Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Ordinary meeting
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EMPL European Parliament
Follow its sittingsDennis Radtke
Ja, ich hatte die Ehre, diese Delegation zu leiten. Und ich glaube, die man kann sagen, die Tage in der letzten Woche haben uns einen sehr, sehr guten Einblick geliefert in die besonderen Herausforderungen von französischen Überseegebieten. Ich meine, es ist schon schon ein Stück weit verrückt, man ist 10.000 Kilometer weit weg, aber trotzdem mitten in der Europäischen Union. So, aber man hat vor allen Dingen mit Blick auf Arbeitslosigkeit und Jugendarbeitslosigkeit gesehen, dass die Herausforderungen ja schon schon auch deutlich abweichen von dem, was wir hier an vielen Stellen sehen. Von daher auch die Projekte, die wir dort besichtigt haben, haben, glaube ich, einen guten Eindruck geliefert.
Vor allen Dingen auch das Engagement des französischen Militärs. Sehr beeindruckend, was dort im zivilen Bereich geleistet wird, um junge Leute in zivilen Berufen auszubilden, sie fit zu machen für den Arbeitsmarkt. Das war sehr beeindruckend. Vielen Dank an alle, die zum Gelingen dieser dieser Delegationsreise mit beigetragen haben, an alle Mitarbeiter. Will aber an der Stelle auch sagen, dass es schon ziemlich enttäuschend war, dass bei den offiziellen Terminen, die wir hatten, wir zwei kurzfristige Absagen hatten.
Einmal der Präfekt, der sich dann, wo es dann fünf Minuten vor dem Treffen hieß, der hätte aber doch keine Zeit. Da muss ich ganz ehrlich sagen, das halte ich für eine ziemliche Enttäuschung, weil er ist am Ende der offizielle Vertreter Frankreichs. Und ich meine, wir sind jetzt nicht irgendein Kegelausflug gewesen, sondern eine Delegation des Europäischen Parlaments. Da dann kurzfristig abzusagen, fand ich ziemlich enttäuschend. Gleiches gilt für die Präsidentin des sogenannten Regional Councils, Frau Bello.
Also Frau Bello hatte Zeit, um mit Manon Aubry Wahlkampf für Herrn Mélenchon zu machen, aber Zeit, um eine offizielle Delegation des Europäischen Parlamentes zu empfangen, hatte sie nicht. Da muss ich ganz ehrlich sagen, das halte ich wirklich für eine Schande, um das hier in aller in aller Deutlichkeit zu sagen. Und bitte das auch so entsprechend zu Protokoll zu nehmen. So benimmt man sich nicht gegenüber einer offiziellen Delegation dieses Parlaments. Dankeschön.
Li Andersson
Alright, thank you very much. And thank you for the report back and your it will be added to the report from the delegation. Then we move on to the next point, which is the votes. And today we have two votes, first on the EU Youth Strategy implementation and then on the EGF opinion following an application from Belgium. Please note that speech-to-text service will be suspended during the voting session and will resume at the beginning of the next item.
I will start by announcing the non-EMPL members replacing full or substitute members. So we have Mr. Falcă replaced by Mr. Motreanu. Mrs. Mačulytė-Stasvackas is replaced by Mrs. Adamowicz.
Mr. Casa is replaced by Mrs. Nevado del Campo. That is correct. We, I thought we could also do a test of the, oh sorry, yes.
Li Andersson
Yes, that's correct. Thank you very much. And then I also have actually Mr. Hauser replaced by Mr. Wielimski. Yes. And Mrs. Peter-Hansen replaced by Mr. Søndergaard.
And he is also there. Okay, good. Thank you.
Li Andersson
Yes, we got that. Thank you very much. And then we'll do a test of the machines before we start. So, a test vote. I open the vote.
I close the vote. It's all good. All right, then we are ready to start. And we will start with the EU strategy. Compromise amendment six, those in favor, those against, abstentions, adopted.
Compromise amendment seven, those in favor, those against, abstentions, adopted. Compromise amendment five, those in favor, against, abstentions, adopted. Compromise amendment four, those in favor, those against, abstentions, adopted. Compromise amendment three, those in favor, against, abstentions, adopted. Compromise amendment two is a roll call vote.
I open the vote. I close the vote. And it is adopted. Compromise amendment one is a roll call vote. I open the vote.
I close the vote. And it is adopted. Amendment 146, those in favor, those against, abstentions, rejected. Amendment 144, those in favor, against, abstentions, rejected. Amendment 149, those in favor, those against, abstentions, rejected.
Amendment 152, those in favor, those against, abstentions, rejected. Amendment 160, those in favor, against, abstentions, rejected. Amendment 164, those in favor, those against, abstentions, rejected. Amendment 177, those in favor, against, abstentions, rejected. Amendment 189, those in favor, against, abstentions, rejected.
Amendment 190, those in favor, against, abstentions, let's check 190.
I open the vote. I close the vote. Adopted with 25 in favor and 24 against. Amendment 191. Those in favor.
Those against. Abstentions. And we're going to check this one as well. 191, I open the vote. I close the vote.
Adopted, 27 in favor and 21 against. Amendment 194, those in favor. Against. Abstentions. Rejected.
Amendment 216, those in favor. Against. Abstentions. Rejected. Amendment 220, those in favor.
Against. Abstentions. Rejected. 224 is a roll call vote, I open the vote. I close the vote.
Adopted, 24 in favor, 21 against, 4 abstentions. Amendment 223 is a roll call vote, I open the vote. I close the vote. Adopted. 228 is a roll call vote, I open the vote.
I close the vote. Adopted. 230 is a roll call vote and a split vote, so I open the vote for part 1. Close the vote. Adopted.
I open the vote for the for part number 2. Amendment 230, part 2. I close the vote. And it is adopted. Amendment 232 and 57 are identical, so they will be voted together and it is a roll call vote.
I open the vote. I close the vote. It is rejected, 21 against, 21 in favor, 7 abstentions. Amendment 234 is a roll call vote, I open the vote. I close the vote.
Adopted. Amendment 237, those in favor. Those against. Abstentions. Rejected.
Amendment 239, those in favor. Against. Abstentions. Rejected. Amendment 242, those in favor.
Against.
Abstentions? Rejected. 244, those in favor? Against? Abstentions?
Rejected. Do you want to check? Let's check 244. I open the vote. I close the vote.
Adopted. 246, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions? Now I'm going to check this one as well.
246, I open the vote. I close the vote. Rejected. 250 is a roll call vote. I open the vote.
I close the vote. Adopted. 254, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions?
Rejected. 256, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions? Rejected.
258, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions? Rejected. 264, those in favor?
Those against? Abstentions? Rejected. 269, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions? Rejected. 272, those in favor? Can you show once again those in favor? Against?
Abstentions? Let's check this one. 272, I open the vote. I close the vote. Rejected.
273, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions? Adopted. 278, those in favor?
Against? Abstentions? Rejected. 280, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions? Rejected. 281, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions?
Rejected. 284, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions? Let's check 284.
I open the vote. I close the vote. Rejected. 286, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions? Rejected. 287, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions?
Rejected. For 287? Okay, I open the vote for 287. I close the vote. Rejected.
288, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions? Rejected. 140, those in favor?
Those against? Abstentions? Rejected. 141, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions? Let's check this one, 141. I open the vote. I close the vote. Rejected.
142, those in favor?
Those against? Abstentions, rejected. Amendment 71, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions, rejected.
72, those in favor? Against? Abstentions, rejected. 73, those in favor? Against?
Abstentions, rejected. 74, those in favor? Against? Abstentions, rejected. Amendment 85, those in favor?
Against? Abstentions, rejected. 86, in favor? Against? Abstentions, rejected.
87, in favor? Against? Abstentions, rejected. Amendment 96, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions, let's check 96, I open the vote. I close the vote. Rejected, 25 against, 24 in favor. Amendment 102, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions, let's check 102, I open the vote. I close the vote. Adopted. Amendment 110, those in favor? Those against?
Abstentions, rejected. 113, those in favor? Against? Abstentions, rejected. 114 is inadmissible, so no vote.
Next is amendment 135, those in favor? Those against? Abstentions, rejected. And the final vote is a roll-call vote, I open the vote. I close the vote.
And it is adopted with 46 in favor, one against, and two abstentions. Then we move on to the next vote, which is the opinion in form of a letter on the mobilization of the European Globalization Adjustment Fund for displaced workers following an application from Belgium. This is a single electronic vote. A roll-call vote, are you ready? I open the vote.
I close the vote. And it is adopted with 41 in favor, one against.
All right, colleagues, we are continuing. We are continuing with the next item on the agenda, which is the consideration of amendments to the draft report on establishing the European Social Fund as part of the national and regional partnership plans set out in the NRPP regulation, establishing conditions for the implementation of the Union support to quality employment, skills, and social inclusion for 2028 to 34. Over 400 amendments have been tabled, highlighting the importance of this subject. And I will start by giving the floor to our co-rapporteurs, Mr. Casa and Mrs. Mai, to comment on these amendments. You're okay, so Mr. Radtke will replace Mr. Casa.
I will start with you for the first three minutes.
Dennis Radtke
Okay, thank you very much. Yeah, David Casa is unfortunately ill, so he asked me to read this out on his behalf. Thank you, Chair, dear colleagues. Mr. Casa would like firstly to thank everyone who tabled amendments to the ESF.
They make important contributions to this fund and he wants to thank not only the shadows but also the rapporteurs of the opinion-giving committees and each EMPL member who made their voice heard. This is a very good basis to start negotiating. On some areas I see that there is a majority for a common approach. I think we all understand the importance of having a strong social fund and this, that this regulation is the best place to design its measures. On other areas Mr. Casa is looking forward to working with you to get closer to each other and to find a position that we can defend as one Parliament.
And in fact the rapporteurs will be doing this this Thursday where they will have more time than we do today to exchange our views in greater detail. It is important to mention that we are guided by the interim report which sets a budget line for the ESF and calls for a separate and stand-alone programme. This reflects the consensus from stakeholder and European and national levels. Every organisation we spoke with leading to this moment has stressed how important this is, a strong ESF with clear objectives that provides predictable investments. In our draft report this is what Madrid and oh no, this is for the conclusion.
Do I get the floor second time? Okay. It's for later.
Marit Maij
Yes, thank you very much Chair and I'd like to echo the words of Mr. Casa as they were pronounced by our colleague Radtke on his behalf. We want to thank all the, all the colleagues for, for their amendments. I think we counted almost 500. So we see that most of these amendments they go into a direction that we also support. The most important element I think that we, that we have also stressed in our previous discussion here is that we have a strong stand-alone ESF, that we have an ESF with a good budget but also with some clear targets and I think we are able on the basis of what we have seen from, from the amendments to work on, oops, to work on these targets.
As it goes for the support of our colleagues and also I think on the basis of what we have seen from the civil society organisations from all the other information that we've heard, I think we, we see that we are going on a good path forward, that we are working on a strong ESF that can help us with the, the fulfilment of the social targets of the European Social Fund. And I think it's also important to stress that on this Thursday we will start with our first shadows meeting where we can go a little bit further into depth into the first directions that we will, that we will have with each other. So I think so far this was a very good first round of, of amendments. Thank you very much.
Speaker 9
Thank you and then the floor to the shadow rapporteurs, starting with Mrs. Werthbrook from the Patriots.
Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain
Oui, merci. Merci bien chers collègues, chers rapporteurs, les choses en fait n'ont pas évolué depuis la dernière fois où nous avons débattu de cette, de ce sujet dans cette commission. Donc rien à ajouter sur le fond.
La décision de la conférence des présidents a été ajournée alors que nous aurions pu être fixés dès maintenant. Madame et Monsieur le co-rapporteur, j'aurais quand même une question. Vos groupes respectifs PPE et S&D ont bien conclu un accord, accord sur lequel vous vous êtes arrogé tous les dossiers du CFP. Vous avez donc forcément les lignes de conduite conclues par votre groupe, par vos groupes. Ainsi, on vous a vu voter aussi en faveur du rapport intérimaire qui parle du FSE autonome et distinct.
Pouvez-vous nous dire, pour dissiper un peu l'incertitude, si vos groupes respectifs vous soutiennent dans cette initiative, s'ils entendent bien les mots autonome et distinct de la même manière que nous, à savoir l'autonomie des PNR, peut-être même l'autonomie des logiques de jalons et de cibles ? Ou bien faites-vous cavalier seul, et si c'est le cas, je crains bien que nous perdions un temps précieux. Il faut jouer cartes sur table, et ces cartes, vous vous êtes arrangés pour les mettre dans vos manches depuis le début du mandat. C'est donc vous qui pouvez nous dire ce qu'il adviendra, et le plus tôt sera le mieux. Merci.
Speaker 14
Thank you very much. I do not have the shadow rapporteur from the ECR here. Oh, sorry, here they are. Sorry, sorry. And Mrs. Todorescu, please, the floor is yours.
Georgiana Teodorescu
Thank you, Chair. Dear colleagues, the European Commission sent us this proposal for the next ESF as a flagship for investing in people. But let us be honest, in its current form, it risks being an empty shell. First and most important, the basics are missing: the budget. Without clear and credible funding, this is not a strategy, it is a promise without substance.
Second, what is presented as coordination risks becomes control. The tight alignment with the European Semester and centralized programming under national and regional partnership plans may reduce Member States' ability to set their own priorities. Europe's labor markets are diverse and they require flexibility, not one-size-fits-all governance. How should we improve this proposal? First of all, we need to have a standalone ESF with a dedicated budget.
We should reduce administrative centralization and avoid micromanagement by the Commission. We should ensure genuine flexibility for national labor market models. We should prioritize skills, productivity, demographic resilience, and economic competitiveness, not abstract targets detached from economic reality. Funding should empower people into work, not prescribe social outcomes from above. And finally, we must simplify implementation: fewer rules, fewer reports, more results.
Thank you.
Speaker 13
Thank you very much, and my apologies again. Then from Renew, Mrs. Van den Berg.
Yes, thank you very much. We are of course in the middle of the process of getting to the best result for the ESF fund. I think that we all agree that we need to make sure that the goals of the Social Fund are upheld in our future MFF with a standalone ESF when it comes to budget. We think that some relation to the NRPP can be constructive to make sure that we can look at also in an look at the goals in an integral way. But I think in the I'm looking forward to the negotiations on the basic of our amendments.
We have proposed a constructive package to make sure that together we can come to the best result. Thank you very much.
Maria Ohisalo
Thank you very much. And from the Greens, Mrs. Ohisalo representing Mr. Somdown.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the co-rapporteurs for the draft and I'm reading this short message on behalf of shadow rapporteurs Ville Sondal and Kirsi-Marja Peter-Hansen. So it is clear that most of us working on this file agree on what is important for the Social Fund: creating a more just and equal European Union where we help the most vulnerable and where we fight poverty and social exclusion.
It has been a shame that we have spent so much time fighting over what a standalone fund means. We hope that we can find a way to fight for a social union where the social fund is in central, but not the only idea in the system and economy of the EU, where we fight for social justice and equality. We do not always agree on what the root causes are and what needs to change. As Greens, we hope that we can cooperate in sending a strong signal about the need for a strong ESF regulation where we secure funding for people in vulnerable situations, for gender equality, for children living in poverty, for lifelong learning, education, for a fair labour market and for a just green and digital transition.
Li Andersson
Thank you very much. And from the Left, representing the shadow Mrs. Galan, I have Mr. Arvanitis.
Konstantinos Arvanitis
Καλημέρα, ευχαριστώ. Μιλώ εκ μέρους της συναδέλφου μου της κυρίας Εστρέγια Γκαλάν, σκιώδους εισηγήτριας της Αριστεράς για την παρούσα έκθεση.
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