Cecile BILLAUX

Policy topics Cecile BILLAUX is active on

What Cecile BILLAUX has said (6)

• “Thank you very much. And good morning, honourable members. Um, I won't be long, but I just wanted to, of course, express appreciation of Gabby's work as a commission. We are a long standing as the EU supporter of Gavi, and we take part both financially, of course, into into putting funds in Gavi, but also in the governance and in the decision making of Gavi by being a board member there. So really trying also to look at what Gavi is doing and make the most of it for the world and for, for for us in the EU. Um, just to recall maybe that in terms of number, EU and its member states, we have more than 11 countries who are, uh, also contributing to Gavi. We represent around one third 30% of the current Gavai cycle budget. And in terms of sovereign donor together as Team Europe, we are the first one and we are very proud of that. And we had last July or June, sorry, we had in Brussels a summit, of course, for the replenishment where announcement were made. Also in terms of renewing our commitment to support Gavi by both the EU but also our EU member states, we also have new EU member states committed to Gavi. So in total we have Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Portugal and Greece also, who are all contributing to Gavi for the next cycle. So very important.”
  Vaccination · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid
• “And of course, for us. And you've said you've said a lot already. Uh, we are, uh, supporting the objective of Gavi, including also the manufacturing, health, sovereignty point, uh, the tools that we have put into place called Afma, which is a new tool in which Team Europe has been really one of the key founders, uh, responding to our partner from Africa who really wanted to have this local manufacturing at the core of their priority. And we really also excited to to work together with Gavi into this area to support, really, the development of vaccine manufacturing in the coming years in Africa. Uh, maybe also just to mention that we are, uh, grateful also in embarking in to Gavi to look at our, uh, because we are the EU is very much committed to multilateral action on global health. But of course, we know the overall landscape, as some of you mentioned, is changing with some cuts in US funds. So we are really working with Gavi and other global health initiatives to see how we can improve in the future. The governance of all the global health initiatives. Ethnicity. Avoiding too much fragmentation and making it more efficient so that we can ensure in the future to continue to work at global level, but doing it even better than it's done today, and to respond to the new challenges and constraints that we have in today's world. So thank you very much.”
  IPRs Covid vaccines · Vaccination · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid
• “Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Honourable members. Dear colleagues, thank you so much for the invitation. It's a pleasure to to join this debate. Um, uh, I listened carefully to what the previous speakers have said, and it is clear that we all agree that as we focus on building economies that truly work for everyone, creating decent jobs must be at the heart of our efforts, right? This includes ensuring that persons with disabilities have access to employment opportunities, and decent employment is actually the most effective path towards inclusive economy, providing a vital mechanism for social development and poverty eradication. It is also essential it is an essential enabler for independence and participation of persons with disabilities in society. And here I come back to a word, very important word which has been said before me dignity, which is a notion that needs to be at the heart of our, of our interventions. So the promotion of gainful and decent employment remains a fundamental priority for European Commission initiatives. Um, global gateway investments generate direct and indirect job opportunities which are carefully assessed to inform human capital programmes. We systematically include in our dialogue with partners from the public and private sector, a call to prioritize the creation of decent jobs in their investment programmes to ensure the inclusion of vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities.”
  Youth employment & training · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Our approach involves promoting accessibility, fostering inclusive communication and encouraging the consultation and participation of persons with disabilities. We advocate for their inclusion in programmes and activities alongside other beneficiaries, ensuring these are delivered in an integrated manner rather than in segregated facilities. In line with the UN convention of the Rights of Persons with disabilities. Focusing on technical and vocational education and training and employment initiatives, We, um, we have integrated elements aimed at skills development and the creation of decent jobs for people with the persons with disabilities. We also have, uh, because, uh, the the issue of informal informality has been mentioned before. I want to mention that we have programs on public finance, management and social protection, working with ministries of of employment to support inclusive employment strategies as well. We also work even if it goes beyond the remit of this discussion. We also explore opportunities in terms of the care economy and assistive technologies. We also, and this is very important, um, equip our staff, both in headquarters and EU delegations with tools required to design inclusive projects. So maybe I will stop here and and leave the floor for questions. Thank you very much.”
  European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training · Youth employment & training · EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “It is also important indeed to work with communities with civil society organisations. Um, the notion of multi-stakeholder partnership is at the heart of the global gateway strategy. And of course, we also work with, uh, the United Nations with existing guidance and tools, and by collaborating with all these actors, including the International Labour Organization, we can exchange best practices and improve the investments impact on employment. We also help create the conditions conducive environment that allows business to create the employment needed. So, crucially, we have mainstreamed the focus on disability in European Commission projects and investments to ensure the inclusion of persons with disability, including in global gateway programmes. Since 2019, we have been evaluating our programmes using the OECD disability marker to measure progress. It is now also applied to Efsi plus operations. And, uh, I'm quite happy to report that 62% of our projects aimed at employment creation include disability considerations to some extent, and that 82% of our vocational education and training programs are disability inclusive, all within the current Multiannual Financial Framework period. These figures indicate that our efforts to mainstream disability are particularly strong in technical and vocational training and job creation programmes, outperforming our overall programmes.”
  EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility · EU policy on social & environmental impact of foreign investments
• “It's going to take place on the 25th of June in Brussels and we're working on preparing it, also liaising with major donor, our EU member states, but also other donors in the world to ensure that they make pledges during during the summit. This is challenging time, but what we see is that there is really room for widening. Also the donor base, new countries getting interested to act to be. Donors to Gavi or some of them have been already donating a little. Bit and now will increase their their amounts. Now it is tough times. So it is not without any challenge. But we. Are working hard also supporting Gavi and the Gates Foundation work to do that. We have done as far as the EU is concerned, as Bjorn explained. We have already our president, von der Leyen, has already pledged. Last September, in the margin of Unga €260 million under this. Mff and of course the cycle of Gavi. It's between two MFF. So we have we have pledged what we could now under this new MFF. It's going to be to be seen what happened in the next MFF. So this is our pledge which is on the table to 60 million, which has been done already and will be the pledge of. Eu for the summit. But of course, as I said before, other EU member States. Have not pledged yet and are preparing their pledge together. So we. Hope as Team Europe we will have, um, good um together a pledge to put. Uh, as part of the summit contribution. And I think I will stop here. And thanks again as a committee to. Have organised this very important discussion on that.”
  Vaccination · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid