Debate: Social and employment crisis in the COVID- pandemic and the EU's response in the Recovery Plan and the MFF
Date: WEDNESDAY, 20 JANUARY 2021
Speaker: Ana Paula Zacarias
Language: EN

All across Europe we have witnessed job losses, often with devastating effects for the people concerned, for their families and for the local communities. At the end of last year, almost 16 million people in the EU were unemployed, two million more than the year before. It is an appalling statistic, behind which there are countless people, countless stories, countless issues and the lives of people who were working and have now been pushed into poverty and precarity.  The COVID—19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable members of our society. It has laid bare existing systemic vulnerabilities and increased social inequalities to the detriment of those most disadvantaged. The pandemic has had a particularly strong impact on women. Our response to the continuing crisis and the recovery measures must therefore be designed in a gender—sensitive way. To this end, the Portuguese Presidency intends to table a set of Council conclusions on the impact of COVID—19 on gender equality in the labour market. The conclusions will form the basis of a forthcoming research note by the European Institute for Gender Equality.  Young people will also continue to disproportionately suffer the effects of this crisis. The reinforced Youth Guarantee, adopted by the Council in October, will help Member States better respond to the needs of young people and hence better target efficiency and monitoring.  We are now in the midst of a third wave of the virus, with even more contagious variants that have prompted stricter lockdowns in many Member States. Yet, at the same time, we are on the brink of hope that a vaccination can bring about the start of a long road to recovery. So the European social model that provided a cushion of support during this terrible period needs to be reinforced.  Although this crisis is grave, it would certainly have been far worse without the decisive action of the European Union and its Member States. At a time of difficulty, the EU showed unity, solidarity and flexibility, first addressing immediate emergency needs and then planning an ambitious recovery to make Europe more resilient, more competitive, just and sustainable for all future generations.  In the spring of 2020, we adopted the ESM Pandemic Crisis Support, the EIB Pan—European Guarantee Fund and SURE. While Member States fortunately did not need to activate their safety nets, thanks to the extremely favourable market financing conditions in 2020, EU workers benefited substantially from the support of SURE. All these measures were fundamental to support public action, enterprises and workers. We see that SURE has already been almost entirely utilised to support SMEs. We are also starting to see the benefits of the EIB support.  As for the recovery phase, we have come a long way since our leaders reached an agreement on the biggest ever MFF and on the unprecedented recovery instrument, the Next Generation EU, in July. These two instruments, amounting to more than EUR 1.8 trillion over the next seven years, are endowed with ambitious climate and digital targets and a focus on addressing challenges to employment, sustainability, resilience and competitiveness through reforms and investment. As such, they will enable the EU to provide both a much—needed cyclical stimulus and the right incentives to address structural issues in an ambitious way. While sharing the same objectives, the Council and Parliament had different views on how to structure this recovery plan. After intense, yet very constructive discussions and trilogues, we found political agreement on an ambitious text, which now needs to be swiftly voted on by the co—legislators, paving the way to the plan’s implementation. The Portuguese Presidency is indeed committed to steering the EU through a swift and efficient implementation of the instruments agreed in the course of the last year, ensuring a high degree of interinstitutional cooperation, flexibility and determination.  Addressing the social concerns of COVID—19 will be a key priority for our Presidency. We will seek to strengthen trust in the European social model, the importance of which became starkly clear during these troubling times. In this context, as you heard our Prime Minister say in this Chamber this morning, the Porto Social Summit that will take place in May will give impetus to the European social dimension and the European Pillar of Social Rights and its implementation plan, emphasising its central role in the European recovery and in adapting to the climate, digital and demographic transitions. We would like this summit to address the issues of employment. This morning, we were talking about jobs, jobs, and jobs. Indeed, we need to tackle this issue, and also skills, reskilling, innovation and social welfare to ensure that no one is left behind.  Resilience is part of the European identity, so to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights is the best vaccine against inequalities and fear. We have to tackle, and act quickly on all these fronts to fulfil the Portuguese Presidency motto: it’s time to deliver a fair, green and digital recovery. Thank you very much for your attention. I will remain here to answer your questions.