European Parliament : Report - European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) - A8-0461/2018 - Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Ever since the European Social Fund was created in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome, it has been the main financial instrument for generating employment in Europe.

The Commission proposal on the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) for the period 2021-2027 not only continues to promote employment and social inclusion but also aims for clear progress in strengthening the European social dimension by directly linking its eleven specific objectives with the country specific recommendations adopted in the context of the European Semester, which at the same time links in with the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

The ESF+ will remain part of cohesion policy and will mainly be regulated via the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR). However, and so as to ensure closer consistency between funding objectives and implementation, the ESF+ constitutes a merger of the current European Social Fund, the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) and the European Health Programme.

That merger responds to the need to simplify, inject flexibility into and optimise current procedures while reducing administrative barriers, to facilitate visibility and accessibility for EU beneficiaries and citizens, and to ensure synergies through better-integrated approaches, which will afford the EU and Member States more integrated and targeted support in their response to the social and employment challenges facing EU citizens, both now and in the future.

The merger must not compromise the specific objectives of current funds and programmes.

Similarly, the ESF+ must be complementary to, and coordinated and consistent with, other EU funds and programmes such as Erasmus, the Asylum and Migration Fund and the Reform Support Programme. It must also ensure closer synergies with the other EU Structural and Investment Funds, and especially the European Regional Development Fund and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.

The EU can only remain competitive in a global economy if it maintains high levels of employment, education, health and social inclusion. The existence of a skills gap, especially in the digital field, as well as the mismatch in many areas between education/training systems and the labour market, disadvantages European society as a whole.

Hence the need for active inclusion that recognises investments in human capital as an important means of growing the European economy.

At the same time, the individual projects and programmes developed must contribute to improving economic, social and territorial cohesion, taking into account the real needs on the ground, in line with Article 174 TFEU, especially in those regions suffering from severe and permanent demographic handicaps, such as regions with a low population density.

If they do not, they will be ineffective and disparities will remain both between and within regions, which will threaten the survival of many European rural areas that share the problem of an ageing population.

Support for young people is an essential objective that must be maintained. Although the youth unemployment rate has decreased from a peak of 24% in 2013 (and of over 50% in some Member States) to 15.1% in May 2018, it remains too high and is more than twice the general unemployment rate.

Similarly, the percentage of young people aged between 15 and 29 not in employment, education or training (NEETs) remains very high, standing at 13.4% in 2017.

The ESF+ must support the generation of youth employment through tailored measures in line with national Youth Guarantee schemes, with a particular focus on inactive young people, those furthest from the labour market and, therefore, those who are hardest to reach.

Given the great importance of supporting young people, as well as the problems experienced by several Member States in launching the requisite measures, it would be considered necessary to earmark 15% of the ESF+ budget for support for young people, making pre-financing possible where necessary.

The ESF+ should be used to improve the functioning of the labour markets, through support for the modernisation of public employment services and improving advisory and guidance services for workers. Similarly, it should provide support for intra-national and cross-border worker mobility.

Social inequalities are another major cause for concern among the European public. It is therefore necessary for at least 27% of resources under the ESF+ to be allocated to eradicating poverty and fostering social inclusion.

A clear distinction should be drawn between that support for the most disadvantaged groups and social assistance.

It is important that the objectives of ending material and nutritional deprivation and social inclusion of the most deprived are maintained and that Member States allocate for this at least 3% of their ESF+ resources under shared management. Those resources should be complementary to the amounts earmarked for eliminating poverty and promoting social inclusion, as this will ensure greater integration of the most disadvantaged.

The resources earmarked for eliminating poverty and social exclusion should therefore be channelled into active policies that ensure equal opportunities, from access to primary education to access to, and progress in, the labour market, with a special focus on children. This will help break the vicious cycle of poverty.

In order for the projects to run smoothly, the social partners and civil society organisations must be suitably involved in the implementation of employment, education and social inclusion policies.

It is important in this respect that policies to eliminate poverty and social exclusion, and especially those targeting the most disadvantaged, take into account the views of specialised NGOs and of the organisations representing people living in poverty and social exclusion themselves.

Furthermore, the ESF+ must help ensure that Member States' social and employment policies reflect the principles of equal opportunity and non-discrimination, both between men and women and on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, especially as regards access to, and progress in, the labour market, while also promoting access to employment for persons with disabilities.