Rosa ESTARÀS FERRAGUT

Policy topics Rosa ESTARÀS FERRAGUT is active on

What Rosa ESTARÀS FERRAGUT has said (17)

• 2025-11-10 “E-004446/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the European Commission Since its adoption in 2021, progress has been achieved in the implementation of the Council Recommendation establishing a European Child Guarantee (ECG) 1 . Member States prepared national action plans and submitted their first biennial progress report. Malta and Portugal, for instance, extended free childcare services to all children, and free school meals are introduced in Croatia and Luxembourg. Yet, gaps in access to key services for children in need remain 2 . In addition, the number of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) slightly increased since 2019, close to 20 million in total in 2024, nearly a quarter of children in the EU –despite the EU objective of reducing it by at least five million by 2030. Spain submitted its ECG action plan in 2022 and its implementation report in 2024. Although there is progress e.g. in quality education, gaps persist in access to services such as early childhood education and care, school meals and housing. Addressing those gaps is key, given the number of children AROPE, which slightly increased since 2019 – reaching 2 756 thousand in 2024 – and moved away from the national child poverty reduction target. In order to step up the fight against child poverty and social exclusion, in 2026, the Commission will adopt a comprehensive EU Anti-Poverty Strategy to address structural causes of exclusion and strengthen access to essential services. The strategy will be backed by a strengthened European Child Guarantee. 1 https://eurlex.europa.eu/eli/reco/2021/1004/oj/eng#:~:text=That%20Recommendation%20sets%20out%20an%20integrate d%20approach%20to,to%20quality%20services%2C%20and%20children%E2%80%99s%20right%20to%20par ticipate. 2 See the EU-level monitoring framework for the European Child Guarantee: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/circabc-ewpp/ui/group/bab664d7-1188-47b2-9fa6869902320ba2/library/1263d2f9-f558-4e3f-a384-9e24da0883d1/details.”
  Support for families · Child poverty policy · European Semester (social dimension)
• 2025-10-04 “E-003903/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the European Commission The 2023 Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion 1 serves as the guiding compass for national minimum income schemes. The 2025 Joint Report of the Commission and the Social Protection Committee 2 identifies opportunities to improve the Spanish minimum income scheme, particularly by establishing a clear methodology for setting benefit levels, speeding up the benefit approval process and providing further targeted labour market measures for beneficiaries. It also flags Spain as one of the six Member States, which do not have fully non-discriminatory eligibility criteria. The Commission is aware of the recent report from the Spanish Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility 3 , and its concerns about the activation component. During the 2025 European Semester cycle, the Commission analysed the evolution of Spain’s minimum income 4 and child support complement 5 , noting their key role in tackling poverty but also persistent challenges, notably low take-up rates 6 . Moreover, the 2025 Report mentioned above shows that in Spain minimum income recipients are more likely to be placed on standard activation measures, not targeted to their needs as minimum income recipients. To address these challenges, Spain is pursuing targeted support, system reforms and improved regional management. For instance, one of the investments under Spain’s Recovery and Resilience Plan aims to better link social inclusion policies with the minimum income scheme, as included in the seventh instalment 7 . The Commission will monitor the implementation of the 2025 Country Specific Recommendation for Spain 8 , on reducing child poverty and improving the efficiency, coverage, and adequacy of social transfers and assistance. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=oj:JOC_2023_041_R_0001 - (2023/C 41/01). 2 Joint Report of the European Commission and the Social Protection Committee: ‘The 2025 Minimum Income Report. An overview of the implementation of the 2023 Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion across EU Member States’ (adopted by the SPC on 23 September 2025). 3 https://www.airef.es/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMV/Opinion.pdf. 4 Ingreso Mínimo Vital – IMV. 5 Complemento de Ayuda para la Infancia – CAPI. 6 https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/document/download/a712afe4-d94e-4333-8333e8bc1ab63f1e_en?filename=ES_CR_SWD_2025_209_1_EN_autre_document_travail_service_part1_v4.pdf. 7 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13075-2025-ADD-1/en/pdf. 8 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/3983/oj/eng.”
  Minimum income harmonisation at EU level · European Semester (social dimension)
• 2025-09-22 “E-003647/2025 Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission Barring orders are covered by Article 19 of the Violence Against Women Directive 1 . Recital 46 of the Directive allows Member States to make this possible, where relevant, available, appropriate and given the circumstances of the case, through electronic monitoring. Where electronic monitoring is used, victims should always be informed about its capabilities and limitations. Member States have until June 2027 to transpose the Directive, following which the Commission will conduct transposition checks. The Victims’ Rights Directive 2 provides for a set of rights for all victims of crime, including victims of gender-based violence. The proposed revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive 3 on which the co-legislators have recently reached a provisional agreement will further strengthen those rights, including ensuring victims’ physical protection. The Commission is monitoring the state of implementation of the Victims’ Rights Directive in all Member States, including in Spain 4 . According to the Commission, the Spanish law fully transposes the victims’ rights legislation into national law. In addition, the European Protection Order Directive 5 allows for protection measures for persons in danger taken in one Member State to be recognised by another Member State in order to continue the protection of such persons when they travel or move to another EU Member State. The specificities of national protection orders and the tools to enforce these, remain the responsibility of Member States. 1 Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence, OJ L, 2024/1385, 24.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1385/oj. 2 Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 57. 3 Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, COM/2023/424 final. Co-legislators reached a provisional political agreement on the proposal on 10 December 2025. 4 In particular, the Commission has analysed whether Member States have completely transposed into national legislation all normative provisions of the Victims’ Rights Directive. 5 Directive 2011/99/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the European protection order, OJ L 338, 21.12.2011, p. 2.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion · EU policy on victims' compensation rights
• 2024-09-05 “P-001637/2024 Answer given by Ms Dalli on behalf of the European Commission On 16 November 2023, the Commission decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union (with Belgium and Ireland) for failing to notify national measures fully transposing EU rights on Work-life Balance for parents and carers. Therefore, the case is now before the Court of Justice of the EU (the Court). Since the cases concern the failure to notify transposition measures of a legislative directive, the Commission asked the Court to impose financial sanctions on those Member States 1 . The final amount of the sanctions will be decided by the Court. The Commission as guardian of the Treaties monitors the application of EU law in Member States and may open other infringement procedures where necessary. The above-mentioned case concerns non-communication of the national measures transposing the Directive into national law. Once the transposition is completed, the Commission will check the compliance of the said national measures with the Directive; if it considers that the Member State’s legislation doesn’t comply with the requirements of the Directive, the Commission may open new infringement proceedings. 1 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_5372”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion · EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you very much, chair. Dear Commissioner, equal. Pay for equal work is a fundamental principle of the EU. The Wage Transparency Directive should be coming out in July 26th and makes it very clear that discrimination cannot exist. And that's why I would like everyone to respond to this as quickly as possible. Now they lay the law on pensions, and the report shows that there is still a big pension gap. It's not just negative for women, but for all of society as a whole. This happens because of the cons, because many women are in low value and low pay jobs. And they need a lot more income to pay into their pensions. Now. They have to understand that the work they do is good for society. And it's hard to reconcile these, uh, these, uh, different Tasks in Spain. We've had problems with this, so that meant that many women weren't able to take maternity leave. They've they're facing a physical and mental difficulties and they're not really putting taking care of people front and center of the whole debate. And if that is not done, then the wage gap will continue to widen. We have to recognize the value of sectors traditionally dominated by women. Caregiving as a vital pillar of society and putting caregiving as a right, and really put the work life balance at the center of this whole thing. Because we're talking about the future of Europe. Thank you for.”
  Gender pay transparency
• “Thank you very much, chair. Dear Commissioner, equal. Pay for equal work is a fundamental principle of the EU. The Wage Transparency Directive should be coming out in July 26th and makes it very clear that discrimination cannot exist. And that's why I would like everyone to respond to this as quickly as possible. Now they lay the law on pensions, and the report shows that there is still a big pension gap. It's not just negative for women, but for all of society as a whole. This happens because of the cons, because many women are in low value and low pay jobs. And they need a lot more income to pay into their pensions. Now. They have to understand that the work they do is good for society. And it's hard to reconcile these, uh, these, uh, different Tasks in Spain. We've had problems with this, so that meant that many women weren't able to take maternity leave. They've they're facing a physical and mental difficulties and they're not really putting taking care of people front and center of the whole debate. And if that is not done, then the wage gap will continue to widen. We have to recognize the value of sectors traditionally dominated by women. Caregiving as a vital pillar of society and putting caregiving as a right, and really put the work life balance at the center of this whole thing. Because we're talking about the future of Europe. Thank you for.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. The anti-discrimination directive on equal treatment, as has been said already, has been in deadlock for 17 years in the council. We call on the council to unblock this file because it is absolutely essential to back the defence of human rights. I know that the Commission has done a huge amount to be able to put this on the commission's agenda, and I'm very happy and very grateful to the commissioner for that. This directive is important because it ensures standardised protection for everybody, improves ways to report cases of discrimination, increases legal certainty as well, and it also includes direct and indirect discrimination, as well as multiple discrimination, intersectional discrimination And it's a it also gives us proper tools to combat discrimination across the EU. There is discrimination because of religion. It still exists. Age based discrimination. Young people as well are being discriminated against. Sexual orientation. That is a very vulnerable group that are subject to discrimination, subjected to discrimination. Discrimination is going up and they are being subjected to crimes as well. It's important to adopt this directive to protect these people. Together with the declaration on the LGBTQi community that we adopted, we need to really focus on protecting that community. It's absolutely paramount that we adopt this directive so that we can protect human rights and have a proper union based on equality. Thank you.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. The fight against cyberbullying is a top priority for all EU institutions. Our young people are growing up in the digital world. The internet and digital tools are central to their social lives and education. We cannot allow those spaces to cause harm, fear or exclusion. 1 in 6 teenagers has suffered cyberbullying at some point in their life, and others acknowledge that they have taken part. We therefore welcome the action plan against cyberbullying. We need a European response urgently and it must be coordinated and effective. This is a problem that goes beyond national borders and affects young people in particular vulnerable sections of society. We need clear European definition of cyber bullying. We need safeguard measures to ensure that the digital environment is a safe one. We need age verification tools. We need a harmonised minimum age across Europe. 16 we need to look at the perhaps possible access for those aged between 14 and 16 with parental consent. We also need to look at prevention education. We need to look at awareness raising campaigns. Platforms can do a lot. We need to ensure that harmful content is removed Immediately that support is made available to young people and victims. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you very much, chair. As Alicia, uh, also mentioned, I'm from the Balearic Islands and we've listened very attentively to the speakers from the outermost regions, where there are some similarities, although we're not part of the outermost regions in terms of the pressure that tourism plays on and and its impact on the housing market. And that is why it's very important to protect and to prioritise residents whenever possible. What we have proposed as part of the housing report. And I know that there's a number of different ideas which have been mentioned here, but we feel it's important to address empty vacant houses and also combat illegal short term rentals. And look at the capacity, look at skills as well of young people and make sure that we have essential skills and we address education and different sectors as along with healthcare. So this is all part of the approach under the subsidiarity principle. So some of the examples which I have which could be positive is that we have a number of different affordable houses available as this is particularly targeting vulnerable population groups. And we've worked with private and public sectors to ensure that we have this rental market. We also have an issue of squatting. And so we look at whether we can also provide more security to property owners, because we know that this is a very serious problem. And a lot of the police forces, doctors and teachers don't move to Ibiza because they can't afford housing. So this is to such an extent that the Guardia Civil has actually come up with a different approach to trying to provide housing.”
  EU policy on urban development
• “Well, not only will I defend it, but I was really helping to push this forward with Frances Fitzgerald, who was the coordinator of FEM in the last period, and Lukashenka. So please don't be in any doubt that the women from the EPP are the drivers of this. Not just people who are just being pulled along by the train. We're driving it.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Well, not only will I defend it, but I was really helping to push this forward with Frances Fitzgerald, who was the coordinator of FEM in the last period, and Lukashenka. So please don't be in any doubt that the women from the EPP are the drivers of this. Not just people who are just being pulled along by the train. We're driving it.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Well, not only will I defend it, but I was really helping to push this forward with Frances Fitzgerald, who was the coordinator of FEM in the last period, and Lukashenka. So please don't be in any doubt that the women from the EPP are the drivers of this. Not just people who are just being pulled along by the train. We're driving it.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Thank you very much. President. Commissioner as well, 21.4% of the European Union's population is at risk of exclusion and poverty, and the European Union will not reach those objectives. As concerns those 50,000,015 million by 2030, 2030, the poverty rates in many member states is where it was, or in some countries it's increased. So this is a very alarming situation, particularly poverty among youth. We're speaking about huge numbers. Unfortunately, Spain, we have one of the highest levels of youth poverty, ten points above the EU average, 24.2% and 34.2% In Spain, this means a total failure of the protection social protection system in the country. Individuals with disabilities. Women are. Those who are at risk and vulnerable as well. They can't take advantage of what's there for them. There is no guarantee for them, no guarantee to have them emerge from poverty because of precarious working conditions. Of course, housing issues as well has created huge problems as far as exclusion. So, Commissioner, we need a real strategy to fight poverty, which is integrated, ambitious and brings on board vulnerable individuals, young people as well, and guarantees quality of work, services and housing for all. Thank you.”
  Minimum income harmonisation at EU level
• “Thank you. Thank you Commissioner I'd like to mention the new action plan on gender and the meeting that's going to be held at 28. The time period, 28 through 34. I think this is mainly going to look on gender violence and equal access to education and employment, all the different gender issues. But when we look at the evaluation of the past plan, we can see that we need to have clear binding indicators and targets. And also then there's the question of financing that touched upon this morning. We need to increase the amounts of funds which do aim to improve gender equality. And we've made proposals along that line. And they should be intersectional in nature, cross-cutting, if you will. And I think perhaps you could guarantee us and reassure us that this is going to be a cross-cutting objective and priority for the European Union. And this will also then feed into the global gateway. And at the end of the day, that this action, uh, gender action plan, uh, what you would have to say about that. Now, when it comes to reproductive and sexual health, it all and living through dignity in this context. Perhaps you could tell us more about how you intend to move forward on the initiatives there. What are you going to be the main thrusts of this initiative? Will it improve access in emergency situations? And we have crises when you do have reproductive rights and sexual abuse cases or, um, and then finally, when it comes to the LGBT community, we wonder what the new strategy will be there, how we're going to protect the rights there. We see rights being eroded for that population group. How can we do the opposite? Of protect them now. Particularly this is relevant in some countries. That would would be candidates for enlargement. How can we work with them on these issues so that we can be certain that these do find their way into their priorities? And again, how do you make this these gender issues cross-cutting across the board? Thank you.”
  Sexuality and reproduction · LGBTIQ+ · Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “And this is something that we support. And now we've had these bracelets that have been promoted against harassment, which is something that can be used. There have been a number of different problems with this particular bracelet, and it has allowed for aggressors to be able to approach their victims and to a certain extent, the particular directives that we're passing against violence, against women, against domestic violence, protection of victims, the the first thing that's called for is that, uh, everything be, uh, something which is credible when the system isn't credible and isn't airtight, then victims don't feel protected and women feel at risk. So it's very important so that the governments, the member states, that they prevent this particular situation from the very first moment. Because when a woman is in danger, we're all in danger. Entire society is at risk as well. So the issue of consensuality is something that requires a lot of work, intense work, not so much the penal codes, which of course, everything would follow, uh, the Istanbul Convention. But society, it has to be clear in society that no means no and silence is never a yes. So I think indeed particularly vulnerable groups, they have to be taken into consideration that particular those particular cohorts because they're particularly vulnerable essentially. So once again, thank you very much for the work that's been done. Thank you very much. Uh, esterase.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “So it is important to ensure housing for public servants and for workers, rather than prioritising tourists. We also have strategic residential projects which again involves a number of different procedures. But we're trying to also cut red tape so we can get access to houses quickly. And this has also triggered some tax breaks as well for young people, also for vulnerable groups and for essential workers. And as I explained before, we have this ongoing monitoring of illegal tourist accommodation. We work together with a digital platforms, and we have a number of different reporting lines which exist so that people can report this. And the public private partnerships are essential so that we can try and combat the spike in prices and also the lack of housing. And I think together we're going to be able to compile a very useful document. But we need to have a specific plan for islands when it comes to a strategic affordable housing plan focused on islands. Thank you very much to the MEP. I then on behalf of my group, I am also going to, um, take the floor and then I'm going to give the floor back to our speakers. So a number of my colleagues have mentioned this need to have a specific policy for outermost regions and for islands. And you yourselves have also indicated some of these aspects in terms of specific treatment when it comes to regulation, construction materials, building materials, and and to try and combat the rising prices which affect the outermost regions specifically. But I also wanted to talk about this pressure of non-resident, uh, non-residents rather.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you very much, chair. Dear Commissioner, equal. Pay for equal work is a fundamental principle of the EU. The Wage Transparency Directive should be coming out in July 26th and makes it very clear that discrimination cannot exist. And that's why I would like everyone to respond to this as quickly as possible. Now they lay the law on pensions, and the report shows that there is still a big pension gap. It's not just negative for women, but for all of society as a whole. This happens because of the cons, because many women are in low value and low pay jobs. And they need a lot more income to pay into their pensions. Now. They have to understand that the work they do is good for society. And it's hard to reconcile these, uh, these, uh, different Tasks in Spain. We've had problems with this, so that meant that many women weren't able to take maternity leave. They've they're facing a physical and mental difficulties and they're not really putting taking care of people front and center of the whole debate. And if that is not done, then the wage gap will continue to widen. We have to recognize the value of sectors traditionally dominated by women. Caregiving as a vital pillar of society and putting caregiving as a right, and really put the work life balance at the center of this whole thing. Because we're talking about the future of Europe. Thank you for.”
  Gender pay transparency