Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, the introduction of a European Social Security Card will help to ensure decent working conditions, due to the standardisation of social security benefits and increased traceability, aggregation and portability of rights. The Socialist Group has been calling for years for the implementation of this common instrument as a measure to combat fraud and cases of abuse affecting both social security and workers themselves. Persons exposed to intolerable situations of labour exploitation due to fraudulent practices by intermediary operators; operators who recruit workers in one country to take them to another, where they will work under very different working conditions to those pre-agreed. This was the case for Spanish workers in the Netherlands, totally unprotected during the pandemic, crammed into unhealthy accommodation and without access to minimum health and safety benefits. It is up to us, here and now, to put an end to these malpractices of subcontracting and abuse and improve the coordination of social security systems.

Madam President, Commissioner, this House has already recognised in several resolutions that housing is a fundamental right: affordable and decent housing, with access to basic energy services, in line with the social pillar and the Sustainable Development Goals. However, millions of people in the European Union suffer from energy poverty and, meanwhile, the gas and energy market is one of the most profitable sectors in the world, with gross profits and exorbitant prices. It is necessary to regulate the oligopoly of electricity and intervene if necessary, as it is an essential public service. To this end, we need Community solutions that revise the design of energy markets and oblige Member States to implement protective measures for vulnerable groups: more social tariffs, more energy efficient housing and no more disconnections. We already need a comprehensive strategy to eradicate energy poverty. While we are here debating proposals, many people are cold in their homes and many children are trying to do homework without light.

Madam President, Commissioner, digitalisation and the application of artificial intelligence in the workplace are generating new models that lead to clear precarisation, hyperconnection, control and surveillance or algorithmic decisions without human supervision. The implications at the level of mental health and emotional well-being of workers are already evident, and we already need new legislation: a directive to prevent psychosocial risks in the workplace and a directive regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. To do this, the Commission must listen and meet with all parties, companies and trade unions, because workers do not need psychologists, but decent working conditions, safe and quality work. The digitalisation of the employment context cannot be a purely technological process; It must be a socio-technical process, where technology and humanism go hand in hand.