Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, listen, today's debate is still an opportunity to recall the great social progress of this mandate. The SURE programme, a mechanism to support short-time work during the COVID-19 crisis; the Minimum Wage Directive, of course; the one on quotas for women on boards of directors; pay transparency and still today, the protection of digital platform workers and the European Disability Card. Much remains to be done. We still have many challenges – this has been a reminder – to implement this European Pillar of Social Rights: the fight against extreme poverty, of course, investment in skills adapted to the labour market, the promotion of fair mobility in the European Union or the major challenge of mental health in a world of work in the digital age. So I too, this is my last speech in this Chamber, I do not represent myself. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank our Commissioner for Employment, Nicolas Schmit, because we worked really well together; the Chair of the Employment Committee, Dragoş Pîslaru; Ladies and gentlemen, with whom we have worked very well together; of course, the teams of the Committee on Employment; my teams at Renew Europe Group level; my collaborators. I would like to tell you, above all, that we are relay runners, we are witness smugglers and that the succession will be there.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the fight against violence in the world of work and harassment must take place at all levels, international and European – that is why we are here today –, in every state and at local level. Ensuring a safe world of work for women is crucial to ensuring their empowerment and financial empowerment. I also want to stress today the concept of violence in the world of work, and not only in the workplace, because it is a broader concept, which will cover more situations of violence related to new forms of work, including risk situations that may arise online, teleworking or during a work-related trip or event – with customers, for example. Prompt ratification by all Member States of Convention No. 190 is urgently needed to ensure a world of work that is respectful of all. This text is a strong signal: a Europe committed to gender equality. This is the Europe I believe in.

Mr President, I congratulate the Commissioner on having become aware of the urgency of moving forward on this file. Last June, our Parliament adopted a report calling for quality traineeships, based on the high expectations of our European youth. In this report, we called for ensuring the quality of the experience gained to facilitate the transition to working life. This is all the more important as young people are very often objected to as having no experience; they are therefore unable to find that first job. We also called for better protection of trainees against abusive practices and for an end to potential exclusionary practices of certain candidates. Indeed, while traineeships facilitate professional integration without pay, they are not accessible to all and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds may find themselves deprived of this opportunity. We insist on resolute action by the European Union, a directive to guarantee justly remunerated professional traineeships, a framework for traineeships carried out as part of studies so that they are accessible to all. In this European Year of Skills, these demands really cannot go unanswered.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, thank you to the chairman of our Employment Committee, Dragoş Pîslaru, for having had the idea of putting the subject of the working conditions of our firefighters on the agenda. As we know, it is a demanding profession in terms of exposure to dangerous substances, in terms of mental health, physical health and, with climate change, unfortunately, more and more interventions every summer, every year, and therefore increased dangers. In this context, we expect initiatives from the Commission and the Council to better protect and support our firefighters in Europe. What are our proposals? European standards, as we have said, for equipment, which must be modernised and adapted to situations of intense crisis; more exchanges between Member States on training – consideration could be given to the development of a European centre of excellence in the field of civil protection; adequate, increased medical surveillance with a decontamination protocol, since firefighters are particularly exposed to dangerous substances such as lead and asbestos – the texts we are working on will be important for this purpose; fostering more vocations by improving their working conditions and promoting voluntary engagement in Europe; and finally, to strengthen the capacities of the RescEU reserve to better fight disasters together.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Renew Group, I would like to request, under Rule 158 of the Rules of Procedure, a vote on an addition to the agenda at the opening of this part-session. Our group would like to propose the addition of a Council and Commission statement on aid to the most deprived in the context of growing precariousness in Europe, without resolution. The debate would be added on Wednesday afternoon as the fifth item. As a result, the session would be extended by one hour. Why this request, colleagues? In several Member States, the situation is becoming alarming for many aid associations for the most deprived. With food price inflation, aid applications are exploding and operating costs are rising, with rising costs for energy in particular. Finally, donations unfortunately decrease, or are no longer enough. All indicators are red, the figures are alarming and associations providing food aid are welcoming beneficiaries they did not see before: elderly people, single-parent families, students, unemployed people, Ukrainian refugees. The problem is such that some requests can no longer or can no longer be honoured. On behalf of Renew Europe, I believe that this issue deserves debate and requires a statement from the Commission and the Council.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today in 2023, in the face of the increasing risk of poverty and social exclusion, in the face of the crises that are undermining Europeans, the middle classes are not spared. I am struck by the fact that various recent surveys reveal our citizens’ fear of falling into poverty and their concerns about purchasing power. In addition to these major crises, there are major changes in the world of work due to automation and its impact on employment. So, more than ever, we need to defend a social and inclusive Europe, based on the 20 main principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, with quality jobs, decent wages, well-negotiated collective agreements, the fight against energy poverty. We must also recall all the programmes on which we voted during this term of office, such as the recovery plan, the Green Deal, the Social Climate Fund, the reindustrialisation of the European Union, reskilling and upskilling plans. Finally, in this European Year of Skills, more than ever, we need to invest in skills to enable our citizens to adapt to the jobs of tomorrow.

Madam President, Commissioner, do you remember this famous phrase by Hillary Clinton at the United Nations: ‘Women’s rights are human rights’? Well, six Member States have still not ratified the Istanbul Convention, including Latvia, whose President we welcomed earlier, which recalled the importance of the rule of law. However, women’s rights are part of the rule of law. So, at a time when we are actively working on the directive to combat violence against women, particularly in the world of work – Commissioner, as you recalled – we have gone from 11% to 31% of violence at work. As we reaffirm the importance of sexual and reproductive rights, to which we are very attached, particularly in the Renew Europe Group, we count on the Swedish Presidency to have the courage to finally propose the ratification by the European Union of the Istanbul Convention.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I reiterate my support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – that is the meaning of this resolution. Violence can only lead to violence and I condemn it, regardless of where it comes from. I strongly believe that international law must be truly respected, especially UNSCR 2334, which condemns the expansion of settlements in Palestine by the State of Israel. I am absolutely convinced that the European Union can, and must, play an active and important role in achieving lasting peace. This international peace conference is really to be organized quickly. Another forum for action is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, of which I am a member. The Global Gateway strategy is also important. The European funds that we are giving are also being evaluated, so it is absolutely necessary to maintain this aid.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, I really wanted to pay tribute once again to the work done, Commissioner, on this proposal for a directive, which is extremely important for all of us. In France, since the beginning of the year, 118 women have died as a result of the beatings of their spouse or partner. This is an absolutely atrocious situation. I also wanted to tell you that I will put particular emphasis on violence against women in the workplace, as we will be working on this in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. This seems to me a major point, because how can women break the glass ceiling if they are not safe in their workplace, where they spend hours? Finally, I wanted to tell you that last week I had the chance to meet the Director of Programmes at the UN, UN Women, on gender equality and that the world expects a lot from us, from Europe, from our proposals on combating violence against women. And, Minister, we also expect a lot from your presidency to move the issue forward.

Madam President, Commissioner, thank you for this ambitious directive to combat gender-based violence, although it needs to be improved, particularly on issues of sexual harassment at work, training for professionals in contact with victims and the situation of people with disabilities. These are priority fights that I will try to lead as shadow rapporteur for my group in the Employment Committee. Beyond the necessary progress that this directive will bring, I wonder how and why, in 2022, the Istanbul Convention is still not ratified by six Member States and therefore by the European Union, when seven women per day die as a result of their partner in Europe and violence continues. We therefore expect a lot from the Czech Presidency, which is unfortunately not present, the Council and the Commission to finally effectively combat violence against women.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear Nicolas, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to reiterate my conviction that a structurally more social semester is urgently needed. To that end, I would like to highlight a few points. We must provide social responses to the great crises we are going through, alas! – whether it is the pandemic, whether it is the war – and I am thinking in particular of the SURE programme, which it is absolutely important to make permanent to accompany short-time work. It is also essential to fight against extreme poverty, to continue to fight against extreme poverty. We have set ourselves the goal of reducing the number of poor people by 15 million by 2030. I wonder where we stand with regard to this grand objective; I do not personally have figures. In addition, it is also important to establish objectives for the creation of high-quality, well-paid and decent jobs through the coordination of social and employment policies. Finally, as 2023 will be the Year of Skills, there is a need to continue investing in training for these skills and for the digital and green transitions.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear Nicolas, first of all, I would like to thank and congratulate my two colleagues, Agnes Jongerius and Dennis Radtke, for this enormous work. It is teamwork and for us it is a great victory of the French Presidency of the European Union. Together with my delegation, we committed to Europe together, and that is a promise we have kept. When I think about the challenges of social Europe, fighting inequalities, improving social convergence, but also improving attractiveness in certain professions, I have the image of a rocket and I think we have built the first floor of this rocket.

Mr President, Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, ladies and gentlemen, mental health issues at work have increased with the COVID-19 crisis – I was going to say all the crises, including the digital transition. These crises are not inevitable and we must take them into account, in particular through social dialogue at all levels. I would really like to thank Maria Walsh for this excellent report, which gives concrete ideas, such as increasing access to support services or intermediation services on psychosocial risks. And I would also like to stress and give my full support, in this context, to a directive on the right to disconnect, especially as the European social partners have just agreed on the need for a binding framework on disconnection in their 2022-2024 work programme. I think this is a major issue, especially for our young people, who are very much affected by these various crises.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is appalling, yes, appalling that in 2022 there are still millions of women, men and children in the European Union in a situation of great poverty. Poor women face specific issues that need to be addressed as such. I would like to commend the work done on this report, which presents concrete and relevant ways to combat and address women's poverty: promoting their independence, economic autonomy, upgrading female-dominated occupations, sharing household chores and combating workplace harassment that can make women precarious. Finally – as you said, Commissioner – I would like to stress that all the work we are doing at the moment, in the Committee on Employment and in the Committee on Women’s Rights, must enable us to combat women’s poverty. Whether it is wage transparency or even the social and solidarity economy, all the subjects we deal with must basically enable us to achieve concrete actions to combat women’s poverty.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 1973 a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States legalised the voluntary termination of pregnancy. In 1975, in France, the Veil Law, Simone Veil, the first president of our directly elected European Parliament, framed the decriminalisation of abortion. Fifty years later, these hard-won rights, after bitter struggles by our mothers and grandmothers, are once again being challenged in the United States and many other countries, including Europe. Hence the importance of this resolution. Hence the importance of including this right to abortion in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights once and for all. It is 2022, and the dominant archaic model, brilliantly described by the famous anthropologist Françoise Héritier, has endured for millennia, involving control of women's bodies. How many more women will have to die of distress in poverty and isolation or suffer because their fundamental rights are being jeopardised?

Mr President, Commissioner, dear Nicolas, who is arriving at the right time, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank my colleagues, in particular the shadow rapporteurs of the various political groups, but also my colleagues in the Committee on Transport, who, like me, have worked on this file in recent months in order to be able to define a common and ambitious position of the European Parliament on this important subject. The Porto Social Summit was an opportunity to identify the immediate priorities for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which include those of platform workers. I would also like to mention the second phase of the social partners' consultations, which will end on Wednesday. I am sure it will be instructive. In this context, I am pleased that the majority of political groups have so far come together on the need for European action and on the specific needs of platform workers. I will take a few moments to clarify the priorities of my report. First point: enhanced access to social protection. I want platform workers, regardless of their status, to have minimum social protection. This means in particular that all platform workers should have the right to receive compensation in the event of an accident at work or occupational disease and benefit from social protection including sickness and disability insurance coverage. We also call for extending social protection rights to workers in self-employed platforms, including people who move from one status to another or who have both statuses, to ensure the portability of rights and benefits. We already have a European instrument to do this: the Council Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. I would like to stress its importance for the Member States, which must put it in place without delay. Second point: improved, fair and transparent working conditions. Digital labour platforms should ensure the provision of essential information on working conditions and cooperation rules, the methodology for calculating the price and the allocation of tasks. They should also ensure transparency in case of changes to the rules and have recourse to consultations. It is also important that workers can have a right of appeal in case of account suspension. Working for multiple platforms must also be a right for them, as well as having access to their data. Third major element: collective representation. Collective bargaining is a key element in improving the working conditions of these workers. Platform workers, even self-employed, must be able to organise and negotiate collectively. I call on the European Commission to clarify that collective agreements do not fall under the prohibition of competition law, in order to ensure that these platform workers can organise, be represented and participate in collective bargaining. Fourth element: more legal certainty for platform workers and platforms. This has been a great point of debate for us. Our aim should be to move towards more legal certainty for platform workers. This will also benefit platforms that can develop more clearly, but also the so-called traditional economy, ensuring a level playing field. A rebuttable presumption of a regulated employment relationship should apply to workers who challenge their status in proceedings. It should not, however, automatically lead to all platform workers being considered as salaried workers. The truly self-employed will remain so. What is also important is that we propose a reversal of the burden of proof so that when a platform worker disputes his employment status, it is for the party alleged to be the employer to prove that there is no employment relationship. Finally, let us be clear, we do not want a third status for platform workers. Fifth element: a healthy and safe workplace. On-site platform workers must be equipped with adequate personal protective equipment and be covered by accident insurance when working in the transport and delivery sectors. They must also be able to disconnect from the platform without suffering negative consequences. We want to protect platform workers and customers from the risks of violence and harassment by putting in place effective reporting mechanisms on platforms. Sixth element: skills development – this is also very important. Training should be provided to workers by the digital labour platform itself on the use of its site or application, the tasks to be performed and health and safety at work. Platform workers, in particular the least qualified, should have access to training to acquire skills and improve their employability. Last but not least, the seventh element: transparent, non-discriminatory and ethical algorithmic management. Algorithmic management has revolutionized the world of work. It is clear that we want to ensure the use of algorithms that are transparent, non-discriminatory, ethical and reliable. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to ensure that the main information on working conditions is explained in an intelligible way. These are algorithm parameters that influence task allocation, ratings and interactions, deactivation procedure and pricing. In addition, it may seem obvious, but algorithmic management must be controlled by humans so that workers can challenge a decision through effective procedures. In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, clarifying rights, increasing protections where they are lacking, finding the balance between the advantages and disadvantages of platform work are, I believe, all objectives that have been achieved with this report. I welcome again the announcement of the European Commission’s legislative initiative to improve the working conditions of platform workers, scheduled for 8 December. This will be an additional building block for the construction of social Europe. We can say that the European Parliament is contributing to this on a voluntary basis, with this report, and we hope that the Commission will take note of this when it finalises its proposal. Commissioner, let us act together to adapt the European framework to the new realities of the world of work by ensuring that European values are embedded in the digital economy and that the opportunities offered by new forms of work remain sustainable and fair. Yes to the "digital", but not to the detriment of the working conditions of platform workers in Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, whether it is the emergence of transnational business structures with bases throughout Europe, legal uncertainty, different levels of social protection for workers, the proliferation of atypical forms of employment for crews or the loss of new jobs with the emergence of false self-employed workers: the aviation sector has been affected in recent years by profound changes. The COVID-19 crisis and its economic and social consequences will only aggravate them with the risk that this situation will lead to more job losses and a further deterioration of general conditions and in particular of competition. More than ever, and as a matter of priority, this situation deserves our full attention. We call on the European Commission and the Member States to take action to promote socially responsible and sustainable air transport in the European Union. This must include the defence of social rights, the strengthening of legal certainty, the effective application of existing rules and their clarification where necessary. To this end too, the social dimension must be taken into account in the forthcoming revision of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008. We expect firm action. Only in this way can we ensure socially responsible connectivity in Europe and ensure that the aviation sector emerges stronger and more resilient from this unprecedented crisis.