—

having regard to Articles 3 and 5 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU),

—

having regard to Articles 9, 151, 152, 153, 156, 157, 162 and 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

—

having regard to Protocols 1, 8 and 28 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

—

having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and in particular Title IV (Solidarity) thereof,

—

having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), proclaimed by the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission in November 2017,

—

having regard to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

—

having regard to the Paris Agreement reached at COP21 in 2015, and specifically its preamble ‘urging Parties, in implementing their policies and measures, to promote a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities and strategies’,

—

having regard to the ILO conventions and recommendations, in particular the Labour Inspection Convention of 1947 (No 81), the ILO Centenary Declaration (2019) and the ILO Guidelines of February 2016 for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all,

—

having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 13,

—

having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and its entry into force in the EU on 21 January 2011, in accordance with Council Decision 2010/48/EC of 26 November 2009 on the conclusion by the European Community of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

—

having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

—

having regard to Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (1) (Employment Equality Directive),

—

having regard to Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (2),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (COM(2008)0426) and Parliament’s position thereon of 2 April 2009 (3),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 14 January 2020 entitled ‘A strong and social Europe for just transitions’ (COM(2020)0014),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 11 December 2019 on the European Green Deal (COM(2019)0640),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 27 May 2020 entitled ‘Europe’s moment: Repair and Prepare for the Next Generation’ (COM(2020)0456),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 27 May 2020 entitled ‘The EU budget powering the recovery plan for Europe (COM(2020)0442),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 27 May 2020 entitled “Adjusted Commission Work Programme 2020” (COM(2020)0440),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 28 May 2020 for a Council regulation establishing a European Union Recovery Instrument to support the recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (COM(2020)0441),

—

having regard to its resolution of 19 June 2020 on European protection of cross-border and seasonal workers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis (4),

—

having regard to the Commission report of 17 June 2020 on the impact of demographic change (COM(2020)0241),

—

having regard to the opinion of the European Committee of the Regions of 18 January 2017 entitled “The EU response to the demographic challenge” (2017/C017/08),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 19 February 2020 entitled “Shaping Europe’s digital future”(COM(2020)0067),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 1 July 2020 for a Council recommendation on vocational education and training (VET) for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience (COM(2020)0275),

—

having regard to the Commission staff working document of 1 July 2020 accompanying the proposal for a Council recommendation on “A Bridge to Jobs — reinforcing the Youth Guarantee” (SWD(2020)0124),

—

having regard to its legislative resolution of 10 July 2020 on the proposal for a Council decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (5),

—

having regard to its legislative resolution of 8 July 2020 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 as regards the resources for the specific allocation for the Youth Employment Initiative (6),

—

having regard to its resolution of 10 October 2019 on employment and social policies of the euro area (7),

—

having regard to its legislative resolution of 4 April 2019 on the proposal for a Council decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (8),

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social aspects in the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2020,

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 17 December 2019 on the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2020 (COM(2019)0650),

—

having regard to the proposal for a joint employment report from the Commission and the Council of 17 December 2019 accompanying the communication on the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2020,

—

having regard to Council Decision (EU) 2019/1181 of 8 July 2019 on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (9),

—

having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2019 on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social aspects in the Annual Growth Survey 2019 (10),

—

having regard to the “Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2019-2024: A Union that Strives for More”, presented by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,

—

having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 23 January 2019 on “Social dialogue for innovation in digital economy” (11),

—

having regard to the Commission’s Spring 2020 Economic Forecast of 6 May 2020,

—

having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 18 September 2020 on “Decent minimum wages across Europe”,

—

having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 15 July 2020 on “Recovery plan for Europe and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027”,

—

having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 11 December 2019 on “Common Minimum Standards in the field of unemployment insurance in EU Member States — A concrete step towards the effective implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights” (12),

—

having regard to the study by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) entitled “COVID-19: Policy responses across Europe”,

—

having regard to the Joint Research Centre Technical Report entitled “The COVID confinement measures and EU labour markets”, published in 2020 and, in particular, to its analysis of the most recent evidence available of the patterns of telework in the EU,

—

having regard to the revised European Social Charter and to the Turin Process, launched in 2014 with the aim of strengthening the treaty system of the European Social Charter within the Council of Europe as well as its relationship with the law of the European Union,

—

having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Culture and Education and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0233/2020),

A.

whereas sustainable development is a fundamental objective of the European Union; whereas the social market economy is based on two complementary pillars, namely the enforcement of competition and robust social policy measures, which should lead to the achievement of full employment and social progress; whereas the three pillars of sustainable development are the economic, the social and the environmental; whereas sustainable development is based, among other things, on full employment and social progress; whereas this is a fundamental objective of the European Union laid down in Article 3(3) TEU; whereas up till now priority has been given to economic and environmental sustainability;

B.

whereas there are emerging challenges that Europe is facing, such as increasing inequalities between generations, diminished social, health, economic and environmental opportunities and resources, territorial disparities, and unequal access to fundamental social and health services, jobs and business opportunities and social infrastructure; whereas reducing inequalities is a shared responsibility of the EU and the Member States; whereas inequalities (of income and of opportunities) have risen in a majority of Member States since the 2008 economic crisis, challenging both the sustainability and inclusiveness of growth and social cohesion, and in this context progress towards the EU 2020 targets has been difficult;

C.

whereas there is a strong and assumed need for just transitions, in Europe and the world, to sustainable resource exploitation, lowering of CO2 emissions and strong protection of the environment, in order to safeguard the livelihoods, security, health and prosperity of future generations; whereas the transitions towards a stable and sustainable green and environment-friendly economy and social dimension will require cooperation between public and private actors, and must be accompanied by a process of reindustrialisation, modernisation of the industrial base and strengthening of the internal market; whereas the green, digital and demographic transitions affect European regions, sectors, workers and population groups in different ways and these transitions will require significant reskilling and labour reallocation in order to prevent job destruction in affected sectors;

D.

whereas the European regions where there is the greatest need for a sustainable transition are generally also those with high levels of poverty and exclusion; whereas decisive measures and investment are needed for a speedy recovery that should focus on mitigating the economic and social effects of the pandemic, restart economic activity, fostering sustainable development, the green transition and the digital transformation, and implementing the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights in order to achieve more effective and stronger welfare states; whereas an internationally competitive Europe must be based on a strong social Europe in order to create a path to sustainable growth, quality jobs and robust social welfare systems for all;

E.

whereas Eurofound research reveals the complexity of the social dimension of the European Union and suggests complementing the Social Scoreboard accompanying the European Pillar of Social Rights with additional indicators covering job quality, social justice and equal opportunities, robust social welfare systems and fair mobility;

F.

whereas the Europe 2020 strategy was launched in 2010 for the promotion of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; whereas the implementation of the Lisbon strategy should have given more priority to sustainability and inclusiveness rather than growth;

G.

whereas, as stated in Article 151 TFEU, the Union and the Member States, having in mind fundamental social rights such as those set out in the European Social Charter signed in Turin on 18 October 1961 and in the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, have as objectives the promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions so as to make possible their harmonisation while the improvement is being maintained, as well as proper social protection, dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources with a view to lasting high employment, and the combating of exclusion; whereas initiatives originating from the European Pillar of Social Rights are a shared responsibility between the EU and the Member States, which have different social systems and traditions; whereas, therefore, such initiatives should protect national collective bargaining systems, offering higher levels of protection; whereas fundamental rights, proportionality, legal certainty, equality before the law and subsidiarity are general principles of EU law and as such must be respected;

H.

whereas women are under-represented in economic and political leadership positions deciding on the policy responses to COVID-19; whereas women should be included in decision-making to bring in more perspectives, knowledge and experience, which would lead to better policy outputs;

I.

whereas social welfare systems contribute to guaranteeing a decent life; whereas those systems include social security, healthcare, education, housing, employment, justice and social services for disadvantaged groups, and play a key role in achieving social sustainable development, promoting equality and social justice and ensuring the right to social protection as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); whereas social protection policies are vital elements of national development strategies to reduce poverty and vulnerability across the life cycle and to support inclusive and sustainable growth;

J.

whereas social dialogue and collective bargaining are key instruments for employers and trade unions in order to establish fair wages and working conditions, and strong collective bargaining systems increase Member States’ resilience in times of economic crisis; whereas societies with strong collective bargaining systems tend to be wealthier and more equal; whereas the right to collective bargaining is an issue that concerns all European workers, which can also have crucial implications for democracy and the rule of law, including respect for fundamental social rights; whereas collective bargaining is a European fundamental right and the EU institutions are bound by Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights to respect it; whereas, in this context, policies that respect, promote and strengthen collective bargaining and the position of workers in wage-setting systems play a critical role in achieving a high standard of working conditions;

K.

whereas collective bargaining is a key instrument to promote rights at work; whereas, according to OECD data, over the last decades both trade union density and collective bargaining coverage have significantly declined; whereas collective bargaining coverage has been decreasing in 22 of the EU’s 27 Member States since 2000; whereas the quality of work and of the working environment is higher on average in countries with well-organised social partners and a large coverage of collective agreements; whereas collective bargaining, provided it has a wide coverage and is well coordinated, fosters good labour market performance;

L.

whereas, according to Eurofound, collective bargaining has come under pressure and the recession of 2008 has resulted in its decentralisation; whereas, while every sixth worker in the EU is estimated to be covered by a collective wage agreement, there is difficulty in obtaining reliable evidence in the form of more in-depth coverage data as regards collective bargaining and collective agreements across the EU; whereas, according to data provided by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), the average level of union membership across the EU is around 23 %, with a great variety in union membership rates between Member States, ranging from 74 % to as low as 8 %; whereas the membership of employers’ organisations and the share of the markets they represent vary significantly as well;

M.

whereas social investment is about investing in people in order to improve their living conditions; whereas key policy areas for social investment include social security, healthcare, long-term care, education, housing, employment, justice and social services for disadvantaged groups; whereas well-designed social policies strongly contribute to sustainable development and growth as well as to protecting people from poverty and acting as economic stabilisers;

N.

whereas the poverty rate is predicted to increase as one of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; whereas women, young people, older people, persons with disabilities and large families are more endangered by this development; whereas the number of single-person households and older people living alone is increasing; whereas single-person households are at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion, and, particularly, older women are at higher risk of poverty than older men if they live alone; whereas lone parent households are at high risk of poverty and deprivation, and have difficulties budgeting due to single incomes and lower employment rates; whereas an increasing number of young adults are now relying on the parental home to protect them from poverty, but 29 % of households with three generations are at risk of poverty and 13 % are severely deprived;

O.

whereas gender discrimination in the home and on the labour market can result in an unequal distribution of resources, making women more vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion than men; whereas if they fall into poverty, women have less chance of getting out of it;

P.

whereas both horizontal and vertical labour market segregation in the EU are still significant, with women over-represented in less profitable sectors; whereas in particular women with precarious contracts have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were the first to lose their jobs, resulting in financial consequences for their families and for their economic independence, as well as leading to them receiving insufficient social security protection in times of crisis;

Q.

whereas in 2018 there were nearly 109 million persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU-27, equivalent to 21,7 % of the total population, with 23 million being children (13); whereas the EU did not reach its 2020 target to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 20 million; whereas the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion is likely to increase within the Union as a result of the COVID-19 crisis; whereas homelessness has increased by 70 % consistently in most Member States over the past decade, with at least 700 000 people being without shelter on any given night in the EU; whereas COVID-19 has demonstrated that homelessness represents both a social and a public health crisis (14); whereas about one-fifth of people in the EU are at risk of severe indebtedness and many do not receive the social benefits to which they are entitled under their national systems;

R.

whereas one in five workers in the EU holds a poor quality job; whereas it is expected that in the next decade, job polarisation and non-standard forms of employment will increase further and there will be more jobs at the higher and lower ends of the skills spectrum (15); whereas technological change and the use of artificial intelligence might alter the labour market significantly; whereas this leads to further disparities in earnings; whereas labour demand has consistently been weakest in the middle of the job-wage distribution, most noticeably during the periods of recession and employment contraction between 2008 and 2013, partly due to employment shifting from the manufacturing and construction sectors to services; whereas this trend is likely to be further reinforced by the pandemic; whereas low-skilled jobs will always be essential for societies and must offer decent pay and conditions; whereas digitalisation can create chances and opportunities for upskilling, but does not necessarily improve working conditions or create new quality jobs for all;

S.

whereas there is hardly any transition from fixed-term to permanent employment contracts; whereas 60 % of workers are trapped involuntarily in fixed-term employment; whereas transition rates are particularly low in countries with high levels of fixed-term employment; whereas even public administrations have too often relied on temporary workers to replace civil servants, with more precarious working conditions;

T.

whereas research by Eurofound on ‘new forms of employment’ shows that emerging and increasingly important employment forms which deviate from traditional employer-employee relationships and/or are characterised by non-traditional work organisation and work patterns, tend to be less covered by social protection, social dialogue and collective bargaining; whereas, as such employment forms are also found to be more intensively used during economically challenging times, interventions should be considered to counter the expected labour market crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic;

U.

whereas the unemployment rate is over 7 %, and the youth unemployment rate has risen to 17 % and is expected to increase further due to COVID-19 (16), concerning especially women and workers in low-skilled positions; whereas the euro area unemployment rate is expected to increase from 8,3 % in 2020 to about 9,3 % in 2021, with substantial differences among Member States (17); whereas the unemployment rate of specific groups, such as persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities like the Romani people, young people and elderly people, can be significantly higher; whereas according to Eurofound’s survey ‘Living, Working and COVID-19’, the COVID-19 crisis has had a dramatic impact on the labour market, with 8 % of employees and 13 % of the solo self-employed becoming unemployed since the onset of the pandemic; whereas the impact of the crisis has also been felt by those who remained in the labour market with a considerable decrease in hours worked, which is reflected in loss of income and concerns over future labour market participation and financial insecurity;

V.

whereas according to Eurostat, in 2018 there were 8,3 million underemployed part-time workers in the EU-28, 7,6 million persons were available to work but not looking for a job, and another 2,2 million were looking for jobs without being able to start working within a short time period; whereas in total 18,1 million persons experienced something resembling unemployment in the EU-28 in 2018;

W.

whereas the fight against unemployment of young people as well as the elderly remains one of the greatest challenges at regional level in the EU;

X.

whereas the COVID-19 crisis has brought to light abuses regarding the rights of cross-border, frontier and seasonal workers and the precariousness of their situation, with low levels of social protection and social security coordination; whereas there is therefore a need for stronger regulation, more efficient monitoring and effective enforcement of decent working conditions, as well as housing conditions and health and safety at work; whereas the Temporary Agency Work Directive has to be improved in this aspect;

Y.

whereas the gap in employment participation between men and women was 11,7 % in 2019; whereas this differential has a huge economic cost for the EU, corresponding to EUR 320 billion per year, or 2,37 % of EU GDP; whereas the COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affects women’s labour and social situation, with 26,5 % of women being in precarious jobs, representing 60 % of part-time workers; whereas women are more affected than men by the difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, owing to the employment sectors in which they are prevalent and the burden of caring for children and the elderly, which still weighs particularly heavily on their shoulders;

Z.

whereas persons with disabilities and the elderly are particularly susceptible to the COVID-19 crisis; whereas they are likely to suffer disproportionately and to have particular support needs that must be taken into account from the very outset when responding to the pandemic, with research showing that these groups are at high risk of developing mental health problems;

AA.

whereas Europe’s regions are facing long-term demographic trends, from longer life expectancy to lower birth rates, ageing societies, shrinking workforce, smaller households and increasing urbanisation; whereas Europe’s declining share of the global population, with it being expected to account for less than 4 % by 2070, will bring challenges; whereas rural and peripheral areas are strongly affected by demographic changes;

AB.

whereas the pandemic has particularly affected the elderly, in some cases aggravating the situation of those who are isolated; whereas the elderly are most at risk of lack of access to the internet and modern technologies, and are consequently at a higher risk of exclusion, including digital exclusion;

AC.

whereas the crisis has resulted in rising urban poverty, affecting more middle-income households and creating new at-risk groups, and is leading to deepening territorial inequalities, exacerbating social disadvantages in deprived urban areas as well as unequal access to public services and generating increasing demand for social services and social infrastructure at local level, at a time when local budgets are overstretched;

AD.

whereas research based on the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey shows that twice as many regular teleworkers report working in excess of the 48 hours stipulated in EU legislation and resting for less than 11 hours between working days, as compared to those working on their employers’ premises; whereas almost 30 % of such teleworkers report working in their free time every day or several times a week, compared to below 5 % of office-based workers; whereas regular teleworkers are also more likely to report suffering from work-related stress, being affected by sleep disorders and struggling to reconcile work and family responsibilities;

AE.

whereas as a result of COVID-19 and the measures to tackle it, namely confinement and teleworking, women in abusive relationships have become permanently exposed to violence, which has increased the number of cases of violence against women; whereas one consequence of confinement has been an explosion in gender-based and intra-family violence, by around 30 % in some European countries; whereas, in total, more than 243 million women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced sexual and/or physical violence worldwide in the past 12 months;

AF.

whereas the pressure on women has increased further; whereas the new forms of work imposed, which are extendable and come at the expense of the separation between work and private life, have led during confinement to an explosion of new forms of psychological and sexual harassment, both online and offline; whereas the vast majority of companies and governments have not put in place any measures to counter these phenomena;

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.