 13 on “Climate action”;

H.  whereas designing out waste and pollution is one of the principles of circular economy;

I.  whereas according to recent studies, the circular economy has the potential to increase the EU’s GDP by an additional 0,5 % and create more than 700 000 new jobs by 2030(24), while also has the potential to improve the quality of the jobs; whereas between 2012 and 2018 the number of jobs linked to the circular economy in the EU grew by 5 % to reach around 4 million; whereas with supportive policies and industry investment, the expectations are that by 2030 the EU remanufacturing could attain an annual value of between around EUR 70 bn and EUR 100 bn with the associated employment of between around 450 000 and almost 600 000;

J.  whereas the sustainable and responsible sourcing of primary raw materials is critical to achieve resource efficiency and meeting the circular economy objectives; thus sustainable sourcing standards for priority materials and commodities need to be developed;

K.  whereas up to 80 % of the environmental impacts of products are determined during the design phase and only 12 % of the materials used by the EU’s industry come from recycling

L.  whereas the fast rise of e-commerce has significantly increased packaging waste, such as single-use plastic and cardboard waste; and whereas shipments of waste to third countries still remain a concern;

M.  whereas it is estimated that 88 million tonnes of food waste are generated in the EU each year and whereas over 50 % of food waste is estimated to come from households and the consumer level; whereas food waste has a considerable environmental impact, accounting for about 6 % of total EU Greenhouse Gas emissions;

N.  whereas plastics create environmental concerns if not properly managed, such as littering, difficulty of reuse and recycling, substances of concern, greenhouse gas emissions and resource use;

O.  whereas ECHA has adopted a scientific opinion to restrict the use of micro plastics that are intentionally added to products on the EU/EEA market, in concentrations of more than 0,01 % weight by weight;

P.  whereas, according to European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates, between 1996 and 2012, the amount of clothes bought per person in the EU increased by 40 %, while at the same time, more than 30 % of clothes in wardrobes in Europe have not been used for at least a year. Moreover, once discarded, over half the garments are not recycled, but end up in mixed household waste and are subsequently sent to incinerators or landfill(25);

Q.  whereas it has been over two years since the IPCC released its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, which stated that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society;

1.  Welcomes the Commission’s new Circular Economy Action Plan; highlights the fact that the circular economy, in combination with the zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment, is key to reducing the overall environmental footprints of European production and consumption, respecting planetary boundaries, and protecting human health, while at the same time ensuring a competitive and innovative economy; underlines the major contribution that the circular economy can give to reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals;

2.  Calls on the Commission to bring forward all the initiatives under the Action Plan in line with the dates set out in the Annex of the Communication and to base each legislative proposal on a comprehensive impact assessment, underlines the importance of taking into account also the costs of non-action;

3.  Underlines that the circular economy can provide solutions to the new challenges caused and highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis by strengthening the value chains within the EU and globally and reducing their vulnerability, and by making European industrial ecosystems more resilient and sustainable as well as competitive and profitable; notes that this will promote the EU’s strategic autonomy and contribute to the creation of jobs; underlines that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the necessity for an enabling environment for the circular economy; calls on the Member States to mainstream circular economy in their national recovery and resilience plans;

4.  Believes that a circular economy is the way for the EU and European companies to remain innovative and competitive in a global market while reducing their environmental footprints; therefore urges the Commission and the Member States to direct investments in order to scale up circular economy initiatives and support innovation ; considers that the EU’s economic recovery plan (Next Generation EU) as well as the Just Transition Fund and Horizon Europe should be used to put in place and promote circular economy initiatives, practices, infrastructure and technologies;

5.  Underlines improving the functioning of the internal market is a precondition for achieving a circular economy within the EU; stresses in particular the importance of proper implementation and effective enforcement of existing rules for a well-functioning sustainable single market; recalls that the EU is both the world’s second largest economic power and the world’s largest trading power; points out that the single market is a powerful tool that must be used to develop sustainable and circular products or technologies that will become tomorrow’s standards, thus enabling citizens to purchase affordable products that are safe, healthy and respectful of the planet;

6.  Underlines the need for an absolute decoupling of growth from resource use; calls on the Commission to propose science-based binding EU mid-term and long-term targets for the reduction in the use of primary raw materials and environmental impacts; calls for setting the EU targets through a back-casting approach to ensure that policy objectives are on a credible path to achieve a carbon-neutral, environmentally sustainable, toxic-free and fully circular economy within planetary boundaries by 2050 at the latest;

7.  Calls on the Commission to propose binding EU targets for 2030 to significantly reduce the EU material and consumption footprints and bring them within planetary boundaries by 2050, using the indicators to be adopted by end of 2021 as part of the updated monitoring framework; calls on the Commission to build on the examples set by the most ambitious Member States while taking due account of differences in starting points and capabilities between the Member States;

8.  Urges the Commission to introduce by 2021 harmonised, comparable and uniform circularity indicators, consisting of material footprint and consumption footprint indicators, as well as a number of sub-indicators on resource efficiency and ecosystem services; these indicators should measure resource consumption and resource productivity, and include imports and exports, at EU, Member State and industry levels and be consistent with harmonised life cycle assessment and natural capital accounting methodologies; they should be applied across Union policies, financial instruments and regulatory initiatives;

9.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to update and review the monitoring framework for the circular economy; regrets that the current monitoring framework does not present a comprehensive and holistic set of indicators allowing to measure the decoupling of economic growth from resource use and environmental impact; highlights that the monitoring framework should cover the above-mentioned circularity indicators and in addition the full range of objectives and concrete actions of the Circular Economy Action Plan in order to provide an effective instrument for measuring circularity and progress towards the achievement of its objectives in a comprehensive way;

10.  Also highlights the necessity of scientifically robust measurement to capture synergies between the circular economy and climate change mitigation, including through carbon footprint measurements;

11.  Highlights the opportunities that lie in the optimised use of products and services, in addition to measures that extend life-cycles and material use; in this context, stresses in particular the opportunities to combine circular economy solutions and digitalisation; calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop policies to support new sustainable and circular business models, such as product-as-a-service (PaaS) approaches that save resources and reduce environmental impacts while ensuring protection for consumers invites the Commission to facilitate such PaaS approaches in the new Sustainable Products Initiative and calls on the Commission and Member States to remove undue regulatory and fiscal barriers to them and promote the development of infrastructures that enable circularity and a sustainable digital economy; recalls that digitalisation also has considerable climate and environmental impacts, such as a growing energy demand, raw material extraction and the generation of electronic waste; calls on the Commission to assess and address these challenges by establishing a methodology for monitoring and quantifying the environmental impact of digital technologies, structures and services including data centres, and by proposing measures - including where appropriate legislative measures - to ensure the environmental sustainability of digital solutions putting energy efficiency, reduction of GHG emissions and resource use and the establishment of a circular economy at the centre of a sustainable digital transition;

12.  Calls on the Commission to identify regulatory measures and other actions that would be needed to remove the administrative and legal obstacles to a circular sharing and service economy and to incentivise its development; in particular calls on the Commission to explore solutions to challenges such as liability issues and ownership rights related to the sharing and service economy, keeping in mind that improved legal certainty both for producers and consumers is vital to enable these concepts; suggests that the Commission considers developing a European strategy for the sharing and service economy that deals with these questions, while also addressing social issues;

13.  Emphasises the need for better understanding of how Artificial Intelligence technologies can support a circular economy by encouraging their applications in design, business models, and infrastructure; Points out the importance of treating digitisation as an enabler of circular economy, notably when it comes to product passports or material information in the context of an EU-wide ‘dataspace’: Stresses that improving data accessibility and sharing will be key while ensuring active collaboration between stakeholders to make sure that new approaches remain fair and inclusive, and safeguard privacy and data security.

14.  Underlines the need to create economic incentives and the right regulatory environment for innovation in circular solutions, materials and business models, while at the same time eliminating market-distorting subsidies and environmentally harmful subsidies, and calls for support for this in the new industrial strategy for Europe and the SME Strategy; emphasises the specific role that first movers, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and start-ups are playing in the transition to a circular economy; underlines that research in sustainable materials, processes, technologies and products, as well as their industrial scale-up, can provide European companies with a global competitive advantage; emphasises that policies are needed at the EU and national levels to support the frontrunners in circular economy and circular business models;

15.  Highlights the need to engage European industry as a stakeholder in the transition to a more circular economy; recalls the crucial role of circular economy measures in achieving industrial decarbonisation; calls for circularity approaches in industry, at all levels of product design, sourcing of materials, product reuse and recycling, and waste management, and underlines the need to stimulate the development of lead markets for sustainable industrial materials and products;

16.  Encourages companies to prepare transition plans as part of their annual reporting describing how and when they intend to achieve climate neutrality, circular economy and sustainability;

17.  Calls on Member States to prioritise options which have minimal administrative burdens and to strengthen the development of Research and Development public-private partnerships that deliver systemic and holistic solutions;

18.  Calls on the Commission to establish a regulatory framework for certification of all nature-based and technological carbon removal solutions, including carbon capture and storage and utilization (CCSU);

19.  Underlines the crucial role of biomimicry as an accelerator of circularity, in promoting biomimetic solutions which by design minimise the use of material, energy and toxic compounds and provide sustainable, regenerative and innovative solutions inspired by nature applicable to a multitude of sectors,

20.  Calls for adequate staffing levels and budget for the Commission services tasked with ensuring the successful implementation of the Action Plan; stresses that the allocation of resources must respond to both current and long-term political priorities and thus, in the context of the European Green Deal, expects a significant reinforcement of human resources in the Commission Directorate-General for Environment in particular;

A sustainable product policy framework

21.  Emphasises the need to turn the linear “take-make-dispose” economy to a truly circular economy, based on the following principles: reduction in energy and resource use; the retention of value in the economy; waste prevention; the designing out of waste and of harmful substances and pollution; keeping products and materials in use and in closed loops; protection of human health; promotion of consumer benefits; and regenerating natural systems; these objectives should guide the new sustainable product policy framework as well as the Circular Economy Strategy as a whole, and the Industrial Strategy; stresses the need to fully integrate sustainable circular system thinking in all activities including policies, products, production processes and business models;

22.  Underlines that sustainable, circular, safe and non-toxic products and materials should become the norm in the EU market and not the exception and should be seen as the default choice, which is attractive, affordable and accessible for all consumers; welcomes therefore the Commission’s plan to propose a legislative initiative on sustainable products to set horizontal principles for product policy and binding requirements on products placed on the EU market;

23.  Strongly endorses the broadening of the scope of the Ecodesign Directive(26) to include non-energy-related products and set horizontal sustainability principles and product-specific standards for performance, durability, reusability, reparability, non-toxicity, upgradability, recyclability, recycled content, and resource and energy efficiency in products placed on the EU market, and invites the Commission to present a proposal for this in 2021; at the same time, reiterates its call on the Commission to be ambitious in the implementation of ecodesign for all energy-using products under the current scope the Ecodesign Directive, including with regard to circular economy aspects;

24.  Stresses the importance of maintaining a coherent and clear EU legislative framework for sustainable products and highlights the need to strengthen synergies with other policies including the EU Ecolabel; underlines that, in parallel to legal minimum standards for product design, it is important to provide market incentives for the most sustainable companies and sustainable products and materials;

25.  Calls on the Commission to propose binding material and environmental footprint targets for the whole product lifecycle for each product category placed on the EU market, including the most carbon-intensive semi-products; also calls on the Commission to propose product-specific and/or sector-specific binding targets for recycled content, while ensuring the performance and safety of the products concerned and that they are designed for recycling; urges the Commission to establish supporting technological, regulatory and market conditions to achieve these objectives and to take into account the required industrial changes and the investment cycles in each sector; at the same time, urges the Commission to consider mandatory requirements to increase the sustainability of services;

26.  Supports the plan to introduce digital product passports in order to help companies, consumers and market surveillance authorities, to keep track of a product’s climate, environmental, social and other impacts throughout the value chain and provide reliable, transparent and easily accessible information about the durability of the product and its maintenance, reuse, repair and dismantling possibilities and end-of-life handling as well as its composition in terms of materials and chemicals used and their environmental and other impacts; calls on the Commission to assess the options for a label in this regard; considers that the product passports should be introduced in a way that avoids undue regulatory burden for companies in particular SMEs; believes that they should be compatible with other digital tools, such as the upcoming Building Renovation Passport and the SCIP database;

27.  Underlines the key importance of achieving non-toxic and restorative material cycles for the success of the circular economy and for creating a sustainable single market, and ultimately for ensuring a toxic-free environment for Europe’s citizens; therefore reiterates the positions taken in its resolution on a Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and its resolution on the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation, and insists on swift actions to implement the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability Towards a Toxic Free Environment;

28.  Emphasises the right of consumers to more precise, harmonised and accurate information about the environmental and climate impacts of products and services throughout their lifecycle, including in terms of durability and reparability, and calls for measures against greenwashing and false environmental claims relating to products offered both online and offline; strongly supports the Commission’s intention to make proposals to regulate the use of green claims through the establishment of solid and harmonised calculation methods covering the full value chain, based on harmonised indicators and life-cycle assessments such as environmental footprints, including with respect to waste prevention, raw material use, avoidance of harmful substances, durability and longevity of the product as well as design to be repairable and recyclable; furthermore, stresses the need to enforce the recently amended Directive 2005/29/EC(27) through proactive measures tackling green claims;

29.  Calls on the Commission to support the development of digital tools for consumer information to empower the consumer in the digital age; stresses the importance of online platforms and marketplaces for promoting sustainable products and services and notes that they could provide consumers with more clear and easily understandable information on the durability and reparability of the products they offer;

30.  Highlights the need to reinforce the EU Ecolabel as a benchmark for environmental sustainability, by increasing market and consumer awareness and recognition, setting of comprehensive standards and further extending the scheme to relevant products and facilitating its use in procurement;

31.  Supports the planned initiatives to improve the durability and reparability of products in accordance with the principle of waste prevention in the waste hierarchy, while strengthening consumer rights in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets; therefore strongly welcomes the planned initiatives to establish a new ‘right to repair’, which should cover at least the extended life cycle of products, access to spare parts and to comprehensive information and to affordable repair services for consumers;

32.  Calls, in this context, for measures to provide free-of-charge access to necessary repair and maintenance information, including information on spare parts and software updates, to all market participants, while keeping in mind the imperatives of consumer safety and without prejudice to Directive (EU) 2016/943(28), as well as to ensure access to spare parts without unfair hindrances for all actors of the repair sector, including independent repairers, and consumers, to define mandatory minimum periods of time for the availability of spare parts and/or updates and maximum delivery time limits for an extended range of product categories that would take into account their specificities, and to assess how repair can be encouraged under the legal guarantee regime; stresses that sellers should inform all market participants about the reparability of its products;

33.  Calls, in order to facilitate consumer decision-making, for clear and easily understandable harmonised labelling, which could take the form of an index, on product durability (i.e. on the estimated lifetime of a product) and reparability and for the development of a uniform repair score and the introduction of usage meters for certain product categories; calls for minimum information requirements pursuant to Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU(29); asks the Commission, when preparing its review of Directive (EU) 2019/771(30), to consider extending both the legal guarantee rights and the reversed burden of proof rules for some product categories that have a higher estimated lifetime, and introducing direct producer liability;

34.  Calls for legislative measures to stop practices resulting in planned obsolescence, also by considering adding such practices to the list in Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC;

35.  Welcomes the Commission's intentions to introduce legislation banning destruction of unsold durable goods unless they pose a safety or health threat; underlines that recycling, reuse and redistribution of non-food items should be the norm and enforced by legislation;

36.  Underlines the need to boost the internal market for sustainable products and believes that the public sector should lead the way; notes that public authorities still often only apply the lowest price criterion as the award criterion when selecting the best offers for goods, services or works; supports the establishment of minimum mandatory criteria and targets for green public procurement in sectorial legislation;

37.  Stresses the role of Green Public Procurement (GPP) in accelerating the shift towards a sustainable and circular economy and the importance of implementing GPP during the EU’s economic recovery;

38.  Urges the Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal to green public procurement procedures; considers that reused, repaired, remanufactured, refurbished products and other energy and resource efficient products and solutions that minimise the life-cycle environmental impacts are the default choice in all public procurement, in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, and if they are not preferred, the ‘comply or explain’ principle should apply; also asks the Commission to provide guidelines to support sustainable corporate procurement; calls for reporting obligations for the Commission and the Member States with regard to the sustainability of their procurement decisions, while respecting the subsidiarity principle;

39.  Underlines the need to promote a high quality of material collection flows, reuse and recycling, to maintain materials at their highest value and to achieve clean, non-toxic and sustainable closed material loops; stresses the need to increase the availability and quality of recyclates, focusing on the ability of a material to retain its inherent properties after recycling, and its ability to replace primary raw materials in future applications; in this context underlines the need to stimulate both increased recyclability in product design and measures such as effective separate collection and deposit return systems; calls for support for the creation of recycling facilities and capacities, according to the principle of proximity, where these do not already exist;

40.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to support the development of high-quality collection, sorting and material reuse and recycling infrastructures, and to support research into the development of new innovative technologies that minimise resource use and residual waste generation, enhance the yield and quality of recyclable and reusable secondary materials, decontaminate recyclates, and reduce the overall environmental footprint - including energy and climate footprints - in relation to other technologies; believes that chemical recycling, where it fulfils these criteria, has the potential to contribute to closing the material loop in certain waste streams;

41.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that the health, environmental and climate impacts of processes and outputs of new recycling and recovery technologies are thoroughly evaluated at the industrial level prior to their incentivisation, and to guarantee transparency throughout the evaluation;

42.  Considers that chemical recycling needs to fulfil the definition of recycling pursuant to the Waste Framework Directive to ensure that the reprocessing into materials and substances that are to be used as fuels is not considered to be chemical recycling; urges the Commission to provide legal confirmation in this regard;

43.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to enable digital technologies, such as blockchain and digital watermarking, and make them interoperable so that they can support the development of the circular economy through the tracking, tracing and mapping of resource use and product flows through all stages of the life cycle;

44.  Emphasises the importance of improving access to funds for research and innovation projects on the circular economy; therefore calls on the Commission to steer the activities of the Horizon Europe programme towards supporting research and innovation for:

45.  Underlines the important role that sustainable renewable inputs can have in circular processes towards decarbonisation and how the use of renewable energy can enhance the circularity of product lifecycles while driving forward the energy transition;

46.  Stresses that “a sustainable product policy framework” legislation should be underpinned by a robust and transparent carbon and environmental accounting system that acts as a catalyst for investment in circular economy products and processes;

47.  Stresses the need to take into account the full life cycle of a product, from-cradle-to-grave, and the impact of sourcing, semi-finished products, spare parts and by-products throughout the value chain when setting product standards for climate and environmental impacts; considers that these must be set through an open, transparent, and science-based process, with the involvement of relevant stakeholders; encourages in this context the establishment of common life cycle assessment methodologies and improved data collection;

48.  Stresses that standardisation is key to implementing a sustainable product policy by providing reliable definitions, metrics and tests for characteristics such as durability and reparability;

49.  Insists that EU standards be developed in a timely manner and in line with real-use conditions, while avoiding administrative bottlenecks for the stakeholders involved resulting in delayed publication of standards;

50.  Recalls the Commission communication of 1 June 2016 entitled ‘European Standards for the 21st century’ and the work carried out on the Joint Initiative on Standardisation (JIS); calls on the Commission to further strengthen the JIS and to adopt new actions and projects aiming to improve the functioning of the European Standardisation Organisations;

51.  Stresses that effective implementation and enforcement of EU legislation relating to product safety and sustainability requirements is crucial to making sure that products placed on the market comply with such rules in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1020(31); adds that a very large number of products purchased online and imported into the EU fail to meet the EU’s minimum safety requirements; calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up their efforts to ensure products are compliant, including products sold online, and address the risks counterfeit products pose to the safety of consumers through enhanced market surveillance and equivalent custom controls standards, as well as through strengthened cooperation in this field and increased budgets and human resources; calls, therefore, for more effective EU oversight, through setting harmonised rules on the minimum number of checks and their frequency, and by empowering the Commission to monitor and audit the activities of national market surveillance authorities;

52.  Underlines that voluntary agreements have proven ineffective in achieving a sustainable and common charging solution for mobile radio equipment; reiterates its call on the Commission to implement as a matter of urgency the provisions of Directive 2014/53/EU(32) on radio equipment, and in particular, to introduce a common charger for smartphones and all small and medium-sized electronic devices to best ensure standardisation, compatibility and interoperability of charging capabilities, including wireless charging, as part of global strategy to reduce electronic waste; asks the Commission to prepare, in a timely manner, a decoupling strategy that ensures consumers are not obliged to buy new chargers with new devices to allow for greater environmental benefits, cost savings and convenience for consumers; reiterates the importance for consumers of receiving, through harmonised labelling in an easy-to-read format, trustworthy and relevant information about relevant features of chargers such as interoperability and charging performance, including compliance with USB 3.1 or higher, to enable them to make the most convenient, cost-efficient and sustainable choices;

53.  Stresses the need for policy coherence across existing and future measures at EU and Member State level in order to ensure that the objectives of the Action Plan are met and to provide economic and investment certainty for circular technologies, products and services, which will also foster EU competitiveness and innovation; calls on the Commission to address any possible existing regulatory inconsistencies or barriers or legal uncertainties that hamper the full deployment of a circular economy; calls for economic incentives such as CO2 pricing, extended producer responsibility with eco-modulation of fees and tax incentives, as well as other financial incentives promoting sustainable consumer choices; believes that these measures should, where relevant, be in line with the technical screening criteria for circular economy defined in the Taxonomy Regulation; calls on Member States to consider Circular Economy objectives in all relevant national legislation and make sure that it is fully aligned with objectives and measures of the EU Circular Economy Strategy; furthermore, calls on the Commission to focus on the implementation of the legislation related to the circular economy to ensure a level playing field for circular production processes and business models;

Key product value chains: electronics and ICT

54.  Supports the Circular Electronics Initiative, which should address the shortcomings in durability, circular design, presence of hazardous and harmful substances, recycled content, reparability, access to spare parts, upgradability, e-waste prevention, collection, reuse and recycling; also calls for the integration of issues linked to early obsolescence including product obsolescence caused by software changes; calls for the harmonisation and improvement of recycling infrastructure for waste electrical and electronic equipment in the EU;

55.  Believes that the collection of electronic waste must be made much easier for consumers; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to explore options for an EU-wide take back scheme for ICT products and believes that such a scheme should cover the widest possible range of products; stresses the importance of designing such a take back scheme, and any other collection model, in a way that safeguards the re-usability of ICT products and provides re-use operators with access to re-useable goods;

56.  Underlines the potential of eco-design measures and recalls that the Ecodesign Directive and the Energy Labelling Directive(33) together provided nearly half of the energy efficiency savings target set by the EU for 2020; underlines the need to ensure the swift finalisation of existing eco-design work on electronics and ICT, notably for smartphones, tablets, computers, printers (including cartridges), mobile network stations and subsystems and networking equipment, in order to propose measures no later than 2021;

57.  Stresses the importance of promoting more sustainable consumption and production patterns for electronic equipment and ICT, and calls on the Commission to investigate the possibility of providing consumer information on the distinction between corrective and user-driven updates and the carbon impact of data consumption;

58.  Calls for establishing a mandatory certification scheme for recyclers of electronics waste to guarantee efficient material recovery and environmental protection;

59.  Besides circular electronics initiative, asks the commission to come up with an initiative of circular and sustainable digitalisation, ICT and AI plan;

Key product value chains: batteries and vehicles

60.  Underlines the importance of a strategic, environmentally sustainable and ethical approach in the new legislative frameworks for batteries and vehicles in the context of the transition to zero-emission mobility and renewable-based electricity grids and the need to ensure sustainable and ethical sourcing of raw materials, including critical raw materials; calls for the creation of competitive and resilient value chains for batteries production, reuse and recycling in the EU;

61.  Welcomes the Commission proposal for a new regulation on batteries and waste batteries, and considers that the new EU regulatory framework for batteries should include at least the following: sustainable, ethical and safe sourcing, eco-design including measures to address recycled content, substitution of hazardous and harmful substances where possible, improved separate collection, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, repurposing and recycling - including higher recycling targets, the recovery of valuable materials, extended producer responsibility, and consumer information; the framework should tackle the full life cycle environmental impacts, with dedicated provisions on batteries related to mobility and energy storage;

62.  Is concerned about the EU’s heavy dependence on imports of raw materials for battery production; is convinced that enhanced recycling schemes for batteries could deliver a significant share of the raw materials required for battery production within the EU;

63.  Expresses its concern about the socio-economic impact of the mineral industry, in particular within the cobalt industry; requests the Commission to assess options for a viable legislative framework to ensure the ethical sourcing of materials and the introduction of a mandatory due-diligence legislation to address adverse environmental and human rights effects within an international context;

64.  Welcomes the Commissions plans to review the End of Life Vehicles Directive(34); Calls on the Commission to update that directive to fully reflect and respect the principles of circular economy, including designing out waste, upgradability, modularity, reparability, reusability, and recyclability of the materials in the highest level of the value, giving the first priority on reuse: calls on the Commission to work to ensure effective reuse chains, with car manufacturers and extended producer liability schemes; Calls on the Commission to improve the reporting of end-of-life vehicles, through a European database; calls on the Commission to clarify, fortify and supervise the principle that dismantling of the car and reuse of the parts must always precede the scrapping and shredding of cars;

65.  Underlines the need to further promote research and innovation for recycling processes and technologies under Horizon Europe in order to increase the circular economy potential of batteries; acknowledges the role of SMEs in the collection and recycling sectors;

Key product value chains: packaging

66.  Reiterates the objective to make all packaging reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030 and calls for the Commission to present a legislative proposal without delay, including waste reduction measures and targets and ambitious essential requirements in the Packaging Waste Directive to reduce excessive packaging, including in e-commerce, improve recyclability and minimise the complexity of packaging, increase recycled content, phase out hazardous and harmful substances, and promote reuse; stresses that food safety or hygiene standards must not be compromised; calls for these measures to aim at the best overall environmental outcomes in line with the waste hierarchy and for a low carbon footprint;

67.  While underlining the essential role of packaging for product safety, in particular food safety, and hygiene, as well as for reducing food waste, calls on the industry to complement regulatory measures with additional voluntary actions to further avoid unnecessary packaging and substantially reduce the amount of packaging it places on the market, to develop more resource efficient, circular and climate friendly packaging solutions such as harmonised packaging formats and reusable and refillable packaging, and to facilitate the use of reusable transport packaging; encourages initiatives such as the Circular Plastics Alliance and the European Plastics Pact;

68.  Reiterates that high-quality recycling creates real market demand for recycled material and is among the key factors in the drive to increase the total amount of packaging being collected, sorted and recycled, calls for a use of modern and efficient sorting equipment and separation technologies combined with a better eco-design of packaging, including the need to re-design packaging solutions based on improved LCA-criteria;

69.  Calls on the Commission to analyse various types of packaging used in e-commerce to determine best practices in optimising packaging to reduce over-packaging; calls on the Commission to endorse re-use of the packaging materials to deliver several items as an alternative to single-use packaging materials;

70.  Stresses the major role that bulk sales can play in reducing the use of packaging, and calls on the Commission and Member States to encourage this type of measure while ensuring food safety and hygiene;

71.  Underlines the essential role of innovation funds and programmes for material reduction and recycling innovations;

72.  Acknowledges the growth of online sales, with an increase of parcel deliveries; urges the Commission to take measures to ascertain that all online sellers, regardless of their location, comply with the essential requirements and report and contribute financially to the EPR systems in the EU Member States where the products are placed on the market;

73.  Calls on the Commission to support the separate collection and sorting of packaging waste as enshrined in Directive (EU) 2018/852 and ensure its timely transposition by Member States; calls on the Commission to assess the possibility to revise the identification system for packaging materials (Decision 97/129/EC(35)) to facilitate separate collection for citizens according to the recyclability of packaging;

74.  Calls on the Commission to support and explore the potentials for compatible national deposit return schemes to reach the needed collection rate of 90 % of plastic beverage containers and as a step towards establishing a single market for packaging, especially for neighbouring Member States. Compatible schemes could be reached by serialisation and codified and unified labelling. If a Member State does not have a scheme in place or plans to redesign their scheme, they should be encouraged to choose, by means of best practises and relevant scientific evidence, a scheme that is similar to or compatible with those of other Member States;

Key product value chains: plastics

75.  Urges the Commission to continue its implementation of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, notably in driving better design, circular business models and innovative products and product-as-a-service approaches that offer more sustainable consumption patterns;

76.  Calls on the Commission to tackle plastics, including microplastics, in a comprehensive way; urges the Commission to adopt a general phase-out of intentionally added microplastics and to reduce, through new mandatory regulatory measures, the unintentional release of all microplastics at source, including for example from tyres, textiles, artificial turf and production of plastic pellets; stresses the need to close the gaps in scientific knowledge on microplastics and nanoplastics and foster the development of safer alternatives and competitive markets with microplastics-free products; insists at the same time on the urgency to take short term actions; underlines that the biggest share of the microplastic pollution originates in the degradation of macro-plastics in the environment and supports that plastic products should be targeted with specific measures such as ecodesign requirements during production phase to prevent the release of secondary microplastics in the environment; calls on the Commission to look into the sources, distribution, fate and effects of both macro- and micro-plastics in the context of wastewater treatment and storm water management; recalls that 80 % of marine litter originates from land and urges Member States to act on marine litter hotspots in rivers and estuaries;

77.  Highlights that where single use products are a significant burden on the environment and on resources, single use should be replaced with reusable products where reusable and/or durable alternatives exist, in an environmentally sound manner, without compromising food hygiene or safety; in this regard, calls on the Commission to consider legislative measures, including an extension of the Single Use Plastics Directive in the context of the review of that Directive; calls on the Commission to work on developing standards for reusable packaging and substitutes for single-use packaging, tableware and cutlery;

78.  Recognises the potential role of biobased and biodegradable and compostable plastics in the circular economy, but raises caution that bio-based and/or biodegradable plastics alone will not provide a solution to the environmental concerns related to plastics, highlights the importance of raising awareness on the proper use of bio-based and bio-degradable plastics;

79.  Encourages the proposition of clear global standards of materials, products, design, recycling;

80.  Urges the Commission and Member States to create a consistent transparency framework and reporting obligations for all value chain players on the production, trade, use and end-of-life management of plastics;

81.  Urges the Commission to develop EPR schemes that hold producers accountable for the end-of-life of plastic products;

Key product value chains: textiles

82.  Underlines the importance of a new comprehensive EU strategy for textiles to promote sustainability and circularity as well as traceability and transparency in the EU textile and clothing sector, taking into account the global nature of the value chains and the dimension of ‘fast fashion’; calls for the strategy to present a coherent set of policy instruments and support new business models to address the full range of environmental and social impacts throughout the value chain and to improve the design of textiles to increase durability, reusability and mechanical recyclability and the use of high-quality fibres, notably through a combination of ecodesign type requirements, producer responsibility schemes, and labelling schemes;

83.  Welcomes the application of the new product policy framework to textiles, and stresses that it must prioritise waste prevention and durability, reusability and reparability as well as tackling hazardous and harmful chemicals in line with the waste hierarchy; calls for measures at the design and production stage against synthetic microfibre loss, and for other measures such as the development of preventive controlled and non-polluting industrial pre-washing and standards for equipping new washing machines with microfiber filters; calls for specific EU wide end of waste criteria for textiles;

84.  Calls for the application of the new product policy framework on textiles to be coherent with other policy instruments, namely the forthcoming proposal for EU Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence legislation, to ensure workers’ rights, human rights and gender equality issues are addressed at all stages of the textile value chain.

Key product value chains: construction and buildings

85.  Calls on the Commission to implement the ‘Renovation Wave’ initiative fully in line with the circular economy principles, while taking into account the diversity of the sector; calls on the Commission to set horizontal and product specific requirements; stresses the potential for greenhouse gas savings and environmental gains by prolonging the lifetime of buildings as opposed to demolition; asks the Commission to consider setting reduction targets for the carbon footprint and material footprint of EU buildings and applying the Levels(s) framework on sustainable buildings as a binding framework for construction performance; believes it to be necessary to include minimum legal requirements on the environmental performance of buildings in order to improve the resource efficiency and energy performance of buildings;

86.  Recalls the Commission’s obligation under the Waste Framework Directive to consider a revision of material recovery targets set in EU legislation for construction and demolition waste and its material-specific fractions and believes that this should include a material recovery target for excavated soils; suggests to include reuse and recycling targets and the use of secondary raw materials in construction applications while making them more easily traceable; calls the Commission to revise the Construction Products Regulation and welcomes the announcement of a Strategy for a Sustainable Built Environment in 2021;believes that the adoption of digital solutions in the built environment, such as waste tracing, would allow better energy performance of buildings and greater circularity in the construction sector;

87.  Stresses the importance of putting in place policies for high-calibre building planning that focus on renovation, conversion and continuing use of buildings, where that is possible, rather than on new builds;

88.  Highlights that, as 90 % of the 2050 built environment already exists, special requirements should be set for the renovation sector in order to have fully modular, adaptable to different uses and energy-positive buildings by 2050; including deep renovations, on site production, and reusability;

Key product value chains: food, water and nutrients

89.  Urges the Commission to make a legislative proposal to implement the goal of halving food waste by 2030 in line with the commitments under the Farm to Fork Strategy, and based on data reported by Member States in accordance with the Waste Framework Directive; calls on the Commission to integrate the prevention of food loss and food waste along the entire food value chain in relevant EU policies, as set out in the Farm to Fork Strategy, and recalls that these measures should be in line with the waste hierarchy; calls on Member States to take comprehensive measures to significantly limit food waste and encourage food donations;

90.  Calls on the Commission to take measures to close the agricultural nutrient loop, reduce Europe’s dependency on imports of vegetable proteins for animal feed and to increase the use of recycled animal manure and other organic nutrients, such as compost and digestate, instead of synthetic fertiliser while ensuring a high level of protection of health and of the environment and ecosystems;

91.  Calls for a circular economy based on an environmentally sound regulatory framework to avoid possible negative toxic effects on aquatic ecosystems; welcomes the newly adopted Regulation on minimum requirements for water reuse and the revision of the Drinking Water Directive(36) and calls for their full implementation; calls on the Commission to fully integrate the water-energy nexus in European policies and recalls that the quality of and access to water resources rely on a good implementation of control at source and the polluter pays principle; supports a circular approach in waste water treatments and management in view of fostering urban wastewater recovery; highlights that resources can be recovered from wastewater, ranging from cellulose via bioplastics to nutrients, energy and water, and by continuing an analysis of potential reuse options while reducing energy and water consumption; supports the planned review of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive(37); calls to the Commission to assess the possibility to take legislative measures to address the water efficiency in buildings;

92.  Stresses that increasing access to water to all within the European Union can significantly improve circularity with less reliance on packaged water; calls for full implementation of access to water provisions in the Drinking Water Directive;

93.  Highlights the important role of sustainable bio-based products, in particular a better recovery of biowaste and use of residues and by-products, in the transition to a circular and climate-neutral economy;

94.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that the separate collection of bio-waste, as introduced by the Waste Framework Directive, aims at producing high-quality compost to support soil enhancement non-hazardous chemicals and other products and renewable energy, where feasible and environmentally beneficial;

95.  Emphasises the potential of a sustainable bio-economy and a sustainable forest-based sector; stresses the importance of the implementation of the EU Bioeconomy and Biodiversity Strategies to improve circularity by the replacement, where environmentally beneficial and sustainable - including for biodiversity, taking into account the increasing demand of bio-materials - of fossil materials with renewable, bio-based materials;

Less waste, more value

96.  Underlines the importance of prioritising waste prevention first, in line with the EU waste hierarchy, both in product policy and waste policy; calls on the Commission to propose binding targets for overall waste reduction and for the reduction of waste in specific waste streams and product groups, as well as targets to cap the generation of residual waste, in the review of the Waste Framework Directive and Landfill Directive foreseen for 2024; considers that preparing for re-use and recycling targets should be separate in order to give preparing for re-use the priority it has in the waste hierarchy;

97.  Expresses concern about the unequal implementation of the EU waste targets in the Member States; calls on the Commission to ensure effective and full implementation by all Member States of both the current waste targets and of the 2018 Waste package, and urges all Member States to fully transpose the 2018 legislation without further delay;

98.  Believes that non-competitive prices and a lack of high quality secondary raw materials and markets for them are among the barriers to a circular economy; asks the Commission to assess measures to make secondary raw materials more competitive while contributing to a toxic-free environment;

99.  Considers the private sector as a strong partner in increasing the demand and customer interest in circular solutions and products, and urges Member States to support companies that have business models, services or products that reduce waste and resource use, and make use of their services;

100.  Strongly endorses the ambition to establish a well-functioning EU market for high-quality, non-toxic secondary raw materials - without prejudice to the provisions of the Waste Framework Directive and the Waste Shipment Regulation - and underlines that this will require common quality standards; recalls that the Member States have the possibility to define national by-products and end-of-waste criteria and calls on the Commission to propose harmonised European end-of-waste criteria for key waste streams in line with the Waste Framework Directive, in order to remove market barriers and ensure high-quality material recovery; deplores the fact that the Commission has not defined EU specific criteria for paper, tyres and textiles, as had been required by the Waste Framework Directive;

101.  Calls on the Commission to pay attention to the rules on transboundary movements of waste for recovery between EU Member States and to consider adapting them in order to increase their clarity and comprehensibility, remove administrative barriers while maintaining the effectiveness of legislation in protecting human health and the environment, and harmonise their implementation across EU Member States, including through the establishment of a single EU electronic system for recording waste shipments;

102.  Supports the Commission’s ongoing work to ensure waste oils’ appropriate treatment; invites the Commission, as defined in the Directive 2008/98/EC(38), to present a legislative proposal by 2022 with additional measures to promote waste oils regeneration, including the introduction of quantitative targets;

103.  Recalls that all Member States have the obligation to ensure that, by 31 December 2023, bio-waste is either separated and recycled at source, or is collected separately and is not mixed with other types of waste; urges the Commission and the Member States to direct investments in order to scale up organic waste collection and composting;

104.  Recalls the EU waste targets and underlines that the EU and Member States must strengthen prevention and preparation for reuse, increase high-quality recycling and move away from landfilling waste, while minimising incineration, in line with the waste hierarchy; calls on the Commission to define a common EU-wide approach for the management of residual municipal waste that is non-recyclable to ensure its optimal treatment and to avoid building overcapacity of waste incineration at the EU level that could cause lock-in effects and hamper the development of the circular economy; considers that where incineration is used this should take place in the most advanced waste-to-energy facilities with a high energy efficiency and low emissions within the EU;

105.  Underlines that separate collection of waste is a prerequisite for high-quality recycling and for keeping valuable materials and products in the recycling loop; supports the Commission’s plans to propose measures to improve and harmonise existing separate collection systems, which should consider best practices in the Member States and take into account different regional and local conditions, and should not adversely impact well-functioning existing systems; calls on the Commission to ensure the proper implementation of the provisions laid down in the Waste Framework Directive;

106.  Stresses the need to build waste strategies and policies on robust scientific data and methodologies, improving the reliability and comparability of EU statistics; calls therefore on the Commission to further harmonise waste statistics, and to collect the data on recycled materials and waste in three points: collection, entry point to recycling facility, and share of effective reuse of recycled materials;

107.  Regrets the lack of focus of the Landfill Directive on the prevention, therefore call for its alignment with the overarching principles of the CEAP and for the 10 % landfill target to be set on a baseline year and kg of waste per person per year in order to prevent diversion from landfilling to waste incineration.

108.  Recalls that industrial symbiosis is a key element to achieve circular economy by promoting interconnected networks where the waste of an industry becomes the raw material of another and energy and material can cycle continuously, keeping resources in productive use as long as possible; calls therefore for increased efforts to scale up industrial symbiosis at the EU level and make the industrial value chain more efficient and more competitive;

109.  Highlights that developing industrial symbiosis would require territories to better understand and manage their local flow of resources and lead them to implement new strategies of spatial planning in collaboration with industries, stakeholders, local administration and citizens, urges Member States to require local and regional governments to identify industrial symbiosis opportunities through a thorough mapping of economic activities and compulsory flow analysis of resources,

110.  Underlines the importance of the implementation of article 8a(1) in the Waste Framework Directive wherein it is clearly stated that Member States are obliged to precisely define the responsibilities and roles for Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs);

111.  Recommends that the development of local value chains based on the recycling of bio-waste for the generation of renewable energy, such as biomethane, is supported to create closer links between rural and urban communities while fully implementing the waste hierarchy;

112.  Highlights the need to include product circularity and resource-intensity into cross-border adjustment mechanisms;

Making circularity work for people, regions and cities

113.  Acknowledges the important role that regional governments, local authorities and communities and SMEs play in the circular economy, in waste management and in the implementation of the measures included in the Circular Economy Action Plan; calls on the Commission and Member States to support the establishment and cooperation of circularity hubs in all European regions, industrials clusters and local communities in the spirit of the proposed “New European Bauhaus”, providing support to the development of circular models in design, procurement and waste management;

114.  Supports the idea of updating the Skills Agenda for the circular economy and calls on the Commission to tailor this Agenda to specific employment needs, including education and training requirements as well as new jobs needed in the transition to a circular economy ; calls on the Commission to ensure that the Circular Economy Action plan is linked to implementation of the European Pillar of social right and gender equality strategy and to ensure a just transition; stresses also the crucial role of social partners in work-related and social aspects of the shift to a circular economy;

115.  Stresses the key role of consumers in waste prevention and waste management and the need to facilitate the involvement of citizens in separate waste collection; reiterates the importance for Member States and regional and local authorities to raise public awareness about sustainable consumption, including consumption models based on reuse, renting or sharing, and about waste prevention and the efficient sorting and disposal of waste;

116.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that circular economy principles are embedded in all practices, and calls on the Commission to support the Member States in sharing knowledge and best practices in relation to different circular economy efforts at regional and local level in the EU;

117.  Highlights the importance of cooperation between governments, local authorities academia and businesses, including both producers and buyers, in order to stimulate and scale up circular economy actions; underlines the importance of extending this cooperation to other stakeholders, such as social enterprises, start-ups and NGO’s;

118.  Notes that the repair and maintenance services sector has a considerable potential to generate job opportunities, and its development must be supported and promoted, in particular local, grassroots and community repair initiatives, co-operatives and social enterprises;

119.  Underlines the role that environmentally safe Carbon Capture Storage and Utilisation (CCS/U) can play in reaching the European Green Deal objectives; supports an integrated policy context to stimulate the uptake of environmentally safe CCS/U applications that deliver a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to make heavy industry climate neutral where no direct emission reduction options are available(39); reaffirms, however, that the EU net-zero strategy should prioritise direct emission reductions and actions maintaining and enhancing the EU’s natural sinks and reservoirs(40);

Leading efforts at global level

120.  Supports the Commission’s ambition to revise the Waste Shipment Regulation in order to ensure transparency and traceability of intra-EU trade in waste, halt the export to third countries of waste that causes environmental or human health damage and tackle unlawful behaviour more effectively with the aim of ensuring that all waste is treated in accordance with circular economy principles; furthermore, supports the Commission in implementing the recent amendments to the Basel Convention on plastic waste and to act in full respect of EU obligations under this Convention; asks the Commission to also focus on:

121.  Welcomes the Global Alliance for Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency to accelerate the global transition to a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy, and invites the Commission to lead the efforts on an international agreement on the management of natural resources to stay within a ‘planetary boundaries’ for natural resource use;

122.  Supports the Commission’s efforts at international level to reach a global agreement on plastics, and to promote the global uptake of the EU’s circular economy approach on plastics; underlines the need to ensure that the various commitments made at both the EU and global levels can be tracked in an integrated and transparent manner; calls on the Commission and the Member States to show active leadership to continue working on international responses for combating plastic marine litter and micro-plastics;

123.  Underlines the importance of requiring that primary and secondary raw materials imported to the EU comply with human rights, human health and environmental protection standards that are equivalent to EU standards, including through the upcoming legislative proposal of the Commission on sustainable corporate governance and due diligence, and to ensure a level playing field in the key supply chains of the EU; stresses the importance of ensuring coherence between the Union’s internal and external policies with regards to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan, including in the Union’s external relations and in foreign trade agreements;

124.  Calls on European producers to take responsibility when selling products in third countries and proposes that industrial stakeholders commit to extending their producer responsibility to organising or financing the separate collection of their products when becoming waste in third countries; also calls on producers to address inconsistencies in relation to the quality of exported products and products sold in the EU market;

125.  Supports the Commission to promote multilateral discussions on sustainable levels of resource use and planetary boundaries, including the exploration of science-based targets for resource use;

126.  Emphasises the urgent need to implement the 2030 Agenda on matters relating to strengthening the international management and protection against the health and environmental harms caused by chemicals; particularly stresses the importance of the ongoing process under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) to decide upon a strong framework for the sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020 at ICCM 5 in Bonn July 2021;

127.  Urges the Commission to promote the use of resource-efficiency indicators through international conventions in order to allow comparability between industries and economies and to ensure a level playing field, and to support dialogue and cooperation with third countries;

128.  Taking into account the premise of the earth’s finite resources, an International Convention on Resource Sufficiency should be established to host discussions on access and implications of resource use with sustainability and equity at its core;

129.  Recalls that in addition to adopting measures to reach the EU objective of climate neutrality by 2050, it is necessary to address the carbon footprint in the EU’s demand for imported products; calls on the Commission to identify and abolish barriers to green growth, eco-innovation and those that prevent or restrict market access for circular products and services from outside the EU; calls on the Commission to investigate the possibilities and benefits of reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers on certain products and services in order to encourage the development of the circular economy, including in the context of the ongoing review of the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP); encourages the Commission, in this regard, to add the circular economy dimension to the scope of the negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement, which should be stepped up; calls on the Commission to take into account the special needs of the EU’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to assist SMEs in integrating the circular economy in their business model, including through incentives, and to support them in the implementation of business strategies to export circular products, in particular through the launch of a risk assessment tool for rules of origin, as currently being considered by the Commission; calls on the Commission to lead the way in the WTO to address products based on their carbon content as a way to level the regulatory playing field;

130.  Considers that legally sound provisions are needed in trade agreements in order to safeguard relevant EU legislation on the circular economy from the notion of a trade barrier;

131.  Stresses that a strategic trade policy is an essential tool for advancing the transition to the circular economy and the EU’s and UN’s Sustainable Development Agenda globally by 2030, and underlines therefore the importance of ensuring that trade and investment agreements are aligned with circular economy policies;

132.  Encourages the Commission to engage in open and transparent dialogues and cooperation with the EU’s trading partners to further support the objectives of the circular economy; calls on the Commission and Member States to further deploy efforts in international fora (UNCTAD, WTO, G20, G7) to pursue the EU’s agenda on the circular economy and ensure a global level playing field with international partners through the possibility of exploring the concept of digital passports to foster the availability of data related to product’s content and carbon footprint and recyclability, to enable better circularity, promote extended producer responsibility (EPR), as well as sustainable consumer choices; suggests also in this regard that the Commission engages with the relevant multilateral organisations to reach agreement on an international label that is easy to understand for consumers, and indicates whether a product can be recycled; stresses, furthermore, that particular attention must be given to how less developed partner countries participate in and can benefit from the circular economy; calls on the Commission to integrate the circular economy principles in its strategy ‘Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa’ in particular; calls on the Commission to use Aid for Trade and GSP+ to help developing countries adopt circular economy practices, including product standards;

o
o   o

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

(1) https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/chemicals/2020/10/Strategy.pdf (2) Text adopted P9_TA(2020)0201. (3) OJ C 23, 21.1.2021, p. 116. (4) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0078. (5) OJ C 334, 19.9.2018, p. 60. (6) OJ C 265, 11.8.2017, p. 65. (7) OJ C 433, 23.12.2019, p. 146. (8) Texts adopted P9_TA(2020)0198. (9) OJ L 177, 5.6.2020, p. 32. (10) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0201. (11) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0005. (12) OJ C 433, 23.12.2019, p. 136. (13) OJ C 433, 23.12.2019, p. 146. (14) OJ C 76, 9.3.2020, p. 192. (15) OJ L 155, 12.6.2019, p. 1. (16) OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 109. (17) OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 141. (18) OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 100. (19) OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 93. (20) OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1. (21) https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlook (22) https://resourcepanel.org/reports/resource-efficiency-and-climate-change (23) https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6510/1455 (24) https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/EllenMacArthurFoundation_Growth-Within_July15.pdf (25) Environmental Indicator Report 2014: Environmental Impacts of Production-Consumption Systems in Europe. European Environmental Agency 2014. (26) Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products (OJ L 285, 31.10.2009, p. 10). (27) Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22). (28) Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (OJ L 157, 15.6.2016, p. 1). (29) Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 64). (30) Directive (EU) 2019/771 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods, amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 and Directive 2009/22/EC, and repealing Directive 1999/44/EC (OJ L 136, 22.5.2019, p. 28). (31) Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on market surveillance and compliance of products and amending Directive 2004/42/EC and Regulations (EC) No 765/2008 and (EU) No 305/2011 (OJ L 169, 25.6.2019, p. 1). (32) Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment and repealing Directive 1999/5/EC (OJ L 153, 22.5.2014, p. 62). (33) Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 1). (34) Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on end-of life vehicles (OJ L 269, 21.10.2000, p. 34). (35) Commission Decision 97/129/EC of 28 January 1997 establishing the identification system for packaging materials pursuant to European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste (OJ L 50, 20.2.1997, p. 28). (36) Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32). (37) Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment (OJ L 135, 30.5.1991, p. 40). (38) Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives(OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3). (39) European Parliament resolution of 15 January 2020 on the European Green Deal, paragraph 33. (40) European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2019 on climate change – a European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy in accordance with the Paris Agreement, paragraph 13. (41) Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste (OJ L 190, 12.7.2006, p. 1).

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (2020/2029(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0041 A9-0011/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3), second subparagraph, of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Articles 8, 79 and 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–  having regard to Articles 3, 5 and 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–  having regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR),

–  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(1) (the ‘Anti-Trafficking Directive’),

–  having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and to the Council of Europe’s recommendations in this field,

–  having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

–  having regard to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (‘the Palermo Convention’) and the Protocols thereto, and, in particular, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (‘the UN Trafficking Protocol’), and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and to the European Parliament’s resolution of 26 November 2019 on children’s rights on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child(2),

–  having regard to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,

–  having regard to the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in particular to Article 6 thereof, which seeks to combat all forms of traffic in women and the exploitation of the prostitution of women,

–  having regard to the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,

–  having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995 and to the subsequent outcome documents adopted at the United Nations Beijing +5 (2000), Beijing +10 (2005) and Beijing +15 (2010) special sessions, and at the Beijing +20 review conference,

–  having regard the Joint UN Commentary on the EU Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting victims, which calls for international protection to be provided to victims of human trafficking in a gender-sensitive manner,

–  having regard to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No 29), the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No 105) and the Forced Labour (Supplementary Measures) Recommendation, 2014 (No 203), the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No 182) and the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No 189),

–  having regard to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,

–  having regard to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) General recommendation No. 33 of 23 July 2015 on women’s access to justice,

–  having regard to the United Nations resolution entitled ‘Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, in particular its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.2 on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation,

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

–  having regard to 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, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (3) (the ‘Victims’ Rights Directive’),

–  having regard to Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA(4) (the ‘Directive on the fight against sexual abuse and child pornography’),

–  having regard to Directive 2009/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 providing for minimum standards on sanctions and measures against employers of illegally staying third-country nationals(5),

–  having regard to Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 December 2008 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals(6),

–  having regard to Council Directive 2004/81/EC of 29 April 2004 on the residence permit issued to third-country nationals who are victims of trafficking in human beings or who have been the subject of an action to facilitate illegal immigration, who cooperate with the competent authorities(7) (the ‘Residence Permit Directive’),

–  having regard to Council Directive 2002/90/EC of 28 November 2002 defining the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and residence(8), and to Council framework Decision 2002/946/JHA of 28 November 2002 on the strengthening of the penal framework to prevent the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and residence(9),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 24 June 2020 on an EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2020-2025) (COM(2020)0258),

–  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),

–  having regard to the Commission staff working document of 17 October 2014 entitled ‘Mid-term report on the implementation of the EU strategy towards the eradication of trafficking in human beings’ (SWD(2014)0318) and to the first (COM(2016)0267), second (COM(2018)0777) and third (COM(2020)0661) progress reports thereon,

–  having regard to the Commission report assessing the extent to which Member States have taken the necessary measures in order to comply with Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in in human beings and protecting its victims in accordance with Article 23(1) (COM(2016)0722),

–  having regard to its resolution of 23 October 2020 on Gender Equality in EU’s foreign and security policy(10),

–  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(11),

–  having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2016 on the fight against trafficking in human beings in the EU’s external relations(12),

–  having regard to its resolution of 12 May 2016 on implementation of the Directive 2011/36/EU of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims from a gender perspective(13),

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality(14),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 4 December 2017 entitled ‘Reporting on the follow-up to the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of trafficking in human beings and identifying further concrete actions’ (COM(2017)0728),

–  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’s 2020 Study on the economic, social and human cost of trafficking in human beings within the EU, its 2020 Study on reviewing the functioning of Member States’ National and Transnational Referral Mechanisms, its 2020 Study on Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU, and its 2016 Study on the gender dimension of trafficking in human beings,

–  having regard to the 2018 Joint Statement of commitment to working together against trafficking in human beings signed by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA), the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE),

–  having regard to the Europol Situation Report ‘Trafficking in human beings in the EU’ of 18 February 2016,

–  having regard to the Europol report entitled ‘The challenges of countering human trafficking in the digital era’ of 18 October 2020,

–  having regard to Europol’s 2017 Serious and organised crime threat assessment (SOCTA),

–  having regard to the 4th annual report of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre of Europol of 15 May 2020,

–  having regard to the report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights of the EU entitled ‘Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the European Union’ of 29 May 2015,

–  having regard to the Eurostat report ‘Trafficking in human beings’ of 17 October 2014,

–  having regard to resolution 9/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) on the Establishment of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of UNTOC and the Protocols thereto,

–  having regard to the UNHCR guidelines of 7 April 2006 on international protection entitled ‘The application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked’,

–  having regard to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2018 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons,

–  having regard to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) General recommendation No. 38 of 6 November 2020 on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration,

–  having regard to the European Implementation Assessment of Directive 2011/36/EU: Migration and gender issues, published by its Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services on 15 September 2020(15),

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure, as well as Article 1(1)(e) of, and Annex 3 to, the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 December 2002 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports,

–  having regard to the joint deliberations of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0011/2021),

A.  whereas trafficking in human beings (THB) constitutes a violation of human dignity, of the physical and psychological integrity of a human being, surrounding us in our everyday life, and is a profound violation of fundamental rights, as outlined in Article 5(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

B.  whereas trafficking is a highly gendered phenomenon, with nearly three quarters(16) of all reported victims in 2017 and 2018 in the EU being women and girls, who were predominantly trafficked for sexual exploitation; whereas sexual exploitation has been the most reported reason for trafficking in the EU since 2008;

C.  whereas the number of registered victims of THB has grown in the Commission’s last study period (2017 and 2018) compared to the previous one, and continues to increase(17); whereas the actual number of victims is most likely considerably higher than in the reported data, as many victims remain undetected;

D.  whereas children account for a considerable number of the victims of THB; whereas 78 % of all children trafficked are girls and 68 % of adults trafficked are women(18);

E.  whereas gender inequality, poverty, forced displacement, unemployment, lack of socio-economic opportunities, lack of access to education, gender-based violence, discrimination and marginalisation, and corruption are some of the contributing factors that make persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking; whereas the root causes of THB remain insufficiently tackled;

F.  whereas the victims of THB are often subject to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence, including on the grounds of gender, age, race, disability, ethnicity, culture and religion, as well as national or social origin or other statuses, and whereas these forms of discrimination may themselves fuel trafficking in persons(19);

G.  whereas there are many forms of trafficking, but they are all based on the abuse of the inherent vulnerability of the victims and are aimed at the exploitation of human beings, and whereas the victims of THB are found engaging in different legal and illegal activities, including, but not limited to, the agricultural sector, food processing, the sex industry, domestic work, manufacturing, care, cleaning, other industries (particularly the service industries), begging, criminality, forced marriage, sexual exploitation on- and offline, illegal adoptions and the trade in human organs; whereas there are other forms of trafficking that remain under-recorded and under-reported, including some that are highly gendered, such as forced marriage and domestic servitude;

H.  whereas the last few years have shown that migrants and asylum seekers are particularly at risk of being trafficked; whereas, among these, unaccompanied minors and women are a special target group for trafficking networks;

I.  whereas Europol has warned that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could further increase the numbers of victims(20), and decrease the likelihood of traffickers being detected by law enforcement, and that an economic recession in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis could also result in dangerous consequences in the area of THB(21); whereas the situation of trafficked victims has worsened since the beginning of the crisis and support services have encountered difficulties in assisting victims;

J.  whereas according to Europol(22), the use of digital technologies has broadened criminals’ ability to traffic human beings for different types of exploitation; whereas new technologies are exploited by traffickers during every phase of sexual exploitation, from the recruitment and advertisement of victims, to blackmail and controlling their movements; whereas these new tools offer increased anonymity for traffickers and pose difficulties for law enforcement in detection; whereas online interaction creates both risks and opportunities for criminals, victims and law enforcement;

K.  whereas THB remains a complex and prevalent crime affecting the possibility of reaching all the SDGs, in particular SDGs 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17 (partnerships for the goals);

L.  whereas trafficking in persons is first and foremost a serious crime against individual persons, it also generates costs to society such as the extra use of public services, including law enforcement, specialised services, health services and social protection, lost economic output, the value of lost quality of life, and the coordination of anti-trafficking prevention work; whereas this cost is estimated at EUR 3 700 524 433 for the EU-28(23);

M.  whereas trafficking in human beings is a complex transnational phenomenon that can be tackled effectively only if the EU institutions, Member States, third countries and EU and international organisations work together in a coordinated manner; whereas international cooperation is essential to eradicate trafficking through the synergy of various existing internal and external policies such as the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy and the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024, as well as through the relevant information campaigns in the countries involved; whereas THB should be taken into account in the legislative work on the Gender Action Plan III;

N.  whereas the effective detection of THB victims continues to be a challenge in most Member States owing to various reasons, such as the lack of language knowledge and reluctance to report to the police or limited law enforcement capacities; whereas the identification of child victims is often made more challenging because they do not understand they are victims; whereas Member States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent THB, to investigate instances of trafficking and punish perpetrators, to support and empower victims and respect their dignity, and to provide for their protection and access to remedies, and whereas not doing so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of victims;

O.  whereas the Anti-Trafficking Directive sets out minimum standards to be applied throughout the European Union in preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting victims, and provides the definition of what constitutes trafficking in human beings; whereas the complete and correct transposition of the Anti-Trafficking Directive, followed by its full implementation, is not only compulsory, but also necessary in order to make progress in addressing trafficking in human beings;

P.  whereas all monitoring reports show that almost 10 years after the Anti-Trafficking Directive’s adoption, obstacles to its full implementation at Member State level remain, with most victims remaining undetected and the prosecution and conviction rates of perpetrators remaining low; whereas significant gaps in the coverage and implementation of national laws and policies surrounding THB can be actively exploited by organised crime groups and leave large groups of people more vulnerable to exploitation;

Q.  whereas the implementation of the Victims’ Rights’ Directive has not been satisfactory, particularly due to incomplete and/or incorrect transposition;

R.  whereas trafficking in human beings is a very profitable form of organised crime and is therefore demand and profit driven; whereas reducing demand, also with regard to the sexual exploitation of women and girls, needs to be a focus in the fight against trafficking; whereas physical, psychological and sexual violence are constitutive elements of trafficking for sexual exploitation and violence against women;

S.  whereas the EU’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention could complement the EU’s and Member States’ efforts in the fight against trafficking in human beings;

T.  whereas severe labour exploitation occurs in many economic sectors in the EU and affects various groups of cross-border workers, including both EU and non-EU citizens; whereas, as recommended by the FRA(24), such practices should be addressed, among other ways, through a comprehensive system of targeted inspections of working conditions;

1.  Points out the need for a coordinated, harmonised and coherent framework at EU level, based on more efficient assessment and follow-up mechanisms, that guarantees that the prevention of THB is strengthened, together with support, assistance and protection of its victims, and aiming for the complete elimination of trafficking, including through coordinated implementation with the rights conferred by the Victims’ Rights Directive, the Residence Permit Directive, the Directive on the fight against sexual abuse and child pornography and the Compensation Directive(25), as trafficking is a crime with a cross-border dimension and thus cannot be dealt with at national level alone;

2.  Commends the good work done by the Commission in coordinating the EU’s response to THB and developing knowledge and the findings on the various aspects of THB, including research into the gender dimension and the particular vulnerability of children; calls on the Commission to ensure the continuity of the work being done by appointing a full-time EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator with the relevant expertise and a clear mandate, working with a network of national representatives from the Member States and civil society to ensure consistent cooperation;

3.  Stresses the importance of the funding of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the Daphne Programme, the European Social Fund+ and Internal Security Fund (ISF) programmes to continue to be used for projects tackling THB, as well as using other available instruments, including EU programmes such as the citizens, equality, rights and values programme, financial instruments such as the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) and the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, and initiatives such as EMPACT, and the EU-UN Spotlight and Glo.ACT Initiatives; recalls the need for initiatives and projects related to the gender dimension of trafficking, and calls for a comprehensive policy review of EU-financed projects; calls on the Member States to ensure stable funding and adequate staff to identify and protect victims and expresses concern about the lack of adequate funding for victims’ organisations, especially those providing support to women, which, owing to severe funding cuts, are struggling to continue providing services to victims;

4.  Highlights that the lack of consistent, comparable and detailed data continues to hamper the adequate and evidence-based assessment of the scale of and trends in THB; calls on the Member States to increase their efforts in and funding for research, analysis and collection of data on all forms of THB, and to improve coordination among data sources at national and EU level, as well as the collection of more up-to-date, centralised and comprehensive data disaggregated by type of trafficking, age and gender, racial and ethnic origin, and including internally trafficked people, by compiling statistical information with due respect for the rights to privacy and personal data protection, in cooperation with the institutional actors involved, civil society, the EIGE and all relevant international organisations; calls on the Commission to regularly compile and publish such data for the EU;

5.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to ensure differentiation between trafficking and smuggling, which require deeper analysis and different responses in law and policy; highlights that the confusion between them often leads to failings in correctly identifying victims and in ensuring that they can access protection measures and avoid secondary victimisation;

6.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to assess and evaluate the use of digital technologies, social media and internet services as the predominant tools used to recruit trafficking victims, and that they empower law enforcement authorities and civil society organisations in the fight against THB by providing them with the necessary technical knowledge and dedicated resources to respond to the challenges posed by the new technologies; further calls on them to adopt third-party liability rules for technology companies hosting exploitative material, to improve the legislative tools used in judicial proceedings and in the prosecution of traffickers, to promote the exchange of information and cooperation between the relevant authorities, internet service providers and social media companies, to promote public information campaigns across the EU on THB while respecting the victims’ right to privacy and safety, as well as ensuring their fundamental rights and data protection, and to increase support for building transnational expertise and technology-based solutions, for example to block the recruitment of victims;

7.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to make cyber-awareness a priority in campaigns aimed at schools, universities, companies and research bodies, and to build on existing expertise such as the Better Internet for Kids portal; underlines that awareness-raising in relation to online human trafficking on social media is essential to prevent new victims from entering into the trafficking networks; calls on the Commission to actively engage with platforms in developing common guidelines and action plans that prevent and combat online trafficking;

Identification, protection, assistance and support to victims

8.  Highlights that the early identification of victims remains one of the main challenges to implementation, and is one of the most crucial in terms of enabling victims to exercise their rights; calls on the Member States to protect them, to give more actors responsibility and awareness-raising opportunities for identifying victims of THB at all stages of the process, including representatives of civil society organisations, law enforcement officers, immigration and asylum officials, labour inspectors and social workers or healthcare staff, as well as other relevant professionals and actors; stresses the need for an approach based on the four key strategies of prevention, prosecution, victim protection and multi-level partnership; calls on all Member States to earmark adequate funds for the identification, protection, assistance and support of victims of THB at all stages; highlights that early identification should take into account the specificities of high-risk sectors and groups such as victims who are women and girls;

9.  Calls on all Member States to effectively guarantee the rights of victims through legal assistance at the earliest possible stage, including accessible information about their legal rights, to protect and support them with a gender- and child-sensitive approach while ensuring complementarity with the Victims’ Rights Directive; recalls that the Anti-Trafficking Directive obliges the Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that the competent authorities are entitled not to prosecute or impose penalties on victims of THB for their involvement in criminal activities which they have been compelled to commit;

10.  Regrets the lack of targeted protection programmes for vulnerable victims in many Member States; stresses the importance of providing measures for the special needs of victims in vulnerable situations and specific guidance to victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation; highlights the need to ensure unconditional and individualised protection, assistance and support) to victims, also taking their direct dependants into account, including in the context of legal proceedings related to criminal, civil or other actions against traffickers or exploiters; calls for the effective implementation in all Member States of the Victims’ Rights Directive and any related legislation, with a gender- and victim-based approach; recalls that people working to protect and help the victims of THB should not be criminalised for their work related to this;

11.  Notes that the victims of THB require specialised services, including access to safe short- and long-term accommodation, witness protection schemes, healthcare and counselling, translation and interpretation services, legal redress, compensation, access to education and training, including being taught the language of their country of residence, access to the labour market and job placement, (re-)integration, resettlement assistance and individualised services, with a specific gender perspective; urges the Member States to ensure gender-specific, appropriate and targeted provision of services to victims of THB;

12.  Regrets the fact that the specific needs of victims in vulnerable situations such as women, children, LGBTI people, persons with disabilities and people from racialised groups are often overlooked, and urges the Member States to ensure gender-specific services and support to victims appropriate to their needs; calls on the Member States to address in particular the needs of LGBTI people, as they are highly vulnerable to THB owing to the cumulative effect of different types of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity;

13.  Points out the high vulnerability of Roma communities to all forms of trafficking and exploitation, especially of women and children, according to the Commission’s three progress reports; calls on the Commission and the Member States to design specific measures to combat trafficking through the national Roma integration strategies for 2020-2030; calls on the Commission and the Member States to collect statistical data on the victims of trafficking based on their ethnic background;

14.  Is concerned that victims of THB are often not adequately informed of their rights or of the assistance and support measures that are available to them; underlines the importance of having clear and consistent information for victims and for front line staff who may come into contact with victims;

15.  Highlights that while the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet measurable, it is nevertheless clear that the crisis disproportionately affects the most vulnerable victims of THB, especially women, children and those in precarious situations, and that it has forced many shelters to close or suspend their services as a result of reported infections, leaving victims of trafficking without housing, healthcare, and legal assistance; in this context, stresses that access to care and social services should be guaranteed without discrimination; recalls that the root causes driving THB have been exacerbated by the pandemic, exposing vulnerable populations to higher risks of trafficking, increasing the number of online advertisements featuring victims of THB, of sexual predators targeting children, of cases of sexual exploitation online, and the demand for child pornography; calls on the Member States to take effective action with the support of civil society organisations and EU agencies such as Europol, which released a report entitled ‘Pandemic profiteering: how criminals exploit the COVID-19 crisis’ in March 2020; calls on the Commission to carry out a deeper analysis of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on potential victims of THB, and on the structure and functioning of THB in general, in order to create specific measures to eliminate THB;

16.  Points out the need for fully functioning, coherent National Referral Mechanisms (NRM) coordinated with transnational referral mechanisms and funded through specific dedicated financial allocations, to meet the challenges in coordinating different actors, and the shortcomings that lead to limited trust among victims, which may have a negative impact on effective referrals; underlines that good cooperation between the police and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be complementary to a fully fledged NRM defining the roles and responsibilities of all relevant actors(26) so as to protect and promote the fundamental rights of victims; encourages the Member States to set up national centres specialised in the support and reception of victims of THB and to facilitate direct and efficient cross-border cooperation between these centres, as well as between law enforcement agencies and the relevant EU agencies;

17.  Calls on the Commission to monitor and assess the situation of compensation to victims in the Member States and across borders in terms of access, enforcement and actual payments, and to come forward with specific measures to ensure better, faster and free legal aid and access to compensation in all Member States without prejudice to other forms of reparation;

18.  Welcomes the adoption of the establishment of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto in 2018 and the launch of its review process in 2020; calls on the Commission to position itself as a role model in this review process; underlines the importance of increasing the understanding of THB as a complex and evolving crime; calls on the Member States and the EU institutions to ensure that a human rights-based response remains at the core of the analysis of and the responses to THB, and recalls the need to engage with citizens and civil society organisations; stresses the important role played by the European Parliament and national parliaments; invites the Commission and the Member States to join the UN’s international campaign against trafficking in persons; urges the Member States to ratify all relevant international instruments on THB, including the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings;

THB as a gendered crime and addressing trafficking for sexual exploitation

19.  Highlights that sexual exploitation remains the most prevalent and reported form of trafficking in the EU since 2008, as 60 % of victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation; notes that 92 % of these victims are women and girls, and that more than 70 % of traffickers are male(27), reflecting how trafficking for sexual exploitation is rooted in gender inequalities;

20.  Urges, therefore, the Member States to adopt specific measures to address gender-based violence, violence against women and minors, the social acceptance of violence and the culture of impunity, and structural gender inequalities and stereotypes as root causes of trafficking, especially through education, information and awareness-raising campaigns complemented with an exchange of best practices, including programmes and training courses to engage with men and boys; recommends that the Commission strengthen and develop the gender dimension in the monitoring of the implementation of EU anti-trafficking legislation and urges the Commission to continue to monitor this in its assessment of Member States’ compliance with and implementation of the Anti-Trafficking Directive;

21.  Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to examine how the demand for sexual services drives trafficking, as Europol has reported that ‘there are Member States where prostitution is legal, making it much easier for traffickers to use a legal environment in order to exploit their victims’(28); recalls Europol’s finding that in some EU Member States where prostitution is legal, suspects were able to exploit children alongside adult victims(29); underlines that THB is fuelled by the high profits for traffickers and by the demand that encourages all forms of exploitation; stresses that the use of legal businesses as a cover for exploitative activities is quite common among human traffickers; recalls that Member States have a legal obligation to discourage and reduce the demand for all forms of exploitation, which should be a key target for prevention and prosecution efforts;

22.  Calls on the Commission to prioritise the prevention of the crime of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through information, awareness-raising and education campaigns, adopting measures and programmes to discourage and reduce demand, and to possibly adopt future dedicated legislation, and calls on the Member States to include the knowing use of the services of victims of trafficking as a criminal offence in their national statutes, as recommended by Article 18 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive and reiterated by the Commission in 2018(30), and to provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties; urges the Member States to work closely with civil society organisations working with trafficked persons;

23.  Urges the Member States and the Commission to focus on the recurring and emerging patterns of THB for sexual exploitation, such as the increasing exploitation of children and women, including through grooming and sextortion, and the use, among other things, of the ‘lover boy’ method as the most frequent means of recruiting victims and making them compliant by using online technologies, through developing digital skills, including online safety, in cooperation with all relevant actors; notes that the increased use of technology by criminal networks engaged in THB has significantly transformed their traditional modus operandi, especially during some stages of the trafficking process;

24.  Highlights the importance of and asks for more gender- and child-sensitive training programmes for all officials, judges, stakeholders and actors dealing with trafficking cases, investigations, and potential victims to enhance the early identification of those who may be victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and encourages Member States to adopt measures to support victims, such as exit programmes, psychological support measures, decent social and professional reintegration opportunities, education and access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, access to justice and related rights, while involving civil society, the social partners and the private sector; underlines further, in this context, the importance of awareness-raising programmes for the general public in order to identify and protect potential victims; highlights the need to earmark adequate funds for training purposes and therefore calls for the Member States to provide adequate resources;

25.  Urges the Member States to adopt comprehensive age- and developmentally appropriate sexuality education as a key means of preventing all forms of violence against women and girls, including trafficking and sexual exploitation, to include consent and relationships education promoting healthy attitudes of respect and equality in all interactions;

Trafficking for labour exploitation

26.  Strongly regrets the fact that several Member States and civil society organisations have reported an increase in trafficking for labour exploitation(31); deplores the fact that children have also increasingly fallen victim to trafficking for labour exploitation and calls for urgent action by national labour inspectorates in the Member States to detect and put an end to such practices; calls further on the European Labour Authority to address the issue of severe labour exploitation as a matter of priority and to support the Member States with capacity building on this matter with a view to better identifying and sanctioning severe labour exploitation practices through targeted inspections; highlights the importance of considering the inclusion of labour exploitation in the training programmes for officials attending victims to enhance the early identification of those who are victims of trafficking for forced labour; calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to examine how the demand for cheap labour services drives trafficking for labour exploitation; urges the Member States’ authorities to increase their efforts to eliminate all forms of informal and unregulated work, thereby ensuring labour rights for all workers; highlights that the precarious working status of the workers concerned makes them dependent on their employers, and allows the perpetrators of human trafficking to exploit their victims;

Other forms of exploitation

27.  Urges the Member States and the Commission to focus on the recurring and emerging patterns of all forms of THB, including for labour exploitation, forced begging, forced and sham marriage, and forced criminality, among other purposes; underlines that THB is fuelled by high profits for traffickers and by the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation; notes with concern that many EU Member States do not have adequate legislation for victims of all forms of exploitation; calls on the Member States to take into account all forms of trafficking when giving protection, assistance and support to victims; notes that in spite of recent reports of criminal networks trafficking people across the EU for the purposes of labour and other forms of exploitation, adequate data, legislation and access to support services for victims of these forms of exploitation are nevertheless lacking;

28.  Notes that trafficking for other forms of exploitation accounted for 18 % of victims(32), involving activities in the area of forced begging, forced criminalities, the selling of babies, organ removal, illegal adoption, financial exploitation through fraud and THB through surrogacy; points out that many of the victims of forced begging and forced criminality often come from marginalised Roma communities and are often children;

29.  Emphasises that the EU’s legal and policy framework on THB combines both the internal and external dimensions, recognising that action to combat trafficking, which is a serious crime and a human rights violation, constitutes a clear objective of the EU’s external action; calls on the Commission and the Member States to enhance cooperation with third countries in order to combat all forms of THB and to strengthen opportunities for joint investigations and specialised prosecutions;

THB in the context of asylum and migration

30.  Emphasises that, while the majority of victims are EU nationals, criminal organisations have been misusing migration routes for trafficking victims into the EU, with humanitarian crises exacerbating the exposure of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to traffickers; points out that there has been a sharp increase in recent years concerning the number of women and girls trafficked through the Central Mediterranean route for sexual exploitation in the EU(33); calls for the Member States and the EU to identify these women and girls and to prevent similar cases in the future by using a coherent and coordinated rights-based and gender- and child-sensitive approach to prevent and address human trafficking; recalls that women and children often become victims of sexual abuse along the migration route, in exchange for protection and basic sustenance; underlines that the criteria for these women and children to be granted the official status of THB victim are often too rigid to fulfil, and that they are therefore unable to receive the required assistance to address the harm that they face;

31.  Reiterates that asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, and, in particular, unaccompanied and separated minors, are vulnerable to trafficking and that special attention should be given to the trafficking of women, children and other vulnerable groups; highlights that there are vulnerabilities and risks at the different stages in the migration process prior to migration itself, en route to the EU, at the destination and for those that might be returned; notes that limited knowledge of a local language and/or of understanding of their rights, limited access to viable livelihood opportunities or quality education, and restrictions on their freedom of movement also contribute to their risk of becoming victims of trafficking;

32.  Highlights the very low number of registered THB victims in international protection procedures; calls on the Member States to strengthen the provision of information to arriving individuals, including with the help of translation and interpretation, on their rights and the applicable procedures under EU legislation, including on the possibilities for obtaining support through lawyers and cultural mediators working to prevent human trafficking and exploitation;

33.  Points out that in some Member States, applicants for international protection who are identified as victims of THB might have decided, or been obliged, to change procedures and claim a residence permit under the Residence Permit Directive(34); calls on the Member States to ensure that the anti-trafficking and the asylum procedures are interconnected and complement each other;

34.  Calls on the Member States to ensure a coherent application of the provisions set out in the Dublin III Regulation, the Anti-Trafficking Directive and the Residence Permit Directive to prevent the practice employed in some Member States of transferring victims of human trafficking to the country where they were exploited when they first arrived, thereby leaving them more exposed to the risk of being re-trafficked and re-traumatised;

35.  Calls on the Member States to step up their efforts to identify potential victims early on, in particular within migration flows and hotspots, and to adopt protection and prevention measures; highlights that potential victims who have been identified should be provided with protection and access to a safe place where they can be provided with information and legal aid; calls on the Member States to take action to ensure that all victims, including migrant victims, have access to justice irrespective of their residence status;

36.  Calls on the Member States to provide adequate resources and specialised facilities for the actual and presumed victims of trafficking, including women, unaccompanied and separated minors, and to ensure sufficient places in shelters; calls on the Member States to ensure the presence of gender-trained staff in reception facilities and to provide adequate support and funding to civil society organisations working with them;

37.  Calls on the Member States to ensure the right to family life of the victims of THB and to assess the potential extension of international protection granted to victims to their family members; calls on the Member States to speed up family reunification procedures for the family members of the victims at risk in the country of origin;

38.  Points to the need to set up national mechanisms for data collection on THB victims in international protection procedures in order to be able to ensure follow-up in identified cases;

39.  Is concerned that the recovery and reflection period is linked to cooperation by the victim during the investigation and is granted by law enforcement agencies; deplores the fact that in some Member States(35) the period is provided neither to victims of trafficking who are EU and/or EEA nationals nor to asylum seekers; calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of available legal solutions at Member State level, in particular the granting of a recovery and reflection period;

40.  Points out that, according to Europol, migrant smuggling and THB are sometimes carried out by the same criminal organisations(36) and investigations show that traffickers are increasingly targeting migrants and asylum seekers in the EU for exploitation(37); stresses the importance of prevention and the fight against THB when cooperating on working against smuggling with third countries, either of origin or of transit, together with the protection of the victims, ensuring comprehensive support, reintegration and rehabilitation programmes;

41.  Reminds the Member States that the lack of safe and legal migration pathways for asylum seekers increases their vulnerability to trafficking as they can be exploited both during transit and upon arrival; calls on the Member States to provide more safe and legal routes for migration such as humanitarian visas in order to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable individuals;

42.  Notes that being undocumented, or having dependent status, increases the likelihood of victimisation and reduces the likelihood that victims will seek help or report abuse owing to fear of immigration consequences, thereby putting them at risk of exploitation and abuse; notes that the significant gaps in the coverage and implementation of national laws and policies surrounding THB give perpetrators additional leverage to exploit victims with an irregular status, leaving large groups of people more vulnerable to exploitation; calls on the Member States to decouple migration enforcement actions from law enforcement activities; stresses that safe reporting and effective complaints mechanisms should be established for vulnerable persons;

Trafficking of children

43.  Notes that children constitute nearly a quarter of all victims in the EU, with girls (78 %) making up the vast majority of child victims in the EU; points out that nearly 75 % of all child victims in the EU were EU citizens; is particularly concerned about the violence, abuse and exploitation faced by child victims in the EU, especially those trafficked for sexual exploitation(38);

44.  Recalls the obligation of Member States to pay special attention to child victims of trafficking with the best interests of the child being considered paramount in all actions; emphasises the physical and psychological harm suffered by trafficked children and their increased vulnerability to exploitation; calls on the Member States to ensure strong child protection measures, the presumption of childhood and child age assessment, protection before and during criminal proceedings, access to unconditional assistance, compensation, non-punishment, and assistance and support to the family member of a child victim, as well as prevention;

45.  Calls on the Member States to focus on identifying child victims and helping them to avail themselves of their rights; emphasises the need for well-trained and properly supported guardians, including temporary guardians as an emergency measure, to be appointed immediately for child victims, including unaccompanied child victims, and stresses the importance of child-friendly justice and specialist services; further calls for Member States to take measures to ensure adequate and appropriate training, in particular legal and psychological training, for those working with child victims of trafficking, and to increase the number of guardians by organising awareness campaigns;

46.  Calls on Member States to ensure that consular staff pay particular attention to the correct verification of the identity of minors and the link with the person or persons exercising parental authority or legal guardianship when taking the minor’s biometric data in the visa application procedure; calls on the Commission, in close cooperation with Europol and civil society organisations, and on the Member States to provide targeted and effective education and training, as well as information on the methods used by the traffickers, to national, local and regional authorities in order to prevent child trafficking;

47.  Calls on the Member States to fully implement the Directive on the fight against sexual abuse and child pornography, and to reinforce police and judicial cooperation to prevent and combat sexual exploitation at EU level; urges the Member States to cooperate with civil society organisations and EU agencies, in particular with Europol and Eurojust, to step up information exchanges and to support cross-border investigations;

48.  Notes with great concern the prevalence of child sexual abuse, and the pattern and normalisation of the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, and calls for an adequate response by online platforms to avoid abusive material involving children becoming available;

49.  Notes the use of means such as the internet and social media to recruit and attract potential victims; calls for special attention by the internet platforms to develop adequate tools; calls for the new Digital Services Act to address this use of cyber-violence methods; calls on the Member States to develop a model of identification, early support and assistance for children who are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as awareness-raising programmes and child-friendly reporting mechanisms; encourages the Commission and the Member States to take further action in fighting these online crimes and to reinforce preventive measures; therefore reiterates the need to improve cross-border collaboration and exchange among law enforcement and child protection authorities, as well as to develop rapid family tracing and alternative care arrangements for unaccompanied minors;

50.  Points out that child victims need specific support, taking into account their best interests and specific vulnerabilities; encourages the Member States to ensure that professionals who come into contact with child victims, such as law enforcement staff, border guards, civil servants, the judiciary, and social and health workers, including those who work in youth care facilities, are sufficiently trained in identifying, supporting and referring child victims of THB; notes that specialised teams within law enforcement, trained in the audio-visual recording of child testimonies, are not consistently involved in the questioning of all child victims of THB; urges the Member States to make this standard practice and to train law enforcement staff in this type of child-friendly questioning; advises the Member States to develop a strong ‘chain approach’, with close links between specific THB support, such as specialised centres for the support and reception of THB victims, and mainstream youth care modules, while responding to the specific needs of every child THB victim;

51.  Notes that Roma children are especially vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking and are at high risk of being subjected to sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and forced begging;

52.  Welcomes the Commission’s decision to include in the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse of 24 July 2020 the possibility of creating a European Centre to prevent and counter child sexual abuse, as called for in the European Parliament’s resolution of 26 November 2019 on children’s rights, as the cornerstone of a coordinated and multi-stakeholder European approach to preventing and tackling child abuse, and assisting victims;

53.  Notes that children in migration, and, in particular, unaccompanied and separated migrant children, continue to be at high risk of violence, trafficking and exploitation along migration routes, en route to and within the EU; notes that girls are at risk of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence throughout the migration routes; requires the Member States to provide unaccompanied child victims of trafficking with assistance, support and protection measures that meet their specific needs, to assign them a guardian upon arrival, and to provide them with proper and adapted living conditions; recalls that such measures should take into account the best interests of the unaccompanied children from a short-term, as well as a long-term perspective; condemns the fact that some Member States have been using detention as a means of ‘protection’ for unaccompanied minors, including in police cells; recalls that the Member States should examine alternatives to detention, in particular of children; recalls that detention is not in the best interests of the child and that Member States should provide non-custodial child-friendly accommodation;

54.  Notes that traffickers have frequently used reception centres to identify potential victims and to arrange for them to be transported to places of exploitation, and that the relevant public authorities and other competent actors in the Member States must therefore be particularly vigilant and monitor and safeguard these centres, paying specific attention to the most vulnerable, such as children , while reinforcing their protection by, at the same time, informing and empowering them by raising awareness in schools, youth centres and youth movements; stresses that a coordinated European approach is necessary to find and protect unaccompanied migrant children when they go missing;

Efficiency of criminal justice systems and criminalisation of the use of services of victims

55.  Notes the low number of prosecutions and convictions for the crime of trafficking; urges the Member States to take measures to improve and speed up the investigation of trafficking cases, through strengthened police efforts both nationally and transnationally, and to put in place strong criminal sanctions for the crime of human trafficking; emphasises that the existing national sanctions and the means of their execution still differ considerably between Member States; highlights that special attention should be paid to under-reported and under-investigated areas, especially employment of a seasonal and temporary nature in the low-skilled and low-paid sectors, such as labour exploitation in the agricultural sector; calls on the Member States to counter impunity through a coordinated approach between the relevant EU agencies in partnership with Member States, the EU institutions, civil society organisations and other partners, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of investigations and prosecutions, including by effective use of the existing platforms run by agencies such as Europol and Eurojust; calls, therefore, on the competent authorities responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of serious crime, including cases of THB, to use large-scale IT systems, including the Schengen Information System (SIS II), in accordance with the provisions enshrined in the relevant legislation in order to support them;

56.  Points out that not all Member States have introduced legislation relevant to Article 18 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive(39); notes that the differing legal landscapes on criminalising the use of services exacted from victims hampers efforts to reduce demand; regrets the fact that prosecution and conviction rates in the EU for knowingly using victims’ services and for sexual exploitation are low; reiterates its urgent call on the Member States to establish the act of knowingly using the services of victims of human trafficking as a criminal offence;

57.  Underlines the crucial importance for the EU law enforcement community of developing efficient and expanded analytical capabilities in response to the ever-increasing online-facilitated THB criminal patterns; calls on the Commission to provide financial support to EU agencies such as Europol and through dedicated EU sectoral funds such as the ISF to Member States to secure the highest analytical standards and adequate tools in order to process increasingly complex amounts of information;

58.  Notes that women are disproportionately criminalised owing to their socio-economic situation or migration status and are prevented from enjoying equal access to justice as a result of gender stereotyping, discriminatory laws, intersecting or compounded discrimination, and procedural and evidentiary requirements and practices; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that access to justice is physically, economically, socially and culturally available to all women; calls on the Commission and the Member States to address the obstacles to access to justice by women;

59.  Regrets the fact that the conditions for a victim to receive the official status of THB victim are often too rigid to fulfil, especially for minors and other vulnerable victims who are financially and emotionally dependent on their traffickers; deplores the fact that victims are still subject to criminal charges and convictions for offences they have been compelled to commit, often in relation to the illegal entry into a Member State’s territory, which is often inherent to being trafficked; calls on the Member States to adopt clear provisions on the non-prosecution or non-punishment of THB victims and on decoupling victims’ protection from cooperation with law enforcement agencies, which currently puts the complete burden of proof on the victim; requests that the Member States instead fulfil victims’ needs as regards psychological support; calls further on the Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that assistance and support for a victim are not made conditional on the victim’s willingness to cooperate in the criminal investigation, prosecution or trial in accordance with Article 11 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive;

60.  Deplores the fact that data on the identity of THB victims appear in police reports and throughout proceedings, making it hard for victims to speak out or to be protected from retaliation; encourages the Member States to keep victims’ names and other identity data in separate files accessible to the police and the prosecution, but not to be disclosed to the suspected traffickers or their lawyers, while respecting the right to a fair trial;

61.  Stresses the importance of financial investigation and ‘following the money’ as a key strategy for investigating and prosecuting the organised crime networks that profit from THB; calls on the Member States to launch financial investigations and work with money laundering specialists when starting a new trafficking investigation; calls on Member States to strengthen cooperation in freezing and confiscating the assets of individuals involved in trafficking and in providing compensation to victims, including by using confiscated proceeds to support victims’ assistance and protection, as encouraged by Recital 13 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive; calls on the Commission to assess and promote the use of existing judicial and police cooperation, and the available tools, such as mutual recognition of court judgments, joint investigation teams and the European investigation order; in this regard, calls for an enhanced holistic approach which seeks to increase joined-up thinking across all sectors, such as migration, employment, workplace health and safety, and many other sectors;

Cooperation between Member States and with EU Agencies

62.  Recalls the role of EU agencies in the early identification of victims and the fight against THB; calls for more resources for the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Agencies to enable their staff to be trained and capacity-building instruments to be developed in the area of detecting victims, including the appointment of adequately trained staff in gender- and child­-sensitive approaches, especially in Member States faced with increased mixed migration flows; calls on the Commission to develop guidelines to mainstream gender and human rights expertise in the activities of law enforcement authorities across the EU, including by developing sustained programmes of improving gender balance in decision-making processes and in the staffing of the JHA agencies, particularly those relevant to THB;

63.  Welcomes the conclusion by JHA agencies of the Joint Statement of Commitment to working together against trafficking in human beings; calls, in this regard, for the Member States to increase cross-border cooperation and knowledge sharing with the relevant EU agencies such as Eurojust, Europol, the FRA, Frontex, CEPOL, the EIGE and the EASO in the fight against THB;

64.  Points out the vital role played by Eurojust in the cooperation and coordination of complex investigations and prosecutions among judicial authorities in the Member States, including through the European Arrest Warrant and the European Investigation Order, as well as through the use of Joint Investigative Teams; calls on the Member States to ensure more and timely referrals of THB cases to Eurojust in order to enhance the coordination of judicial investigations and prosecutions between Member States and with third countries; encourages the increased use of Joint Investigation Teams with the support of Eurojust and Europol, as this judicial cooperation tool has proven to be particularly effective in the fight against THB;

65.  Encourages the Member States to increase the exchange of data and information to fight trafficking against human beings by using Europol’s relevant resources and databases;

66.  Calls on CEPOL to provide training for the competent law enforcement authorities in order to ensure standardised approaches to investigation and the protection of victims;

Recommendations

67.  Calls on the Commission to revise the Anti-Trafficking Directive after a thorough impact assessment in order to improve the measures for the prevention, tackling and prosecution of all forms of trafficking, especially for sexual exploitation as the largest area of THB; to address the use of online technologies in both the proliferation and the prevention of THB; to improve measures for prevention and the early identification of victims and easy and unconditional access to assistance and protection, while strengthening a horizontal gender- and child-sensitive perspective across all forms of trafficking;

68.  Calls on the Commission to amend the Anti-Trafficking Directive with a view to ensuring that Member States explicitly criminalise the knowing use of all services provided by victims of trafficking which involve exploitation, as suggested by Article 18 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive, given the serious and extensive nature of this crime across the EU and the low number of prosecutions; regrets the fact that proving knowledge in using the services of a victim of human trafficking is a difficult matter for the prosecution authorities; stresses that the difficulty of finding evidence is not necessarily a conclusive argument for not treating a given type of conduct as a criminal offence; notes that restricting criminal liability only to the situation where the user has direct and actual knowledge that the person is a victim of human trafficking creates a very high threshold for achieving prosecutions; considers that the level of knowledge that should be required for this offence should be a matter for close examination; considers that the user should demonstrate that all reasonable steps were taken to avoid the use of services provided by a victim; is concerned about the fact that law enforcement has insufficient knowledge of the knowing use of services provided by victims of trafficking, the lack of judicial practice of the relevant provision and the insufficient and inadequate human resources deployed; stresses the importance of Member States strengthening efforts to increase the number of investigations and prosecutions, and reducing the burden placed on victims and their testimonies during proceedings for evidence gathering; calls for regular and tailor-made training for investigators, prosecutors and judges, and for the systematic use of financial investigations and other effective intelligence-led investigative tools, which can provide a range of types of evidence to be used in addition to victims’ testimonies; calls on the Member States to dedicate sufficient financial and human resources to properly address this crime;

69.  Calls on the Commission to publish a specific and dedicated EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings without further delay, to address THB in the EU as a priority area, and through a comprehensive, gender- and child-specific and victim-centred legal and policy framework;

70.  Recalls that the Anti-Trafficking Directive needs to be fully implemented and consistently and diligently applied by all actors in the field, including legislators, judges, prosecutors, police and public administrations; stresses that the proper training of all these actors is essential, as are preventive awareness-raising campaigns and cooperation between public administrations and civil society organisations; urges the Commission and the Member States to step up efforts in this direction;

71.  Calls on the Commission to regularly assess and review the implementation of the Anti-Trafficking Directive by the Member States and submit a report in line with Article 23(1), assessing the extent to which the Member States have taken the necessary measures in order to comply with that Directive and the impact of existing national law, and to introduce urgently infringement procedures where there has been a lack of effective implementation, report to the European Parliament and to come forward with proposals to revise it;

72.  Calls on the Commission to assess a review of the Residence Permit Directive with a view to ensuring that victims are not returned on the expiry of the reflection period and that residence permits for trafficked persons are not made conditional on the participation or willingness to participate of the trafficked person in the investigation or criminal proceedings of the case; calls on the Member States to ensure that the unconditional access to assistance and support mandated by the Anti-Trafficking Directive is reconciled with the Residence Permit Directive and its application;

73.  Calls on the Member States and the Commission to define, allocate and earmark adequate funds in the battle against THB, either at national or European level, through the funding possibilities provided by European funds and projects, such as the Asylum, Migration and Integrational Fund (AMIF), the ISF and the Daphne strand of the citizens, equality, rights and values programme in the new multiannual financial framework;

74.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to organise information campaigns reaching out to potential victims and informing them about assistance, protection and their rights across all EU countries;

75.  Calls on the Commission to conduct evidence-based research on the risk factors for potential victims and on how different policy areas intersect with THB in risk sectors;

76.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement a human rights-based approach to the prevention of trafficking with a focus on the rights of the victims, to work with civil society in providing the necessary services and assistance to victims, and to ensure that they have access to justice, compensation and reparation;

77.  Emphasises the importance of a coherent approach to improve the identification of potential victims in the context of migration flows and in the hotspots, of improving access to asylum procedures and of ensuring their complementarity with the procedures related to trafficking; calls on the Commission to assess the implementation of the Anti-Trafficking Directive and to come forward with proposals to revise it;

78.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take urgent measures against criminal groups active in migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, given the likelihood of smuggled persons becoming victims of trafficking, and to assess the risk faced by migrants and the most vulnerable, especially unaccompanied minors, separated children and women; underlines, in this context, the need for more legal and safe routes for migration in order to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people with irregular status;

79.  Calls on the Member States, as a response to COVID-19, to elaborate a contingency plan in order to ensure the minimum functioning of anti-trafficking systems in emergency conditions; notes that the contingency plan should ensure a minimum package of services available to the victims to meet their immediate needs during the period of reduced opportunities for referral, protection, investigation of the case and court proceedings;

80.  Calls on the Commission to ensure the continuity of the EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator’s work by appointing a full-time EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, and to include this in the new strategy on THB;

o
o   o

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

(1) OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p. 1. (2) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0066. (3) OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 57. (4) OJ L 18, 21.1.2012, p. 7. (5) OJ L 168, 30.6.2009, p. 24. (6) OJ L 348, 24.12.2008, p. 9. (7) OJ L 261, 6.8.2004, p. 19. (8) OJ L 328, 5.12.2002, p. 17. (9) OJ L 328, 5.12.2002, p. 1. (10) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0286. (11) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0080. (12) OJ C 101, 16.3.2018, p. 47. (13) OJ C 76, 28.2.2018, p. 61. (14) OJ C 285, 29.8.2017, p. 78. (15) European implementation assessment – ‘Implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU: Migration and gender issues’, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research, Ex-Post Evaluation Unit, 15 September 2020. (16) The Commission’s Third report on the progress made in the fight against trafficking in human beings (2020) as required under Article 20 of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings (COM(2020)0661). (17) COM(2020)0661. (18) Data Collection on Trafficking in Human Beings in the EU (2020). (19) COM(2020)0661, p. 1. (20) COM(2020)0661, p. 1. (21) https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/challenges-of-countering-human-trafficking-in-digital-era (22) https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/challenges-of-countering-human-trafficking-in-digital-era (23) Study on the economic, social and human costs of trafficking in human beings within the EU (2020). (24) Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the European Union http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2015/severe-labour-exploitation-workers-moving-within-or-european-union (25) Council Directive 2004/80/EC of 29 April 2004 relating to compensation to crime victims (OJ L 261, 6.8.2004, p. 15). (26) The recommendations by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) include ensuring the application of the NRM to asylum seekers and persons in immigration detention. (27) Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU, 2020. (28) Europol, Situation Report ‘Trafficking in Human Beings in the EU’, 18 February 2016. (29) COM(2018)0777, p. 6. (30) COM(2018)0777, p. 6. (31) The Commission’s Third report on the progress made in the fight against trafficking in human beings (2020) as required under Article 20 of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings (COM(2020)0661). (32) COM(2020)0661. (33) Second progress report, COM(2018)0777, p. 3. (34) European implementation assessment – ‘Implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU : Migration and gender issues’, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research, Ex-Post Evaluation Unit, 15 September 2020, p. 49. (35) 9th General Report on GRETA’s activities, p. 57. (36) The 4th annual report of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre of Europol (2020). (37) Europol's 2017 Serious and organised crime threat assessment (SOCTA). (38) Europol, European Migrant Smuggling Centre, 4th Annual Activity Report, 2020. (39) Second progress report, COM(2018)0777, p. 29.

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the implementation of Article 43 of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection (2020/2047(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0042 A9-0005/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 1948, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

–  having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),

–  having regard to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereto, and in particular the right to non-refoulement,

–  having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the “Charter”) and in particular Articles 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 18, 19, 20 and 47 thereof,

–  having regard to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration adopted by the UN General Assembly on 19 December 2018,

–  having regard to Article 78 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection(1) (Asylum Procedures Directive – APD),

–  having regard to the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR),

–  having regard to Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (RCD)(2),

–  having regard to the provisional agreement between Parliament and the Council of 14 June 2018 on the recast RCD,

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code)(3),

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (Dublin III)(4),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 16 April 2020 entitled ‘COVID-19: Guidance on the implementation of relevant EU provisions in the area of asylum and return procedures and on resettlement’ (C(2020)2516),

–  having regard to the European Implementation Assessment of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) of November 2020 on Asylum procedures at the border(5),

–  having regard to the study of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) of September 2020 entitled ‘Border Procedures for Asylum Applications in EU+ Countries’, and the EASO publication of September 2019 entitled ‘Guidance on asylum procedure: operational standards and indicators’,

–  having regard to the Fundamental Rights Report 2020 of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA),

–  having regard to FRA Opinion 3/2019 of 4 March 2019 entitled ‘Update of the 2016 Opinion of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on fundamental rights in the ‘hotspots’ set up in Greece and Italy’,

–  having regard to the FRA report of 8 December 2020 entitled ‘Migration: Fundamental Rights Challenges at Land Borders’,

–  having regard to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders,

–  having regard to the 2016 Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission,

–  having regard to its resolution of 30 May 2018 on the interpretation and implementation of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making(6),

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of 22 May 2018 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU,

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure, as well as Article 1(1)(e) of, and Annex 3 to, the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 December 2002 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A9-0005/2021),

A.  whereas this resolution aims to provide the co-legislators with evidence-based information on the current application of border procedures by assessing how Member States implement Article 43 of the APD and the related provisions; whereas this resolution does not intend to substitute either the overdue fully-fledged implementation report of the APD by the Commission, or the legislative negotiations on the new amended APR Proposal;

B.  whereas disaggregated and comparable data relating to the implementation of Article 43 of the APD is often not collected or publicly available; whereas the financial costs of border procedures are not available; whereas significant human costs for individuals can arise from the deprivation of liberty, particularly if border detention facilities are inadequate or if procedural safeguards are not applied or inadequately applied;

C.  whereas the APD neither provides a clear definition of border procedures nor specifies their objectives; whereas Article 43(1) of the APD allows Member States to choose to use border procedures; whereas 14 Member States have a border procedure and, among them, three of the Member States covered by the EPRS European Implementation Assessment have been using grounds that go beyond the APD; whereas Member States can provide for admissibility and/or substantive examination procedures at the border or in a transit zone in well-defined circumstances; whereas the majority of Member States also assess the applicability of a Dublin procedure at the border or in transit zones; whereas border procedures represent only a small percentage of the total caseload of determining authorities, with the exception of Greece where more than 50 % of the applications are processed in a fast-track procedure established following the EU-Turkey statement;

D.  whereas Article 43 of the APD does not explicitly specify at which borders Member States can use border procedures; whereas the EPRS European Implementation Assessment finds that the term ‘border’ in the above-mentioned article should be understood as meaning the EU’s external borders; whereas two Member States also apply border procedures at internal borders, and detain applicants in police facilities;

E.  whereas some Member States detain asylum applicants in border procedures without a legal basis in national law; whereas in addition to insufficient safeguards for applicants, this can also result in the denial of the right of Members of Parliament to visit;

F.  whereas detention in border procedures is subject to the same rules as the detention of applicants elsewhere on the territory of a Member State; whereas the RCD stipulates that applicants may only be detained as a last resort after all non-custodial alternative measures to detention have been duly examined, and that detention must be based on the principles of necessity and proportionality; whereas, where detention is ordered by administrative authorities, Member States must provide for a speedy judicial review of the lawfulness of detention to be conducted ex officio and/or at the request of the applicant; whereas for minors, Member States must, under the current legal framework, also make every effort to release them from detention and place them in accommodation suitable for minors;

G.  whereas despite the significant increase of alleged fundamental rights violations at the EU’s external borders, there is no obligation for Member States to establish an independent monitoring mechanism ensuring the protection of fundamental rights at external borders;

H.  whereas clear information and adequate assistance should be provided to third-country nationals or stateless persons in border procedures, including legal assistance and interpretation arrangements, in particular on the possibility to lodge an application for international protection;

I.  whereas the EPRS European Implementation Assessment found that procedural guarantees provided for in the APD, in particular the right to information, legal assistance and interpretation, are not or only restrictively applied in practice by the Member States examined in the assessment;

J.  whereas the EPRS European Implementation Assessment reveals several cases of non-compliance with the APD; whereas the Commission has launched infringement proceedings against only two Member States;

General observations

1.  Notes that the Commission has conducted stakeholder consultations as well as exchanges with Parliament and the Member States in preparation of the New Pact on Asylum and Migration; highlights however that, despite its legal reporting obligation and the requirements stemming from the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law Making, the Commission has never presented an implementation report on the APD, and that in 2016 and 2020 it presented proposals for an Asylum Procedures Regulation without providing for any impact assessment; expects the Commission to present this report, which has been overdue since 2017;

2.  Reiterates the importance of an evidence-based approach to guide coherent policy-making;

3.  Notes that monitoring and statistical data are essential for ensuring compliance with EU law; calls on Member States to collect statistics on: (i) the number of applications considered in border procedures and the category of applicants concerned; (ii) the types of grounds applied for using the border procedure and their frequency; (iii) the outcomes of border procedures, both at first instance and appeal, and (iv) the number and categories of persons not channelled into the border procedure;

Scope

4.  Highlights that border procedures currently constitute exceptions to the legally defined rule that asylum applicants have a right to enter the territory of a Member State; notes that many applications for international protection are made at the border or in a transit zone of a Member State prior to a decision on the entry of the applicant; notes that in those cases Member States may provide for border procedures only in the cases exhaustively set out in the Articles 31(8) and 33 of the APD and in accordance with the basic principles and guarantees of Chapter II of the APD; notes that the transposition and application of border procedures under the APD varies between Member States, resulting in a lack of uniformity across the EU; takes note that most Member States apply border procedures only in a small number of cases, and that several Member States generally refrain from using border procedures; highlights, however, that three out of the seven Member States examined in the EPRS European Implementation Assessment apply border procedures beyond the grounds provided for in Article 43 of the APD, and calls on them to refrain from doing so; calls, furthermore, on Member States to refrain from applying border procedures at internal borders;

5.  Notes that all persons seeking international protection have an interest in their requests being dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible, provided that all applications are subject to an individual assessment and that the procedural safeguards and rights granted to applicants under Union law apply and can be exercised effectively;

The legal fiction of non-entry and detention

6.  Recalls that border procedures entail the examination of an asylum application at the border or in a transit zone before a decision on entry to the territory of a Member State; reiterates that the refusal of entry under the Schengen Borders Code must be without prejudice to the application of special provisions concerning the right of asylum and to international protection; notes that, therefore, Member States have an obligation to assess whether an asylum applicant is in need of protection;

7.  Notes, further, that under Article 9(1) of the APD applicants must be allowed to remain in the territory of the Member States, including at the border or in the transit zones where the application for international protection has been made;

8.  Points out that the fact that an applicant has not legally entered the territory of the Member State while actually remaining on that territory is a legal fiction; highlights that this legal fiction impacts solely on the right to entry and stay, but does not mean that the applicant is not under the jurisdiction of the Member State concerned;

9.  Highlights that applicants subject to border procedures are likely to be placed in detention during the examination of their asylum application; points out, further, that all Member States examined in the European Implementation Assessment by the EPRS detain asylum applicants in the framework of border procedures;

10.  Reiterates that as stipulated in the RCD Member States must not hold a person in detention for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant, and that applicants may be detained only under very clearly defined exceptional circumstances; recalls its joint provisional agreement with the Council on the recast RCD that specifies that Member States shall not detain an applicant on the basis of her or his nationality; stresses that the RCD stipulates that detention must remain a measure of last resort, last only for as short a period as possible, and only for as long as the grounds set out in Article 8(3) of the RCD are applicable, and that persons detained must be given an opportunity to appeal against their deprivation of liberty; reiterates that the right to liberty as laid down in Article 6 of the Charter and Article 5 of the ECHR also applies at the EU’s borders; regrets that hardly any alternatives to detention have been developed and applied in border procedures, and encourages Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that alternatives to detention are available;

11.  Is concerned that some Member States detain asylum applicants in border procedures without a relevant legal basis for detention under border procedures in national law, as this can result in insufficient safeguards; stresses that if Member States choose to resort to detention, they should provide a legal basis for it in national law;

12.  Recalls that in Joined Cases C-924/19 PPU and C-925/19 PPU, the CJEU ruled that even if an applicant can leave a transit zone in the direction of a third country, this situation can qualify as detention;

13.  Is deeply concerned about reports of severe human rights violations and deplorable detention conditions in transit zones or detention centres in border areas; calls on the Member States to ensure dignified reception conditions in border facilities in line with the standards of the RCD; recalls in this regard that applicants who are in detention should be treated with full respect for their human dignity;

14.  Recalls that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration for Member States when applying the APD, in accordance with the Charter and the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; notes that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has clarified that children should never be detained for immigration reasons; reiterates its position on APR that minors should never be detained as part of border procedures, and that the border procedure may only be applied to minors where there is an alternative available to their detention; calls on Member States currently applying the border procedure to minors to put in place alternatives to detention in accordance with the best interests of the child; calls on Member States to only apply border procedures where such non-custodial alternatives are in place;

Refusal of entry and monitoring

15.  Highlights the recent findings by the FRA, in particular that the number of alleged incidents of fundamental rights violations reported at external borders have increased significantly in recent years; notes that this includes many cases of persons being refused entry without their asylum claims being registered, including in the context of border procedures; reiterates that Member States are obliged to prevent unauthorised border crossings, and recalls that this obligation is without prejudice to the rights of persons requesting international protection; concurs with the FRA that the regularity and seriousness of these alleged incidents constitute a serious fundamental rights concern; reiterates that automatic refusal of entry, refoulement and collective expulsions are prohibited under EU and international law; highlights furthermore that, under Article 8 of the APD, Member States have a duty to inform persons on the possibility to apply for asylum if there are indications of protection needs, and that persons subject to a refusal of entry must be ensured access to an effective remedy in accordance with EU law and the ECHR; deplores all cases where Member States fail to respect their obligations in this regard, and calls on them to fully comply with those obligations; calls on the Commission to effectively ensure Member States’ compliance with these obligations, including by suspending EU payments in cases of serious deficiencies;

16.  Considers it important to establish an independent monitoring mechanism, and calls on the Member States to grant monitoring bodies unimpeded access to border facilities to ensure the effective protection of fundamental rights and the systematic reporting of violations, in line with the FRA’s recommendations in its report on Fundamental Rights Issues at Land Borders; believes that independent monitoring should also verify the quality of the decision-making process and its outcome, as well as detention conditions and compliance with procedural safeguards; considers that independent and competent national human rights institutions and NGOs, EU agencies such as the FRA, as well as international organisations such as UNHCR should be part of the monitoring bodies;

Unaccompanied minors and vulnerable applicants in need of special procedural guarantees in the border procedure

17.  Notes that Article 24 of the APD specifies that Member States shall assess within a reasonable period of time after an application for international protection is made whether the applicant is an applicant in need of special procedural guarantees, and that they must not apply the border procedure if such guarantees cannot be provided within its framework;

18.  Stresses that while Member States have established mechanisms to identify applicants in need of special procedural guarantees, these are often not effective in detecting such needs and, when needs are identified, often assess only visible needs; notes that effective and swift identification of applicants in need of special procedural guarantees remains a challenge; highlights that vulnerable persons are entitled to have their needs of special procedural guarantees assessed, and, if border procedures are applied to them, to have adequate support provided under EU law; calls on Member States to ensure that all applicants in need of special procedural guarantees are effectively identified and granted full access to these special guarantees and support, as stipulated in the RCD; stresses that where adequate support cannot be provided within the framework of the border procedure, or where the determining authority considers that the applicant is in need of specific procedural guarantees paying particular attention to victims of torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical, sexual violence or gender-based violence, the determining authority must not apply, or must cease to apply, these procedures to the applicant;

19.  Recalls that Article 25(6)(b) of the APD prescribes a limited set of circumstances allowing Member States to process unaccompanied minors’ applications in a border procedure; highlights that the Member States examined have not put in place adequate age assessment methods; calls on Member States to ensure compliance with the best interests of the child, as well as to protect children, including victims of trafficking; highlights that the APD provides Member States with the option to exempt unaccompanied minors from the border procedure, and to process their applications accordingly under the regular asylum procedure; calls on Member States to exempt unaccompanied minors from border procedures;

Procedural safeguards

20.  Notes that border procedures are fast-track procedures and recalls that, under Article 43 of the APD, applicants in border procedures enjoy the same rights and guarantees as applicants in normal procedures;

21.  Highlights that significant problems regarding access to and the quality of legal assistance were reported in all the Member States examined; stresses that legal assistance is key to ensuring fair asylum procedures; recommends that free legal assistance should already be guaranteed at first instance, as soon as the asylum application is registered; calls on Member States to also provide effective access to legal assistance in practice, and to ensure the availability of sufficient and qualified legal advisers;

22.  Notes that the APD provides Member States with the option to allow NGOs access to the border procedure to provide assistance to applicants; regrets that, within the framework of border procedures, many Member States do not regulate such access for specialised non-governmental organisations at border facilities, crossing points and transit zones, which can play a key role in securing the applicant’s legal and procedural rights, and improve the quality of first instance decisions;

23.  Stresses that border procedures are characterised by a combination of short procedural time limits and detention; considers efficient procedural time limits necessary in order to minimise the temporary deprivation of freedom of movement if people are detained; recalls that Member States can introduce shorter, but reasonable, time limits, without prejudice to an adequate and complete examination being carried out and to the applicant’s effective access to basic guarantees and principles provided for in the APD; notes that the time limit for a decision in a border procedure varies among Member States from two days to 28 days, and for lodging an appeal from two days to seven days; points out that short time limits can be challenging for thorough preparation of the interview or an appeal and hence for a fair application of the procedure, certainly if the procedural safeguards enshrined in the APD are not effectively applied;

24.  Reiterates the obligations of Member States on providing applicants access to assistance, representation and procedural information, as stipulated under the APD; stresses the need for applicants to have timely access to adequate and comprehensible information about border procedures and their rights and obligations; points out that interpretation should be provided in person and at all stages of the border procedure; recalls that personal interviews are a corollary of the Member States’ obligation to give applicants an effective opportunity to present the grounds for their applications and key elements for the examination procedure, and must be conducted by adequately trained personnel; stresses that applicants should be provided with a sufficient amount of time to prepare the interview; notes with concern that the Member States examined in the EPRS European Implementation Assessment do not fulfil their obligations under the APD related to procedural safeguards in the context of border procedures, and stresses that the difficulties of applicants in accessing procedural safeguards can have serious repercussions on their rights guaranteed in the Charter; calls on Member States to implement and apply the safeguards enshrined in the APD in full;

25.  Acknowledges that the APD leaves to the Member States’ discretion whether appeals have an automatic suspensive effect; recalls, however, that the CJEU has recognised that an appeal against a return decision, whose enforcement may expose the third country national concerned to a serious risk of refoulement, must have a suspensive effect;

Border procedures and large numbers of arrivals

26.  Notes that in accordance with Article 43(3) of the APD, in the event of arrivals involving a large number of third country nationals or stateless persons lodging applications for international protection at the border or in a transit zone, those procedures may also be applied where and for as long as these third-country nationals or stateless persons are accommodated normally at locations in proximity to the border or transit zone;

27.  Recalls that the safeguards laid down in Chapter II of the APD also apply in the case of large numbers of arrivals; considers sufficient staff and resources essential in this respect; notes with concern that in these cases, the correct application of border procedures can be challenging, may create a risk of fundamental rights violations, and raise efficiency concerns;

28.  Shares the concerns expressed by the FRA, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants about respect for procedural guarantees and fundamental rights in fast-track border procedures that have been used on the Greek hotspots; regrets the serious fundamental rights gaps existing in those European hotspots identified by the FRA;

29.  Notes that EU agencies can support Member States in the event of arrivals involving a large number of asylum seekers at border entry points to ensure a fast and fair procedure for all applicants; notes in particular that EASO can give operational support at various steps of the asylum procedure, and that Frontex can help with screening, identification and fingerprinting; notes that so far EASO has provided assistance only in Greece in the framework of the so-called fast-track border procedure for islands; points out, furthermore, that improvements have been made, but that serious deficiencies still persist, such as an average length of several months for border procedures; hopes that the planned EU Asylum Agency will contribute to addressing these deficiencies;

Application of border procedures

30.  Recalls that the application of border procedures remains at the discretion of Member States; reiterates that if Member States apply border procedures, they should provide for conditions which ensure a fair and adequate procedure as well as swift clarity on its outcome to applicants for international protection; notes that particularly in more complex cases, the effectiveness of procedural guarantees, such as the right to legal assistance, can be undermined; stresses that efficient procedures and procedural safeguards need to go hand in hand; highlights that where a decision cannot be taken within four weeks at the latest, the application is to be processed in accordance with the other provisions of the APD; calls on Member States to fully comply in law and in practice with the procedural safeguards stipulated in the APD;

31.  Calls on Member States to continuously exchange best practices on the correct application of the current border procedures and also share them with the Commission;

32.  Calls on Member States to critically assess whether their current operational capacity is sufficient to ensure the fulfilment of their obligations in border procedures; calls on Member States to enhance operational cooperation and assistance where necessary;

33.  Calls on the Commission to effectively monitor the implementation of Article 43 and the related provisions of the APD and to take action in the event of non-compliance, including by launching infringement proceedings where appropriate;

o
o   o

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

(1) OJ L 180, 29.6.2013, p. 60. (2) OJ L 180, 29.6.2013, p. 96. (3) OJ L 77, 23.3.2016, p. 1. (4) OJ L 180, 29.6.2013, p. 31. (5) W. van Ballegooij, K. Eisele, ‘Asylum procedures at the border, European Implementation Assessment’, European Parliamentary Research Service, 2020. (6) OJ C 76, 9.3.2020, p. 86.

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on public access to documents (Rule 122(7)) – annual report for the years 2016-2018 (2019/2198(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0043 A9-0004/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular Articles 1, 9, 10, 11 and 16 TEU and Article 15 TFEU,

–  having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the “Charter”), in particular Articles 41 and 42 thereof,

–  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(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2014 on public access to documents (Rule 104(7)) for the years 2011-2013(2),

–  having regard to its resolution of 28 April 2016 on public access to documents (Rule 116(7)) for the years 2014-2015(3),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 September 2017 on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions(4),

–  having regard to the Annual Reports of the European Ombudsman and to her Special Report in strategic inquiry OI/2/2017 on the transparency of the Council legislative process,

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 January 2019 on the Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry OI/2/2017 on the transparency of legislative discussions in the preparatory bodies of the Council of the EU(5),

–  having regard to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR),

–  having regard to the Commission, Council and Parliament reports of 2016, 2017 and 2018 on the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,

–  having regard to 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(6),

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 November 2017 on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2016(7),

–  having regard to President Ursula von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines for the Commission 2019-2024,

–  having regard to Rule 54 and Rule 122(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (A9-0004/2021),

A.  whereas, under the Treaties, the Union ‘shall observe the principle of the equality of its citizens, who shall receive equal attention from its institutions’ (Article 9 TEU); whereas ‘every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union’, and whereas ‘decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen’ (Article 10(3) TEU, read in the light of the thirteenth recital of its preamble and its Articles 1(2) and 9);

B.  whereas Article 15 TFEU states that ‘in order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union’s institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible’ and that ‘any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of access to documents of the Union’s institutions, bodies, offices and agencies’;

C.  whereas the right of access to documents, and its status as a fundamental right, is further emphasised by Article 42 of the Charter, which now enjoys ‘the same legal value as the Treaties’ (Article 6(1) TEU); whereas the right to access to documents enables citizens to effectively exercise their right to scrutinise the work and activities of the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, in particular the legislative process;

D.  whereas the functioning of the EU institutions should be in compliance with the principle of the rule of law; whereas the EU institutions must strive for the highest possible standards of transparency, accountability and integrity; whereas these guiding principles are key components in promoting good governance within the EU institutions and in ensuring greater openness in the functioning of the EU and its decision-making process; whereas citizens’ trust in the EU institutions is fundamental for democracy, good governance and effective policy-making; whereas transparency and access to documents should also be guaranteed in relation to the way in which EU policies are implemented at all levels and EU funds are used; whereas openness and the participation of civil society are indispensable for promoting good governance in the EU institutions; whereas, in accordance with the basic principles of democracy, citizens have a right to know and to follow the decision-making process; whereas the European Parliament works with a high degree of transparency in its legislative procedure, including at the committee stage, which makes it possible for citizens, the media and stakeholders to see how and why decisions are made and to clearly identify different positions within Parliament and the origin of specific proposals, as well as to follow the adoption of final decisions;

E.  whereas according to Article 16(8) TEU the Council must meet in public when it deliberates and votes on a draft legislative act; whereas according to the Ombudsman the current practice of marking most preparatory documents in ongoing legislative procedures as ‘LIMITE’ constitutes a disproportionate restriction on citizens’ right to the widest possible access to legislative documents(8); whereas the absence of a commitment to ensuring transparency by the Council reflects a lack of accountability in its role as EU co-legislator;

F.  whereas the leading concerns in the inquiries closed by the Ombudsman in 2018 were transparency, accountability and public access to information and documents (24,6 %), followed by a culture of service (19,8 %) and the proper use of discretion (16,1 %); whereas other concerns included respect for procedural rights such as the right to be heard, respect for fundamental rights, ethical issues, public participation in EU decision-making, including in infringement procedures, the sound financial management of EU tenders, grants and contracts, and recruitment and the good management of EU personnel issues;

G.  whereas in 2018 the Ombudsman launched a new website which includes a revised and user-friendly interface for potential complainants; whereas the Ombudsman’s ‘fast-track’ procedure for dealing with complaints about public access to documents reflects the Ombudsman’s commitment to provide assistance and to take decisions quickly for those seeking assistance;

H.  whereas the Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry OI/2/2017/TE found that the Council’s lack of transparency regarding public access to its legislative documents and its current practices in its decision-making process, specifically during the preparatory stage in the Council preparatory bodies, including its committees, working parties and the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), constitute maladministration; whereas on 16 May 2018, following the Council’s reluctance to implement her recommendations, the Ombudsman submitted Special Report OI/2/2017/TE on the transparency of the Council legislative process to Parliament; whereas in its resolution of 17 January 2019 on the Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry, Parliament endorsed the Ombudsman’s recommendations;

I.  whereas in case 1302/2017/MH on the Commission’s handling of a request for public access to the opinions of its Legal Service concerning the Transparency Register, the Ombudsman found that the Commission’s continuous refusal to grant wider access to the documents constituted maladministration due to the fact that the Commission had failed to be as open and forthcoming as possible about the very measure aimed at promoting transparency as a means to achieve greater EU legitimacy and accountability;

Transparency from a broader perspective

1.  Is resolutely determined in its endeavour to bring citizens closer to its decision-making process; emphasises that transparency and accountability are fundamental to retain citizens’ trust in the EU’s political, legislative and administrative activities; stresses that Article 10(3) TEU recognises participatory democracy as one of the main democratic principles of the EU, thereby highlighting that decisions must be taken as close to the citizens as possible; recalls that fully democratic and highly transparent decision-making at European level is indispensable to increase citizens’ trust in the EU institutions; emphasises the necessity for all the institutions of the EU to move forward with a similar level of transparency;

2.  Notes with satisfaction the designation of a Commissioner responsible for transparency with a mission to introduce greater transparency into the legislative process in the European institutions;

3.  Recalls that Parliament represents the interests of European citizens in an open and transparent manner with the aim of keeping them fully informed, as confirmed by the Ombudsman, and takes note of the progress made by the Commission in improving its transparency standards; is deeply concerned by the fact that despite the calls and recommendations of the Parliament and the Ombudsman, the Council has not yet implemented comparable standards and the decision-making process in the Council is far from transparent; calls on the Council to implement the relevant CJEU rulings in practice and not to circumvent them; appreciates the good practices of certain Council presidencies and also of certain Member States in publishing Council documents, including Council presidency proposals;

4.  Welcomes the decision of the Council of the EU, further to the opening by the Ombudsman of case 1011/2015/TN, to apply Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 to documents held by its General Secretariat in relation to tasks of support to various intergovernmental bodies and entities, such as the opinions of the panel in question regarding the candidates’ suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General at the Court of Justice and the General Court of the EU; salutes the Ombudsman’s opinion that greater openness is to be favoured regarding the issue of how to strike the correct balance between the need to protect the personal data of persons being assessed for high public office with the need to ensure maximum transparency in relation to the process of making appointments to high public office;

5.  Regrets the recurrent practice of the Commission in providing an often only very limited amount of information on the implementation of EU legislation to Parliament; calls for the institutions to respect the principle of sincere cooperation and proactively publish this information; expresses regret at the Commission’s refusal to publish statistics indicating the effectiveness of EU policies, which hinders any public scrutiny of policies with a significant impact on fundamental rights; calls on the Commission to be more proactive in publishing such statistics in order to prove that policies are necessary and proportionate to achieving their objective; calls on the Commission to be transparent as regards contracts with third parties; calls on the Commission to be more proactive in publishing as much information as possible about the tender processes compared to its current practices;

6.  Stresses the importance of the measures taken to enhance the transparency of decisions taken in infringement procedures; calls, in particular, for documents sent by the Commission to Member States in connection with such procedures, and the related replies, to be made accessible to the public;

7.  Stresses that international agreements are legally binding and have an impact on EU legislation, and underlines the need for negotiations to be transparent throughout the entire process; recalls that according to Article 218 TFEU, Parliament must be fully and immediately informed at every stage while negotiations are taking place; calls on the Commission to step up its efforts and to ensure full compliance with Article 218 TFEU;

8.  Deeply regrets the fact that the Commission and Council insist on in camera meetings without proper justification; considers that requests for in camera meetings should be properly evaluated; calls for clear criteria and rules governing requests for in camera sessions in the EU institutions;

9.  Points out that transparent law-making is of the utmost importance to citizens and is an important way to ensure their active participation in the law-making process; welcomes the 2016 Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making (IIA), and the commitment therein by the three institutions to ensure the transparency of legislative procedures on the basis of relevant legislation and case law, including an appropriate handling of trilateral negotiations;

10.  Urges the institutions to continue discussions on moving towards the establishment of a dedicated and user-friendly joint database on the state of play of legislative files (Joint Legislative Database) as agreed in the IIA on Better Law-Making to ensure greater transparency;

11.  Welcomes the initiatives already launched which address public demands for more transparency, such as the Interinstitutional Register of Delegated Acts launched in December 2017 as a joint tool of Parliament, the Commission and the Council giving access to the whole lifecycle of delegated acts;

12.  Points out that the transparency of the comitology procedures and the accessibility of the comitology register should be further increased and that changes to its content should be made in order to ensure greater transparency concerning the decision-making process; underlines that improving the search functions of the register to allow searches by policy area should be an essential constituent of this process;

13.  Welcomes the new Code of Conduct for the Commission’s members, which entered into force in February 2018, and which increases transparency primarily in relation to the meetings held between the Commissioners and interest representatives, as well as to the costs of the business travel of individual Commissioners; regrets the fact that the Council has still not adopted a code of conduct for its members and urges the Council to adopt such a code without further delay; insists that the Council must be as accountable and transparent as the other institutions;

14.  Recalls its revised Rules of Procedure according to which Members are invited to adopt the systematic practice of only meeting interest representatives that have registered in the Transparency Register; also recalls that Members are invited to publish online all scheduled meetings with interest representatives falling under the scope of the Transparency Register, while rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs are obliged, for each report, to publish online all scheduled meetings with interest representatives falling under the scope of the Transparency Register; points out in this context, however, that elected representatives are free to meet with anyone they consider relevant and important for their political work, without restrictions;

15.  Considers that the current way of finding information about the voting patterns of Members of the European Parliament, via PDF files covering hundreds of votes on Parliament’s website, is not user-friendly and does not contribute to the EU’s transparency; calls for a user-friendly system whereby for each roll-call vote the text voted on and the voting results can be filtered by group and by MEP, and therefore visible at the same time;

16.  Welcomes the fact that the negotiations on the Commission proposal for an IIA on a mandatory Transparency Register (COM(2016)0627) have finally been concluded, and urges the three institutions to swiftly implement it; underlines that in order to maintain a high level of trust in the European institutions among citizens, more transparency is needed regarding the meetings organised within the institutions;

17.  Also encourages members of national governments and parliaments to aim for greater transparency regarding their meetings with interest representatives as, when taking decisions on EU matters, they are part of the EU legislature in the wider sense;

Access to documents

18.  Recalls that the right of public access to documents of the institutions is a fundamental right enshrined in the Treaties and the Charter and is inextricably linked with the democratic nature of the institutions; stresses that the widest exercise of this right at the earliest stage is essential, as it ensures the democratic scrutiny of the work and activities of the EU institutions; recalls that citizens’ trust in political institutions is a key founding element of representative democracies;

19.  Recalls its calls made in its previous resolutions on public access to documents; regrets the fact that there has been no proper follow-up from the Commission and the Council to several proposals made by Parliament;

20.  Points out that transparency and full access to the documents held by the institutions have to be the rule, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, and that, as has already been stipulated by the precedents consistently set by the CJEU, exceptions to that rule have to be strictly interpreted, taking into account the overriding public interest in disclosure;

21.  Reiterates the importance of not over-classifying documents, which could be to the detriment of public scrutiny; regrets the fact that official documents are frequently over-classified; reiterates its position that clear and uniform rules should be established for the classification and declassification of documents;

22.  Takes note of the fact that the Commission faces the highest number of initial applications (6 912 in 2018) involving specified documents, followed by the Council (2 474 in 2018) and Parliament (498 in 2018); acknowledges the overall positive response rate (in 2018 the figures were 80 % for the Commission, 72,2 % for the Council and 96 % for Parliament);

23.  Notes with interest that the main grounds for refusal are based on the need to protect the decision-making process of the institutions, the privacy and the integrity of individuals, and the commercial interests of a specific natural or legal person; further notes that for Parliament, the protection of legal advice has also been a relevant ground in cases where mainly Bureau documents were requested, while for the Commission, carrying out inspections, investigations and audits, and public security were also relevant grounds in refusing access to documents;

24.  Welcomes the decision of the European Court of Justice, in case C-213/15 P (Commission v Patrick Breyer), where the Court upheld the judgment of the General Court, finding that the Commission cannot refuse access to any written submission of a Member State held by it, on the sole ground that it is a document relating to court proceedings; notes that the Court considers that any decision on such an application for access must be taken on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and that documents linked to the Court of Justice's judicial activity are not, as a matter of principle, outside the scope of the Regulation, where they are in the possession of the EU institutions listed in the Regulation, such as the Commission in this specific case;

25.  Supports the call made by civil society(9) for public hearings of the European Court of Justice to be live streamed, as is already the case for some national and international courts, such as the Conseil Constitutionnel in France and the European Court of Human Rights;

26.  Recalls its calls on the Commission and Council in its resolution of 28 April 2016 on public access to documents for the years 2014-2015;

27.  Recalls that the revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 has been blocked since 2012, and notes with regret the Commission’s intention to withdraw this proposal; urges all involved parties to re-enter the process and continue working on the revision in order to adapt the provisions of the Regulation to the Treaty of Lisbon and to ensure that the scope extends to all EU institutions, bodies and agencies, with the ultimate aim of giving EU citizens wider and improved access to EU documents;

28.  Points out that, as a result of the entry into force of the TEU and the TFEU, the right of access to documents pertains to all EU institutions, bodies, and agencies, as stated in Article 15(3) TFEU; believes that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 should be amended and modernised in order to bring it into line with the Treaties, to react to the developments that have taken place in this field and in the light of the relevant case law of the CJEU and ECtHR; urges, therefore, all three institutions to work constructively in order to achieve the adoption of a revised Regulation;

29.  Stresses that ensuring that citizens are able to understand, follow in detail and participate in the progress of legislation is a legal requirement under the Treaties and a basic requirement for democratic scrutiny and democracy as a whole; considers that where documents are created in the framework of trilogues, such as agendas, summaries of outcomes, minutes and general approaches in the Council, where they are available and in the format in which they are available, such documents are related to legislative procedures and cannot, in principle, be treated differently from other legislative documents;

30.  Emphasises the importance of transparency and public access to documents; stresses that a high level of transparency in the legislative process is essential in terms of enabling citizens, the media, civil society and other stakeholders to hold their elected officials and governments to account; acknowledges the valuable role played by the Ombudsman in liaising and acting as a mediator between the EU institutions and citizens, and highlights the Ombudsman’s work in making the EU legislative process more accountable to the public;

31.  Recalls that, according to the Ombudsman, restrictions on access to documents, particularly legislative documents, should be exceptional and limited to what is absolutely necessary; welcomes the Ombudsman’s fast-track procedure for access to documents, but regrets the fact that her recommendations are not legally binding;

32.  Points out that any decision denying public access to documents must be based on clearly and strictly defined legal exemptions, accompanied by a reasoned and specific justification, allowing citizens to understand the denial of access and to make effective use of the legal remedies available; notes with concern that currently the only legal avenue open to citizens for challenging a refusal of an access to documents request is to bring a legal action in the CJEU, which entails lengthy processes, the risk of high costs and an uncertain outcome, and puts an unreasonable burden on citizens challenging decisions, deterring them from doing so;

33.  Invites, in this context, the EU institutions, bodies and agencies to adopt faster, less cumbersome and more accessible procedures for handling complaints against refusals to grant access; considers that a more proactive approach would help ensure effective transparency, as well as prevent unnecessary legal disputes that could result in needless costs and burdens for both the citizens and the institutions; considers that citizens should not be prevented from challenging decisions due to lack of means; recalls the possibility of applying for legal aid as enshrined in the Charter; invites the EU institutions to refrain from calling on the opposing party to bear the costs of court cases;

34.  Recalls, in this context, the Ombudsman’s decisions dated 19 December 2017, in case 682/2014/JF where the Commission’s requirement that all persons who ask for public access to documents must provide their postal address for its paper post sending arrangements is maladministration, highlighting that insisting on renewed requests and procedural formalities, when they are unnecessary and serve no obvious useful purpose, shows a lack of respect for citizens’ fundamental rights;

35.  Strongly regrets the fact that the Council does not proactively publish most documents related to legislative files, preventing citizens from knowing what documents actually exist and thereby impeding their right to request access to documents; regrets the fact that the available information on legislative documents is presented by the Council in a register which is incomplete and not user-friendly; calls on the Council to list the documents related to legislative files in a user-friendly public register, thereby fully reflecting the public interest in transparency and allowing for legitimate scrutiny not only by citizens, but also by national parliaments;

36.  Urges the Council to align its working methods with the standards of a parliamentary and participatory democracy as required under the Treaties, and reiterates that the Council must be as accountable and transparent as the other institutions;

37.  Fully endorses the European Ombudsman’s recommendations to the Council following the strategic inquiry, namely: (a) to systematically record the positions expressed by Member States in discussions with preparatory bodies, (b) to develop clear and publicly available criteria on how it designates documents as ‘LIMITE’, and (c) to systematically review the ‘LIMITE’ status of documents before the final adoption of a particular piece of legislation and that this review should be undertaken before informal negotiations in trilogues, at which point the Council will have already reached an initial position; urges the Council to take all measures necessary to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations as quickly as possible in order to guarantee the transparency of legislative discussions in its preparatory bodies;

38.  Considers the Council’s current widespread and arbitrary practice of marking most preparatory documents in ongoing legislative procedures as ‘LIMITE’ as a restriction on citizens’ right to the widest possible public access to legislative documents;

39.  Takes note of the fact that Parliament has seen a significant increase in applications requesting public access to the multi-column documents discussed in trilogue meetings following the judgment of the General Court in the De Capitani case(10), and notes with satisfaction that since the judgment, Parliament has disclosed all the multi-column documents to which access was requested under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001; welcomes this fact since the openness of the legislative process contributes to conferring greater legitimacy on the institutions in the eyes of EU citizens; underscores that the general requirement to give access to documents is the most appropriate tool for all the EU institutions to be able to respond to the huge increase in requests for documents;

40.  Underlines that the Court ruling in the De Capitani case in March 2018 states that the institutions’ views reflected in the ‘four-column’ documents did not fall under a general presumption of non-disclosure; notes that the sensitive nature of the subject matter reflected in the trilogue documents was not in itself considered to constitute sufficient grounds for refusing access to the public;

41.  Recalls that the conclusions of the General Court apply to all EU institutions and that the Court makes it clear that where a document originating in an EU institution is covered by an exception to the right to public access, the institution must clearly assess and explain why access to this document could specifically and effectively undermine the interest protected by the exception, notably why full access to the documents at issue would undermine, specifically and actually, the decision-making process, thus requiring that this risk must be reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical; stresses that any refusal of access to documents must be fully justified in every specific case;

42.  Welcomes the fact that the ClientEarth v Commission case significantly clarifies the scope of the concept of ‘legislative documents’ and that the CJEU found that documents drawn up in the context of an impact assessment qualify as legislative documents and therefore cannot be protected under a general presumption against public disclosure;

43.  Regrets the fact that the advice of the respective Legal Services of the Council, the Commission and Parliament are limited in access, and that often the advice of Parliament’s Legal Service is not even available to the members of other committees; calls for the institutions to ensure transparency;

44.  Takes note of the investigations opened by the European Ombudsman in 2020 into the practices of the agency Frontex when it comes to its obligations under EU rules with respect to public access to documents; urges the agency to follow up on the findings of the European Ombudsman and implement her recommendations on updating the register of documents and publishing the number of sensitive documents it holds that are not included in its register of documents(11);

45.  Stresses the important role of whistle-blowers in unveiling cases of maladministration, and supports measures to improve the protection of whistle-blowers against retaliation; calls on the institutions to evaluate and, where necessary, review their internal arrangements for reporting wrongdoing;

46.  Urges the Commission to ensure public access to all advance purchase agreements, in their full form, between the EU and private companies in the field of health, in particular when ordering vaccines;

Conclusions

47.  Stresses that the need for transparency should be in careful balance with the need to protect personal data and to allow decisions to be made with a degree of confidentiality where necessary;

48.  Strongly emphasises that any exceptions to public access to EU documents or information need to be analysed on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration that access to such documents is the rule, while exceptions from the rule are matters of strict interpretation;

49.  Calls for all the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to develop a common approach to access to documentation, including the procedure for trilogue materials, and to constantly explore and develop new methods and measures to achieve maximum transparency;

50.  Calls for the institutions to ensure the transparency of legislative procedures on the basis of the relevant legislation and case law and the recommendations of the Ombudsman;

51.  Calls for all the institutions to improve communication throughout the whole legislative cycle and to proactively disseminate more of their documents related to the legislative procedure in the most simple, user-friendly and accessible way, via their public websites and all other means of communication; underlines that more transparency is needed in relation to decision-making within infringement procedures; calls for the institutions to step up their efforts in establishing a dedicated and user-friendly joint database on the state of play of legislative files on which work is ongoing, as agreed in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, allowing for transparency in the various steps of the legislative process and providing citizens with a clearer understanding of EU legislative procedures;

52.  Recalls that, in accordance with Article 3 TEU and the Charter, the Union’s rich linguistic diversity must be respected; calls for the institutions of the European Union to make every effort to provide access to documents in all the official languages of the European Union;

53.  Emphasises that open democratic societies depend on the ability of citizens to access a variety of verifiable information sources so that they can form a view on different issues; points out that access to information enhances accountability in decision-making and is essential for the functioning of democratic societies;

o
o   o

54.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, to the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Ombudsman, other bodies, offices, Agencies of the Union and the Council of Europe.

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43. (2) OJ C 378, 9.11.2017, p. 27. (3) OJ C 66, 21.2.2018, p. 23. (4) OJ C 337, 20.9.2018, p. 120. (5) OJ C 411, 27.11.2020, p. 149. (6) OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13. (7) OJ C 356, 4.10.2018, p. 77. (8) https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/recommendation/en/89518 (9) https://thegoodlobby.eu/campaigns/openletter-to-the-president-of-the-court-ofjustice-of-the-european-union-asking-foreu-courts-to-live-stream-their-publichearings (10) Judgment of the General Court of 22 March 2018, Emilio De Capitani v European Parliament, T-540/15, ECLI:EU:T:2018:167. (11) https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/solution/en/137293

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty (2019/2188(INI))

P9_TA(2021)0044 A9-0006/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU),

–  having regard to the objective of cohesion established under Article 3 of the TEU, in particular upward social convergence,

–  having regard to the horizontal social clause contained in Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–  having regard to social policy pursuant to Article 151 et seq. of the TFEU,

–  having regard to the revised European Social Charter,

–  having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as referred to in Article 6 TEU,

–  having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights and, in particular, principles 5 and 6,

–  having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

–  having regard to the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and recommendations,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), and to its entry into force in the European Union on 21 January 2011 in accordance with Council Decision 2010/48/EC of 26 November 2009 on the conclusion, by the European Community, of the UN CRPD(1),

–  having regard to Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation(2),

–  having regard to Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin(3),

–  having regard to Ursula von der Leyen’s political guidelines,

–  having regard to the Commission’s adjusted work programme for 2020,

–  having regard to the poverty and social exclusion target set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy,

–  having regard to the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies,

–  having regard to its resolution of 9 October 2008 on promoting social inclusion and combating poverty, including child poverty, in the EU(4),

–  having regard to its resolution of 20 October 2010 on the role of minimum income in combating poverty and promoting an inclusive society in Europe(5),

–  having regard to its resolution of 19 June 2020 on European protection of cross-border and seasonal workers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis(6),

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 November 2015 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on child poverty(7),

–  having regard to its resolution of 14 January 2014 on effective labour inspections as a strategy to improve working conditions in Europe(8),

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 May 2016 entitled ‘Poverty: a gender perspective’(9),

–  having regard to its resolution of 29 November 2018 on the situation of women with disabilities(10),

–  having regard to the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute on Gender Equality,

–  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 its resolution of 24 October 2017 on minimum income policies as a tool for fighting poverty(11),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 April 2020 on EU coordinated action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences(12),

–  having regard to its resolution of 4 July 2017 on working conditions and precarious employment(13),

–  having regard to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Global Rights Index(14),

–  having regard to the reports of the European Anti-Poverty Network, and the relevant reports of the European Disability Forum and the European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network,

–  having regard to the objectives set out in the European Green Deal for achieving a just and fair transition by providing access to reskilling programmes and employment opportunities in new economic sectors,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 14 January 2020 entitled ‘A Strong Social Europe For Just Transitions’ (COM(2020)0014),

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

–  having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on Petitions,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0006/2021),

Rising inequality and poverty

A.  whereas one of the EU’s strengths is its social model; whereas technological developments and the global trend of rising inequalities require that social model to be reassessed and adapted to our modern, fast-paced, complex and unpredictable global environment;

B.  whereas according to Eurostat’s definition, individuals are at risk of in-work poverty when they work for over half the year and when their yearly equivalised disposable income is below 60 % of the national household median income level (after social transfers); whereas the latest Eurostat figures show that 9,4 % of European workers were at risk of poverty in 2018(15);

C.  whereas inequality exists both within and between Member States and varies significantly; whereas the gap in net wealth between the wealthiest percentiles and everyone else is widening; whereas, while net wealth per household in the Eurogroup countries fell for the bottom 20 % in 2017, it increased relatively sharply for the top 20 %(16), and the bottom 20 % of households had net debt averaging EUR 4 500, while the top 10 % had net assets of EUR 1 189 700(17);

D.  whereas the factors contributing to poverty and the increase in net wealth inequality are complex and interlinked, and primarily include wage inequality, gender inequality, the lack of affordable housing, discrimination, low education levels, technological changes in the world of work and structural changes in the labour market; whereas increasing productivity without corresponding wage increases also exacerbates economic disparities within and between Member States;

E.  whereas the risk of the acceleration of the phenomenon of income exclusion among workers has a particular impact not only on low-skilled workers, but also on graduates (including university graduates) entering the labour market; whereas the income gap between the highest and lowest earners is set to widen;

F.  whereas one in six workers in the EU earns a low wage, namely a wage lower than two thirds of the national median wage, and this share is constantly rising; whereas low wages have not kept up with other wages in many Member States, thus worsening income inequalities and in-work poverty and reducing the capacity of low-wage earners to cope with economic difficulties;

G.  whereas the downturn in the labour market during the previous crisis created a dramatic increase in the number of involuntary part-time workers, who are most likely to work in basic or lower-level service occupations and sectors at very high risk of in-work poverty;

H.  whereas equality between women and men and non-discrimination are founding values of the European Union, as enshrined in the TEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

I.  whereas women in the EU-27 earn 15 % less than men on average(18), 9,38 % when adjusted for different causes(19); whereas decades of the gender pay gap have resulted in a 37 % gender gap in pension income, a situation that creates an unequal level of economic independence between elderly women and men;

J.  whereas the uneven distribution of care responsibilities in the EU, with women bearing a disproportionate burden as primary care-givers in families, along with limited access to childcare and elderly care facilities in some Member States, results in periods of absence from the labour market and thus gender pay and pension gaps; whereas this uneven distribution of care responsibilities, as well as unequal pay for work typically carried out by women and the impact of career breaks on promotion and pension advancement are all factors in female poverty;

K.  whereas in 2017, the risk of poverty and social exclusion was 23,3 % for women, higher than for men (21,6 %)(20);

L.  whereas the gender pay gap is generally lower for new labour market entrants(21); whereas equal opportunities should continue to be promoted in order to further reduce inequalities between women and men;

M.  whereas women’s employment is considerably higher in the service sector than in industry, with women mostly being employed in the health and social sectors and in retail, manufacturing, education and business activities, with an increasing concentration of women working part-time and in casual jobs;

N.   whereas gender mainstreaming is an important tool for the integration of gender equality in all EU policies, measures and actions, including labour market and social policies to promote equal opportunities and combat all forms of discrimination against women;

O.   whereas the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) includes recommendations on gender equality, equal opportunities and active support to employment;

P.  whereas principle 6 of the EPSR establishes that in-work poverty must be prevented and that adequate minimum wages must be ensured, in a way that provides for the satisfaction of the needs of workers and their families in the light of national economic and social conditions, while safeguarding access to employment and incentives to seek work; whereas under the EPSR, where a principle refers to workers, it concerns all persons in employment, regardless of their employment status, modality or duration;

Q.  whereas young people struggle to find quality and stable jobs with permanent contracts and often experience periods of long-term unemployment; whereas many Member States allow employers to pay younger employees a lower salary, which discriminates against younger workers; whereas young people often take on unpaid internships with no job prospects;

R.  whereas precarious employment affects some groups significantly more than others, with some populations, such as Romani people, having been overrepresented in atypical, unstable and low-paid work; whereas 80% of Romani people and their children live on an income below the respective national at-risk-of-poverty threshold(22), regardless of whether they are in employment or not; whereas Romani people have been hit hard by the pandemic and the containment measures(23);

S.  whereas 95 million people (21,7 %) in the EU are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which means that the economic survival, social participation and quality of life(24) of one in five people in the world’s third largest economic area are at risk; whereas 85,3 million people (16,9 %) in the EU are affected by poverty or social exclusion after social transfers;

T.  whereas EU poverty statistics show major differences between Member States’ success in meeting the target to reduce poverty and social exclusion;

U.  whereas 8,2 million people have been lifted out of the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion categories compared to the 2008 baseline, thanks in large part to improved labour market conditions, and reductions in severe material deprivation(25) and in the proportion of people living in households with very low work intensity(26) in some Member States;

V.  whereas despite a substantial improvement of the situation in some Member States, the EU missed its target set by the Europe 2020 Strategy to reduce the absolute number of people at risk of poverty by 20 million by 2020 compared to 2008;

W.  whereas some categories of workers such as seasonal or some cross-border workers are at particularly high risk of in-work poverty and social exclusion and are often employed on short-term work contracts with little or no job security, labour rights or social protection;

X.  whereas there are various economic and social consequences of precarious living and working conditions and in-work poverty, including lower levels of subjective mental well-being, problems with accommodation and one’s living environment, poor relationships and feelings of social exclusion(27);

Y.  whereas workers affected by in-work poverty often work in jobs with unacceptable working conditions, such as working without collective agreement, violations of working hours(28) and occupational health and safety risks;

Z.  whereas in times of economic recession, such workers are in an even weaker position on the labour market;

AA.  whereas overall, part-timers, and in particular involuntary part-timers, have a higher poverty risk when combining different risk factors, including a low wage, unstable jobs, being single earners and having dependent household members(29);

AB.  whereas 5,8% of the population of the EU-27 were living in severe material deprivation in 2019 and whereas extreme poverty exists in numerous regions and communities; whereas this share is likely to increase significantly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes this problem even more pressing;

AC.  whereas energy poverty is a particularly widespread problem across Europe, with between 50 and 125 million people unable to afford proper indoor thermal comfort(30); whereas 11 % of households in the EU have no internet access(31);

AD.  whereas household(32) poverty is decreasing(33) slowly: every fourth child under the age of 18 is at risk of poverty or social exclusion and thus trapped in a cycle whereby disadvantage recurs from generation to generation(34); whereas single parents (34,2 %) and large families are particularly affected(35); whereas families with a child or other relatives with disabilities are at a higher risk of poverty;

AE.  whereas rents are constantly rising in most Member States; whereas the housing cost overburden rate(36) in the EU is 9,6 %, which means that people living in these households spend 40 % or more of their equivalised disposable income on housing(37); whereas in some Member States the housing cost overburden rate is as much as 50-90 %(38); whereas low-income tenant households in the EU face median housing costs of between 20 and 45 % of their disposable incomes;

AF.  whereas one of the main contributors to the net wealth disparity is changes in house prices; whereas the scarcity of affordable housing is becoming the biggest driver of inequalities in many Member States;

AG.  whereas homelessness is increasing throughout Europe, with around 700 000 people estimated to have been homeless in 2019(39): 70 % more than a decade ago(40);

AH.  whereas, in 2017, the percentage of young people aged 18-24 who, although in employment, were at risk of poverty in the European Union was estimated at 11 % and as much as 28,2 % in Romania(41);

AI.  whereas old-age poverty continues to increase: the at-risk-of-poverty rate for people over 65 was on average 16,1 % (EU-27); whereas this figure will continue to grow mainly due to precarious and atypical employment, which is particularly prevalent among the elderly(42);

AJ.  whereas in-work poverty strips work of its basic purpose of providing a decent life for employees and their families by preventing them from becoming economically independent;

AK.  whereas Article 4 of the European Social Charter of the Council of Europe stipulates that all workers have the right to fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families;

Declining collective bargaining coverage

AL.  whereas collective bargaining coverage in OECD countries has declined over the last three decades from 46 % to 32 % on average; whereas in at least 14 EU Member States 50% of employees work without a collective agreement; whereas only seven Member States have a collective bargaining coverage rate above 80 %(43); whereas the decline was swiftest in countries that underwent structural reforms which targeted collective bargaining(44);

AM.  whereas well-coordinated collective bargaining systems that have extensive coverage foster good labour market performance and whereas workers who are covered by collective agreements usually enjoy better working conditions and a better-quality working environment than those who are not;

AN.  whereas the number of countries worldwide in which workers are excluded from the right to establish or join a trade union increased from 92 in 2018 to 107 in 2019; whereas the highest increase was in Europe; whereas 40 % of European countries do not allow workers to join trade unions, 68 % violated the right to strike and 50 % violated the right to collective bargaining(45);

AO.  whereas for workers in rural areas it is more difficult to gain trade union representation and negotiate local and sectoral collective agreements, which also depends on the sector;

AP.  whereas pay growth for the euro area between 2000 and 2016 was below productivity growth(46); whereas wage increases have not kept pace with the increase in value added, which has entrenched existing inequality;

AQ.  whereas collective bargaining and sectoral collective agreements not only regulate wage levels but also working conditions, such as working time, paid leave, vacations and upskilling opportunities;

AR.  whereas strong social partners and collective bargaining can have a positive impact on the overall wage levels in Europe, including both the minimum and median wage; whereas collective bargaining ensures that workers are heard and respected; whereas there is evidence of a positive correlation between workers’ participation at the workplace and company performance and revenue(47);

Increase in atypical and precarious employment

AS.  whereas the employment rate for persons with disabilities (50,6 %) was significantly lower than the total employment rate (74,8 %) in 2017(48);

AT.  whereas as a result, persons with disabilities are at greater risk of in-work poverty (11 % vs. the EU average of 9,1 %)(49);

AU.  whereas only 20,7 % of women with disabilities and 28,6 % of men with disabilities are in full-time employment(50);

AV.  whereas in some Member States, persons with disabilities often lose their disability entitlements upon taking up employment, which increases their risk of in-work poverty;

AW.  whereas in some Member States, persons with disabilities employed in sheltered workshops do not necessarily have employee status, labour rights or a guaranteed minimum wage(51);

AX.  whereas getting persons with disabilities into the labour market has proven to be even more difficult in the wake of the financial crisis(52);

AY.  whereas the proportion of workers living in a household at risk of poverty rose from 8 % to 9,4 % within ten years – this corresponds to 20,5 million people(53);

AZ.  whereas a correlation has been found between the rise in non-standard forms of employment and the increased proportion of Europeans at risk of in-work poverty(54); whereas 16,2 % of those working part-time or on temporary contracts are more exposed to the risk of in-work poverty, compared to 6,1 % of those on a permanent contract;

BA.  whereas the level of education has a significant bearing on the risk of in-work poverty; whereas the risk of in-work-poverty is considerably higher for low-skilled workers; whereas in some Member States there is even a risk of in-work poverty for high-skilled workers(55);

BB.  whereas there are different wage-setting practices across the EU;

BC.  whereas minimum wage systems – where they exist – vary widely in scope and coverage across the Member States(56); whereas minimum wage systems also vary in terms of their absolute and relative level and whereas there are considerable gaps in terms of coverage and adequacy to ensure a decent living; whereas even if these differences are narrower once price differences have been factored in, purchasing power disparities remain wide(57); whereas the percentage of people who receive a minimum wage also varies considerably between the Member States;

BD.  whereas the minimum wage is consistently above the defined poverty risk threshold (60 % gross median) in three Member States only and does not provide protection against poverty in other Member States; whereas some sectors, groups of workers and forms of work are sometimes not included or covered by minimum wage arrangements or collective agreements;

BE.  whereas workers earning a minimum wage often have difficulties making ends meet; whereas more specifically, 7 out of 10 workers earning a minimum wage have at least ‘some’ difficulties in making ends meet, compared to 5 out of 10 other workers with substantial differences between the Member States(58);

BF.  whereas the contraction of employment during the financial crisis in 2008 created a dramatic increase in the number of people in atypical employment, short-term work and part-time employment, including involuntary part-time employment(59); whereas involuntary part-time workers are most likely to work in basic or lower-level service occupations and sectors and have among the highest in-work poverty risk levels; whereas over a third of part-time workers involuntarily work part-time and one in two work in short-term employment(60);

BG.  whereas standard full-time open-ended contracts account for 59 % of total employment in the EU, with atypical, and often but not always precarious employment, continually on the rise(61);

BH.  whereas short-term employment is not conducive to the development, training and adaptation of the skills of employees in line with the changing world of work;

BI.  whereas there are great fluctuations in the numbers of workers performing precarious work in the EU in wholesale and retail trade, transport, the hotel industry, catering(62) and the culture and events management sectors;

BJ.  whereas in-work poverty can also affect young professionals with a high level of education, in particular in Member States with high levels of youth unemployment; whereas while the percentage of young people in in-work poverty is lower for those with a university degree than those with lower levels of education, it nonetheless remains considerable in some Member States; whereas these young adults often have to contend with low wages, unfair working conditions, bogus self-employment, atypical work contracts and even undeclared work(63);

BK.  whereas additional income, more flexibility, gaining experience, attracting clients and a lack of opportunities in the traditional labour market seem to be the main motivations for taking on platform work; whereas platform work is generally positive for labour market integration(64); whereas platform work is heterogeneous, and, as a result, a one-size-fits-all solution would undermine the emergence of important forms of work(65);

BL.  whereas the European Labour Authority (ELA) was established in July 2019 with the aim of supporting Member States and the Commission in the effective application and enforcement of Union law related to labour mobility and social security coordination; whereas the ELA is expected to reach its full operational capacity by 2024;

BM.  whereas although the Commission has announced its intention to put forward a proposal for a European Social Security Number, no concrete proposal has yet been put forward;

BN.  whereas the rate of adult learning in the EU was 11,1 % in 2018, while the 2020 target was 15 %(66); whereas technology and innovation have great potential for unlocking opportunities, yet more than 40 % of adults in the EU do not have basic digital skills;

The economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

BO.  whereas unemployment and precarious and atypical employment rose sharply during the 2008 financial crisis, and in the COVID-19 crisis the focus is also on social issues with job losses, short-time work and threats to economic survival, e.g. for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), small craft industries, small traders and cross-border workers; whereas the middle class is shrinking, the gap between rich and poor is widening and the disparities within and between Member States are being exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis;

BP.  whereas in April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 50 % of workers in the EU experienced a reduction in their working time, with more than one third (34 %) of those in employment reporting that it had decreased ‘a lot’ and 16 % saying it had decreased ‘a little’(67);

BQ.  whereas 75 % of EU citizens consider that their current financial situation is worse than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, while 68 % report difficulties in making ends meet and 68 % are unable to maintain their standard of living for more than three months without an income; whereas 16 % of workers in the EU believe that they are likely to lose their jobs in the near future(68);

BR.  whereas the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could have serious long-term consequences for the labour market, in particular for young people or vulnerable workers, as it may force them to accept precarious and atypical jobs, which will considerably exacerbate working conditions and widen existing inequalities;

BS.  whereas the COVID-19 pandemic will therefore most likely have a direct impact in terms of increasing poverty and in-work poverty(69), especially among the most vulnerable groups in society;

BT.  whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for more inclusive social protection covering all types of workers, especially self-employed and platform workers;

BU.  whereas low-paying and high-paying jobs continue to grow in number, yet the number of middle-paying occupations is shrinking; whereas low-paying jobs do not imply low qualifications, particularly for platform workers; whereas there is an increasing demand for highly educated workers, even in low-paying jobs;

1.  Stresses that, in accordance with Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the EU has an obligation to ensure that all workers enjoy working conditions that respect their health, safety and dignity and calls for attention to be given to the fact that poverty and exclusion from the labour market and society exacerbate inequalities and segregation; recalls the fact that in implementing their policies, the Commission and the Member States should further strengthen the EU’s social model and take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of a decent standard of living and adequate social protection for all, the fight against poverty and social exclusion;

2.  Stresses that the TEU sets out that the Union has the basic obligation to work towards Europe’s sustainable development, on the basis of, inter alia, a highly competitive social market economy that sets out to achieve full employment and social progress and a high level of protection; stresses that the EU should combat social exclusion and discrimination, and should promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and the protection of the rights of the child;

3.  Agrees with the Commission that income inequality in the EU as a world region is lower than in some other major advanced economies, but it remains a concern; stresses that high inequality raises concerns about fairness, as entrenched inequality may result in inequality of opportunity and reduce potential growth; underlines that relatively high inequality may be linked to a higher risk-of-poverty rate and more pronounced social exclusion and a higher incidence of financial distress and, as such, may reduce social cohesion(70);

4.  Notes that, although poverty rates among women vary considerably from one Member State to another, the risk of poverty and social exclusion in the risk groups to which older women, single women, women with children and single mothers, refugee and migrant women, women of colour, women from ethnic minorities, homosexual, bisexual and transgender women and women with disabilities belong is high, the average trend being that women are more at risk of poverty and social exclusion than men (22,8 % in 2018 in the EU); notes that other intersectional risk factors such as inactivity, lack of care services for children and dependant family members make some specific categories of women more vulnerable to poverty risks than others;

5.   Stresses that one in two people from a non-EU migrant background are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, that levels of precarious work are especially high among migrant and refugee women, and that those with dependent or irregular status face extremely high rates of poverty; stresses that four out of five members of the Roma community have incomes below the poverty threshold and that fewer than one in five Roma women (aged 16 and over) are in employment; highlights that discrimination in access and quality of education, training and employment contribute to this reality; calls for the EU to work with the Member States to ensure the full implementation of EU and national employment standards without discrimination of any kind, including through monitoring, complaints and redress mechanisms that are effective, independent and accessible to all workers;

6.  Points out that, according to Eurostat, there are currently 64,6 million women and 57,6 million men living in poverty in the Member States, which shows that the impact of poverty on women and men is different; notes that those numbers show just how many women are affected, and must be examined alongside other indicators, such as age, life expectancy, income inequalities, the gender pay gap, household type and social transfers to understand their full significance; stresses that women’s exposure to poverty is likely to be understated and calls on the Member States to collect poverty data in a way that reflects a person’s household and individual reality, together with relevant equality data, and to conduct gender analyses of poverty statistics and policies, as one cannot assume that resources are equally shared among men and women within households;

Measures against inequality

7.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to achieve the goal of comparable living conditions through upward social and economic convergence, to counter the increasing inequalities within and between Member States and to increase solidarity; encourages the Member States to strengthen collective bargaining systems and to ensure minimum social protections and a social security system for all age groups; stresses that these objectives can be achieved through instruments such as, but not limited to, a minimum income, minimum wages and minimum pensions under the first pillar(71) in accordance with the competences and laws of each Member State, and respecting all general principles of the European Union, including fundamental rights, proportionality, legal certainty, equality before the law and subsidiarity;

8.  Reminds the Commission and the Member States that preventing and tackling in-work poverty must be part of the overall goal to eradicate poverty in the European Union;

9.  Believes that the availability of affordable and accessible services (in particular public services) of good quality is essential for reducing inequalities and poverty levels; considers it essential, therefore, that Member States take measures to guarantee access to good-quality services and, in consequence, universal access to healthcare, education, affordable housing, energy supply and social protections;

10.  Is convinced that the axiom ‘work is the best remedy for poverty’ does not always apply today in the face of low-wage sectors and precarious working conditions (including some forms of atypical employment), which is affecting the sustainability and adequacy of social security systems; believes, furthermore, that effective collective agreements and effective statutory minimum wage systems, where applicable, are important instruments for combating poverty;

11.  Points out that growth is essential to tackling precariousness and poverty; is convinced that entrepreneurship needs to be fostered, including among women and young people; points out that SMEs, which create jobs and wealth and are the backbone of the European economy, must be supported; points out that they bring vitality to territories and contribute to innovation and the construction of a competitive, diversified and sustainable labour market; stresses that EU legislation must benefit businesses, particularly SMEs;

12.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States, on the basis of their obligations under the ILO Conventions and the revised European Social Charter and their commitments to the European Pillar of Social Rights and the SDGs, to promote collective bargaining; calls on the Member States to adapt their national legislation where it hampers collective bargaining and the right to associate, negotiate and conclude collective agreements, and to respect and enforce the right to fair minimum wages, where applicable;

13.  Stresses that technological developments and changes in the structure of the economy are resulting in a higher concentration of economic activity and high-skilled jobs in metropolitan areas, which increases social and geographical inequalities; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen investments in digital technology in rural areas in order to enhance public services, improve their quality and efficiency and create new modes of service delivery for remote and underserved regions, in order to address inequalities and create better job opportunities;

14.  Welcomes the Commission’s proposal on the skills agenda; highlights that low levels of education are one of the root causes of in-work poverty and need to be addressed;

15.  Calls on the Member States to guarantee equal access to inclusive education and training for all and to strengthen their efforts to reduce early school leaving;

16.  Underlines that high-quality education from an early age, vocational education and training, reskilling and upskilling are essential for reducing inequalities and improving workers’ abilities to adapt to the changing world of work and facilitating their successful transition into employment;

17.  Calls on the Member States, therefore, to work closely with social partners, education and training providers, enterprises and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen and improve education and training systems and to improve their quality and their relevance for the labour market and self-development, including with a view to enabling people to have access to lifelong learning;

18.  Stresses that the digital transformation and the growing number of high-qualified and high-skilled occupations require targeted investment in lifelong learning; encourages the Commission and the Member States to offer coherent and comprehensive support for developing the digital skills required, including for older workers; calls, therefore, for targeted investment in digital reskilling and upskilling to enable workers to adapt to change and secure higher wages;

19.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide young people with an adequate level of education and training that will enable them to meet the needs and challenges of the labour market and equip them with knowledge of their labour and social rights so they do not fall into atypical and precarious employment;

20.  Reminds the Commission and the Member States that, in the event of conflicts between fundamental economic freedoms and fundamental social and labour rights, the latter is treated at the same level as the economic freedoms of the single market;

21.  Calls for an overarching European anti-poverty strategy, with ambitious targets for reducing poverty and ending extreme poverty in Europe by 2030, in line with the principles laid down in the European Pillar of Social Rights and taking into account the SDGs;

22.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make use of financial instruments such as the Youth Guarantee and EU programmes in order to tackle youth unemployment, boost young people’s employability and encourage them to take up stable and non-precarious jobs;

23.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take real measures to combat tax avoidance and tax fraud as an important means of reducing economic inequalities and improving the collection of tax revenue in the Member States;

24.  Calls on the Commission to update its framework for the establishment and development of cooperatives and social economy enterprises, which by nature place a stronger emphasis on fair working conditions and the empowerment of workers;

25.   Calls on the Commission and the Member States to introduce initiatives to promote women’s empowerment through education, vocational training and lifelong learning, as well as access to finance, female entrepreneurship and women’s representation in future-oriented sectors with a view to ensuring access to high-quality employment; calls, in particular, for greater promotion of STEM subjects, digital education, artificial intelligence and financial literacy in order to combat prevailing stereotypes and ensure that more women enter these sectors and contribute to their development;

26.   Highlights the regular dialogue with women facing poverty and decision makers through forums at national, regional and EU level to monitor the effectiveness of current policies/services and suggest solutions;

27.   Underlines the necessity to ensure adequate financing for NGOs and emphasise the need for them to access EU funds in order to deliver innovative and effective services to fight poverty;

28.  Welcomes the Commission’s plan to present a child guarantee(72) without delay;

29.  Calls on the Member States to ensure access to decent, affordable, accessible, energy-efficient and healthy housing for all and to do more to promote social housing, including public housing; encourages the Member States to strengthen the exchange of best practices on effective social housing policies;

30.  Calls on the Member States and local authorities to adopt adequate housing policies, to create conditions and support for investments in social and affordable housing, and to tackle energy poverty;

31.  Calls on the Commission to propose an EU strategic framework for national homelessness strategies in view of the links between in-work poverty and homelessness; calls on the Member States to take urgent measures to prevent and tackle homelessness and to prevent forced evictions;

32.  Underlines the importance of increasing funding for the most deprived under the new European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) as a key element of European solidarity and as a way of helping to combat the worst forms of poverty in the EU, such as food deprivation and child poverty;

Minimum protection of living and working conditions

33.  Considers that a legislative framework with a view to regulating telework conditions across the EU is necessary to ensure decent working and employment conditions in the digital economy, thereby contributing to reducing inequalities and addressing the issue of in-work poverty;

34.  Calls on the Commission to present an EU framework on minimum income;

35.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to invest in active labour policies so as to render European workers and economies more resilient and to endow workers with valuable skills;

36.  Acknowledges the Commission’s proposal for an EU directive to ensure that workers in the EU are protected by adequate minimum wages allowing for a decent living;

37.  Stresses that the directive should provide clear safeguards in Member States where wages are – as a general rule – collectively bargained by social partners;

38.  Recalls the proposed measures of the Commission’s political guidelines for 2019-2024(73), which aim to ensure that workers in the Union have a fair minimum wage that should allow for a decent living wherever they work;

39.  Recalls that in accordance with the non-regression principle and more favourable provisions, directives on labour rights provide for minimum standards and that individual Member States are free to provide higher levels of protection and standards;

40.  Considers that this directive should ensure, through collective agreements and statutory minimum wages, that no workers or their families are at risk of poverty and that everyone can make a living from their work and participate in society;

41.  Underlines that the final directive should guarantee that statutory minimum wages – where applicable – are always set above the poverty threshold;

42.  Calls on the Member States and social partners to ensure that minimum wages are in place, in keeping with national practices and taking into account their impact on competitiveness, job creation and in-work poverty;

43.  Stresses that measures must be taken to ensure that employers do not engage in practices that deduct from minimum wages the costs necessary for carrying out work, such as accommodation, the requisite clothing, tools, personal protection and other equipment;

44.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to enforce the legislative framework on minimum working conditions for all workers, in particular for those workers employed under precarious working conditions, which also often affect atypical workers or non-standard workers in the gig economy, and to improve this framework by addressing gaps in the legislation and improving existing directives(74) or through new legal acts where relevant;

45.  Calls on the Member States to ensure social protection schemes for all workers and calls on the Commission to complement and support the Member States’ activities regarding social security and social protection of workers;

46.  Highlights that labour mobility is essential for getting the most out of Europeans’ talents and ambitions, maximising the economic performance and prosperity of companies and individuals, and offering people a wide range of opportunities; calls on the Commission and Member States to remove the existing barriers to mobility in the European Union;

47.  Calls on Member States to ensure the provision of reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities in the workplace(75);

48.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to combat strategies adding to in-work poverty, such as undeclared overtime, unreliable or unpredictable working time planning by employers, zero-hour contracts, undeclared economic activity and the grey economy; recalls that health and safety at the workplace is the employers’ responsibility and that job-related training must take place during working hours;

49.  Notes that the Commission’s European Summit on Platform Work, which sought to explore possibilities to improve the labour conditions of platform workers, was postponed because of the COVID-19 crisis; urges the Commission to hold this summit as soon as possible;

50.  Notes the societal consequences of platform work, namely workers not enjoying labour rights and social protections, and missing social security contributions and taxes;

51.  Acknowledges the Commission’s plan to adopt a legislative proposal(76) on platform workers; calls on the Commission to ensure that labour relations between platforms and workers are adapted to the new realities of a digitalised society and economy and are clarified by covering those workers via existing labour laws and social security provisions, to improve the working conditions, skills and education of platform workers, and to secure predictable working hours for platform workers;

52.  Stresses that an EU legislative proposal should ensure that platform workers are able to form workers’ representations and to organise in unions in order to conclude collective agreements;

53.  Calls on the Member States to swiftly transpose and fully implement the Work-Life Balance Directive(77);

54.  Calls on the Member States to ensure access to affordable and quality childcare in general and, in particular, for single parents, the parents of children with disabilities and the parents of large households; recalls that access to childcare is of particular importance for jobseekers and workers in an unstable employment situation, irrespective of the nature of the contract, as well as access to care facilities for persons with disabilities or dependant relatives, in order to prevent such workers with care responsibilities from being trapped in precarious work, which often leads to in-work-poverty;

55.  Stresses that better options for shared parental leave could have a positive impact on employment for women; calls on the Member States to take measures to ensure that beneficiaries of the payment or allowances of parental leave will be protected from falling below the poverty line;

56.  Stresses the need to ensure compliance with the rules on equality, to tackle all forms of discrimination, with particular regard to wages and working conditions, to provide equal opportunities and to close gaps in the legislation that affect disadvantaged groups; calls, in addition, for the unblocking of the horizontal Anti-Discrimination Directive;

57.  Calls on the Commission to promote equal participation and opportunities for men and women in the labour market and to introduce initiatives to promote women’s access to finance, female entrepreneurship and women’s financial independence;

58.  Underlines that tackling the gender pay gap and subsequent pension gap is essential for tackling in-work poverty among women; notes the importance of providing appropriate financial support for childcare during maternity and parental leave;

59.  Asks the Member States to consider factoring child-raising responsibilities into pension schemes when women are not able to work and making suitable contributions during such periods;

60.  Stresses that measures on pay transparency should aim to achieve equal pay and should allow social partners to conclude collective agreements to achieve this goal;

61.  Calls on the Commission to present a Disability Strategy beyond 2020 in order to secure the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labour market; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with the necessary skills to acquire employment in the open labour market and are covered by labour law, social protections and minimum wages;

62.  Calls on the Member States not to deprive persons with disabilities of their disability entitlements covering their disability-related extra costs when entering the labour market or when surpassing a certain income threshold, as this practice contributes to in-work poverty; calls on the Member States to work to support persons with disabilities to overcome barriers;

63.  Calls on the Member States to guarantee that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis as others;

64.  Reiterates its call(78) on the Commission to present binding measures on pay transparency without delay in line with its commitment in the Gender Equality Strategy for 2020-2025(79); considers that these measures should fully respect the autonomy of national social partners;

65.  Insists that wage transparency should be carried out by employers in both the public and private sector, with due account taken of the specificities of SMEs, while preventing any practices which undermine the achievement of the ‘equal pay for equal work’ principle;

66.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to tackle in-work poverty affecting young people; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take measures against bogus self-employment and the exploitation of young workers through low wages and unclear or unfair working conditions, which could result in in-work poverty; affirms the urgent need to review and strengthen the European Quality Framework for Traineeships in order to include the principle of the remuneration of traineeships and internships among the quality criteria, as well as to ensure adequate access to social protection schemes; reaffirms that youth employment should not be seen as cheap work and that young people should be granted fair working conditions and wages, as well as regular work contracts, also according to their experiences and qualifications;

67.  Is concerned that non-standard and precarious work may increase due to the COVID-19 crisis; stresses that statutory minimum wages should cover all workers, including currently excluded categories of workers such as non-standard workers;

68.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to collect more detailed statistics on the rise of precarious employment and some forms of atypical employment in the labour markets and to take responsive measures by adapting and modernising existing labour laws;

69.  Welcomes Member States’ initiatives aimed at reducing precarious employment and eliminating fraudulent practices intended to undercut wages and avoid social security contributions(80) and calls on the Commission to put forward proposals, within the limits of its competences, as defined by the Treaties;

70.  Reminds the Member States that public employment services should continue to offer as many opportunities as possible for quality employment;

71.  Urges Member States to phase out the use of zero-hour contracts; calls on the Commission and Member States to tackle involuntary part-time work and to make strong efforts to promote open-ended employment and to restrict the use of continually renewed temporary contracts;

72.  Firmly believes that employers bear full responsibility for providing employees with the equipment, clothing and insurance necessary for them to perform their functions with no cost to workers themselves; stresses that employers are fully responsible for the expenses or training required for employees to fulfil their role;

73.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the proper enforcement of EU law on labour mobility and social security coordination and, in particular, to ensure that workers are informed about their rights, obligations and procedural safeguards in a language they understand before signing their contracts(81); calls on the ELA and the Member States to monitor compliance with applicable labour and social legislation; calls on the Member States to institute labour inspections and to involve the ELA in cross-border situations;

74.  Stresses that Member States should ensure that national labour inspectorates undertake effective and adequate controls and inspections, provide suitable complaints mechanisms, and uphold the rights of all workers, in particular those in precarious employment and some forms of atypical employment, and secure their adequate funding;

75.  Calls on the Member States to enforce the revised Posting of Workers Directive in order to ensure genuine protection for workers in this category;

76.  Emphasises that monitoring and control are of particular importance in cases of third-country nationals working within the Union to ensure their protection and avoid abuses; calls on the Member States to pursue intensive cooperation with the ELA in this respect;

77.  Calls for the ELA to have real inspection powers in order to effectively combat illegal practices and the exploitation and abuse of workers;

78.  Welcomes the Commission guidelines of 16 July 2020 on the protection of seasonal workers and the Council conclusions of 9 October 2020 on seasonal workers;

79.  Takes note of the high number of petitions received by the Committee on Petitions, which alert it to the abusive use of fixed-term contracts in both the public(82) and private(83) sectors and notes in this regard that the most frequently mentioned cause of work stress is job precarity; calls on the Commission to examine these petitions and to provide a better response, in line with its competences and those of the Member States in order to tackle in-work poverty, social exclusion and precarious work effectively;

80.   Considers prostitution to be a serious form of violence and exploitation affecting mostly women and children; calls on the Member States to adopt specific measures to combat the economic, social and cultural causes of prostitution and support measures for people who are prostituted to facilitate their social and professional reintegration;

81.  Is of the opinion that more emphasis should be placed on values and policies that promote work and its link to improving people’s quality of life, and that such values and policies should make meaningful contributions to improve their social and physical environment;

82.  Welcomes the adoption of the Mobility Package; believes that the Mobility Package is a strong tool with which to combat social dumping and in-work poverty in the transport sector; calls for the fast and full implementation of Regulation (EU) 2020/1054(84) on driving times, rest periods and tachographs for the benefit of truck drivers across Europe; stresses that further and similar initiatives must be taken to tackle social dumping and in-work poverty for other industries affected by social dumping and poor working conditions, such as air transport and the shipping industry;

83.  Believes that internships should be seen by companies as an investment and not as free work; recalls that young people often do not have any other sources of income while working as interns; considers the contribution of interns valuable and essential and that they deserve to be paid; calls on the Commission and Member States to end the practice of unpaid internships and to guarantee high-quality internships with decent pay;

84.  Believes that young adult workers should be paid on the basis of their level of experience and should not suffer discrimination in the form of significantly lower wages exclusively based on their age; calls on the Member States, therefore, to end the practice of statutory sub-minimum wages for young adult workers;

Collective agreements

85.  Notes that the autonomy of social partners is a valuable asset and stresses the need to ensure it in each Member State and to monitor at EU level compliance therewith; notes the Commission’s proposal(85) to protect and strengthen collective bargaining systems at national level, in particular sectoral level;

86.  Calls on the Commission to promote the use of the ESF+ for building capacity among social partners with the aim of strengthening collective bargaining in Europe; calls on Member States to establish the institutions and mechanisms necessary to support collective bargaining, with a particular focus on sectoral collective bargaining; calls on Member States to consult and involve national social partners in law making whenever relevant;

87.  Acknowledges the Commission’s proposal that Member States shall provide for measures enabling conditions for collective bargaining where coverage is less than 70 %(86) of workers; stresses that social partners must be involved in the decision-making process for the initiation of any such action; believes that any action taken in this regard must not interfere with social partners’ autonomy;

88.  Calls on the Commission to monitor and the Member States to ensure the right of all workers to organise and to negotiate and conclude collective agreements, and to take immediate action when this right is violated;

89.  Calls on the Member States to ensure that unions have access to the workplace, including remote work, for the purposes of getting organised, sharing information and consultation;

90.  Urges the Commission to improve the Public Procurement Directives(87) to prevent competition at the expense of wages so that only those who do not undermine existing collective agreements can successfully bid; calls on the Member States to ensure compliance, monitoring and enforcement;

91.  Acknowledges that digitalisation and globalisation have led to a significant increase in self-employment and atypical forms of work; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to assessing whether it is necessary to adopt measures at EU level allowing solo self-employed individuals to unite and conclude collective agreements, as well as its commitment to proposing regulatory changes where necessary and the recent public consultation in this regard; awaits the publication of the impact assessment on the initial options for future actions; stresses that this must not serve to delay any other Commission initiative to tackle false self-employment and secure rights for non-standard workers;

92.  Believes that every worker must have access to a full overview of who their employer is and their salary and working rights, either in accordance with the sectoral collective agreement or with national legislation; believes that this information should be available to labour inspectorates; believes that this could take the form of a special ID card for cross-border workers, which has already proven effective in some Member States; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to promptly introduce a digital European Social Security Number; believes that a European Social Security Number has considerable potential to serve as a control mechanism for both individuals and relevant authorities in order to guarantee that social security is paid in accordance with the rules and to combat social fraud;

Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

93.   Calls on the Commission to set out an EU-level response to extend support to women-led SMEs during and after the crisis;

94.  Points out that the COVID-19 crisis has had a significant impact on workers and disadvantaged people; underlines that the policy responses to the pandemic must be human-centred and built on global solidarity; insists that measures to combat poverty and in-work poverty are particularly necessary and should aim to bring about a swift, just and green recovery; calls on the Member States to ensure adequate protection for all vulnerable workers during the pandemic and to work together with social partners on the development of effective, practical, and equitable solutions to the challenges posed by the pandemic; recalls, in this regard, that a sufficient proportion of additional resources under REACT-EU should be used to increase the availability of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) to help the most deprived; equally underlines the importance of ensuring that the ESF+ is allocated sufficient resources in the multiannual financial framework;

95.  Calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the economic impact of short-time work schemes, to people who have been permanently or temporarily laid off, and to the social impact on people living precariously; recalls, in this connection, that short-time work schemes are not identical across all Member States and that allowances vary considerably, with employees on low allowances particularly threatened by in-work poverty; calls on the Commission and the Member States, to this end, to protect workers to help them keep their jobs, including by providing financial support such as via short-time schemes and support for those in precarious employment and some forms of atypical work, and to consider financial support for some types of solo self-employed individuals who have lost their financial base owing to the crisis; calls on the Member States, furthermore, to protect people living precariously;

96.  Calls on the Member States to put forward minimum standards for their respective national unemployment insurance schemes and minimum security schemes in the form of legal frameworks in order to improve social security for workers and residents in Europe;

97.  Calls for measures to be taken to avoid a renewed increase in involuntary part-time employment as a result of COVID-19;

98.  Recalls the disturbing reports that have surfaced during the crisis regarding breaches of cross-border and seasonal workers’ rights in terms of their working and living conditions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to tackle abusive practices and to safeguard the rights of seasonal and cross-border workers employed along the subcontracting and supply chain; calls, in this regard, for Member States to ensure proper and affordable housing facilities for workers, without the costs of these being deducted from workers’ salaries;

99.  Stresses that the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the importance of employment in professions identified as systemically important for our economy and society; recalls that many of these frontline workers are in low-paid jobs in some Member States, are often undervalued and underpaid, and often have to endure insecure working conditions, owing in part to a lack of health and social protections; stresses that these professions are mostly carried out by women; points out the necessity for upward convergence as regards care provision;

100.  Stresses that in order to cope with major shocks, Member States should adopt long-term strategies to preserve employment and workers’ qualifications and alleviate the pressure on national public finances;

101.  Calls on the Commission to adopt an EU care strategy, responding to the social impacts on those with caring responsibilities, who are disproportionately women; stresses that this strategy should require significant investment in the care economy, strengthen policies to balance work and care responsibilities throughout a person’s life and fill labour shortages, in particular through training, the recognition of skills and better working conditions in these sectors;

102.  Awaits the Commission’s forthcoming proposal for a long-term European unemployment benefit reinsurance scheme, taking into account the fact that job layoffs will most probably increase; calls for this proposal to cover countries in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), with the possibility of allowing non-EMU countries to join;

103.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to mitigate the worst consequences of COVID-19 through targeted EU and national support and the allocation of sufficient resources; welcomes, in this regard, the creation of the temporary instrument to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE) and calls on the Member States to implement it swiftly; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that financial assistance is not provided to undertakings registered in countries listed in Annex I to the Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that beneficiaries comply with the fundamental values enshrined in the Treaties and that companies receiving public financial support protect workers, guarantee decent working conditions, respect trade unions and applicable collective agreements, pay their share of taxes, and refrain from share buybacks or paying out bonuses to management or dividends to shareholders;

104.  Encourages Member States to invest in increasing access to broadband internet, remote education and learning in rural areas at risk of depopulation and generational poverty;

105.  Proposes that proactive measures be taken to counter potential high unemployment through EU and national policies and national employment programmes and to foster the green, digital, social, sustainable and just transitions that leave no one behind by investing in new, sustainable and accessible jobs of good quality, reskilling programmes, future-oriented infrastructure, innovation and digital change; believes that particular consideration should be devoted to fostering youth employment;

106.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to address the consequences of the crisis and to facilitate the transition by taking account of regional particularities, and therefore guarantee a swift allocation of available funding, such as through training in future-oriented jobs, upskilling and reskilling and by developing the ESF+ financially to this end;

107.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to monitor in particular sectors characterised by a high degree of job insecurity, in order to prevent the abuse of workers such as those in temporary positions in the agricultural sector, where seasonal workers face abusive employment conditions that in some cases violate not only labour rights, but also workers’ fundamental rights;

108.  Stresses that low-income workers are at higher risk of being exposed to COVID-19 since they work in sectors with significantly more human contact, such as the care and transport sectors, or take up work through online platforms without any possibility of teleworking; strongly criticises the long implementation period for the classification of COVID-19 in the Biological Agents Directive(88); calls for an urgent revision of the Biological Agents Directive with a view to adapting it to global pandemics and other extraordinary circumstances in order to secure the full protection of workers against the risks of exposure as quickly as possible;

109.  Highlights that low-income workers often work in sectors with high risks of physical deterioration, which potentially has long-term impacts on their physical and mental wellbeing and impacts their ability to earn an income in the future; believes the current health and safety legislation does not have a sufficient focus on prevention of occupational injuries; calls on the Commission to propose as soon as possible a new strategic framework for health and safety at work post-2020 and calls on the Commission, in this regard, to identify the challenges faced and present instruments for workers in low-income sectors to address these challenges; stresses that the strategy must include a focus on platform workers and workers in non-standard types of work; calls on the Commission to amend Directive 2004/37/EC(89) to revise and expand the scope of occupational exposure limit values for a number of cancer- or mutation-causing substances;

110.  Highlights that work-related stress is widely experienced in low-income sectors; believes that work-related stress must be a key priority of European health and safety legislation; calls on the Commission and Member States, in close cooperation with national social partners, to propose a directive on work-related stress setting company guidelines to tackle work-related stress factors and requiring all companies to formulate a company policy on work-related stress;

111.  Considers that it is of paramount importance to make sure that the implementation of the recovery plan for Europe aims to eradicate poverty and socio-economic inequalities and is based on an effective mechanism with targets and benchmarks that make it possible to take accurate measurements of the progress achieved; highlights that the European Parliament must be fully involved in both the ex ante and ex post scrutiny of the recovery plan and that all its elected Members must be given a formal role in order to ensure a fully democratic and transparent evaluation and implementation process;

o
o   o

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

(1) OJ L 23, 27.1.2010, p. 35. (2) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16. (3) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000, p. 22. (4) OJ C 9 E, 15.1.2010, p. 11. (5) OJ C 70 E, 8.3.2012, p. 8. (6) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0176. (7) OJ C 366, 27.10.2017, p. 19. (8) OJ C 482, 23.12.2016, p. 31. (9) OJ C 76, 28.2.2018, p. 93. (10) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 164. (11) OJ C 346, 27.9.2018, p. 156. (12) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0054. (13) OJ C 334, 19.9.2018, p. 88. (14) https://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-global-rights-index-2019 (15) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sdg_01_41/default/table?lang=en (16) Household Finance and Consumption Network, ‘The Household Finance and Consumption Survey: Results from the 2017 wave’, European Central Bank Statistics Paper Series No 36, March 2020, p. 25. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpsps/ecb.sps36~0245ed80c7.en.pdf?bd73411fbeb0a33928ce4c5ef2c5e872 (17) Household Finance and Consumption Network, ‘The Household Finance and Consumption Survey: Wave 2017 – Statistical tables’, June 2020, p. 5. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/pdf/research/hfcn/HFCS_Statistical_Tables_Wave_2017.pdf?656f4e10de45c91c3c882840e9174eac (18) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20200227STO73519/gender-pay-gap-in-europe-facts-and-figures-infographic (19) Adjustment is a statistical method that allows populations to be compared by taking into account differences in the distribution of different factors (sector of activity, age, occupation etc.) between these populations. The unadjusted gender pay gap is calculated as the relative difference between the average hourly earnings of women and men. It provides a simple indicator of wage inequalities, which explains its extensive use by policymakers. However, the unadjusted gender pay gap also includes both the possible discrimination between men and women in terms of ‘unequal pay for equal work’ and the impact of differences in the average characteristics of men and women in the labour market. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/aid_development_cooperation_fundamental_rights/report-gender-pay-gap-eu-countries_october2018_en_0.pdf. (20) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20181017-1?inheritRedirect=true (21) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Gender_pay_gap_statistics#Gender_pay_gap_much_lower_for_young_employees (22) https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2016-eu-minorities-survey-roma-selected-findings_en.pdf (23) http://ergonetwork.org/2020/04/eu-recovery-plan-the-case-of-roma/ (24) Quality of life is the notion of human welfare (well-being) measured by social indicators rather than quantitative measures of income and production (source: Eurostat). (25) Material deprivation refers to a state of economic strain, defined as the enforced inability (rather than the choice not to do so) to pay unexpected expenses or to afford a one-week annual holiday away from home, a meal involving meat, chicken or fish every second day, the adequate heating of a dwelling or durable goods like a washing machine or colour TV. Severe material deprivation, meanwhile, refers to the inability to afford at least 4 of the following 11 categories: mortgage or rent payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments, a one-week annual holiday, a meal involving meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, unexpected financial expenses, a telephone (including mobile), a colour TV, a washing machine, a car or heating (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Quality_of_life_indicators_-_material_living_conditions#General_overview). (26) The indicator ‘persons living in households with very low work intensity’ is defined as the number of persons living in a household where the members of working age worked less than 20 % of their total potential during the previous 12 months. The work intensity of a household is the ratio of the total number of months that all working-age household members have worked during the income reference year and the total number of months the same household members theoretically could have worked in the same period. A working-age person is a person aged 18-59 years, excluding students aged between 18 and 24 years. Households composed only of children, of students aged less than 25 and/or people aged 60 or more are completely excluded from the indicator calculation. (27) Eurofound, ‘In-work poverty in the EU’, 5 September 2017. (28) As defined in the Working Time Directive, OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p. 9. (29) Eurofound, ‘In-work poverty in the EU’, 5 September 2017. (30) https://ec.europa.eu/energy/content/introduction-5_en (31) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Digital_economy_and_society_statistics_-_households_and_individuals (32) A household, in the context of surveys on social conditions, is defined as a housekeeping unit or, operationally, as a social unit: having common arrangements; sharing household expenses or daily needs; in a shared common residence. A household includes either one person living alone or a group of people, not necessarily related, living at the same address with common housekeeping, i.e. sharing at least one meal per day or sharing a living or sitting room. (33) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/10163468/3-16102019-CP-EN.pdf/edc3178f-ae3e-9973-f147-b839ee522578 (34) Eurostat, ‘EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology – 2011 intergenerational transmission of disadvantages’( https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/EU_statistics_on_income_and_living_conditions_(EU-SILC)_methodology_-_2011_intergenerational_transmission_of_disadvantages). (35) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Quality_of_life_indicators_-_material_living_conditions#General_overview (36) Percentage of the population who live in a household for which the total housing costs (net of housing allowances) represent more than 40 % of the total disposable household income (net of housing allowances). (37) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Housing_statistics#Housing_affordability (38) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tessi163/default/table?lang=en (39) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/agenda/briefing/2020-01-13/11/housing-urgent-action-needed- to-address-homelessness-in-europe (40) https://www.feantsa.org/public/user/Resources/magazine/2019/Spring/Homeless_in_Europe_magazine_-_Spring_2019.pdf; https://www.feantsa.org/en/news/2020/07/23/fifth-overview-of-housing-exclusion-in-europe-2020 (41) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20190122-1?inheritRedirect=true (42) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tessi012/default/table?lang=en (43) OECD, Visser (2016) ICTWSS Database. https://www.etuc.org/en/document/etuc-reply-first-phase-consultation-social-partners-under-article-154-tfeu-possible-action, p. 6, no 15. (44) Eurofound, ‘Industrial relations: Developments 2015-2019’, 11 December 2020. (45) https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/2019-06-ituc-global-rights-index-2019-report-en-2.pdf (46) OECD, ‘Negotiating Our Way Up: Collective Bargaining in a Changing World of Work’, 18 November 2019, Figure 3.10, p. 125. (47) Van den Berg, A., Grift, Y., van Witteloostuijn, A., ‘The effect of employee workplace representation on firm performance: a cross-country comparison within Europe’, Research Paper 2013-008, ACED 2013-016, University of Antwerp, April 2013. (48) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20200604STO80506/parliament-calls-for-a-new-ambitious-eu-disability-strategy (49) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/pdfscache/34425.pdf (50) Gender Equality Index 2019. (51) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2014_2019/documents/empl/dv/empl20141120-wss-people-disabilities-/empl20141120-wss-people-disabilities-en.pdf (52) Eurostat Statistics Explained, ‘Europe 2020 indicators – poverty and social exclusion’, 11 June 2020 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Archive:Europe_2020_indicators_-_poverty_and_social_exclusion&oldid=394836). (53) https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=89&furtherNews=yes&langId=en&newsId=9378 (54) Eurofound, ‘In-work poverty in the EU’, 5 September 2017. (55) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ilc_peps04/default/table?lang=en (56) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Minimum_wage_statistics (57) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Minimum_wage_statistics#Minimum_wages_expressed_in_purchasing_power_standards (58) Eurofound, ‘Minimum wages in 2020: Annual review’, 4 June 2020. (59) ETUI, Benchmarking Working Europe 2019, ‘Labour market and social developments’ chapter, 2019. https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=89&furtherNews=yes&langId=en&newsId=9378 (60) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/587285/IPOL_STU%282016%29587285_‌EN.pdf (61) Eurofound, ‘In-work poverty in the EU’, 5 September 2017 (https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2017/in-work-poverty-in-the-eu). (62) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20200511-1 (63) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20200511-1 (64) https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef18001en.pdf (65) https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef18001en.pdf (66) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20190517-1 (67) Eurofound, Living, Working and COVID-19 dataset, 28 September 2020 (http://eurofound.link/covid19data). (68) Eurofound, Living, Working and COVID-19 dataset, 28 September 2020 (http://eurofound.link/covid19data). (69) https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/projected-poverty-impacts-of-COVID-19 (70) Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2019 (https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8219). (71) The ‘first pillar’ of a typical three-pillar approach to pensions consists in public statutory pensions that are administered by the state and usually financed from social insurance contributions and/or general tax revenues on a PAYG basis. Source: EPRS briefing, ‘European Union pension systems: adequate and sustainable?’, November 2015. (72) As per its resolution of 24 November 2015 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on child poverty (OJ C 366, 27.10.2017, p. 19) and the Political Guidelines for the European Commission 2019-2024: ‘To support every child in need, I will create the European Child Guarantee, picking up on the idea proposed by the European Parliament’. (73) ‘A Union that strives for more: My agenda for Europe’, Political Guidelines for the European Commission 2019-2024. (74) 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). (75) The provision of reasonable accommodation is an obligation under the EU’s Employment Equality Directive (OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16) and Article 5 of the UN CRPD. (76) Annexes to the Commission Work Programme 2021 (COM(2020)0690), policy objective No 9 under the section entitled ‘A Europe Fit for the Digital Age’. (77) 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). (78) Resolution of 30 January 2020 on the gender pay gap, paragraph 2 (Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0025). (79) According to the strategy, the Commission should have tabled binding measures on pay transparency by the end of 2020. (80) Such as establishing subsidies (or letterbox companies) and/or temporary-work agencies in Member States with lower wages for the sole purpose of using posted workers instead of hiring local workers. (81) As provided for by 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). (82) These include petitions 0240/18, 0328/18, 0365/18, 0374/18, 0396/18, 0419/18, 0829/2018, 0897/2018, 1161/2018, 0290/19, 0310/2019, 0335/2019, 0579/19, 0624/19, 0652/19, 0683/2019, 0737/2019, 1017/19, 1045/2019, 1241/2019, 1318/2019 and 0036/2020. (83) These include petitions 1378/2013, 0019/2016, 0020/2016, 0021/2016, 0099/2017, 1162/2017, 0110/2018 and 0335/2019. (84) Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs (OJ L 249, 31.7.2020, p. 1). (85) Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the Council of 28 October 2020 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (COM(2020)0682). (86) Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the Council of 28 October 2020 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (COM(2020)0682). (87) Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 1); Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 65); Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 243). (88) Directive 2000/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work (OJ L 262, 17.10.2000, p. 21). (89) Directive 2004/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work (OJ L 158, 30.4.2004, p. 50).

European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the impact of COVID-19 on youth and on sport (2020/2864(RSP))

P9_TA(2021)0045 B9-0115/2021

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Articles 165 and 166 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Article 5(3) of the Treaty on European Union and to Protocol (No 2) to the Treaties on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality,

–  having regard to Article 14 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 April 2020 on EU coordinated action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 8 July 2020 on the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in the COVID-19 crisis(2),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 September 2020 on the cultural recovery of Europe(3),

–  having regard to its resolution of 8 October 2020 on the Youth Guarantee(4),

–  having regard to its resolution of 22 October 2020 on the future of European education in the context of COVID-19(5),

–  having regard to the question to the Commission on the impact of COVID-19 on young people and on sport (O-000074/2020 – B9‑0005/2021),

–  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 Culture and Education,

A.  whereas according to the International Labour Organization(6), the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is hitting young people disproportionately hard and they are likely to suffer severe negative and long-lasting effects to their economic circumstances, health and well-being, including missing out on education, volunteering and training opportunities at a crucial stage of their development;

B.  whereas the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the functioning of EU youth and education programmes on youth work and volunteering, on the national education systems, on employment and income, and on civil liberties is exacerbating inequalities, as illustrated by OECD statistics, which show that only around half of school students are able to access most or all of the curriculum, in spite of countries’ efforts to provide online learning solutions; whereas this situation is making the consequences of the digital gap more severe and hindering the development of the necessary digital skills, while access to school curricula does not always mean that students in difficulty are able to learn;

C.  whereas young people have been at the heart of solidarity-motivated activities to respond to the needs of their communities in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, from leading awareness campaigns to working on the front line as part of the European Solidarity Corps, to other volunteering initiatives;

D.  whereas the negative effects of the pandemic are so far-reaching that they have further contributed to shrinking civic space in Member States across Europe, with many youth work and sporting organisations facing the prospect of having to close down, which would have a negative impact on the established structures of European and international cooperation and substantially limit civic engagement;

E.  whereas the psychosocial effects of COVID-19 affect young people’s mental health and ability to socialise owing to both immediate and longer-term factors; whereas the lack of leisure activities and social constraints have a disproportionate effect on children and young people with disabilities;

F.  whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on sport and related sectors and industries; whereas the economic impact on professional sport has been enormous, as revenues have plummeted owing to numerous events at all levels having to be cancelled or held without spectators;

G.  whereas the ongoing impact of the pandemic on semi-professional and grassroots sport and recreation is devastating, with many sports clubs facing an existential threat as they are inherently non-profit and work mostly on a voluntary basis, and therefore operate without any financial reserves;

H.  whereas the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of sufficient possibilities for regular training and practice in physical contact sport are detrimental to athletes’ progression and development;

I.  whereas sport is an important economic sector that accounts for 2,12 % of total GDP and 2,72 % of total employment in the EU and represents an estimated 5,67 million jobs;

J.  whereas sport fulfils important societal functions, by for example promoting social inclusion, integration, cohesion and values such as mutual respect and understanding, solidarity, diversity and equality, including gender equality; whereas sport and associated voluntary activities can improve physical and mental health and the employability of young people in particular, as well as help steer young people away from involvement in violence, including gender-based violence, crime and drug use;

Youth

1.  Is concerned that owing to the particular sensitivity of the youth labour market to economic cycles and economic crises, youth employment is hit harder by the fallout from the current pandemic, amplifying the negative trends of a sector largely dominated by unstable, low-paid, part-time jobs with weaker legal protections and social security standards;

2.  Underlines the particularly acute impact the current pandemic has had on young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) and highlights the need to tackle the problems faced by young people from vulnerable groups; stresses the need to take into account the considerable gender disparities in relation to the proportion of NEETs;

3.  Underlines that labour-intensive sectors often characterised by low pay, such as wholesale and retail, accommodation, tourism and food services, which typically employ low-skilled young workers and working students, have been most dramatically affected; notes that youth unemployment and poverty have risen steadily since the outbreak of the pandemic; believes that it is likely that youth unemployment will rise further in the short term and may stay above pre-pandemic levels in the long term;

4.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to take all the necessary measures to counter the disastrous effects on youth employment, including through macroeconomic (fiscal and monetary) policies that direct public expenditure towards the provision of subsidies for recruitment or youth guarantees in support of tailored schemes for job retention and creation and for the upskilling and reskilling of young people, as well as investment in economic sectors that have the potential to absorb young jobseekers, by offering quality jobs and decent working and remuneration conditions;

5.  Recalls the role of volunteering in developing life and work skills for young people; considers that financially-backed volunteering has the potential to help unemployed young people to withstand the economic shock of the COVID-19 crisis while contributing to society and gaining valuable experience that facilitates their transition to long-term regular employment; considers that the European Solidarity Corps can help young Europeans to broaden their opportunities beyond their local realities; urges the Commission, in this respect, to provide clarity and uniform guidelines for implementing programmes in crisis situations and removing barriers to participation caused by, inter alia, the lack of flexibility in funding, reductions in funding, increased restrictions on the granting of visas to volunteers from partner countries, and the failure to ensure the legal status of young people as volunteers;

6.  Stresses the vital importance of informal and non-formal learning, the arts, sport, volunteering and social activities for encouraging youth participation and social cohesion as tools that can have a huge impact on local communities and can help address many of today’s societal challenges;

7.  Highlights that with the agreement it struck on 21 July 2020, the European Council should have been more ambitious in its support for the young generations – the future of Europe – not least by including greater support for young people in the recovery plans by allocating 10 % to education and earmarking a 20 % contribution to the European Digital Strategy and the achievement of a digital single market; underlines, in this context, that sectoral programmes that have a direct focus on youth, such as Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps, the Youth Guarantee and the Child Guarantee, or that have the potential to support the transition towards a fairer and more socially and environmentally sustainable Europe, have to be mobilised in such a way as to achieve their full potential, as they risk missing their ambitious targets, which would be bitterly disappointing for young people and future generations;

8.  Underlines that the current pandemic has exacerbated the digital gap in the EU and, as such, highlights the urgent need to promote digital literacy for all and to encourage the widespread use, recognition and validation of alternatives, including informal and non-formal learning opportunities, such as online and digital learning and training; calls, in particular, for a strong focus and support for young learners who experienced a loss of income in technical, dual education and vocational education and training, and for the development and extensive use of quality digital tools, teaching and learning materials and content, in order to prevent people from dropping out of education and ensure a smooth and effective school-to-work transition; stresses that notwithstanding the specific context of COVID-19, it is important to maintain in-person learning to ensure that no one is left behind, in particular young children, vulnerable groups and young people from difficult socio-economic backgrounds without technological means or skills;

9.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to increase investment in digital solutions and literacy for the development of practical skills, competences and qualifications, to make access to digital literacy available to all, and to promote the development of independent, multilingual, inclusive and free online learning tools in order to improve the overall level of digital skills and competences as part of the implementation of the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027); stresses the need to develop competences among teachers, trainers, head teachers, parents and managers with a view to improving the provision of online, distance and blended learning with a particular focus on skills development programmes;

10.  Is concerned that the COVID-19 crisis has increased anxiety and fear among young people, which risks having a considerable impact on their lives and their school-to-work transition; calls for the wide use of tailored mental health services, psychosocial support and sporting activities, whether as standalone or modular measures, and for scaled-up mental well-being support in training and education institutions in order to ensure that the pandemic does not produce long-lasting psychological effects; highlights the impact of the pandemic on young people with disabilities and young people living in rural and remote areas and calls on the Commission and the Member States to pay particular attention to the needs of this group by adapting the available support measures and services;

11.  Calls for a rights-based approach, rooted in the principles of non-discrimination and equality, to be taken to the various policies in order to tackle the multiple forms of discrimination suffered by young people during the COVID-19 crisis, and reminds the Commission and the Member States of the need for a special approach to supporting and protecting vulnerable groups, such as young people with disabilities, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and at risk of domestic violence, young migrants and refugees, and young members of the LGTBIQ+ community; stresses the importance of free access to quality information on COVID-19 the pandemic as a whole, adapted to young people’s needs;

12.  Points out that sport and youth work activities in all their diversity are at particular risk throughout Europe, which is resulting in the shrinking of civic space, and urges the Commission and the Member States to take measures to preserve structures and ensure diversity of supply in the fields of youth and sport; recalls the need for the close involvement of local authorities, civil society organisations and social partners in the implementation of solutions designed to support young people and youth and sport organisations; highlights the importance for social cohesion of organised sport and youth organisations;

Sport

13.  Is deeply concerned about possible lasting damage to the sports sector, not only in economic and employment terms, but also for society as a whole;

14.  Underlines that sport and physical exercise are particularly important under the circumstances caused by the pandemic, since they strengthen physical and mental resilience; welcomes the fact that, according to the data, the lockdowns have led some people to practise certain individual sports more frequently and actively; is concerned, on the other hand, about the lack of physical activity observed among many young people during the lockdowns and the consequences this could have for public health;

15.  Stresses that the European sport model needs to be preserved and promoted, as solidarity, fairness and a value-based approach will be more important than ever for the recovery of the sports sector and for the survival of grassroots sport;

16.  Recalls that sport promotes and teaches values such as mutual respect and understanding, solidarity, diversity, fairness, cooperation and civic engagement and fosters cohesion and the integration of migrants and refugees; emphasises that sport knows no borders and unites people from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds; considers that grassroots sport in particular plays an essential role in promoting the social inclusion of people with fewer opportunities, people belonging to vulnerable groups and people with disabilities; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to strengthen inclusion through sport and to explore new avenues in order to maximise its impact and reach; calls for increased support to be provided to low-income families in order to enable their children to take part in sport and other leisure activities;

17.  Underlines that disabled people face considerable financial and organisational challenges in accessing sport, both in the context of grassroots activities and at professional level, which have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore urges the Commission to address this problem specifically in its upcoming disability strategy;

18.  Stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating consequences on the entire sports sector at all levels, especially on sporting organisations and clubs, leagues, gyms and fitness centres, athletes, coaches, staff, and sport-related business, including sports event organisers and sports media; considers that the road to recovery will be challenging and underlines the need for targeted relief measures;

19.  Considers that general recovery instruments adopted by the EU in response to the crisis must help support the sports sector in the short term and urges Member States to ensure that national support funds, the structural funds, and national recovery and resilience plans benefit the sports sector despite its specific characteristics and organisational structures;

20.  Stresses the importance of rescue packages targeting all sports; highlights that while major spectator sports have often been the hardest hit financially, they should not be the only ones to qualify for financial aid or be given priority for it;

21.  Believes that existing financial support may not be sufficient and calls on the Commission to explore all possible avenues for delivering additional targeted support for both amateur and professional sports with the aim of increasing the viability of the whole sector;

22.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen the recovery and crisis resilience of the sports sector in general, and grassroots sport in particular, through the EU programmes available and for which the sector is eligible, including the Erasmus+ programme and the European Solidarity Corps, and to ensure full access for sport to the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund Plus and EU4Health; underlines that the incorporation of sport into the respective regulations and the removal of all obstacles in the application process at national level are key in this regard;

23.  Invites the Commission to thoroughly assess the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport across the Member States and, on the basis of the results of this assessment, develop a European approach to coping with the challenges and mitigating the possible consequences;

24.  Calls for a structured and systematic exchange of best practices between Member States in dealing with the effects of the crisis on sport and for a systematic analysis of data and information on sporting participation and the impact of COVID-19; considers it useful to explore the development of new ways of practising sport in situations requiring physical distancing;

25.  Is of the opinion that broad cross-sectoral cooperation is urgently needed in order to overcome the challenges that have emerged in the sports sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; underlines, in this regard, that collaboration at all levels, including all those involved in sport, the sport-related business sector and other relevant stakeholders, should be further encouraged;

26.  Notes that the use of digital solutions such as sports apps has increased during the crisis; considers that the further digitalisation of the sports sector will increase its resilience in any future crises; calls for the development of digital tools enabling the financing of sporting activities during the pandemic;

27.  Calls on the Commission to coordinate all measures taken to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport in a dedicated EU action plan;

28.  Urges the Council to prioritise measures and actions aimed at helping the sector cope with the consequences of the pandemic in the short and long term in the forthcoming EU Work Plan for Sport;

29.  Considers that for as long as the pandemic continues to evolve, it will be necessary to engage in coordinated dialogue between European and international sporting federations and the Member States in order to discuss the possibilities for the safe continuation of major international sporting events and competitions; urges the Member States and the Commission to strive for a coordinated approach as regards attendance at stadiums, travel restrictions and COVID-19 testing to enable the effective planning and responsible organisation of pan-European sporting competitions;

30.  Calls for measures to strengthen doping prevention during and after COVID-19 lockdowns to promote athletes’ health and fair play in European sport;

31.  Considers that different sports have been affected to different degrees and that within certain sports, smaller clubs, lower-division competitions and grassroots activities have suffered, owing in particular to their economic dependence on small sponsors or on the athletes’ own quotas; emphasises that amateur sport is the basis for sport at a professional level, as small, grassroots sports clubs make a significant contribution to the development of young athletes and mostly work on a voluntary basis; underlines the importance of solidarity within the European sporting community across and within different sports, and calls for increased support to minority and grassroots sport in the light of the economic difficulties in maintaining their activities;

32.  Points out that the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of sufficient possibilities for regular training and practice in sports that require physical contact have been detrimental to the progression and development of athletes; considers that event organisers, trainers and the athletes themselves should be made aware of the possible implications of the prolonged lack of intensive training; asks for cooperation among sporting institutions and organisations in supporting projects and concepts whose focus is on regaining lost capabilities;

33.  Considers that arenas and stadiums are at the core of the social fabric of sport and cultural ecosystems in our societies; recognises that enabling venues to reopen is essential for the health and well-being of our citizens and for economic recovery, both now and in the future;

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

(1) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0054. (2) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0183. (3) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0239. (4) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0267. (5) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0282. (6) Global report, Youth & COVID-19: Impacts on jobs, education, rights and mental well-being, 11 August 2020.