Li ANDERSSON

Policy topics Li ANDERSSON is active on

What Li ANDERSSON has said (80)

• 2026-01-19 “Answer given by Ms Roswall on behalf of the European Commission 17.3.2026 Written question The Commission monitors the application of the Habitats Directive [1] in the Member States — including hunting and the reported conservation status of species in Annex IV and V of the directive — through, among others , expert groups and the Member States’ reports under Articles 16 and 17 of the Habitats Directive. Article 17 reports concern, in particular, the conservation status of species which has implications for the Member States’ obligations regarding Annex IV species (Article 12 of the directive) and Annex V species (Article 14 of the directive). Article 16 lays down some exceptions to Articles 12 and 14, upon certain conditions. The Member States delivered their Article 17 reports in 2025. The assessment of these reports is ongoing. It is carried out in cooperation with the European Environment Agency [2] and will lead to a public consultation in spring 2026. The conservation status of the species in question is relevant when assessing whether the Member States meet their obligations under the Habitats Directive with regard to Annex IV species like bears, lynxes, and otters (subject to a higher level of protection); and Annex V species, like wolves [3] . As part of that assessment, in relation to Finland, the Commission will also analyse the matters raised by the Honourable Members, notably hunting quotas and access to justice, and decide on the need for any further action. [1] Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7-50. [2] https://www.eea.europa.eu/en. [3] Directive (EU) 2025/1237 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2025 amending Council Directive 92/43/EEC as regards the protection status of the wolf (Canis lupus), OJ L, 2025/1237, 24.6.2025.”
  Large Carnivores · Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• 2026-01-19 “P-000197/2026 Answer given by Ms Roswall on behalf of the European Commission According to the Habitats Directive 1 , the conservation status of a species will be assessed as ‘favourable’ when (1) the population dynamics of the species concerned indicate that it is maintaining itself on a long-term basis as a viable component of its natural habitats, (2) the natural range of the species is neither being reduced nor is likely to be reduced for the foreseeable future and (3) there is, and will probably be, a sufficiently large habitat to maintain its population on a long-term basis. Member States must define the favourable conservation status in line with the above requirements. In doing so they can take account, where relevant, of the transboundary nature of populations. Directive (EU) 2025/1237 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2025 amending Council Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive) as regards the protection status of the wolf (Canis lupus) entered into force in July 2025. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 15 January 2027. The Commission will monitor transposition and implementation of the amended Habitats Directive. The Commission is in regular dialogue with Finnish competent authorities and is currently assessing the information provided by Finland as part of the periodic reporting pursuant to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, as well as data and recent legislative and policy developments related to wolf management. 1 Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, pp. 7–50.”
  Large Carnivores
• 2025-06-30 “E-002627/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission The Commission is closely monitoring the legislative developments of the draft Law on Transparency of Public Life, and it has voiced its serious concerns with the Hungarian authorities about the draft legislation. On 4 June 2025, the Hungarian authorities announced that the parliamentary work on this draft law would be postponed to the autumn session. The Commission has already taken measures in relation to the Law on the Protection of National Sovereignty, which establishes the Sovereignty Protection Office 1 . On 3 October 2024, the Commission decided to refer Hungary to the Court of Justice because it considers this law to be in breach of several fundamental freedoms of the internal market and related secondary legislation, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and EU data protection legislation. The case is pending before the Court of Justice (C-829/24). Regarding the Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union procedure against Hungary, the Commission continues to share several concerns raised by the European Parliament in its reasoned proposal of 12 September 2018. The Council has held eight formal hearings on Hungary, most recently on 27 May 2025. The Commission always stands ready to participate in Council hearings and contribute to any exchanges on the latest state of play on this matter. It is for the Council to decide on next steps in the Article 7(1) procedure, acting by a majority of four fifths of its members and after the consent of the European Parliament. 1 The Office would be empowered under the draft Law on Transparency of Public Life to propose to the Government the registration on a list of those organisations whose activities threaten the sovereignty of Hungary.”
  EU engagement with civil society · Regulation of NGOs in Europe · Rule of law in Hungary
• 2025-05-23 “E-002086/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Séjourné on behalf of the European Commission Applications for strategic status under the Critical Raw Materials Act 1 are assessed by independent experts based on the criteria in Article 6(1)(c). The projects selected have demonstrated sufficient evidence of their commitment to responsibly measure, monitor and reduce the impacts of their operations on the surrounding environment. Strategic projects benefit from streamlined permitting processes that respect environmental laws. Although the status provides benefits, they still need to obtain a permit from national authorities which apply existing requirements. National authorities may decide if strategic projects’ public interest qualifies as ‘overriding’ under Article 4(7) of the Water Framework Directive 2 (WFD) and Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive 3 . The WFD limits this derogation to cases where all practicable mitigation measures are taken, and when no other feasible and not disproportionately costly solution exists to achieve the same public interest. Projects in Natura 2000 4 sites are not per se prohibited. They must be subject to an appropriate assessment. In exceptional cases, if no alternatives exist and adverse effects on a Natura 2000 site remain despite mitigation, and the project is of overriding public interest, compensatory measures must be taken. For priority habitats or species, a Commission opinion may also be required. The EU Biodiversity strategy 5 sets a target that 10% of EU land and sea areas should be protected 6 . In addition, EU law ensures that environmental impact assessments, alternative analysis, mitigation or compensation obligations apply. The Commission provides guidance and monitors implementation to uphold environmental protection 7 . 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02024R1252-20240503. 2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02000L0060-20141120. 3 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:01992L0043-20130701. 4 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/natura-2000_en. 5 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52025DC0420. 6 For criteria and guidance on strict protection, see https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/202201/SWD_guidance_protected_areas.pdf 7 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/natura-2000/permitting-procedure_en.”
  Sourcing of critical raw materials
• 2025-02-25 “E-000842/2025 Answer given by Ms Albuquerque on behalf of the European Commission The Commission has adopted on 26 February 2025 a package of proposals to simplify sustainability rules 1 , with the aim to better integrate competitiveness and climate goals, creating a more favourable business environment to help companies grow, innovate, and create jobs. Quick action was needed to streamline processes and reduce administrative burdens due to urgent challenges faced by EU businesses. Therefore, in place of a full impact assessment, the Commission prepared a Staff Working Document assessing the impacts 2 , in line with the Better Regulation rules applicable in urgent cases 3 . The legislation being modified has already undergone extensive consultations and impact assessments in recent years. The Commission further gathered extensive feedback from stakeholders to inform its proposed measures, including: a public Call for Evidence in 2023 with almost 200 responses, 4 a workshop on climate-neutral economy financing in 2024, a ‘Stakeholder request mechanism’ for EU Taxonomy delegated act changes, a ‘reality check’ and roundtable discussion in February 2025 with NGOs and stakeholders and position papers, open letters, and joint statements from stakeholders and groups. The simplification proposals do not diminish the progress made by early adopters. These companies led the way, not only progressing in their transition but also gaining competitive advantages, fostering stakeholder trust, and driving innovation. The Commission encourages businesses to view the proposed package as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in sustainability and to benefit from more efficient and effective due diligence and reporting processes. 1 https://commission.europa.eu/publications/omnibus-i_en 2 See footnote 1. 3 COM/2021/219 final. 4 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13990-Administrative-burdenrationalisation-of-reporting-requirements_en”
  Sustainable corporate governance · Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights)
• 2025-01-28 “E-000375/2025 Answer given by Mr Hoekstra on behalf of the European Commission 1. Regulation (EU) 2018/841 1 introduces an EU-wide net removals target for the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector in 2030, aiming to increase the EU's net removals by about 15% and reverse declining trends. The EU target results in binding net carbon removal national targets, leading to a better performance of the LULUCF sector in all Member States who are responsible to implement the appropriate policies and measures to achieve these targets. The Commission is annually assessing Member States progress under the LULUCF Regulation and Finland may be required to submit a corrective action plan in case of insufficient progress. As the compliance exercise will take place in 2032, the Commission is not yet in a position to give a more precise answer. 2. The Commission has no jurisdiction to impose requirements on the forest industry with respect to logging practices, provided EU relevant legislation 2 is respected. Regulation (EU) 2024/3012 3 creates a voluntary framework for certifying carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products across Europe, that will facilitate investment in sustainable carbon farming solutions, including forestry holdings. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02018R0841-20230511 2 Such as the Habitats Directive (EC) 94/43 or Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free import of products (EUDR). 3 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202403012”
  Management of EU forests · Climate efforts
• 2024-10-30 “E-002322/2024 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the European Commission One of the main objectives of Directive (EU) 2022/2041 1 is to promote collective bargaining on wage-setting, given that well-functioning collective bargaining is an essential factor for achieving adequate minimum wage protection. In this regard, Article 4(1) of the Directive requires all Member States, with the involvement of the social partners, to take measures to increase the collective bargaining coverage and facilitate the exercise of the right to collective bargaining on wage-setting. In accordance with Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 2 , the Directive fully respects the competence of Member States as regards the right of association. National measures regulating the exercise of this right are outside the scope of the Directive. Now that the transposition deadline of 15 November 2024 has elapsed, the Commission will assess Member States’ transposition measures. This assessment will include the measures to which the question refers, but only to the extent they fall within the material scope of the Directive, which is still to be determined. The Commission will then take any necessary action in case of non-compliance with the Directive. In addition, as part of the implementation of the Directive and in accordance with Article 10 thereof, Finland will have to periodically provide to the Commission, as from 1 October 2025, data and information on the rate and development of collective bargaining coverage and on the minimum wage protection provided for in collective agreements. The Commission will analyse the information provided, report the results of this analysis to the European Parliament and to the Council and shall simultaneously publish the data and information transmitted by Member States. 1 Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (OJ L 275, 25.10.2022, p. 33–47) - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32022L2041 2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12008E153”
  EU competences on social policies · Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• 2024-10-30 “E-002321/2024 Answer given by Ms Roswall on behalf of the European Commission 1. The EU Biodiversity Strategy 1 commits to strictly protect all remaining EU primary and old-growth forests. The Commission services are not in a position to undertake a formal compliance assessment of the national process of defining primary and old-growth forests, due to their voluntary nature. Nevertheless, the Commission will continue the dialogue with the competent authorities to ensure the effective protection of these forests, in line with the definitions and criteria agreed in the process of drafting the Commission guidelines 2 . 2. The guidelines establish distinct definitions of primary and old-growth forests with the aim of protecting both categories. Old-growth forests explicitly include secondary forests ‘of native tree species that have developed, predominantly through natural processes, structures and dynamics normally associated with late seral development phases in primary or undisturbed forests of the same type’. While Member States will develop and use their own methodology to conduct the identification of old-growth forests, they are expected to respect the definitions and criteria outlined in the guidelines. 3. The Commission will continue communication and outreach activities with the relevant actors in Member States to ensure that the targets formulated in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, as well as those committed to in the guidelines, are met. 1 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en 2 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/guidelines-defining-mapping-monitoring-and-strictly-protectingeu-primary-and-old-growth-forests_en”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Honourable chair. Last week we in the left group gathered young Ukrainian leftists and trade unionists in Brussels to discuss how Ukrainian civil society can be supported during the fight against Russian imperialism. The message was crystal clear. In addition to armed support, Ukrainian society needs to address acute problems such as the severe lack of affordable housing, the lack of care services, and also proposed reforms to weaken workers rights and trade unions. We need to find the legal basis to use frozen Russian assets and to direct these funds into a large investment program for social housing in Ukraine. Now it's also the time to finally put an end to Viktor Orban trying to stop support for Ukraine and blocking Ukraine's EU accession process. We must remove Hungary's voting rights in the council under article seven. I think enough is enough.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
• “Okay. And from Ambleside, Mrs. Obadia is replaced by Mrs. Montserrat EPP. Mrs. Mendia is replaced by Mrs. Sanchez Murillo from Mrs. Doshi, replaced by Mrs. Delos from Patriots. Mr. Hauser is replaced by Mrs. Ortega. Patriots. Mrs. Donazzan is replaced by Mr. Ser. Mrs. Malone is replaced by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hansen is replaced by Mr. Green's Mrs. and is replaced by Mr. McCarthy Green's and Mr. Ruddock is replaced by Mr. EPP. That is correct. No. One here.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “Dear chair and Dear Members and Guests. As chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, I am honored to co-chair today's discussion, which touches on one of the most pressing socio economic challenges facing the European Union. That is the urgent need to strengthen our construction workforce so that Europe can build the homes its citizens need. This is yet another of the series of public hearings we have organized together with the House Special Committee, which shows the complexity that the housing question poses in Europe. The construction sector sits at the very center of this challenge. Without enough skilled workers on scaffolding, design offices, vocational training centers and so on, our commitments to improve housing affordability, advance renovation targets and deliver resilient, future proof infrastructure simply cannot be met. For the committee, the issue of construction skills is not merely a sectoral concern, it's also a social one. It demands a comprehensive approach strengthening vocational education and apprenticeships, improving labour mobility and working conditions, attracting more young people, including women, to the sector and supporting SMEs that often struggle most to recruit and retain talent. We must also recognise that sustainable housing policy and fair labour policy go hand in hand. I look forward to an open and solutions based exchange, including with our members and of course also to hear the Commission and what they intend to take and how they intend to take these challenges forward. Thank you very much.”
  Funding for vocational training
• “I joined President Metsola in her welcoming words and turning to the topic of today's exchange of views our focus here is on work life balance including the implementation of the work life balance directive. While some progress has been made in gender equality within the labor market key challenges remain in employment pay pensions and including the work life balance. The work life balance directive entered into force in July twenty nineteen and introduced some crucial measures to better support work life balance and in particular equal sharing of care duties between women and men. Parliament is closely monitoring its progress. However despite the fact that the transposition period expired on second of August twenty twenty two a report of the European Network of Legal Experts in Gender Equality and Non Discrimination from twenty twenty three showed that there was still considerable work to be done in transposition and compliance. Only recently the EU Court of Justice ruled that three member states broke EU law by failing to put key protections for workers and caregivers into place nearly three years after they were supposed to do so. The EMPL committee will in due course prepare an implementation report to assess progress and address any possible shortcomings. In addition it should be noted that we are together with the FUND committee preparing two E and E reports addressing the gender care gap as well as pension and pay gaps with some aspects also highly relevant for the work life balance topic. Any insights from the European Institute for Gender Equality and the European Commission will be critical in driving further progress in these areas so without further ado I will give the floor to Mrs Schilli Director of AGE for twelve minutes please the floor is yours.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “This proposal has been referred to the Ample Committee, as it is the lead committee on health and safety measures in the workplace. We have a Commission representative here today to present the proposal and give some background information about the decision process that led to proposing limit values for occupational exposure for some new substances, as well as a number of other adjustments to the current directive. The Commission anticipates that this revision will prevent about 1700 lung cancer cases and 19,000 other illnesses over the next 40 years, and in addition, the new measures implemented could save up to 1.16 billion in healthcare costs. As the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. We will continue like we did during the previous revisions of this directive, to aim at ensuring the best possible protection of workers from health and safety risks. Workers exposure to these substances need to be prevented or where this is not possible, reduced to the minimum, and this is also an important stepping stone for the Vision Zero approach to eliminate work related deaths in the EU, as laid down in the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2127. For the presentation of the Commission proposal, I will now give the floor to Mrs. Maria Luisa Cabral, who is the director for Quality Jobs, Working Conditions and Social Dialogue for the next 12 minutes. So please, the floor is yours.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Um, so, uh, welcome everyone to yet another discussion dedicated to working conditions in Amazon warehouses. Uh, and colleagues, as has already been highlighted during our previous discussions, the exchanges we have held on these issues have revealed a number of Syrians and persistent concerns. Uh, testimonies that we have received suggest that the level of protection afforded to workers in Amazon warehouses, as well as respect for their rights, remains, at best uncertain To date, little has been done to dispel these concerns. We continue to see headlines and reports pointing to issues such as intrusive employee monitoring, unpaid overtime, workplace safety violations and insufficient protection of worker rights. So, taken together, our fear is that this suggests the existence of systemic problems in the management of the European workforce. That said, today's meeting presents a rare but valuable opportunity. We are pleased to welcome representatives of Amazon's senior management, who have agreed to engage in an open and constructive exchange on these concerns repeatedly raised by warehouse employees and their representatives. And we, of course, very much value that. I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our invited speakers, both from Amazon's management and from the workers side.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Okay, colleagues, it is 10:00, so we will be starting our hearing on artificial intelligence at the workplace. And this hearing aims to feed into the ongoing ample committee work on digitalisation, artificial intelligence and algorithmic management in the workplace, shaping the future of work. This legislative own initiative report is focusing on harnessing the potential and advantages of digital transformation. The conditions for a socially sustainable digital transition, and on the challenges that AI and algorithmic management present for workers, as well as businesses and labour market Regulation. It will make concrete policy recommendations and proposals, notably on possible future legislation for algorithmic management, including AI in the workplace. The use of AI in the workplace generates productivity gains. It can generate better time management, it can create greater autonomy, but it also generates risks from from intrusive data collection to discrimination and biases in recruitment practices or performance management, to new forms of excessive monitoring and surveillance or health and safety risks. Although algorithmic management has been inherent to the platform work, it is rapidly expanding to more traditional workplaces, and it's already a reality across many sectors in the labour market. Our committee has a long standing interest on this topic, having initiated already during last mandate, parliamentary resolutions on the right to disconnect and employment related aspects of platform work, and organized a similar hearing on algorithmic management at work also in November 2023. Our committee has very recently negotiated the Platform Work Directive, and also set up a monitoring group to follow up on the transposition and implementation of this directive, following last Parliament's call for relevant legislation.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Thank you very much. And thank you all who participated in this discussion. So the rapporteurs will now work with the shadow rapporteurs to find a compromise text with a vote on the final report scheduled for the November for the month of November in ample. All right. We will continue with the next item on the agenda. And I'm very happy to welcome you to today's exchange of views with the Commission on the Commission's first ever strategy on intergenerational fairness, adopted on the 6th of March 2026. I believe most of my colleagues here in the committee will agree that this is a timely and an important discussion, as intergenerational fairness is not only about solidarity between different age groups, but also about ensuring that Europe's social and economic model remains credible and sustainable for everyone today and in the future, and also for everyone to have trust in this model. The choices that we make on employment, social protection, housing skills, and public investment shape opportunities across generations for us here in the committee, this debate goes to the heart of our work about creating quality jobs, reducing inequalities, supporting inclusion, and ensuring that both younger and older generations can participate fully in society and in the labour markets. We're looking forward to hearing more about the Commission's approach, and, in particular, how the proposed actions could strengthen fairness and opportunity across generations. So I will start by giving the floor to the European Commission to Biljana Sirakova, who is deputy head of unit for youth and intergenerational fairness. So you have the floor for the next eight minutes.”
  EU engagement with youth
• “Thank you very much, executive vice president, for being here. And we can maybe say that this is the first step of a very long road, uh, because this is a long process. And, of course, our committee will also be contributing to the assessment of the commission proposals and, um, on the elements that relate to our committee and, of course, closely follow the development of the negotiations on the whole, MFF. And I actually think you mentioned that you have a formula for assessing the amount of funding for social in the next one as compared to the last, and I think that will probably be of interest to all groups in, in the committee. So if I could please ask for that information for all of us, I think it would be be useful. So that's the end of the agenda for today. Thank you very much, colleagues. And the next meetings will be in the 8th of September in Strasbourg and 22nd to 23rd of September here in Brussels. Thank you. Thank you.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “Thank you very much. I think an excellent summary also with very interesting national examples. So. Well. Very good. Scene setter for the discussion at hand. We will now go on to hear from Members of Parliament, social partners and members of the European Parliament. Starting with Mr. Dennis Radtke, our co-rapporteur on the minimum Wage directive and also the co-chair of the Minimum Wage Directive Monitoring Group. So please, Dennis, the floor is yours for the next four minutes.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Olson, for sharing this information with us. And our next speaker is Executive Director of EU OSHA, Mr. William Cockburn, who is joining us from Bilbao. So, please, William, you have the floor for the next 7 minutes.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you very much. And now, last but not least, we still have Mr. Matthias Fritz from the Commission from the unit for Health and Safety at Work in EU OSHA for the last few minutes. And it would be very interesting, I think, also to hear some reflections on the points that have been raised here regarding both the need for regulation and enforcement, the question of inspectorates and so on. So please, the floor is yours.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “56:51 – 10:59:17): Thank you very much, Chair. I think on a general note, on a general discussion, I just want to say that I come from a country where business has been very strongly in favor of the ETS system, and any kind of negative changes or changes to water down the system would actually be a punishment against industry, businesses, and companies that have adapted to the system the EU has chosen and also made the necessary investment for the transition. So it's very difficult for me to understand why you would want to send a signal like that to the businesses and the industries. But coming to the topic at hand on the revenues, which are of course extremely important that they are used to accelerate the transition into a low carbon society, and it's also important for the societal acceptance and understanding of the climate policy that we are doing.”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “Thank you. Uh, is there any other member that wish to take the floor at this point? No. Um, so thank you very much, colleagues. And I understand that no objections have been raised. I hope I do the correct analysis. So that means we can confirm the employment guidelines as they are this year and therefore in the coming days, we will also prepare our own short committee report that will be voted in plenary at the beginning of October. And now, since Sato is coming at 11, I would propose that we take a break. So we will gather back here at 11:00. Thank you very much. So, colleagues, we are ready to start. If I could please ask you to take your seats. And it is my pleasure to welcome Roxana Sato, executive vice president for social rights and skills, Quality, Jobs and preparedness. As we all know, on the 16th of July, the Commission adopted the proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework post 2027 and the bulk of proposals for the EU programmes post 2027. On behalf of our committee, I would like to thank executive Vice-President for participating in our Committee meeting today for an exchange of views on this package. From the point of view of the Ample Committee and as you well know, No executive vice president. The Parliament adopted an own initiative report on the ESF Plus post 2027 earlier this year, where we expressed expressed the Parliament's expectations for the future of the ESF plus. The Committee also contributed to the Parliament's own initiative report on the MFF post 2027, so I'm sure also, Executive Vice President is familiar with the committee standpoints when it comes to these and especially the ESF plus. So we take note of the commission package for the next MFF, and we're eager to hear from you on all of the elements related to our committee. So please, um, Roxana, you have the floor for the next 15 minutes.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “Thank you very much for this very clear presentation. So, um, moving on to the second part of the hearing. We will focus on how to best protect workers. And I'm first giving the floor to Xavier Irastorza, who is senior research project manager at EU OSHA, for his presentation. So, Mr. Irastorza, the floor is yours for the next seven minutes.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you. And Mr. Perrigo, and I think specifically this question of the collective bargaining coverage has been raised several times.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “Thank you very much. And this brings us to the end of, I think, this very interesting exchange of views with the Commission. So thank you very much for also for the clear and enlightening answers. And thank you to all speakers and colleagues for active participation. We then move on to the next point on the agenda, which is the mid-term review of the 2021 Action Plan for Social Economy. The social economy is a key sector and accounts for over 6% of total employment. And numbers show that massive progress has been made in terms of public investment, and many member states are adopting strategies or even changing their legal frameworks to accommodate the social economy. We have invited the Commission today to give us an insight on the way forward and and how to further improve this successful strategy. So we will start by giving the floor to Mrs. Bazerman for the next eight minutes.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “What was the main reasons for Europeans to vote in the last European parliamentary election? It was rising prices and the cost of living. And what are the issues that they think the European Parliament should address as the main priority? Inflation, rising prices and the cost of living. I think we have been given a pretty clear message and a very clear mandate to act. That is why last year it was a shock to see zero legal initiatives in the work programme in the field of employment and social policy this year. Luckily, this has been corrected with several legal and non-legal initiatives for employment and social policy. The Quality Jobs Act will be especially important. We want to see restrictions on subcontracting rules for using algorithms and AI in the workplace. We want to secure workers rights to training and to address psychosocial risks. And we also want to ensure that while we take one step forward, we do not take two steps back. The 28th regime and the citizens omnibus, whatever that will mean, can in no way mean lowering labour standards. The EU cannot afford to disregard the clear message and the mandate from the people. I think this mandate should not be about deregulating for big business. This should be about the rights and the livelihood of the European people.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you very much. We will open up for the group round, but since we have representation from the commission here as well, because I think this was new information that was presented here regarding platform work directive being revised as a part of the digitalisation omnibus. So I would start actually by asking the commission to to comment on this. And then we move on to the group round, because I think it's information that the members might ask anyhow. So we could get some comments right at the start.”
  Platform workers
• “56:51 – 10:59:17): Thank you very much, Chair. I think on a general note, on a general discussion, I just want to say that I come from a country where business has been very strongly in favor of the ETS system, and any kind of negative changes or changes to water down the system would actually be a punishment against industry, businesses, and companies that have adapted to the system the EU has chosen and also made the necessary investment for the transition. So it's very difficult for me to understand why you would want to send a signal like that to the businesses and the industries. But coming to the topic at hand on the revenues, which are of course extremely important that they are used to accelerate the transition into a low carbon society, and it's also important for the societal acceptance and understanding of the climate policy that we are doing.”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “Thank you very much, Mr. Nava. So we will now start with the first session entitled what are the aims of the directive and how have they been impacted by the Court of Justice judgment in case C 1923? As you know, in November last year, the Court of Justice delivered its judgment, in this case, confirming the legal basis of the directive and the validity of the provisions of the directive relating to collective bargaining on wage setting. However, the court annulled two provisions of the directive on the criteria to be taken into account by Member states with statutory minimum wages, as well as the prohibition on reducing minimum wages in case of automatic indexation mechanisms. The subject of this session will therefore be the impacts of this judgment. Before we hear our expert speaker, I will shortly outline the modalities for how this debate will go On your desk, you will find speaking cards. Members of national parliaments can use those to indicate that you would like to take the floor. Just fill in the card and hand it to the ushers. And for MEPs, I already have a preliminary list of interested speakers, and if there are more MEPs that wish to take the floor spontaneously, please just raise your hand or your card as we do normally during committee meetings. As for the timing, I will kindly ask you to limit your interventions to 1.5 minutes for us to be able to ensure that everyone that wants to also will have time to take the floor, and we will try to divide the speaking time so that we have two national parliaments, followed by one MEP, then two members of national parliaments and one MEP, and so on. So we will start with the keynote speaker in this panel, Mrs. Sasha Garbin, who is permanent professor of EU law at the Legal Studies Department of the College of Europe. She has already published a commentary on the topic of the legal challenge against the directive and a recent court judgment. So she is the best placed to set the scene for us for this debate. Please, Mrs. Carmen, you have the floor for the next six minutes.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “Thank you very much. And now we have the intervention of Mr. Marius, who is the chair of the Committee on Labour, Family and Social Protection from the Romanian Senate. Please. The floor is yours for the next four minutes.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “President. The commission has made a historic mistake in reducing the whole issue of competitiveness to the regulation agenda. At the same time the Commission has concentrated on deregulation, it has failed to address the most important problems facing European competitiveness. Where are the initiatives for big investments needed in Europe? Where are the measures to safeguard our digital sovereignty? Instead, the Commission is backing down, lowering the bar in the green economy where we could have had a competitive advantage. Above all, Europeans do not want deregulation driven by the interests of big companies in their deregulation. They want real solutions to the cost of living crisis. Europeans must have enough money to live in their everyday life that is at the heart of all competitiveness. For this reason, we need to increase our social housing production, strengthen collective bargaining agreements, and reduce energy prices through investments in renewable energies. There's still time to change course. Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “43:27 – 09:45:38): Thank you very much i think the context of this commission proposal is quite problematic because under pressure from several national governments as was mentioned and also the heavy industry the commission is now proposing changes to the market stability reserve and the ets2 that risks undermining the system's climate integrity and that was also already mentioned without any proper impact assessment of the effects that this will have the market stability reserve already contains six hundred million additional allowances on top of the ets2 cap so if all of these were to be used between twenty seven percent and thirty five percent it would also mean that the total supply would rise by five percent to ten percent which cannot be interpreted as being a technical adjustment but it's a political signal that emissions can increase i do not think we should respond to high price projections by allowing more emissions i do not think that's the right way to go from a climate point of view nor from a social justice point of view but the only sustainable way in the long run to contain prices is to reduce demand for allowances and that is through strong energy efficiency strong investment in affordable green mobility affordable green heating and strong complementary policies and also of course keeping the incentives in place for these investments to happen in the member states yet at the same time we're also seeing many member states pushing to weaken key measures such as the phase out of new co2 emitting vehicles or green heating standards and these are also measures that would drive the carbon prices up and not down so instead of diluting the system with additional allowances i think we need to strengthen complementary policies accelerate socially targeted climate investments front loading as was mentioned strengthening the social climate fund and as i see this is the only way to sustainably contain ets two prices in the long run while at the same time sticking to the promise and the principle of delivering on europe's climate targets”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “Thank you. Next speaker is Mr. Martin from Spain. **Spanish representative Thank you very much. As the as I said earlier, and as we heard in the presentation. The minimum wage in Spain is not formally implemented, but in practice it has had. It has been implemented pretty much across the board, and we've seen an increase in 67% over the last few years. This means an average increase of 6.5% over the last eight years. 32% increase in the purchasing power. Our commitment is to increase the minimum wage to up to 60% of the of the net average wage. And I must underscore Annette, because this is a free of tax and Social Security contributions, it's up to 90% of the average wage. So this falls within the provisions of the directive. And it complies with the charter signed by Spain. Now, such a quick implementation has led to another problem. That is, we have too many workers earning a minimum wage, at 13% of all workers. And what we have to do now is ensure that collective bargaining reacts to this situation. We have very broad coverage of collective bargaining. As my colleague said, 92% of workers are covered by a collective bargaining, but we have very low level of participation or membership of trade unions, just 10%. This means that negotiations are weighted in favor of the employer, which means that the labor market reforms that we need, which are also implemented during the the recession, are not necessarily positive. We now want to strengthen collective bargaining by ensuring that the Labour Market Observatory work is sent out correctly, so that all sides are negotiating on the basis of the same complete information. There's no asymmetries there, and we hope this will lead to an increase in minimum wages in across Spain. That will allow us to put a stop to the differences in purchasing power, which can be found in each of our autonomous communities. Thank you.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “Thank you very much for your contribution. And we now move on into the future. So we'll hear a number of contributions with regard to how best shape occupational safety and health for the upcoming years and the new world of work. And as first speaker, I would like to give the Commission the opportunity to present state of play of its efforts on a strategic framework on health and safety at work post-twenty 27. So Mr. Olsson, Deputy Director General for Job Skills and Social Policy, the floor is yours for the next 7 minutes.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Honorable chair. Would you spend more than 2 trillion annually to buy from companies that disrespect workers? I certainly hope not. The rules on public procurement affect the wages, the working conditions and the working life of millions of European workers. The committee adopted an opinion to this report, with broad political majority, including possibilities to exclude companies that do not respect workers rights and also to strengthen collective bargaining. I was very disappointed to notice that the opinion was not included in the Imco report. To the extent that we would have expected, even though the amendments were clearly under ample competence, the revision of the rules on public procurement cannot turn into yet another missed opportunity to strengthen workers rights in Europe. To prevent this, we need a clear message from this Parliament. And to get that, we need to vote for the amendments. **Nicolae ȘTEFĂNUȚĂ @Chair: The floor goes to Mr. Branislav Ondrus.”
  EU policy on social criteria in public funding
• “And second, to evaluate Amazon's commitment to transparent and constructive engagement with this committee and the members present. The program we prepared for today reflect these goals. As with the January hearing, we are honored to welcome Amazon workers and their representatives from Germany and Poland, both present and online, alongside EU level representatives. And we have also extended an invitation to a senior Amazon executive to take part in this hearing. In line with what has been agreed during our coordinators meeting. Unfortunately, the representatives Amazon proposed did not meet the level of seniority that was requested by the committee. So this again raises concerns about the company's commitment to an open and honest dialogue. As a result, Amazon representatives will not be taking part in today's discussion. And I can only express my regret for this missed opportunity. Um. Moving on. Uh, our last exchange of views in January 2024 raised serious concerns. Uh, the testimony suggested that workers rights and protection in Amazon warehouses, to put it mildly, remain questionable. And recent developments have done little to ease those concerns. We continue to see headlines and reports highlighting issues such as intrusive employee monitoring, unpaid overtime, workplace safety violations and insufficient protection of workers rights.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you very much. And last but not least, it is of course, also interesting to hear the Commission plans to follow up on the Parliament on how to follow up on the Parliament demands once our ENL is done, and also of the future quality jobs roadmap and how this topic is is linked to the preparations for that. So I will now give the floor to Manuela Geleng, who is the Director of Jobs and Skills at DG EMPL, for five minutes.”
  Youth employment & training
• “Demographic shifts, economic inequalities and changing labour markets are placing growing pressure on the relationship between generations. Younger Europeans today often face more precarious employment, higher housing costs and greater barriers to financial independence compared to previous generations. And at the same time, ageing populations are increasing demands on public finances, pensions and healthcare systems, which raises questions about long term sustainability and intergenerational equity. Furthermore, the committee looks forward to exchanging information on the Commission's prospective initiatives aimed at improving the working conditions of artists and cultural professionals. This sector, which plays a vital role in Europe's cultural diversity and creative economy, continues to face challenges related to precarious employment, income instability and limited access to social protection. So thank you once again for joining us here today, and we look forward to your remarks and the fruitful exchange. And we will, of course, start by giving you the floor to tell us about your work and the upcoming proposals and initiatives from the side of the Commission. The floor is yours.”
  EU policy on aging workforce and pensions
• “Thank you very much. Lina and colleagues, as you heard today, we will be hearing the presentation of this draft report. And as we all know, despite progress, women across the EU still face unequal pay, undervalued work and also lower pensions. This report outlines concrete steps to close these gaps, among other things stronger social protection, investment in care and flexible work, and support for women's entrepreneurship. It also calls for full enforcement of pay transparency and gender balance rules to achieve lasting equality and economic growth. So, without further ado, I would now like to pass the floor to the colleagues, replacing the two co-rapporteurs starting first with Mrs. Miletti on behalf of Miroslav and Nicole. So the floor is yours for three minutes.”
  Gender pay transparency
• “Okay. Thank you very much. This was very interesting. Thank you for these insights. As, as you all notice this action plan is of crucial importance. And this is also a topic that generates a lot of interest in the committee. So I'm sure we will be able to continue discussions regarding the social economy and how to develop it further in the European Union. So thank you very much also to all members at this point. And we will continue at 230.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you very much. And now we turn to the Amazon workers. Next on my list is our guest speaker from Poland, Mrs. Maria malinowski, warehouse worker of Amazon Poland and also a member of Workers Initiative trade union. So the floor is yours for the next eight minutes.”
  Platform workers
• “I was expecting this debate to be speech after speech about the successes of the single market and that's why I think it's important to point out that there is also another side to this story that is a story about all of the Europeans who have not benefited or gotten their share of this success. It is a story of workers who have had to leave their homes to work elsewhere because there's not enough jobs and no services. It is the story of both EU and non-EU workers who are working here within the European Union who are not being paid according to collective agreements and our national laws, who are given the most dangerous tasks, the most dangerous jobs, who are subjected to exploitation, to extortion and in many cases also violence. So yes, we would really need a stronger social dimension to the single market but this must mean tougher measures to address labor exploitation. This must mean limiting subcontracting and excluding companies from procurement that do not respect collective agreements. It must mean strengthening our labor inspectorates and also addressing problems such as self bogus self employment. Most importantly, we need a strategy to strengthen trade unions because the best way to secure workers' rights is to strengthen the unions that fight for these rights and for a socially just single market every single day.”
  EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains
• “Is on the rise. This is due to the Finnish government's deliberate decisions to cut social benefits, especially social benefits, for families, even though they knew it would mean over 30,000 more children living in poverty. And I think what many Finns are wondering at the moment is what is the role of these strategies and these targets? If member states deliberately increase child poverty, while the EU at the same time has targets of reducing the number of children living in social exclusion and in poverty. So I think the most crucial question for the anti-poverty strategy is how will we make sure that these targets also become reality for Europeans? We need increased and dedicated funding, especially for the child guarantee. We need a very strong and stronger social dimension in the European semester. But most of all, we need much stronger political commitment from the Commission and from our political leaders.”
  European Semester (social dimension)
• “Okay, colleagues. The next item on our agenda is the public hearing on a new EU strategic framework on health and safety at work post-twenty 27. In its quality jobs roadmap, the Commission has announced that by mid-twenty 26, it will report with regards to implementation of the OSH framework directive and related directives and that it will also review the workplace and the display screen equipment directives to better address OSH related risks. Currently, also the carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances directive is undergoing its sixth revision, as we heard this morning. With regard to the current EU strategic framework on health and safety at work 20 20 to 2027, the European Parliament adopted on 03/10/2022, a resolution and over the years has regularly called on the commission to further raise the bar in respect of the EU strategic framework and the need to update it in the lights of the latest technological developments, emerging occupational risks, changes in work patterns and lessons learned from health crisis such as the COVID-nineteen pandemic. The MPOW committee repeatedly stressed the need for implementation of the Vision 0 approach to work related accidents and diseases and invited the Commission to raise its level of ambition and to increase its focus on prevention strategies in order to strive for the highest level of health and safety protection at work possible. For today's hearing, we have invited a number of experts, relevant stakeholders and social partners in order to take stock of the implementation of the current EU OSH framework and its impact and to look ahead and discuss necessary updates and improvements to the next strategic framework in line with the evolution of labor markets and in the context of the twin digital and green transitions. For the stock taking and lessons learned parts, I would like to now give the floor to our first speaker, Ignacio D'Arresta Hernandez, Senior Advisor at the ETUC. You have the floor for 7 minutes.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you very much. Since it's late, I think it's good to kind of start with the basics, and the EU is facing a significant challenge when it comes to the climate investment gap. So it has been estimated that we would need new annual investments by around €350 billion every year to reach EU's climate and industrial objectives for 2030. So it's quite clear that to fix this, we will need a lot of public money. And we should also look at how our fiscal rules could support this better. But we also need changes in private money flows. And this was the whole idea of the taxonomy to be kind of the key tool and also compass, as my colleague mentioned here, to enable this. And it's why it's so concerning that the commission is now weakening the EU taxonomy, because this is, of course, what is going to happen and also to significantly reduce the reporting scope. And as has already been mentioned, again, this is not simplification. This is in many ways complication of rules. And this is again the regulation that is just being masqueraded or presented as simplification. And therefore the left will be tabling an objection to this delegated act. But I would also like to hear how the Commissioner sees the taxonomy after these changes. Can we say that the taxonomy will be a gold standard internationally when it's being weakened in this way? And what is your assessment of what the changes now proposed to the do no significant harm principle will mean for this principle?”
  Green Taxonomy
• “We have asked for the floor, but I do have to remind all members that we do not have the national political debates in the European Parliament. So we discussed the European policies here. Mr.. Sebi, one minute.”
  EU political integration
• “Honorable chair. The US is ruled by an authoritarian president who is using trade policies as a means of coercion and political extortion. While it is clear that European workers will only lose in a full fledged trade war, the EU should be much bolder and much more imaginative in its own response to Trump's actions. The EU should target the oligarchs that are close to Trump, to action directed at Tesla and Musk, and by digital tax aimed at the huge digital platforms. The EU should also signal its readiness to use the anti coercion instrument. But most importantly, we need to make the European economy less dependent on US exports. That means supporting internal demand in the European markets, and that means supporting real wage growth and also increasing investments. More than ever, we need to put people and workers first in our economic policy making.”
  EU-US trade relations
• “In. Uh, we have a slightly different, uh, situation, um, but still not, uh, pay equality. We have to take Tangible actions here. There is no, uh, act, uh, for a quality. It wouldn't have come if women hadn't organized themselves and had kept, uh, their opposition and fought back. This inequality is also about the labor market. We see underrepresentation of men in badly paid sectors. So this directive is something which is extremely important, uh, in terms of equality. But this pay gap tells us that we are still living in the same world where we do not receive the same salary for the same job. And that is the problem, because this directive on salary transparency is supposed to help with that. I am disappointed that the Finnish government, following lobbying from the corporate world, has modified the definitions and weakened this directive and the application of this directive on the application of, uh, salary transparency. The Finnish government is making it clear that they think it's more important to stay in the good graces of the CEOs rather than, um, having these rules in place. Unfortunately, the case of Finland shows once again why we are here at the EU level to work and to ask for measures to improve gender equality.”
  Gender pay transparency
• “We will start right away since we have quite a tight schedule. Dear Commissioner, Madam chair, Mr. Rapporteur colleagues, I'm very pleased to start this exchange of views on the Commission's affordable housing plan and to welcome Commissioner Jorgensen here today. And I would also like to warmly welcome the chair of the House Committee, Mrs. Tinagli, and the House committee's rapporteur on this file, Mr. Jimenez. Lara's. The affordable housing plan was presented in the House Committee in December last year, and today's discussion gives us an opportunity to focus specifically on its social dimension. Over the past year, our committee has held several debates on the housing crisis, and throughout these discussions, one message consistently stood out. The right to affordable housing is part of the fundamental set of human rights. Housing is not merely a market commodity. It is a basic condition for dignity, stability and equal participation in society, and I am therefore very glad to see that the Commission's affordable housing plan recognizes the current situation not only in economic terms, but as a systemic social crisis that threatens the very fabric of European cohesion and human dignity. And it is equally important that the plan acknowledges the right to adequate housing as an element of fundamental human rights. This recognition is indeed paramount. We will move on and starting by remarks by Mrs. Tenaglia, the House chair, for two minutes. But I will warn you all that we have time only until 12, which means that I will be very strict with time. So everybody has to stick to the time limits. Starting okay now. So, Mrs. Tenaglia, the floor is yours for the next two minutes.”
  EU housing policy
• “Commissioner, the financialization of the housing market has been one of the key drivers of the housing crisis, and therefore, it is also one of the key problems that must be addressed. We must regulate short term rentals. And we also need more financing instruments for nonprofit housing. For a long time, Finland ensured that a sufficient share of all new rental flats were not for profit through state guaranteed loans. However, this model is now threatened by lots of different causes. But one of them is that in 2022, Eurostat started counting state guarantees for these loans as public debt, even though they are not. This increased Finland's debt to GDP ratio by over six percentage points overnight, making support for non-profit housing less attractive to the government. This needs to change as soon as possible, as we should be removing barriers for affordable housing instead of creating them.”
  EU housing policy
• “So, on my behalf, I also want to thank everyone who has participated in the hearing today remotely and in person. And of course, we will continue our work in the committee regarding these issues, hopefully also with a visit to the warehouses. But I also do have to say that we will also continue our work for for strengthening collective bargaining in Europe. I mean, we represent very different political groups. We come from very different countries, but this has also been a joint objective of ours, as I stated in the minimum wage directive, because as we see it, it's something that not only benefits employees, but also employers and societies at large. So I'm sure the discussions will continue. Thank you very much.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “43:27 – 09:45:38): Thank you very much i think the context of this commission proposal is quite problematic because under pressure from several national governments as was mentioned and also the heavy industry the commission is now proposing changes to the market stability reserve and the ets2 that risks undermining the system's climate integrity and that was also already mentioned without any proper impact assessment of the effects that this will have the market stability reserve already contains six hundred million additional allowances on top of the ets2 cap so if all of these were to be used between twenty seven percent and thirty five percent it would also mean that the total supply would rise by five percent to ten percent which cannot be interpreted as being a technical adjustment but it's a political signal that emissions can increase i do not think we should respond to high price projections by allowing more emissions i do not think that's the right way to go from a climate point of view nor from a social justice point of view but the only sustainable way in the long run to contain prices is to reduce demand for allowances and that is through strong energy efficiency strong investment in affordable green mobility affordable green heating and strong complementary policies and also of course keeping the incentives in place for these investments to happen in the member states yet at the same time we're also seeing many member states pushing to weaken key measures such as the phase out of new co2 emitting vehicles or green heating standards and these are also measures that would drive the carbon prices up and not down so instead of diluting the system with additional allowances i think we need to strengthen complementary policies accelerate socially targeted climate investments front loading as was mentioned strengthening the social climate fund and as i see this is the only way to sustainably contain ets two prices in the long run while at the same time sticking to the promise and the principle of delivering on europe's climate targets”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “Thank you chair. I will speak Finnish. Chairman, the taxonomy regulation. The original idea was to channel private investments into sustainable, uh, subjects to have a system based on science. This was a watered down in the previous term, when the use of natural natural gas and nuclear were classified as sustainable. Now, these new amendments on taxonomy, taxonomy and reporting threaten to water down progress on the green transition. And more sustainable investments. These proposed changes would limit the scope to big companies. I have not heard an answer from the Commissioner as to what is the estimated effect on medium sized companies, which would be under this highest threshold? The risk is the that the green transition in medium sized companies will be slowed down. They won't have the guidance and the financing, and we don't have important data like other omnibus. Proposals. This will increase confusion in the market and is bad for other actors who prepared for the original criteria and the requirements.”
  Green Taxonomy
• “Thank you very much. That brings us to the end of this hearing. And I would again like to thank all speakers and all colleagues for this exchange. I think it has clearly shown that even though there is a high level of health and safety measures at the workplace currently foreseen in the EU, this is not a topic where policymakers and legislators can rest. So we need to continue further strengthening our efforts to reach the highest level of health and safety protection at work as possible. And let's not shy away from calling for necessary measures and introducing a strategic framework, which will guarantee healthy and safe workplaces no matter how the labor markets will evolve in the future. So thank you all very much and we will continue straight away, once the Executive Vice President gets here.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Um. The article 13 requires parties to ensure traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities, and that it's accessed um, only with free, prior and informed consent and on agreed terms. And it should be good to also take this clear obligation, um, to be directly reflected into the directive. And the third and the last point is that there still seems to be an inconsistency with the scope of the agreement and the directive. I think it was addressed also in the last debate, uh, with the agreement applying to areas beyond national jurisdiction and the directive limiting itself to planned activities from the member states in this area, and the notion of planned activities is indeed relevant for part four of the agreement, but not for all of the agreement, and therefore the scope should reflect the scope of the whole directive. So hopefully we can address these points in the work to come. And also looking forward to working with all of you. And next on the list is Mr. Jongen.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• “In this context, the non unified and often not strong voice of the EU was emphasized um, and was also accompanied by a strong call to change this as rapidly as possible. Due to the urgency of the global situation, a declaration called the Doha Declaration was adopted at the beginning of the summit, which reaffirms some important strong commitments, including support to developing countries that intend to increase universal social protection by 2% each year. Also, to enforce labor laws effectively with regards to the fundamental principles and rights at work, namely the freedom of association of all workers and effective recognition of collective bargaining, strengthening social dialogue, strengthening the rights of migrant workers, of digital workers, and encouraging the ratification and implementation of the ILO fundamental conventions emphasizing the relevance of multilateralism. As chair, I had the possibility to intervene as a speaker in some very interesting side events, including on digitalization of social protection and also on advancing living wages. And I think our delegation also established some good and important contacts in our bilateral meetings with the ILO, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, as well as the international trade union organization and some civil society organizations. So to end, I think the most important message for the committee here is, as I mentioned, that many of these instances really emphasized the importance of the EU having a strong and a stronger voice on these issues and the need for cooperation with the EU and its member States to enhance and speed up social progress, and to work for the recognition and the safeguarding of the fundamental rights and principles at work.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Okay, so our second session will deal with the implementation of the directive. And I will start by giving the floor to Mr. Torsten Schulten for his keynote speech, his political scientist and head of the collective bargaining archive in Hans Bückler Foundation. So, please, the floor is yours.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you very much. And as next speaker, I would like to give the floor to Joaquin Pintaran Nunez, ILO's Chief of the Occupational Safety and Health and Working Environment Branch. And he will also be joining us remotely. Mister Pinarro Nunez, you have the, floor for the next 7 minutes, please.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “The root cause of the housing crisis is complete market failure. The problem is not a general lack of supply, but a shortage of not for profit affordable housing that could balance out the negative effects of this profit driven market. This point is exactly where this report that mostly focuses on increasing market supply falls short, and therefore, I think it constitutes a huge missed opportunity for this Parliament and for the EU to really address this crisis that affects millions of Europeans. For my country, the most acute issue is the new Eurostat classification, which treats interest subsidy loans for state subsidized housing as government debt. Even when the government only acts as a guarantor for the loans, this needs to be changed. If we want more incentives for social housing investments from member states. We need to address the failures created by the financialization of the housing market, and we need to recognize housing as a human right.”
  EU housing policy
• “President in this kind of abuse. We are talking about modern slavery. We have been able to read about such examples. For instance, in Finland one time after another, Ukrainian refugees have been exploited in the shipyards in Turku or in the new data center construction site in Hamina. In Nepalese restaurants, there are chefs who are exploited. Long subcontracting chains have facilitated made it possible for for such abuse to take place. And we have to address this problem because when you have when you have power and responsibility, you also have to see to it that workers have their rights. We need action both in EU and in in in member states trade unions should have the right to collective action. Group action. And we should put some limits to how people are used. Thank you.”
  EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains
• “The bigger a company is, the more difficult it is for an individual employee to make their voice heard. The legislation on European Works Councils deals with this by guaranteeing the right for workers to be heard. And the bigger these companies grow, the more employees will be affected. So in Finland now, by way of example, there are new works councils in the social sphere, and there are some covering early childhood education as well. And people in the chamber on the far, on in the right and far right. This good simplification, surely these European works councils exist. This directive is quite, uh, simply trying to cut red tape. So it's improving existing legislation, improving legal protection for workers. So I do find it strange. That when you have these small improvements and the right is against it.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “All right, colleagues, we are continuing. We are continuing with the next item on the agenda, which is the consideration of amendments to the draft report on establishing the European Social Fund as part of the National Regional Partnership Plan set out in the NRP regulation, establishing conditions for the implementation of the Union, support to Quality employment skills and social inclusion for 28 to 34. Over 400 amendments have been tabled, highlighting the importance of these subjects, and I will start by giving the floor to our co-rapporteurs, Mr. and Mrs. May to comment on these amendments. Okay. So Mr. Radtke will replace Mr. Casa. I will start with you for the first three minutes.”
  Youth employment & training
• “Thank you very much. And I also want to thank all the participants. I think it was, as Mr. Barnier said, a very successful trip and also a good opportunity to learn more both about Labour and social policies in Cyprus, but also to discuss the upcoming presidency priorities. Then we move on to the next delegation. So last week, I was also honoured to be heading the commission with five members to the second World Summit for Social Development in Qatar. We had four of the five colleagues from ample. The aim of the Social Summit was to take stock of developments and remaining gaps in relation to the commitments made on three main pillars of social development. This was done in 1995, in Copenhagen during the First World Social Summit, namely eradicating poverty, promoting full employment and decent work for all and fostering social inclusion guided by human rights as contained in the Sustainable Development Goals. And there were during the meetings with different representatives and emphasis that there has been positive developments since the Copenhagen summit. For example, a great number of people have escaped poverty. They live longer and healthier lives, and there has also been clear improvement of maternal health. More children go to school and digital transformation has expanded access to services and social protection. But we were also told in many instances that there is also a lot of pushback happening, partly related to the changing geopolitics and the development of a multipolar order. Democratic backsliding can be observed in many parts of the world.”
  Global priorities for international development
• “And we also met national parliamentarians in two different committees and held a joint meeting with the social partners in Cyprus. We had a chance to learn about the Cypriot priorities for the incoming presidency. Those include free, fair and free mobility, uh, including the 883 Social Security Coordination file, taking also into account the 2026 Commission Work programme, as well as the traineeship directive where we are starting the Trilogues and the CMD six, in the area of occupational health and safety that we will be discussing more today. Other topics high on the agenda were also skills, the anti-poverty strategy and persons with disabilities. We also had interesting discussions with the social partners. We discussed the strong performance in the labour market in Cyprus. Also their recently introduced universal statutory minimum wage in line with the EU Minimum Wage Directive, as well as a new law on the right to disconnect in the private sector. We also discussed challenges regarding collective bargaining coverage and the work currently done to raise collective bargaining coverage. Also, trade union density and the ongoing negotiations between government and the social partners regarding the cost of living allowance called the Cola. Our delegation also had a chance to conduct two field visits, which were very interesting. These were projects funded by the ESF plus, namely the Labour Inspectorate Service and the Family Intervention and Support Centres for autism. I will now give the floor to other members that participated in the mission if they wished. So for a maximum of one minute each. I am looking at Mr. Arvanitis who is in the room. Do you wish to take the floor? To add on? Yes. Okay. Mr. Arvanitis, the floor is yours.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “Mrs. May and I will now give the floor to Mrs. Sinem Demir, who is a member of the European Affairs Committee in the Danish Parliament. As Denmark was in the origin of the legal challenge to the directive, it is. It is very interesting to hear your views on the topic and your perspective on the implications for national systems and a way forward. Um, so your intervention will also help us better understand how member states with strong collective bargaining traditions view this directive. Um, and the effect it will have. So please. The floor is yours for the next four minutes.”
  EU competences on foreign affairs
• “Thank you. If you constantly lied to, you end up not believing the lies and you no longer believe in anything. I'm referring to the words of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, which I think are more relevant today than they have been for a long time in Europe. Mistrust is being sown in a way that really threatens our stability. Concerning this debate on the European Democracy Shield, you know, we've heard a lot about secret financing of political movements. We've heard about also we've heard about the bias of social media algorithms, and we've heard reference also to violent or far right content. Now, these disinformation campaigns and election interferences have often led to consequences in have led us to Russia, China increasingly also the United States and these countries seek to weaken the rule of law and democracy. That's why it's important to really understand the relationship between Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and the fact that there are so many far right extremist movements which share a similar ideology and narrative. And Europe is collapsing, I'm afraid, because of liberal values or human rights. And these movements have a common project, and it transcends national borders. That's why it's important for us to strengthen democracy, strengthen the rule of law, also shore up our ability to regulate these large technology companies to obtain information from them.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Okay, I have no further requests for the floor, so I will actually want to have one question myself. Um, in addition to these, I understood how you explained about the financing still being ring fenced in the new MFF, but could you once again explain the difference between the direct management and this shared management under the NP, NP regulation? Um, because that was not clear to me what the difference there will be. So we now give the floor to the commission again, um, Mrs. Bazerman or Mr. Gonzalez Alvarez, who wants to go first?”
  Conditions to access EU budget
• “So what we are hoping for today, I would say, are clear answers. What is Amazon's management take on? The concerns that have been repeatedly mentioned here to our committee? Has any meaningful progress been made since these matters were first brought before us, and have working conditions genuinely improved our workers today better protected than they were previously, and our individual and collective labor rights fully respected. As I have also mentioned at previous occasions, this hearing is not about confrontation. It is about accountability, dialogue and progress. And I do hope that today's testimonies will help us move closer to our shared objective, which is to ensure that all workers in Europe, regardless of their background and regardless of their employer, are treated with dignity, with fairness and with respect. So we will start our discussion with our guest speakers. And the first to take the floor is Mr. David Zapolsky, Amazon Senior Vice president, chief of Global Affairs and Legal Officer. He is with us online, joining us from Seattle. So, Mr. Zapolsky, the floor is yours for the next six minutes, please.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “And these challenges point to systemic problems within the company's management of its European workforce. So today, instead of relying on news outlets or media, we have a rare occasion to listen directly to those affected the workers themselves and their representatives to gain a clearer understanding of the current situation and if there's been any changes. That's why I'm particularly pleased to welcome our guest speakers today, Amazon employees and their representatives, both at national and European level. Um, so, as was said, we are eager to learn if there's been progress since January and if working conditions have improved and if individual and collective rights are being respected. I can only stress that this hearing is not about confrontation. It's about accountability, dialogue and progress. And I hope that today's testimonies and the hearing will help us move one step closer to ensuring that all workers in Europe, regardless of where they work, are treated with dignity, fairness and respect. So just let us jump straight into the discussion with our guest speakers. The first to take the floor is Monica Monica Sylvester, representative of the Federal Trade Union of Verdi, responsible for Amazon locations in Koblenz, Kaiserslautern and Frankenthaler in Germany. So we start with giving you the floor for ten minutes.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “Thank you very much. So as you heard, there is still a lot of work to be done. And the second trilogue will take place under the Cypriot presidency. The date still is to be set. So now we move on to the votes. And as you know, dear colleagues, we have five votes today. First on the draft report on the just transition directive in the world of work. Second vote is on addressing subcontracting chains, the role of intermediaries in order to protect workers rights. The third vote is on the report on developing a new EU anti-poverty strategy. Then we vote on amending regulation as regards to support to workers affected by imminent job displacement in enterprises undergoing construction. And the last vote is on the oral question on the forthcoming New Action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights. I will first announce the non ample members replacing full or substitute members. I have Mr. Yaroslav. Who is replaced by Mrs. Rachel Bloom from the Patriots. Mrs. Chiara is replaced by Mr. Emmanuel Franco from ECR and Mr. Nicola Procaccini is replaced by Mr. Ruggiero Razza from ECR, and Mrs. Melina malone is replaced by Mr. Adrian George from ECR. Is that correct? Good. Yes. And then we will do one test vote. So one test. And we will do the test now.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you very much. And I now give the floor to myself in the capacity as shadow. And I would also like to start by thanking the rapporteur for highlighting the importance of swift and effective implementation of the agreement into union law and reflecting what was just said. Um, we want to see nothing more, nothing less than a directive that's fully and faithfully, um, reflects what is in the international agreement. And this is important also for clarity. So we don't end up creating loopholes or rooms for misinterpretation of any kind. Um, we have three points I would like to raise in this regard, where we think that we haven't really reached this alignment fully yet. Uh, first we see it possible to transpose article seven of the Bbncx into the directive. Uh, so that is on the general principles and approaches to be considered in the implementing, uh, actions such as the polluter pays principle, principle of equity, and so on. Um, there's no good reason to leave these important points out. Uh, the second point, um, is for the EU to be leading in defending indigenous people's rights that play a distinct role in biodiversity climate talks, and are also central in the Bbncx text.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• “Thank you very much. And there will definitely be questions and comments later. But before that, we will move to the next part of the hearing, which shall explore how a regulatory framework can be shaped in order to successfully implement the Vision Zero approach to work related accidents and diseases. Um, and in order to get a broad overview, we have invited three speakers representing public service workers building woodworking and forestry sector as well as the agriculture and tourism sector and I will first give the floor to Jan-willem Goudriaan, who is the general secretary of the European Federation of Public Service Unions, who should be with us remotely. So Mr. Goudriaan has the floor for the next four minutes.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you very much. And next on my list is a next guest speaker from Poland, Maria malinowski, who is a warehouse worker of Amazon Poland and member of Workers Initiative trade union. So you also have the floor for ten minutes. Thank you.”
  Platform workers
• “Thank you very much, president. Well, the loss of credibility is a big problem for democracy. Certainly, the situation is such that only half of people trust their government. And only. Only half say that they also trust other people at all. But there is a contradiction here. We need mutual trust in Europe and outside Europe's borders. Meta and IX shape the societies of our world. What goes on X? Well, you can assume that right wing extremism is going to be promoted. And Musk like Trump. Have. Been working hard to influence Europe. So measures need to take need to be taken that actually have effect. And they seem to be somewhat different to what's contained in the democracy shield. We need, uh, diversity and credibility in our debate. Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “All right, everyone. As I said, the next point on our agenda is the presentation of the report. Please, if you are not attending the meeting, then discussions outside on labor shortages and surpluses 2025. And it is my pleasure to welcome once again, Mr. Boiangiu, ELA Executive Director to our committee meeting, and we are very pleased to have you with us again today to present the latest findings on developments in European labor markets. Today's presentation concerns the latest report on labor shortages and surpluses prepared within the Eras Network, and this publication provides valuable insights into labour market trends across Europe, highlighting where shortages persist and where surpluses exist across occupations and sectors. The 2025 edition points, in particular to continued shortages in the health and care sector, growing demand in occupations linked to the green transition and the significant potential of intra EU labour mobility to help address labour market mismatches. These findings are highly relevant for the work of our committee, as they help us better understand current labour market challenges and the role that labour mobility can play in addressing them. So, dear Executive Director, thank you for joining us today. You will have eight minutes for your presentation, after which we will open the floor for a question and answer sessions with the members. So without further ado, please. The floor is yours.”
  EU regulation of cross-border and posted workers
• “That leads to the challenging of the universality of human rights, but also the fundamental principles and rights at work, including fundamental rights such as freedom of association, and because of this, also of social dialogue. In addition, we were also told that progress on Sustainable Development Goals is not going in the wrong direction. It was estimated that around 37% of the goals are on track or a bit on track, but 18% are in regression and the rest are not on track at all. The most important gaps that remain are deep inequalities in income, opportunity and access to services. Millions remain excluded due to the digital divide and many vulnerable groups such as older persons, indigenous peoples and persons with disability face systemic obstacles. And of course, also climate change and conflict continue to threaten progress. In the context of shrinking funding for multilateralism and development policy. Also, the face and situation of development policy is changing, and there is really an urgency to find solutions, financial and others for the shrinking financing in this area. And many of the organisations that we met, uh, raised the debt crisis, how that is affecting the possibilities to invest in social development and is very important to understand and emphasise that we also need solutions to this, so that the debt crisis do not does not lead to under-investment in social development. There was a strong, repeated call for a new consensus to accelerate social progress and social development, and also strong calls for wish to have stronger cooperation with the EU.”
  Global priorities for international development
• “So, dear members of national parliaments and members of the European Parliament, dear Mr. Narva and dear guest speakers, Mrs. and Mr. Schulz and representatives of the social partners. Dear colleagues, it is a great pleasure for me to open this Interparliamentary Committee meeting and welcome all of you to Brussels. So many members from national parliaments across the European Union member States as well as from Norway. Today's event will allow us to discuss how we can improve living and working conditions in the EU, notably through minimum wage protection and collective bargaining. Ensuring fair wages is enshrined in the European pillar of social rights and a key element of improving living and working conditions in the European Union. Adequate wage protection contributes to preventing in-work poverty, reducing inequalities and promoting upward social convergence across member states, contributing thus also to the EU's headline target to reduce poverty in the EU by at least 15 million by 2030. Despite relatively high employment levels at the moment, in-work poverty remains a concern in the EU, affecting almost 1 in 10 workers. In that context, the directive on adequate minimum wages negotiated by this committee is a landmark piece of legislation aiming to improve minimum wage protection and strengthen collective bargaining across the European Union. While fully respecting national competences and the autonomy of social partners, the directive introduced provisions designed to ensure that minimum wages are set and updated in a transparent and predictable manner, while also placing strong emphasis on collective bargaining. As evidence suggests that countries with higher collective bargaining coverage tend to display lower wage inequality and better working conditions. The directive was challenged before the Court of Justice, notably with regard to the limits of EU competences to regulate pay, but fortunately it has largely withstood this challenge. So here we are, one and a half years after the transposition deadline, and only a few months after the court's judgment, to take stock of the lessons learned and progress on the ground.”
  Minimum wages harmonisation at EU level
• “Thank you very much. Colleagues, and please note that the deadline for amendments on this file is the 28th of August. But considering the summer break, you might also want to know that the system is already open now, so you can introduce your comments and amendments at this point already. ***Amending Regulation (EU) 2021/691 as regards support to workers affected by imminent job displacement in enterprises undergoing restructuring”
  European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
• “Thank you very much. And just a short final question on my behalf, because you might have mentioned it, but I didn't catch it. So on the index, how and where will it be used and what will be the relationship, say, between that index and the indicators that are used in the social scoreboard on the semester process? So, Flor, back to Mrs. Sedakova.”
  European Semester (social dimension)
• “It could have been worse. This is a phrase that I hear more and more now every time we talk about climate and environmental policies. But let's be honest, even if and that's a big if all countries complete their current pledges, we would still be heading for a planet that is 2.5 degrees warmer. That means we are failing big time. The cop in Belgium failed to deliver clear, ambitious enough decisions on adaptation, financing and emission cuts. Above all, countries failed to agree on a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels. What we are seeing and what we saw there is how EU used to be the driver of international climate action. Now we are fighting internally. We are watering down our own legislation instead of preparing and building strong negotiating positions. As right wing forces push for less, we are seeing fewer and fewer results. And it's high time for Europe and the EU to step up our game. **Nicolae ȘTEFĂNUȚĂ @Co-Chair: Thank you. Milan. Next is Mr. Milan Mazurek.”
  Climate efforts