Jana TOOM

What Jana TOOM has said (14)

• “On paper, we are all keeping the partnership principle, but do we actually have new measures to monitor what there is actual consultation if there is going actual consultation with local and regional actors. My third question is I'm appalled to see that there is no longer dedicated just transition fund, because we have not been able to deliver on our promises from previous mandate, and I will continue to ask for dedicated fund. But if we are not able to get it, that will make it more obvious that we need a directive with a just transition framework to compensate for the lack of funding. Just as regrettable, the decision to discontinue the European Globalisation Fund, while seeing so many examples of companies closing off production sites and offices, and we will see many more in the face of current economic uncertainty. The argument for the fund was so straightforward, uh, come it with early interventions to ensure that these workers can quickly find another job or several different sectors. So what is the replacement for Globalisation Adjustment Fund. I'm sorry chair I have two more short questions. There is a new focus of aligning of the use of budget to our union priorities. But how will this work in practice? What mechanism will link disbursement to Member States to measurable social outcomes rather than financial inputs inputs? And last, how can we address situations where the outcomes we wish for are not happening? How will the Commission support member States that consistently underperform in meeting their objectives, be it youth unemployment or child poverty? Thank you.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “Thank you very much, and thank you, colleagues, for this discussion. When I saw the amendments, I was happy that there are many important points where we share similar objectives or where there is potential for broad agreement. And the negotiations have been smooth so far, but I would like to focus on the particular situation of the employees in the insolvency proceedings. I found their fate to be extremely important when we discuss harmonizing certain parts of insolvency law. Let us take avoidance actions, for example, where it has to be clear that salaries of employees that have performed work for the company should not be clawed back. And the same applies to their social contributions. Or another example in the title of the prepack proceedings. As I mentioned before, I'm supportive to this novel approach that can save a good business idea and try to keep as much of the value of the company intact. In these circumstances, the workforce of the company is an essential part of the business, and we need to provide for adequate rules to ensure that the workers are consulted and informed about the future plans for the business. Having the buy-in of employees will also be a necessary piece of the puzzle for the continuation of the business. Once the liquidation phase is over, a new management takes control. In some or even most situations, it will not be possible to safeguard the entire workforce of an insolvent company. But there has to be an appropriate consultation with employees or their representatives to get the input to find workable solutions. When it comes to introducing simplified winding-up proceedings for micro-enterprises, it seems like we will have some difficult discussions ahead of us. I still maintain that we should try to work together and see what changes we can make to this title to make sure that we introduce a simpler set of rules for micro-enterprises that have a rather simple debt structure, while also responding to the concerns about fraud and abuse. My proposal is to introduce a maximum ceiling for the remuneration of insolvency practitioners for micro-enterprises, and then leave it up to Member States to decide what extra financing schemes can be put in place for covering those expenses in the assets of the company, if the assets of the company are sufficient. And I look forward to working together on these issues and all of the others, and I hope we can find a common path. Thank you.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “Maybe the guidelines will be solution. I hope so, but but please don't. Don't come up with directive. You know, to prescribe to local authorities. How do they manage that? You mentioned in your opening remarks that, um, we have to fully exploit the potential of Common Market. Uh, and, uh, regarding that, I would like you I would like to ask you, is there anything we can do to leverage the power of a single market to help the construction sector bring down the cost of building? And particularly, can we leverage some of our support for innovation to help make construction more affordable? For example, can the EU's Industrial Decarbonisation Acceleration Act and the Net Zero Industry Act play a role in helping the construction sector transition to cheaper, low carbon methods and materials? Is there a focus on the commission of supporting projects such as modular housing or circular construction practices? And what you did not mention in your opening remarks is what is possible change of state aid rules, which can in fact contribute and give national governments a possibility to invest into construction sector. Can you please elaborate a little bit on that? Thank you.”
  State Aid
• “Thank you. Chair. Commissioner. Dear colleagues, what stands out to me after almost one year in the Housing Committee is that no two housing situations occurred were the same. There are some common patterns, of course, but it is clear that many of these issues come from national and regional challenges. So while I normally take the floor in this chamber to criticise the Commission for not being ambitious enough, this time, I have to support the Commission for taking a more careful and realistic approach. Colleagues, let's not kid ourselves. The union does not have the power to fix many of the housing crisis crises in member states, with one regulation and promising anyone anything more than we can deliver will only undermine our credibility. Yes, we need bold and urgent action to make housing more affordable, and we will definitely play our part. But the real drivers of the change are our countries and regions. So let's make sure that we offer all the tools and measures we can so that national and regional authorities can work to fix their local issues. Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you very much, chair. Thank you colleagues. The whole saga of the minimum wage directive has been quite a roller coaster ride that started even before it was proposed by the commission, and it is finally looking that we will have less of a bumpy road after the court decision. The aim of the directive is quite clear to improve living and working conditions, contribute to upward social convergence and reduce wage inequality. I was always a bit sceptical of the criticism and resistance towards this directive, because these objectives are key and necessary elements for our European integration and during very difficult negotiations with Parliament and Council together arrived at the text that was almost completely without fault. The court made it clear that the directive left sufficient flexibility to the EU countries to act when trying to achieve the objectives of the directive, whether it is promoting collective bargaining of the statutory minimum wage. And it also reconfirmed the principle that asking for measures that will end up having an effect on the level of pay and not automatically off limits, because otherwise our hands will be tied when it comes to achieving anything in the social policy. Competences that union has. So the key lesson I draw is that we do not need to be so shy. In the social policy area, we can find many common objectives aimed at improving living and working conditions across and among the 27 Member States. With the right considerations for national diversity and for the good mix of measures, we can find a way to agree to adopt legislation in this area. Thank you.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “Thank you. Chair. It's good to see you. Commissioner. I, I, I had a long list of questions, but you fortunately answered to many of them already. But I still cannot. You know, I still have irresistible temptation to say a few words about, uh, short term rentals. I am very happy, and I absolutely share your view that this is not something which can be done at European level. I'm from Estonia. You know, this is small country on the Baltic Sea with pretty disgusting climate. And if I compare, let's say city of Barcelona, where you have tourists 365 days a year in Estonia, in Curaca on Samar Island, tourists are like three months and this is high season and people really are waiting for that, looking forward for that because it helps them to supply themselves for winter. So we are very different really. And another pressing issue, which we discussed here in this committee for long, long hours is also illegal occupation. And there were some colleagues who are really, really waiting for European Union to solve these problems. They are not solvable at European level. This is absolutely clear. Nevertheless, we have to make an effort.”
  EU regulation of short-term rentals
• “Thank you very much. Yes, this is indeed a very good moment to be to be discussing the guidelines for employment policies in the Member States. And we can all see that current trade tensions and the overall geopolitical situation is creating uncertainty for many companies that are worried about the economic future. And this has a negative effect on plans to hire more people in the future, or even considerations to lay off some of the workers. In this moment, we must do more to go towards and even more common approach to employment policies across the union. The challenges we are facing can only be tackled if we choose to come together and find common solutions. From the Committee of Employment, we need to send a clear signal that we stand by the employment guidelines and that we want all Member States to take clear and concrete actions to implement them. What I would like to focus on is the recommendation to enhance the effectiveness of social dialogue. And this can also play an important role in tackling the challenges we are facing. I'm still hearing of many bad examples when it comes to consulting with the social partners from my own country, for instance, and I'm so disappointed that we are not giving them an opportunity to lead the way. I believe that the role of the social partners is paramount in promoting fair and predictable working conditions, as we are dealing with new work partners and business models, and we need to empower them with capacity building in the countries where this is needed, but also by making sure that there are Genuine consultations with with all social partners instead of just a box ticking exercise. Thank you.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “Commissioner. Dear colleagues. We are talking about an important societal issue today. Serious cases of abuse by certain companies that have found ways to use the current system to gain an advantage, and very often to escape total responsibility. Although the price of workers caught in the system, we saw it in the meatpacking industry in Germany. And a few years ago, before the government decided to take action, we see it more and more in the logistics sector, where the business model brought over by Amazon is fuelling a race to the bottom, and we see it in the construction sector, where fraudulent companies find their way into the chain. This leads to workers being forced to work in unsafe conditions and to be left out in the cold without the pay they are entitled to get. I agree 100% with those that say that we need to enforce better the laws we already have. That is the part of the solution, but I cannot see the way to solve all these issues without also stepping in with stricter limits in certain high risk sectors. And I absolutely cannot agree with those who are quoting latter report trying to undermine this. This particular paper, because, you know, we are speaking about a report like this is kind of buffet where we can pick the dishes we like and ignore the others. Protection of workers rights is part of being part of European competitiveness. And if we lose that, we will lose the game. Thank you.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you very much, chair. Commissioner. Colleagues. Of course I was prepared. You know how it goes. You know you have 60s and you write it and you measure it. It's exactly 60s. But after listening to this debate, I do not want to read it up. I am extremely worried. Really? I mean, the majority of the members in this House at the moment in this room are on the same page. But this is not the first time we are on the same page. I was elected in 2014 and if anybody would send me, send me back then that we will come up with First-Ever Anti-Poverty strategy. I probably would jump for joy. I am not jumping now because in between we came up with the first ever European pillar of social rights not implemented, the first ever minimum wage directive not implemented, first ever child guarantee lacking of money. We are making big promises and we are not delivering, and we do not have many attempts left because people of Europe are tired of that. So this time we really have to deliver. Otherwise it will be the ruin of far right and this will be a great mistake. Thank you.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you very much, chair. Thank you, Commissioner, for being here. We very much welcome. Affordable housing plan. And of course this is a big opportunity for construction sector. But my question is what we all like to we would like to contribute not only to creating new jobs but to creating quality jobs. So has there been any coordination in the commission between the affordable housing plan and the quality jobs roadmap? And my second question is, in fact, inspired by Mr. Rathke, who asked about ETS two. I just have to say in the beginning that I very much green ambitions of European Union, and I understand that this is absolutely necessary, but I'm unfortunately not coming from La La Land. I'm coming from Estonia and I have to bring that personal example. I'm not complaining. I have a house. I hit 136m and when I'm away, I put it on on standby. I come only for weekends and my electricity bill for January. I'm not kidding. Heating by electricity was €1,008, and I think that I'm maybe, maybe the only person in my village who paid this bill in time, because I'm the only member of European Parliament with high salary there. So, I mean, this is a problem why this is so in Estonia. You know that better than me. We are part of new of North Pole power market and the price for CO2 emission was extremely high. It was in December 90th €2 per tonne which is huge. We did not have solar energy. Obviously it was winter. We didn't have much wind. The rivers in Finland were frozen. We didn't have hydro energy, which left us with fossil energy, which is the most expensive in the in the market. So people are not able to pay. And these have also political problems here, because if we see where this Euroscepticism come from, different places of Europe, everybody speaks about Green Deal. This is bad. So my question is, you didn't answer the question of Mr. Ratka about ETS two. Do you see any possibility to postpone it? And do you consider the necessity to put price cap on CO2 emissions? Thank you.”
  EU approach to electricity market and prices
• “Commissioner. Dear colleagues, I do not know. For some reason far right in this house are constantly crying, probably shouting. You probably think that if you shout, it makes you right. This is not the case. 17 years have passed since the Commission first proposed this directive. Next year, in July, it will reach the majority voting age. And yet, some countries do not take this process seriously enough to look past their differences and find a common solution. These days, we are hearing outside voices questioning the European Union, questioning our resolve. In these trying times, we need to take a look at ourselves and consider what we are working for and what do we stand for? Freedom, equality and respect for the rights of minorities sits at the very core of the European project. A piece of legislation that combats discrimination in all corners of the EU is not nice activity we can do if we are in the mood for it. It is an absolute necessity to deliver on our most fundamental shared values, and we expect national governments to get this message and have serious discussions with a view to final adoption, adoption the directive and we expect the Commission and will support the Commission to help the discussions and, if necessary, look at ways to bring qualified majority for adoption. Thank you.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “Thank you very much. Um, it's good to see you. Uh, and I can start by mentioning some good parts that I saw in the proposal, the introduction of compliance with the rule of law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights to be able to receive EU fundings, as well as the need to address challenges identified in the European semester exercise. And you can definitely count on renewed support on that. Like my colleagues have mentioned, however, I'm also concerned about the funds for social priorities being part of the big national plan. And at the same time, the Commission communication focuses a lot on how this will enable more flexibility to move money around from one part of the plan to another. Uh, when we see how cohesion funds were treated in the current MFF, how will the new structure ensure that social priorities will not be forgotten? We have we have a ring fence of 14% for social priorities under the national plan. But is this actually a reduction of the funds allocated to social priorities? Because I was not able, like I believe many others, to compare, uh, 2021 where we have economic, social and territorial cohesion with 2028, where we have economic, territorial and social cohesion, including fisheries, rural communities and tourism. So I'm a bit confused there. Do we actually have reduction in social funding? The second question is from the Parliament's side, a point of criticism towards the national plans is also weakening of the role of local authorities, social partners and civil society. We saw from the experience with the national plans that the final decisions from national governments did not reflect the input given by the local and regional actors.”
  Conditions to access EU budget
• “Thank you very much. It was a very interesting debate. I'm sorry I was late to Commission's presentation, so maybe I will ask something which was already said. But still I was listening and thinking, I'm I will. I'm almost 59 years old. I have five children and five grandchildren. But this doesn't mean that my grandchildren do have grandmother. I'm sitting here with you and according to Estonian laws, I will retire in nine years. At that time, my grandchildren will be not adult, but, you know, arrogant teenagers who will probably no have need in grandmother. And this is the problem all over Europe. We do not have institution of grandparents anymore. And there are some exceptions. And if we look at the countries with the highest birth rates, these are France and Romania. In France they have huge social system built up to support families with children. Not everybody can afford it, but in Romania they have like 75% of children who are looked after by their grandparents. So this is something we are absolutely missing here. And of course, it's we can speak about labour market in older ages and so on and so forth. But this is also kind of demotivating for young people who are trying to build up career looking at their boss who will retire two days before, before he passed away. I'm sorry for being so, you know, straightforward. So this is kind of problem. And I was amazed that nobody of the experts even mentioned migration. So can you please also reflect on that? Because it's absolutely clear that we cannot artificially, with political measures, make people to give birth to children. Nobody is giving birth nowadays at 18, people enter adult life later than we did. They this is just, you know, there is a switch for ten, maybe 15 years. You cannot have seven children if you are a woman and you give birth at 36, it's just not doable. So please tell us about migration because this is also part of the solution to demographic crisis. Thank you.”
  EU strategy on population growth
• “Myself appointed a shadow rapporteur. Like five minutes to go. So my homework is not done properly, but we met with Mr. Danielson on several events regarding the topic. So am I more or less well aware of what's going on here? And we are very much on the same page. I mean, me personally, but probably not the whole new group. So I believe that we will move somewhere, you know, in a very centrist way to find this right balance between what was said by Mr. Danielson and colleague from EPP. Thank you.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law