Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Ordinary meeting
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EMPL European Parliament
Follow its sittingsCiaran Mullooly
But many open questions remain for us to deal with, notably on the definitions and the comparable data available on homelessness. So, Chair, I want to say that you will find the housing committee more than cooperative and more than willing to work with you in the coming months. There is a willingness there among all of our colleagues across all sides of the Parliament to work closely with EMPL as this file moves forward in the Council. And indeed, I note on your next point in the agenda today, my colleague from Ireland, the Irish Minister coming in, the Minister dealing with rural and community affairs and social matters. It is a rather important matter for the Irish.
They will have the baton in their hands now for the coming six months.
Regrettably, I'm going to another committee myself to deal with matter of legislation in a few moments, but I'll be watching carefully what our colleague, the minister, has to say. So once again, thank you for the invitation and I look forward to this morning's debate. Thank you.
Thank you very much and on behalf of the EMPL committee, we of course also highly value the good cooperation that we have with HOUSE. So thank you very much, Mr. Malouli, and I would now give the floor to Jiri Svarc, who is head of unit for social policies, child guarantee and the social protection committee at the European Commission for eight minutes. Please, the floor is yours.
Jiri Svarc
Many thanks for this opportunity and many thanks for the committees to put this on the agenda of your work. I would start with mentioning the principle 19 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which effectively recognizes access to social housing and support to homeless people as a fundamental social right.
This was also our departing point when we prepared the EU anti-poverty strategy, which recognizes homelessness as housing exclusion as one of the worst forms of poverty. In this context, it's also important to recall the Lisbon Declaration from the 2021, where the member states and the EU institutions and civil society committed to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. All this has led to preparation of our proposal for the recommendation on fighting housing exclusion as an important step to deliver on that commitment. And to this end, we support the European platform on combating homelessness, which has an important role in mobilizing stakeholders to address homelessness. The affordable housing plan that was launched at the end of last year included a dedicated pillar on protecting the most affected groups.
And this is also where the recommendation is firmly embedded. So the European framework is strong. And I'm trying to move the slides. I think I'll need to ask colleagues for the next one. Yeah, if you can move the slides, please.
Okay, in any case, I'll continue before we sort this out. The recommendation aims to support Member States in preventing the housing exclusion and addressing the needs of those who are experiencing homelessness or living in a precarious housing situation. It shows the strong focus on prevention, including early identification of needs and avoiding transition to homelessness. And to this extent, we put a focus on developing national, local or regional strategic frameworks to ensure coordinated and long-term responses. It promotes person-centered approaches.
This is key. It also support housing-led policies. This is where the housing first approaches fit in. And it also calls for integrated actions. It is about joining different policy strands, different institutional setups to work for the same objective.
Before presenting the substantive measures, it is important to clarify the basic concepts throughout the recommendations. Housing exclusion is broadly understood as a lack of access to adequate and secure housing and includes also homelessness. The focus on housing exclusion is a demonstration of our focus on preventative measures. We don't, we didn't want to focus only on fighting the consequences, the homelessness itself, but also supporting measures that are of preventative nature, and this is where the concept of housing exclusion comes from. The recommendation starts with a very simple premise that effective policies require a reliable evidence and early identification of those who need support.
This is the first pillar of the recommendation: identifying those who need the support, both in terms of prevention and also measures addressing the precarious situations themselves. This is why the recommendation also calls for measures like developing of early warning systems, better coordination of services, social services in particular, and also strengthening the development of evidence-based solutions. There is a dedicated block of the recommendation that focuses on preventative measures aiming to support early interventions, preventative measures, preventing evictions, focusing on those at most risk, including children or families with children or young people leaving care and other vulnerable groups, and also ensuring that discrimination and stigma do not become additional barriers to access housing support.
The the third block of the recommendation is dedicated to supporting people who are experiencing homelessness. Those are the ones who need to receive timely, immediate, integrated and person-centered support. including access to emergency solutions, but also offering more long-term accommodation solutions that will remain safe, accessible and that are supported with appropriate social services. It is not only about housing, it is also about linking housing policies with social services to make sure that the exit from homelessness becomes sustainable. Next block of recommendation focuses on access to adequate and secure housing solutions.
And this is more, if you want, the supply side of the of the solution. Looking at structural measures to make sure that social housing or emergency housing is available to address the immediate needs.
Recognizing that there is no single housing model that fits all the contexts, the recommendation promotes a range of affordability-oriented solutions, from social housing to housing cooperatives or community-led initiatives or innovative co-living models. So this is on the supply side. The next and last block is focusing on good governance, monitoring, and evaluation. This is an important base for effective implementation of policies, ensuring that we put the efforts and resources where they can make most of the difference. It is important to create robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, including reporting every five years on accessing, sorry, on assessing the progress in delivering on the recommendation.
Last but not least, Member States are encouraged to involve people with lived experience of homelessness.
It is important to create solutions with those who do have the experience and who are suffering from homelessness or housing exclusion. So in a nutshell, this is a presentation of the main scope of the recommendation. It is obviously much more richer in details that I could have presented today, and we're very happy that it's now being negotiated in the Council and we hope for its early adoption and start of implementation as soon as possible because the challenges are pressing. Thank you.
Li Andersson
Thank you very much. We then move on to the Q&A session, and for the first round, we will do ping-pong format, meaning a question and answer directly afterwards for a maximum of two minutes. So starting with the group coordinators or other representatives, is there anyone from EPP speaking in the first round? Yes, Mrs. Lekalaneck.
Merci Madame la Présidente. Merci infiniment pour cette présentation. Comme vous l'avez dit le 6 mai dans le cadre de la stratégie anti-pauvreté, la Commission européenne a présenté une proposition de recommandation du Conseil sur l'exclusion liée au logement. Je suis membre de la commission spéciale logement.
Isabelle Le Callennec
Cette proposition s'inscrit dans la stratégie anti-pauvreté de l'UE et dans le plan européen pour le logement abordable qui comprend un volet de lutte contre le sans-abrisme. Alors la recommandation met l'accent sur trois idées majeures que je retiens : la prévention des expulsions. J'ai été élue locale, je le suis toujours et je pense que c'est effectivement le premier point à aborder. Le développement des solutions de logement d'abord. En France, c'est une notion que nous avons intégrée.
Et le renforcement de l'offre de logements sociaux et abordables. C'est tout l'objet en fait de ce que nous proposons dans la commission spéciale logement. Alors au-delà des recommandations aux États membres qui, j'espère, feront florès dans nos différents pays, qu'est-ce qui peut être attendu de l'Union ? Moi j'ai envie de dire des financements, notamment dans le cadre du cadre financier pluriannuel et de la plateforme paneuropéenne de financement du logement. Et puis une stratégie efficace de lutte contre l'exclusion en matière de logement et de lutte contre le sans-abrisme.
Et pour ça, je pense que nous devons nous appuyer sur les collectivités locales, sur les régions et sur nos États membres. Il existe des initiatives et ce qui serait utile, c'est que l'Union européenne vienne en appui, en soutien à ces initiatives. En tous les cas, merci infiniment pour ce rapport que nous allons évidemment diffuser, je pense, dans nos différents États membres. Merci.
Thank you very much, Mr. Sfarc.
Jiri Svarc
Thank you. Thank you for the comments. You raised an important issue of financing. This is obviously very important for making sure that all the solutions can be implemented. It was mentioned at the beginning that obviously housing policies and also social policies are in principle competence of the Member States, and we will support Member States in ensuring that their strategic frameworks offer a good framework for financing and effective financing solutions also from the EU funding.
Obviously, the negotiations on the next MFF are ongoing, so here we cannot envisage the results, but already in the Commission proposal, there is a strong focus on social aspects within the European Social Fund, with the proposed ring-fencing of national reform plans to address social issues. So the basis is there, and it will obviously be also up to Member States to ensure that the implementation happens correctly and efficiently on the spot. We also currently support within the European Platform to Combat Homelessness a number of pilot projects, possibility to share good experiences from the ground, to put a menu of effective solutions that can be shared, and we also are funding several studies to make sure that there is an available evidence for Member States, including for the local levels, to understand the extent of the challenge and to be equipped to provide for...
Gabriele Bischoff
Good morning everybody. I am also a member of the Housing Committee and the EMPL Committee, like my colleague from the EPP, and I think really that we have to, to, to think this together, on one hand fighting poverty and also fighting housing exclusion. And I think that we still have one million people that are affected by homelessness in a continent like Europe is really a shame. We are not lacking ambitious goals, we are not lacking sort of declarations and recommendations, and I support the proposal of the Commission here, and I think it's good to put the spotlight on it, but I think if we really want to tackle it, we really need to be more concrete. I listened very carefully to the Commission, but when I look at the proposals of the Commission on the next ESF, I can see, and even the projections of the Commission show it, that some Member States will have up to 50% less for social, for the Social Fund.
So you cannot do more with less money. So I think it will be essential that we really have an ESF self-standing with earmarking also for these goals that we all committed to: member states, Commission, the Parliament, if we really want to fight more serious homelessness. And I think building on the work that we do in the housing committee, we will have the EIB financing platform. I think also here that we earmark certain money for social housing and especially housing first. And I think if this approach that was supported so much also by the European Social Fund to make to make it possible because this is a very successful approach here.
So my question to the to the Commission is if we want to really fight it and implement it, don't you think and how would you think could we earmark this and make sure that we don't have less money in the member states for the next years to achieve our goals to abolish homelessness.
And Mr. Svoboda.
Jiri Svarc
Thank you for the question.
Obviously I cannot really comment on the negotiations on the next MFF. This is now in the hands of budgetary authorities. What I would like to emphasize is that now at this crucial moment we from the Commission are putting forward a number of tools to make all the fight against housing exclusion and homelessness happen. We putting forward a guidance that is presented in the form of this proposal for Council recommendation. We are supporting stakeholder engagement with the platform to combat homelessness to make sure that we bring together all the experts and member states and civil society who can act.
We are financing a number of pilot projects to show good practices and we are also preparing a number of or have prepared a number of studies to show the evidence base.
So all this, we believe, is a very good departing point for the member states to show how and where to program the resources that will come from the EU budget. But obviously the EU budget will not be able to solve all the problems, and we expect that this guidance and evidence base and best practices will also incentivize member states to put their resources to efficient solutions to combat housing exclusion and homelessness themselves.
Li Andersson
Thank you very much. Mrs. Toom, are you speaking for Renew? Yes, please, floor is yours.
Jana Toom
Yes, thank you, thank you very much, Chair, and thank you for your presentation. I had, I had some speaking notes prepared, but I'm kind of triggered with this, you know, tool thing, you know, let's define tool. I mean, tools are more efficient and less efficient, we all know that. And I'm also the member, like many here, of both committees, Housing and Employment, and my main concern is that the promise was actually much bigger than what we are going to deliver. And this is, I kind of, you know, this is the main problem here in this house and in Europe in general, which is sad.
I don't blame you, of course, I understand that you are acting in the given frame, but I would wish that we are more moderate in our promises and more constructive in our work.
But this is like lyrics. There are some good really elements in the proposal of Council recommendations and I want to emphasize two of them: the promotion of housing first model and the focus on prevention. These are exactly the most important elements because being homeless is such a shock to someone's life that starts to create more problems ending up in never-ending cycle. But the question is how do we follow up on these good elements? Even when the proposal will get adopted, it will still be just recommendation.
Do you feel that member states are really feeling the urgency to act in accordance with the political pressure from this house and the focus on the Commission on this issue? I also want to highlight that the proposal does not talk about the criminalization of homelessness, which we know is still an issue in some parts of Europe. Here is again this principle of homelessness bringing with more and more problems. Such criminalization does not do anything to address the root cause and instead it ends up being yet another problem. Why did not Commission address this?
And last but not least, it is also very good to see the focus on ensuring no child lacks adequate housing and preserving family unity. But what can we do to have better alignment between the European Child Guarantee and the principles of this recommendation? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Švarc.
Jiri Svarc
Thank you. On the first part of the question, with the different actions that the Commission is putting together, we don't want to be modest on housing crisis and housing exclusion. That's why the Commission has a Commissioner for housing, that's why we have the Affordable Housing Plan, which offers a number of different actions to support solutions for more affordable housing, and the recommendation is one of them. So this is one part of the puzzle. And with all those initiatives, we want to incentivize Member States to act on this urgency, and all these tools we believe could make a difference with the Member States.
And we're also glad that, for example, the presidencies are putting adequate attention to these issues, and we collaborate with them to make sure that the urgency is felt, and we believe there is a good response also on our proposals from Member States.
On criminalization we understand or I understand your your point. The recommendation focuses on a number of positive measures that will also have impact on fighting the the criminalization of of homelessness. The supporting of social services, supporting of fighting evictions or forced evictions and many other measures will we believe help also to fight criminalization of homelessness.
On aligning child guarantee with the recommendation, but also with the wider housing policies, I would refer to the strengthening of the child guarantee communication, which was adopted at the beginning of May together with the anti-poverty strategy, which is also strong on the issues of transition from childhood to adulthood and also supporting families in their precarious situations, including housing situations. And one of the concrete measures is indeed the young people transitioning from care into adulthood and they should be supported in terms of housing as well.
Maria Ohisalo
Thank you very much, Chair, and colleagues, and thank you, Mr. Schvartz and the whole Commission for this recommendation, really welcomed. And I'm really delighted that we are talking about the housing exclusion and homelessness. And as a former poverty researcher and an advocate of housing first principle, this topic is really close to my heart. And especially I want to thank for the housing-led approach in this recommendation, because we all know there is already quite a bit of, quite a lot of good evidence that shelters do not solve homelessness.
So let's really push towards this direction to really put real homes into place. And I'm also pleased that the housing committee is coming to my home country Finland next week. Next Wednesday we are in Helsinki and we're going to check the good housing first models and many NGOs working on those. However, I must underline that there are limitations of course to this council recommendation. And I think it suffers from the same pattern as many EU social policy initiatives.
It has a strong narrative and correct diagnosis of challenge at hand, but the offered solutions are limited to guidance, mutual learning and reliance on existing funds. So no new resources, no new legislation, no hard accountability. The gap between the stated ambition and the measures to achieve it, I think is too wide. And more specifically, the recommendation offers no EU common EU benchmarks, no analysis of costs, feasibility or expected outcomes underpinning the specific measures outlined in the recommendation.
No solution to the lack of comparable data on homelessness, no solutions for better coordination between other frameworks that mention housing exclusion as a priority, such as the Roma strategy, affordable housing plan, disability rights strategy and others. And no recommendation for a stronger integration of housing exclusion in the European Semester. Simple monitoring in the semester is not enough, it should be coupled with country-specific recommendations in order to bring it higher on its agenda. So, dear colleagues, everybody, homelessness is not inevitable, we can solve it if there is enough political will for that. And I hope that we are able together to move beyond recommendations.
Thank you very much, Mrs. Svak.
Jiri Svarc
Thank you. Indeed, housing-led solutions are at the core of the recommendation and this is where housing first approaches fit and many member states are picking up on this and we'll be happy to support them. I understand your comment about the solutions.
We need to understand that, and this was already highlighted on a number of occasions, that the main responsibility to act is on the Member States and we are providing the support in terms of guidance, evidence, piloting, and also some EU funding resources as well. On missing benchmarks, I would like to maybe draw your attention to one of the projects that we have funded and that's the Homelessness Count, where we indeed attempted to provide for methodologies to ensure consistent evidence-based with counting the homelessness in different places of Europe. This ideally would lead to better indicators that we can then use for our policy making. And in this context, we have also, we are also cooperating with OECD on their counts and methodology. So we hope that these benchmarks will further develop, but as you can imagine, this is very difficult and will indeed require time and resources.
We believe that the recommendation is very well embedded in the other strategies that I have mentioned: housing plan, child guarantee, anti-poverty strategy and others. And we will further work on mainstreaming, which is one of the objectives of the platform to combat homelessness, to make sure that it is very well reflected in implementation of other strategies.
Leila Chaibi
Thank you, Chair. I'm going to speak in French. Merci pour la présentation de cette recommandation. Je parle également comme un certain nombre de collègues ici avec la double casquette EMPL et HOUS. Et je regrette qu'il n'y ait pas beaucoup de collègues de HOUS qui n'ont pas la double casquette EMPL et HOUS.
Et je me félicite qu'on parle du logement sous son angle social, ce qui est trop peu fait en commission logement. Et quand c'est fait, on l'a vu encore cette semaine, malheureusement, c'est plutôt la gauche de l'hémicycle qui est représentée en commission que la droite et les groupes de droite. Voilà. Ceci dit, donc, comme les collègues l'ont dit, cette recommandation, elle est très bonne. Le contenu est excellent.
Mais je regrette que ce soit simplement une recommandation et pas quelque chose de contraignant pour les États membres.
Alors vous justifiez le fait que ce soit une recommandation sur le fait que l'article 153 du TFUE ne permet pas de faire une directive sur l'exclusion sociale liée au logement. Effectivement, l'article 153, il concerne les droits des travailleurs, mais on pourrait penser à une autre base, par exemple un programme européen Housing First qui permettrait donc, ça a été relevé par ma collègue Maria effectivement parce qu'on sait que la Finlande est fer de lance sur ce sujet, ce serait une politique efficace pour baisser le taux de sans-abrisme, permettrait de financer et de coordonner une approche du logement qui serait proche de ce qui est dit dans cette recommandation, une approche axée sur l'être humain. Un certain nombre d'autres questions ont déjà été posées par les collègues, je vais pas les répéter. Peut-être souligner le rôle de la plateforme européenne de lutte contre le sans-abrisme, la plateforme EPOCH. Alors ma question là à la Commission concerne la gouvernance d'EPOCH et les moyens qui lui sont donnés.
Est-ce que vous pouvez nous dire combien de personnes sont affectées à temps plein sur cette plateforme-là et est-ce que vous comptez renforcer cette plateforme d'ici la fin du mandat ? Je pense qu'il y en a besoin. Il y a besoin de donner des moyens à cette plateforme et de faire en sorte qu'elle mène des actions qui soient pas simplement une mutualisation des bonnes pratiques au niveau européen.
Sur le MFF, vous avez répondu. Peut-être une dernière chose. Vous appelez à soutenir le logement public et social. Il y a différents instruments qui peuvent permettre de soutenir la construction de logement public et social. Ça relève du marché intérieur.
On sait qu'il va y avoir une réforme des aides d'État et une prochaine législation sur le Affordable Construction Act, pardon, le Construction Act. Ce serait aussi une bonne façon pour faire en sorte que ces recommandations soient transférées finalement dans le plan d'action européen sur le logement, mais de façon contraignante et pas uniquement sous forme de recommandations, que ça devienne vraiment des objectifs contraignants. Merci d'avance pour vos réponses.
Thank you, Mr. Foll.
Jiri Svarc
Many thanks. I will not comment on the points that relate to financing of different European projects or actions that I have already addressed.
On your point on the platform to combat homelessness, it is indeed an important forum that gathers around 100 people usually for our different interactions, including Member States, including civil society, including European Parliament and Committee of the Regions and European and Social Committee and other stakeholders. So we believe that this is the right place to discuss policies, best practices and solutions that can be offered. As I mentioned, within the platform, we offer a number of mutual learning and exchanges among stakeholders, policy discussions. I would maybe highlight the toolkit to address homelessness that was developed together with the OECD and which is basically a cookbook for practitioners to implement strategies to combat homelessness. So this is just one of the actions proposed.
We have also, as I mentioned, funded pilot projects and we're talking about 10 million euro here and another number of millions for different individual actions.
This is obviously supporting the work of the platform as a forum of practitioners, of experts. And we believe that this should be accompanied and will be accompanied by actions on the ground supported by Member States as well.
Li Andersson
Thank you very much. And we then move to the second round of questions. So if there are members that wish to take the floor under catch the eye, please indicate so. The first speaker I have on my list is Mr. Ó Ríordáin from S&D.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Thank you very much. And as a member of this committee and the housing committee, I'm really appreciate this opportunity to talk about this important issue. I mean, in my home city of Dublin, we have 4,000 homeless children. We have 1,700 homeless people on one street, which I visited with my good friend there a number of weeks ago. We have children doing their homework on fire escapes.
When I started teaching in Dublin 20 years ago in a disadvantaged area, doing your homework on the floor of your cramped space was considered to be a disgrace. Now the children are doing it on fire escapes.
And what I really want to know is where the emphasis is on evictions, and specifically no-fault evictions. And you've the Commission's own country-specific report this year names tenancy terminations as a major driver of Ireland's record homelessness. For example, we had a case study last week in Strasbourg of a woman from Dublin who's been evicted three times, no-fault evictions three times, got references from each of her landlords, no problem, and her housing vulnerability was only solved by being housed by the local authority. So what is being proposed to tackle the issue of evictions, which is driving families and particularly children into homelessness? Because I think we are doing as much, or we are talking a lot about what to do when somebody enters homelessness, but I think as you previously alluded to, what are we going to do to prevent the flow into homelessness and to tackle the imbalance of rights there?
Thank you.
Thank you very much. And from the Left, Mr. Arvanitis.
Konstantinos Arvanitis
Καλημέρα, ευχαριστώ. Η κατεύθυνση της πρότασης, εντάξει, συστάσεις είναι, τα κράτη μέλη δεν ακούνε άλλωστε τις περισσότερες φορές, είναι θετική αλλά θα έλεγα ότι είναι άτολμη, μην πω άνευρη.
Θα σας πω τώρα τι σημαίνει για την Ελλάδα, στην πατρίδα μου, το θέμα της στέγης. Ο μισθός στην Ελλάδα ο κατώτατος είναι 920 ευρώ. Το ενοίκιο στην Αθήνα κυμαίνεται από 500 έως 1.200 ευρώ τα 80 τετραγωνικά. Οπότε εδώ δεν μπαίνει μόνο το δικαίωμα της στέγης για αυτούς που έχουν στέγη, αλλά και για αυτούς που αναζητούν στέγη καθώς υπάρχει το μεγάλο πρόβλημα με το Airbnb, οπότε μπαίνει το βασικό ερώτημα, αγαθό, προϊόν και τι κάνουμε εμείς σε όλη αυτή τη διαδικασία. Σας θυμίζω ότι αυτές τις μέρες στην Αθήνα ζούμε ένα δράμα καθώς 400 άνθρωποι στα προσφυγικά της Αλεξάνδρας καλούνται από το κράτος να εγκαταλείψουν το χώρο.
Μιλάμε δηλαδή για παιδιά, μιλάμε για φτωχούς ανθρώπους με σοβαρά προβλήματα υγείας που ανάγκασαν συμπολίτες μας να προχωρήσουν σε απεργία πείνας 140 ημερών για το δικαίωμα στη στέγη.
Και εδώ μπαίνει το ερώτημα αν εμείς, η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση, χρηματοδοτούμε νέου τύπου αστεγία, παραδείγματος χάρη στα προσφυγικά. Ρωτώ. Πώς θα στηριχθούν τα κράτη μέλη που αντιμετωπίζουν οξεία στεγαστική κρίση και δεν διαθέτουν επαρκή κοινωνική κατοικία, όπως εμάς; Δεύτερον, ποιες εγγυήσεις θα αποτρέπουν τη χρήση δημόσιων και ευρωπαϊκών πόρων για έργα που οδηγούν σε εξώσεις και εκτοπισμό των υφιστάμενων κατοίκων; Ευχαριστώ.
Isilda Gomes
Muito obrigada, senhora presidente. Naturalmente que fico satisfeita pelo facto de haver aqui uma orientação e de tudo aquilo que se tem falado aqui dos sem-abrigo. Mas sem habitação não haverá uma estrutura familiar e sem uma estrutura familiar não há uma sociedade sólida. Regozijo-me pelo facto de preverem uma monitorização e avaliação. Mas se isto é só uma recomendação, o que é que vai acontecer se os Estados-Membros não cumprirem?
É só uma recomendação e, portanto, esta monitorização e avaliação ficará só pelos números para a nossa simples informação.
E depois, a Comissão diz que vai disponibilizar recursos. O melhor recurso que pode, ou as melhores ferramentas que pode disponibilizar, é verbas fixas. Haver, de facto, um pacote para apoiar a habitação. Sem esse pacote e deixar nas mãos dos Estados-membros, vai acontecer o mesmo que tem acontecido até aqui. Até aqui, os Estados-membros não resolveram o problema.
E vão continuar a não resolver se não houver por parte da Comissão, eu diria não uma recomendação, ou por parte de, obviamente, todos nós, não uma proposta de recomendação do Conselho, mas uma orientação praticamente obrigatória. Obrigatória. Porque retirar as pessoas da rua, fazer com que as pessoas vivam melhor, é a obrigação de qualquer governo. Não há governo nenhum que não tenha que ter este objetivo no seu programa. E, portanto, acho que estamos... é a garrafa ou o copo meio cheio e o copo meio vazio.
Muito obrigada.
Thank you very much. And Mr. Angel.
Marc Angel
Yes, thank you very much. We know that discrimination and vulnerable groups, my Irish colleague mentioned the children, the many minors who are homeless, but also people from the LGBTQ community, we know that they have also problems when it comes to housing exclusion and homelessness, especially trans persons, but other ethnic groups.
And we have anti-discrimination legislation in Europe, but we are still lacking the horizontal anti-discrimination directive. Do you also think that we need to finally have an agreement in the Council to get this horizontal anti-discrimination directive, the former equal treatment directive, to really that would also enforce the Council recommendation, the recommendation we're discussing right now? I think there is a lot of elements which can help make the document we're discussing now getting more teeth to be able to be effective, apart of course the question of financial resources which colleagues have mentioned. But we need also more legislation to combat discrimination in this field of housing. Thank you.
Thank you very much, and then Mr. Scharf answers and also possible closing remarks for six minutes.
Jiri Svarc
Thank you.
Thank you for the pertinent questions raised. We overall, I think what with the packages and initiatives that the Commission has put forward in the especially in the last year in the area of housing and housing exclusion in particular, I think we showed on our part that we are committed to fight housing exclusion, homelessness and support more social housing and housing affordability. We obviously on the Commission side are working with tools that are conferred to us by the treaty. And many times the key responsibilities for policies, housing policies, social policies are with Member States and we are doing our maximum to provide them with adequate tools to address this pertinent challenges. So that's maybe overall overall reaction.
That also is linked with the remarks on evictions. Again, the recommendation asks the Member States to properly examine their, their eviction processes to make sure that they are fair, to make sure that there is no forced evictions happening, that people are also offered protective measures in case of necessary eviction procedures. So the recommendation offers some directions and solutions to Member States to adapt their legislation or their processes in this, in this area. Some of you mentioned also inadequate income. Again, this is something that also the recommendation addresses to, is asking the Member States to look at the policies on income that relates to, that relates to housing, that adequacy is part of their assessment of policies or appropriate policies to address housing exclusion and homelessness.
And again, maybe I would really emphasize that this recommendation is really part of the package of a number of actions that were taken and that also will be taken by the Commission in line with the affordable housing plan.
This is not the last initiative of the Commission in the area of housing. So we will remain active and we will remain offering solutions to Member States. Obviously, it is not only up to Commission to make things happen. We really need to work together with all the institutions, including Parliament and other EU-level bodies, and especially Member States, but also including local and regional authorities and civil society, who is often offering very practical measures and solutions to address the burning needs on the ground. So with that, maybe I would conclude that Commission remains committed, is using the tools that are at its disposal and will continue to do so.
We will continue to work with the platform on combating homelessness, make sure it offers the place to stakeholders to address their concerns and offer solutions. We will make sure that the different strategies and actions and measures taken will support addressing homelessness. I will not comment on the discrimination legislation. I don't think we have a space here to discuss this, but again, I think and I understood also from your remarks that there is an appreciation also of the Commission actions that are putting on the table initiatives to address different forms of discrimination. And again, recently there were a number of initiatives starting with the gender equality strategy, LGBTQ strategy and so on that proves this point.
So with that, I would close my remarks. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Spark, and thank you also to the members for the active participation. And we are continuing with the Irish presidency right away, so please stay in your seats.
Li Andersson
All right, colleagues, if I can please ask you to take your seats. So, we continue our committee meeting with the presentation of the Council Presidency's program. I would like to mention first that for this presentation, Irish as a passive language will be provided.
And I would like to very warmly welcome Mr. Dara Calleary, Irish Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. And I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for the invitation and for your warm hospitality during the informal EPSCO meeting which I had the pleasure of attending last week in beautiful Ballina, County Mayo. And I greatly appreciated also the engaging discussions that were held there on preventing poverty, strengthening enforcement and protection of workers' rights, and improving labor market participation of persons with disabilities, all also topics that have been greatly debated and discussed here in our committee. So today we will hear more about the Irish Presidency program and the priorities, and we'll start by giving the floor to you, Mr. Calleary, for the for 12 minutes. So please, the floor is yours.
Dara Calleary
Thank you very much, Chair. Good morning, members.
I'll be speaking in Irish and in English. Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, a chomhghleacaithe, a chairde, a chomhghleacaithe Eorpacha. Is mór an phribhléid dom a bheith anseo agus tá mé ag tnúth go mór le bualadh libh chun tosaíochtaí fostaíochta agus gnóthaí sóisialta d'Uachtaránacht na hÉireann a chur i láthair don choiste tábhachtach seo. Is cuimhin liom an cruinniú maith a bhí againn nuair a tháinig an coiste go Baile Átha Cliath i mí Feabhra, nuair a phléamar an tábhacht a bhaineann le hinfheistíocht shóisialta, poist d'ardchaighdeán agus cearta coinníollacha oibre mar thosaíochtaí don choiste seo agus don Aontas. Tá mé ag tnúth le leanúint lenár gcaidreamh dearfach leis an bParlaimint le linn ár n-uachtaránachta.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an bhfoireann freisin as a bheith i láthair agus as an tacaíocht a thug siad don choiste seo. Inár ról mar Uachtaránacht na hEorpa, oibreoimid le chéile ar shaincheisteanna sóisialta, cosaint na n-oibrithe agus dul chun cinn a dhéanamh ar an gclár oibre agus tionscadail an Aontais chun tacú le daoine faoi mhíchumas a thabhairt isteach anseo. The Irish Presidency of the Council has an ambitious agenda which is focused on the central themes of competitiveness, of values and of security, underpinned by the enduring principle of ní neart go cur le chéile. There is no strength without unity. These themes interlock, they mutually reinforce each other, they will guide all aspects of our work as Presidency.
We meet today at a time that is rapidly evolving and the global economic, political and social landscape is characterized by constant change and uncertainty. It is difficult in such circumstances to navigate these choppy waters, but all of us here today have an obligation and a responsibility to safely steer the EU, its labor market and most importantly our citizens through these stormy waters. The world economy is currently one dominated by uncertainty and evolving relationships. We have been facing considerable uncertainty for an extended period now, whereas such circumstances were previously infrequent and occasional, global instability and crises are now the new normal. Europe as a whole has consistently and effectively responded to each crisis that we have faced, those in recent years including Brexit and its fallout, the COVID-19 pandemic, wars in Ukraine, cost of living crisis, now the energy crisis from the war in Iran.
The unity and the resilience of the European member state of the European Union has ensured that individual member states were able to act together, otherwise they would have had to confront these global challenges on their own. Our shared values are the bedrock which makes Europe a good place to live and to work, they underpin our competitiveness and our security.
Now more than ever, the European Union needs to defend, vindicate and protect these values within Europe and globally. Our president priorities demonstrate that our European values are not just abstract ideals, but practical principles in which a more equal and a more socially inclusive society help not just to sustain and growth an economy, but to fuel its growth and development, and most importantly to underpin a society. European labor market is experienced considerable and significant transformation. There are clear sectoral shifts with notable growth in services, especially information technology and healthcare, while traditional manufacturing sectors remain stagnant. The trend emphasizes a necessity for workers to acquire new skills and adapt to emerging industries, and the importance of us all promoting and undertaking lifelong learning.
The Irish presidency will lead the discussion on how we create and support high-quality jobs within modern labor markets and to ensure that workers and employers are equipped to thrive within and beyond our single market. Recognizing that our economic and social model must keep pace in order to ensure Europe remains competitive, the presidency will address how Europe remains an attractive place to work and to live, how we ensure that we have sufficient access to skilled labor, and how we maintain a level playing field that means rights deliver real protections. The Irish presidency will work to eliminate barriers, to tackle regulatory burdens, to drive digital transformation, and to ensure a level playing field for businesses operating across the European Union. Safe, high-quality jobs should be our aim. Simplification and better coordination of employment and social security rights do not mean a race to the bottom.
The presidency will seek to highlight key European initiatives on employment, including the Quality Jobs Roadmap and Act and the forthcoming Fair Labor Mobility Package. These initiatives are at the heart of the European employment agenda. They seek to address multiple dimensions of quality jobs, such as working conditions, access to social protection, skills, equality, social dialogue, and collective bargaining. The Fair Labor Mobility Package, which we expect to be published during our presidency, is identified as a priority in the One Europe, One Market Roadmap.
It aims to promote a more efficient EU labor market through enhanced worker mobility by promoting better workers' rights and a level playing field across member states. The Irish presidency will seek to engage with the fair labor mobility agenda, focusing on the proposal to develop a digital European security pass, ESPASS, to make it easier for individuals to exercise their social security rights when they are in another member state, to strengthen the mandate of the European Labor Authority to better support the effective implementation and enforcement of fair working conditions. One issue that we are all facing is that of digitalization and the adoption of artificial intelligence and its apparent unprecedented pace of change. While the adoption of AI offers some opportunities, including the potential for increased productivity, it may be part of the answer in how Europe responds to its changing demographics, it also poses significant challenges. To respond to these challenges, Europe must invest in upskilling and reskilling programs, must promote ethical AI standards and ensure that the benefits of technological progress are widely shared.
Supporting workers through transition and fostering social dialogue will be vital as Europe adapts to this new area, but one we must adopt in order to protect the living standards of our citizens. The presidency will host a high-level conference focused on the thematic issue of the future of work. This conference will bring current discussions on the future of work to the fore, facilitating a high-level examination of the leading trends, challenges, disruptions, and strategies that are shaping our modern workplace. The EU has a comprehensive body of laws and policies that govern work, social rights, and labor markets. It is essential that the drive for competitiveness strengthens socio-economic resilience and is underpinned by a level playing field for business that will raise the standards for citizens across the Union.
Is minic a bhíonn áit lárnach ag an t-acht seo i gcomhráite faoi conas is féidir leis an Aontas Eorpach a chinntiú go bhfuil ardleibhéal cosanta ann do chearta oibrithe agus iad ag tacú le trádáil agus ag laghdú ualaí riaracháin agus rialála, rud atá bunriachtanach chun bonn láidir a chur faoi obair mhaith, cúrsaí sóisialta agus margadh saothair an AE.
Ina theannta sin, bíonn éifeacht díreach ag gach céim den chostas margála atá ar fáil don bholgadh agus gann-stádas tithíochta mar bhonn leis an ngrúpa le chéile. Tá réaltacht bheartas nua-aimseartha an Choimisiúin de dhíth chun dul i ngleic leis an oibriú seo. The publication by the Commission of the European Union anti-poverty strategy seeks to set out a comprehensive approach to prevent and protect against poverty with an ambition to eradicate poverty within the EU by 2050. Our presidency will support work that delivers on our commitments to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty and improve social inclusion across the EU.
Progressing this file and reinforcing the European Pillar of Social Rights is a priority for the Irish presidency. The discussion last week at the informal council noted that to address poverty and social exclusion, social protection systems need to be agile. Right policies and services directed to the right people at the right time. Alongside social protection, it was noted that those considerations need to extend beyond income supports and into the areas of housing, education, and healthcare, which often deepens exclusion from society. Our respective social protection systems must continue to provide security while promoting participation in the labour market.
We need to ensure our citizens, irrespective of background or the barriers they face, whether that be disability, being a lone parent, literacy issues, or others, are supported in transitioning from welfare to work. In November, we will host a high-level conference entitled Empowering Journeys: Local Innovation, National Systems and European Collaboration in Galway, and that will focus on addressing and preventing intergenerational poverty. We want to keep a focus on social inclusion, not just on income supports, but on the tools that can enable people to live a full life. Presidency will work to complete a number of equality reforms that are aimed at safeguarding rights and protecting the most vulnerable from discrimination. Ireland is committed to ensuring we close the gaps in our EU legal framework, including seeking council agreement on the Equal Treatment Directive.
We will work constructively to find a way forward. With the enhanced EU Disability Strategy, and as we mark the 20th anniversary of the UNCRPD, we will place a focus on how Member States can collectively do better to improve the lives of disabled people in Europe. A key focus of our Presidency will be on addressing the disability employment gap, in particular on those policy levers, especially for employers, that can successfully harness the skills and talents of people with disability to allow them to contribute to a more inclusive and competitive economy. My focus will be on the full participation in social and economic life for the almost 100 million people who live with a disability in the European Union. We will also host a high-level conference on disability.
An informal meeting of equality ministers will be hosted by my colleague Minister Foley in County Kerry in November to discuss the important work that needs to be done to achieve gender equality, as well as hosting a dedicated session on disability.
Through other high-level conferences and events, we will help drive forward the Union of Equality agenda and support the EU commitments in key areas such as gender equality, LGBTQI+ rights, and Roma and Traveller rights. Housing will be a key focus and in November, Ireland will host an informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for housing to provide a high-level platform for experience sharing and dialogue, including on the key elements of the European Affordable Housing Plan that the Commission put forward last year. Chair, in summary, it's imperative that we work together across all EU institutions to continue to build a future in which every one of our fellow European citizens has an opportunity to thrive in a changing world. Our strength is by working together. I'm confident in that unity we will protect the values and we'll enhance the quality of life for all Europeans.
I look forward to working positively with you, Chair, and with the committee in progressing our shared agendas. Go raibh míle maith agat agus táim ag súil leis an gcomhrá a bheidh againn anois. Go raibh maith agat.
Li Andersson
Thank you very much, Minister, for this presentation. We are also very much looking forward to the cooperation. We will now move on to the Q&A session with two rounds. So we will first have the group coordinators or other group representatives. And I thought I would take it in two blocks, meaning a few questions and then answers.
And then the second round. So if there are members wishing to take the floor in the second round, please indicate that. But we start with the group coordinators or other group representatives. One and a half minutes per question.
Mr. Radtke from the EPP, please.
Dennis Radtke
Ja, ich werde auf Deutsch sprechen. Ja, sehr geehrter Herr Minister, herzlichen Dank für Ihren Besuch und die Gelegenheit zum... Is it working? Minister, is it working? Ja. Vielen Dank für Ihren Besuch und die Gelegenheit zum Austausch hier.
Sie haben in Ihren... in Ihrem Statement auf mehrere Punkte hingewiesen, die für uns im Ausschuss hier natürlich eine ganz besondere Bedeutung haben, wenn wir uns die gesetzgeberischen Aktivitäten mit Blick auf Soziales bisher anschauen. Wir waren ja eher damit beschäftigt, noch offene Dinge abzuarbeiten, liebe Gabi, 883. Damit wird sich die irische Ratspräsidentschaft jetzt Gott sei Dank nicht mehr beschäftigen müssen. Das ist schon... das ist schon weg. Aber jetzt geht es eben darum, den Blick auch nach vorne zu richten.
Und Sie haben die Weiterentwicklung der europäischen Säule der sozialen Rechte angesprochen, ein Punkt, der diesem Ausschuss hier natürlich besonders am Herzen liegt. Vielleicht könnten Sie da einfach auch noch mal was zu Ihren konkreten Vorstellungen sagen. Und dann haben wir natürlich auch mit Blick auf die Quality Jobs Roadmap.
Aber da ist ja auch immer noch Blackbox, was genau wird die Kommission jetzt präsentieren und in welcher Form wird sie es präsentieren. Gerade die Frage zukünftiges ELA-Mandat hat für uns als Europäische Volkspartei eine große Bedeutung. Vielleicht könnten Sie dazu auch noch ein paar Gedanken verlieren, wie Sie etwas konkreter darauf schauen. Danke schön.
Thank you very much. And from the S&D, Mr. O'Riordain.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus fáilte romhaibh go léir anseo inniu. Agus guím gach rath ar m'iar-chomhghleacaí sa Seanad, an tAire, sa ról nua seo. Ba mhaith liom cúpla ceist a chur ort maidir le cearta na n-oibrithe in Éirinn. Bhíomar ag caint ar feadh i bhfad le cúpla mí anuas agus bhíomar ag caint le leithéidí ICTU agus SIPTU agus Fórsa inniu ar an mbuille ón gceist seo, sort easpa cumhachta atá ag na ceardchumainn in Éirinn i gcomparáid le tíortha eile san Aontas Eorpach.
Agus tá sé an-tábhachtach go mbeadh an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn. Agus tá mé ag tnúth go mór leis an bplé a bheidh againn inniu. Tá an-chuid oibre á dhéanamh ag an gCoimisiún Eorpach ar an ábhar seo. Agus tá sé an-tábhachtach go mbeadh an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn. Tá an-chuid oibre á dhéanamh ag an gCoimisiún Eorpach ar an ábhar seo.
Agus tá sé an-tábhachtach go mbeadh an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn. Tá an-chuid oibre á dhéanamh ag an gCoimisiún Eorpach ar an ábhar seo. Agus tá sé an-tábhachtach go mbeadh an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn. Tá an-chuid oibre á dhéanamh ag an gCoimisiún Eorpach ar an ábhar seo. Agus tá sé an-tábhachtach go mbeadh an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn.
Thank you very much. I will give the floor to the Minister for answers.
Dara Calleary
So, go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Go raibh maith agat as an t-ábhar seo a tharraingt anuas. In relation to the European Pillar of Social Rights, it remains a very reliable policy compass. It offers guidance in policy choices. As a Presidency, we're very strongly committed to the principles of the Pillar because they support a strong and a competitive social Europe.
The Presidency is working on several sets of Council conclusions that are relevant to the Pillar in relation to equality and in relation to the disability employment gap.
And I am placing particular focus on that, and I placed it at the heart of our informal last week. We also have a number of high-level conferences that are pillar-related, for instance, equality and competitiveness and disability, and particularly on intergenerational poverty, which we will be doing in Galway in November, and I certainly very much invite you to be at that. We are very much looking forward to the publication by the Commission on the action plan. We will engage with them in those negotiations. In relation to the quality jobs roadmap, we will support the initiatives that are working there.
A key part of discussion during our presidency will be how we can continue to support high-quality jobs within modern labor markets. And as I said in my opening remarks, we are placing a particular emphasis on that during our presidency. I think we all have to work collectively to do that. It will be through skilling, through upskilling, and through other initiatives as well. In relation, as I said, the digital transition is something that is happening as we speak.
It is another industrial revolution that we are living through. And we have to make sure that none of our citizens lose out. We cannot repeat the mistakes of previous industrial relations in this one.
And we've got to make sure that we work to that. In relation to Member Arvanitis's points, you know, we, as homelessness and housing is a key focus of this government, and that is why we are having an informal summit during the course of our presidency to share experiences from across Europe. As you know, supply is a major issue, and we are working to increase supply, not just in Ireland, but we will learn from our European colleagues. And President von der Leyen, when she visited with the College of Commissioners two weeks ago, has committed to a summit on housing as well. During, we just have to sort through the dates and arrangements of that.
We don't want any children in emergency accommodation. The way to solve that is increasing supply, increasing the availability of housing. We are focused on that, and we are happy to work with any and learn from any European experiences in relation to that. In relation to workers' rights, as you know, we have a voluntary system in Ireland. It has stood the country very well in terms of a country that has full employment.
And we are constantly working to refine that system.
Labour mobility is at the core, it's a fundamental freedom. In relation to, just to come back to your point, but also to Member Radtke's point in relation to the European Labour Authority, the ELA, it shows that there's merit, the Commission's report shows there's merit to strengthen the ELA mandate that will support the effective implementation and enforcement of fair working conditions. The fair labour mobility package is a priority for the Presidency. And we will certainly work in relation to that, in relation to strengthening workers' rights across the Union during our Presidency. And I make very clearly that can be done.
That can be done without impacting on the competitiveness of the European Union. I think the two of them are linked very much, competitiveness and values are two of the key priorities of our Presidency as we go forward.
Yes, thank you very much, Minister. It's good to see you again. I will not beat around the bush and go directly to the questions. The Presidency will play a key role in the discussion on the budget for the next seven years. Can we expect a standalone ESF with adequate resources at the end of these discussions?
In this committee, we have made it clear that investing in people, a resilient workforce, and inclusive and cohesive societies is fundamental for Europe as a whole.
Jana Toom
What is your plan for how to strengthen European Child Guarantee in the new budget period? Second, the Renew group visited Cork earlier, as you know, and some colleagues, not me unfortunately, I preferred Jameson Distillery, shame on me, but some of us visited Tyndall Institute that not only produces groundbreaking research on semiconductors but also equips the researchers and other professionals with the practical knowledge and skills needed to perform in the high-tech sector. What can the EU do to make sure that we have more and more opportunities for developing skills in the high-tech sectors in the future? The Irish Presidency plans to focus on the enforcement of the current EU laws to ensure the protection of workers' rights, implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive and the requirements to promote collective bargaining, as well as the Pay Transparency Directive, where we see that little progress is being done in so many Member States. While the Commission is in charge of checking that countries abide by the EU rules, do you see that something more could be done in the Council to help this process?
And finally, on the first ever anti-poverty strategy, we know that it will only make a difference if we follow up with concrete actions. What specific elements will the presidency prioritize to meet the 2030 anti-poverty eradication target? Thank you.
Maria Ohisalo
Thank you very much, Chair, and hi, good to see you again, dear Minister Kelleher. Thank you very much for joining us today here, and please allow me to start by wishing you a successful period at the helm of the Union for the next six months. Ireland has committed during its presidency to strengthening efforts to improve workplace health and safety standards and making European workplaces safer, healthier, and more productive. As we speak, we are reminded that the increasing frequency of extreme heat events has become one of the key occupational safety and health risks across Europe and EU. Some member states have actually introduced some heat stress indicators and even binding limits, mandatory rest breaks, and sector-specific protections for outdoor and high-exposure workers.
However, the European legal framework remains patchy at best. So what measures do you intend to advance at EU level during your presidency to strengthen the protection of workers from extreme temperatures? Could also be cold, we know that it's not only the heat question. Will you prioritize the issue in any way, support the development of common binding EU standards?
Kathleen Funchion
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus go raibh maith agat, a Aire, agus fáilte. Agus go raibh maith agat as cur de as do chur i láthair. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil tú an-bhródúil as ár dteanga, agus de bharr sin táim chun mo cheist a chur as Gaeilge. Is é an t-ábhar tábhachtach é seo d'Éirinn agus don Aontas Eorpach. Ba mhaith liom tús a chur le ceist faoi thithíocht.
Mar Aire don Ghaeltacht, beidh tú ar an eolas faoin ngéarchéim tithíochta inár nGaeltachtaí. An féidir leat leagan amach a dhéanamh ar cad iad na pleananna atá agaibh chun cinntiú go mbeidh glúin nua in ann fanacht inár nGaeltachtaí? Agus an dara ceist, Aire. Tá an dara ceist agam ná faoi iomaíochas, nó competitiveness. Tá an rialtas ag cur béim ar iomaíochas le linn an uachtaránachta.
Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil sé ceart chun iomaíochas a chur roimh ár gcearta agus na caighdeáin atá againn san Eoraip. Mar sin, an bhfuil straitéis agaibh chun cearta oibrithe a chosaint agus an timpeallacht a chosaint chomh maith? And I do also want to wish you the very best of luck. We always had a very good working relationship in our national parliament. But I have to say, as Kerry is in Ireland South, I'll have to keep my allegiances to Kerry from Mayo.
But best of luck in the role.
Li Andersson
All right, thank you very much. And then it's time for answers. So, Minister, please, the floor is yours.
Dara Calleary
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Just in relation to Madam Törr, firstly, in relation to the budget, you know, we're committed to trying to continue the work of the Cypriot presidency. And I want to thank and acknowledge the work which culminated in the first negotiation of a negotiation box. We will continue to advance negotiations to bring agreement on the key issues such as the overall size of the budget and certainly where we should focus its expenditure. We will continue to, certainly within this presidency, within this council, we will continue to promote the values of our presidency around it.
But there's quite a lot of work to be done here.
We will listen to all the views as the honest broker in the presidency. And at the core, the budget and whatever budget is agreed is an expression of the priorities and most importantly the priorities of our citizens. And we need to make sure that those priorities are highlighted within the budget and we'll continue to do that. In relation to the child guarantee, this is a big priority. You've got 15 million people are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 5 million of those are children.
We're nowhere near the target in the European Union or in any of our many of our member states. And the fact that nearly one child in four faces the risk of poverty and social inclusion needs to drive us on. I think the child guarantee has brought a focus, it's improved access to services for children at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Access to quality jobs is also part of that for the parents of these children. And employment is a road out of poverty.
But we will continue to work in the member states, but each member state has to their implementation of the child guarantee. And we will continue to follow the work of the social protection committee. But I can assure you that poverty generally, and that brings me on to your other point, is absolutely essential.
And we want to drive on the implementation of the anti-poverty plan. It's the first time, it's kind of hard to believe it's the first time that there's a combined commission proposal on a poverty plan for across Europe. And I want to absolutely put that at the heart of our presidency over the course of the next number of months. I'll say to you very respectfully that it is a skill to be a distiller as well. And Ireland is famed for the skills of food, so you also looked at a skills-based industry when you visited the distillery.
But what you saw in Tyndall was an expression of our determination that skills and reskilling and upskilling is a constant journey. It's not one that can be parked, you have to go on, and you have to bring people with you on it. And we've invested significantly in that, and we look forward to sharing our experiences of skills, particularly in a labour market that is transformative as the one at the moment. The union of skills is the strategic framework that responds to labour and skill challenges across Europe. I know Council has adopted the recommendation on human capital, which will look to member states to provide more upskilling to address the skills gaps that are there.
We also need to be much more efficient in recognizing qualifications, recognizing qualifications across borders. And we want to drive the simplification agenda around skills to reduce the regulatory and administrative burdens to allow our citizens bring their skills with them as they traverse to work across the European Union. And we're definitely focused on skills and driving on the skills agenda within the European Union. To Madame Hol-Hasslow, thank you for your welcome. Even in Dublin this week, the temperatures have been extreme for Dublin.
And I think there's a much bigger awareness now. We had a Council meeting in Luxembourg two weeks ago, a very good discussion around this. And we certainly, as a Presidency, we're very alert to the concerns on extreme temperatures. The point you make that there are many of our citizens that experience this on the other side of this, and we need to be alert to those as well. So we will consider any harmonized proposal and any proposals that come forward on this in terms of an across-Union basis.
But I think the temperatures we're experiencing now and those that many of our citizens experienced during the winter, they are a warning to employers that they have a duty to their employees to protect them in as much as they can. Sé indoc leat a Chathaoirligh, a theachtaí an choimisiúin, agus tá súil agam nach mbaineann sibh feidhm as an gcéad agus go mbeidh sibh go maith linn. Tá cúpla rud ar siúl le haghaidh cúrsaí tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Táimid tar éis fáil siúd dréacht-reoiteas pleanála, dréacht-reoiteas pleanála le haghaidh na Gaeltachta, an chéad uair go bhfuil dréacht-reoiteas pleanála ann le haghaidh an Ghaeltacht, an chéad uair go bhfuil na Gaeltachtaí ag teacht le chéile. Tá obair le déanamh ar an dréacht-reoiteas sin, tuigim go mór sin.
An dara rud, tá lán tithí folúntas sa Ghaeltacht, sna ceantair Ghaeltachta. Táimid ag cur census le chéile faoi na huimhreacha leis na tithe folúntas sa Ghaeltacht agus ag obair leis na cúigiú atá ann le haghaidh na tithe folamh agus na deontais atá ann ag cur cabhair le daoine chun na tithe folamh sin a cheannach. Freisin mar is eol duit, táimid ag déanamh iarrachtaí i dtreo na tithe atá le ligean ar gearrthéarma, agus táimid ag súil leis na hathruithe sin go mbeidh daoine ag cur tithe le haghaidh daoine a chónaíonn ann, ní amháin cuairteoirí agus ní amháin le haghaidh saoire.
Le haghaidh competitiveness, mar a dúirt mé, the three priorities are intertwined. There's no priority in those three priorities. So our competitiveness is very much connected to our values. And I made the point at our EPSCO summit informal last week that values is the engine that drives the European Union. It drives competitiveness and it drives security.
And I can absolutely assure you that we will, I don't see competitiveness being weakened because we strengthen on values. I don't see competitiveness being weakened because we focus on workers' rights. And I think that they're not mutually exclusive discussions and I've always very much believed that.
Thank you very much. We then go to the second round of questions. So once again, if there are members who wish to take the floor at this point, please indicate this. I'm starting with Mrs. Bischoff from the S&D.
Gabriele Bischoff
Thank you very much, Minister, to present your program and it's good to see you again. I was very pleased to hear that the fair mobility package will be one of your priorities. Do you already have a bit of a timeframe also together with the Trio Presidency here?
Because for us also strengthening the ELA will be key if we really want to strengthen fairness in the mobility that we have in Europe. The second question I have is the trilogue on traineeships stalled under the Cypriot Presidency. Do you have any plans to take this up and work actively towards a solution here? And last but not least, let me wish you a very successful presidency, and it's a joy to listen to the Irish language here in this house.
Thank you very much. Next speaker, Vice-Chair Danielsson.
Johan Danielsson
Thank you, Chair. Minister, for me and my political group, trade union rights, collective bargaining is key. Today we see multinationals moving to Europe with union-busting as one of their business strategy. Tesla, Amazon, there are a lot of companies. This is now also starting to affect other sectors.
Across Europe, we see that large data centers are becoming some of our largest construction sites. At these sites, you often see high reliance on long subcontracting chains, large numbers of posted workers. And I have tried to visit a number of these sites together with local unions and also with Irish unions in Sweden, my own home country, here in Belgium.
At all times, we have been denied access, even if unions according to national rules are supposed to have access to these workplaces. We know that there are a large frequency of misuse of working conditions at these sites. From your perspective, since they are the same companies showing up at all these sites across Europe, what can we do at the European level to ensure effective union access, labor inspections and full transparency over subcontractors and posted workers at these projects? Because they are the same companies showing up throughout Europe. Thank you.
Hristo Petrov
Thank you, Chair. Dear Minister, thank you for outlining the priorities of the Irish presidency in a context where citizens have high social expectations. I'm pleased that you have made social inclusion, the new anti-poverty strategy and the child guarantee central to, to your priorities. Strengthening the child guarantee is particularly crucial to breaking the cycle of poverty for the next generation and ensuring that everyone has equal opportunities.
I would therefore like to ask you what role the Irish presidency intends to play in the deliverables planned during your presidency, such as the consultation on an initiative to activate people excluded from the labour market or the guidelines for curriculum and pedagogical development in early childhood education and care. And my second question concerns the Roma and Traveller communities. Our countries face the shared challenge of ensuring their inclusion as they are still too often marginalised. We have the EU Roma strategic framework, but member states are still a long way from reaching the 2030 targets. Does your presidency foresee any actions regarding the implementation of the strategic framework, particularly with regard to access to employment and essential services?
Thank you.
Marc Angel
Yes, thank you very much, Minister. It's very nice to hear that you are very ambitious to deepen the social dimension of the European Union and also the Union of Equality. These are very important to promote and protect democracy. When it comes to the fair mobility agenda, this Parliament had an initiative legislative report where we really call for legislation to protect workers against algorithmic management transparency. We want the same protection as platform workers have for all workers.
So this is a very important issue for us and also psychosocial risks have to be included, linked to algorithmic management and AI.
I was happy to hear that you are tackling the, that you want to close or that you will work on the equal treatment directive, the horizontal anti-discrimination directive. This is very important. Before the European elections, the Belgians were very close and I hope that you really can close this, this dossier. It's important. Now I don't have a question, but I have a message to you.
Please convey to your colleagues, the ministers, that the pay transparency directive is a very important directive. We still have a gender pay gap of 12%. Only four countries have transposed this directive so far. The deadline was June 7th. We gave three years of transposition period.
Business Europe is very much fighting this. But there is many rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs still here and we got the confirmation from the Commission, from President von der Leyen, from Commissioner Labib, there will no, this directive will not be integrated in an omnibus. So there is some Member States apparently they are waiting that this directive will be changed or that deregulation will come. No, this won't happen. The, we in the Parliament are very, very attentive to this and also the Commission at the highest level said no.
So tell, tell your colleagues that it's high time to transpose this directive. Thank you very much.
And last speaker on my list from Renew is Mr. Kelleher.
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