Changes from plenary report to adopted text

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Articles 46(d), 149, 153(2)(a), 164, 175 and 349 thereof,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+),

– having regard to the Regulation (EU) 2024/3236 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1057 and (EU) 2021/1058 as regards Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction (RESTORE),

– having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which entered into force on 21 January 2011 in accordance with Council Decision 2010/48/EC of 26 November 2009 concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

– having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) proclaimed and signed by the Council, Parliament and the Commission on 17 November 2017,

– having regard to the La Hulpe Declaration on the Future of the European Pillar of Social Rights signed by Parliament, the Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Council on 16 April 2024,

– having regard to the Liège Declaration of 5 March 2024 entitled ‘Affordable, decent and sustainable housing for all’,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 27 March 2024 on the 9th Cohesion Report (COM(2024)0149),

– having regard to the Communication Commission of 20 March 2024 entitled ‘Labour and skills shortages in the EU: an action plan’,

– having regard to the Council recommendation of 12 March 2021 on Roma equality, inclusion and participation,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 4 March 2021 entitled ‘The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan’ (COM(2021)0102) and its proposed 2030 headline targets on employment, training and reducing poverty,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 7 October 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation’ (COM(2020)0620),

– having regard to the annual reports of the European Court of Auditors on the performance of the EU budget for 2019 and 2021,

– having regard to its resolution of 23 November 2023 on job creation – the just transition and impact investments,

– having regard to its resolution of 21 November 2023 entitled ‘Children first – strengthening the Child guarantee, two years on from its adoption’,

– having regard to its resolution of 13 December 2022 entitled ‘Towards equal rights for persons with disabilities’,

– having regard to its resolution of 29 April 2021 on the European Child Guarantee,

– having regard to its resolution of 10 February 2021 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty,

– having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on access to decent and affordable housing for all,

– having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on the EU Strategy for Gender Equality,

– having regard to its resolution of 24 November 2020 on tackling homelessness rates in the EU,

– having regard to its resolution of 8 October 2020 on the Youth Guarantee,

– having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2022 entitled ‘Towards a common European action on care’,

– having regard to its resolution of 18 June 2020 on the European Disability Strategy post-2020,

– having regard to the report by Mario Draghi of 9 September 2024 on the future of European competitiveness,

– having regard to the report by Enrico Letta of 10 April 2024 entitled ‘Much more than a market’,

– having regard to Rule 55 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Regional Development,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A10-0014/2025),

A. whereas the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) supports, complements and adds value to the policies of the Member States in order to ensure equal opportunities, equal access to the labour market, fair and high-quality working conditions, social protection and inclusion, in particular focussing on quality and inclusive education and training, lifelong learning, investment in children and young people and access to basic services;

B. whereas the ESF+ is the only EU fund primarily focused on social policies, and is therefore unique in itself and is strongly effective and necessary in achieving social inclusion, together with the cohesion policy; whereas the ESF+ must be used in the most efficient way in order to achieve systemic changes via structural reforms, focussing on its complementarity with Member States’ budgets in order to motivate the Member States to use the fund for these reforms, notwithstanding that it is crucial also to develop more holistic social policies at EU level to tackle inequalities and exclusion;

C. whereas cohesion policy, the European Structural and Investment Funds and, in particular, the ESF+, are strong tools for cohesion between Member States, regions and areas, including urban and rural areas;

D. whereas the situation and needs of each region in the EU are different; whereas local communities are the direct beneficiaries of the ESF+, and it is a precondition that regional and local stakeholders are directly involved in shaping this instrument; whereas community-led local development is a tool for involving citizens at local level in developing responses to the social, environmental and economic challenges faced today and thus it is an important tool to facilitate the implementation of the ESF+; whereas the implementation of the ESF+ at national level is often accompanied by unnecessary administrative burdens and complicated or ineffective rules;

L. whereas the social and economic integration of migrants, including labour migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking, should be improved in order to ensure that they are included in our societies; whereas successful inclusion requires not only equal access to the labour market, but also complete participation in society; whereas special attention should be given to migrants coming from non-EU countries and undocumented migrants; whereas different EU funds, including ESF+ and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, play their own role in this regard;

M. whereas the population of the EU is decreasing; whereas depopulation is taking place in some regions and there is an increasing concentration of the population in certain urban areas; whereas efforts should be made to increase development and cohesion in these areas; whereas demographic changes will lead to a smaller workforce, requiring the upskilling, reskilling and expansion of the workforce;

N. whereas the report on the future of European competitiveness by Mario Draghi warns of the significant skills gap the EU is facing, with 77 % of EU companies reporting that even newly recruited employees do not have the required skills, and 42 % of Europeans lacking digital basic skills; whereas the report deplores the insufficient number of workers benefiting from training and the lack of progress in this area, with more than 50 million workers requiring training to meet the headline target of adults participating in training every year; whereas vocationally trained professionals and people with practical skills are crucial to European societies; whereas the further building of European competitiveness cannot be achieved without strengthening human capital; whereas timely investments in the reskilling and upskilling of workers that are at risk of losing their jobs or whose skills have become obsolete can among others help prevent them from becoming trapped in poverty;

O. whereas particular attention, including specific measures targeting the needs on the ground where relevant, should be paid to rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition, the outermost regions and regions that suffer from severe and permanent natural, economic or demographic disadvantages, such as sparsely populated regions, islands, mountainous areas and cross-border regions;

P. whereas the Commission has proposed minimum targets for 2030 to ensure progress towards Roma equality, inclusion and participation under the 10-year plan to support Roma in the EU; whereas these targets include, among others, reducing the gap in housing deprivation by at least one third, cutting the proportion of Roma children who attend segregated primary schools by at least half in Member States with a significant Roma population, and reducing the poverty gap between Roma and the general population by at least half; whereas the ESF+ will remain the main financial tool for reaching the 2030 Roma targets;

Principles of the ESF+ post-2027

1. Insists that the ESF+ must continue to be the key and primary instrument for supporting the Member States, regions, local communities and people in strengthening the social dimension of the Union and in pursuing socio-economic development that leaves no one behind;

2. Stresses that the ESF+ must address, contribute and adapt to tackling social challenges such as the consequences of climate change and digitalisation, while addressing social challenges such as the rising cost of living and wages that do not increase at the same speed, promoting social resilience, reducing inequalities and protecting the most vulnerable people; insists that the ESF+ should drive long-term investment and growth, focusing on social and territorial cohesion, while supporting structural transformation across the EU and enhancing convergence between the Member States;

3. Insists that the ESF+ must continue to enhance upward social convergence, especially for the most deprived people, and invest in human capital, employment, skills development and social inclusion, while boosting entrepreneurship and social innovation, investing in children, addressing the digital and green transition, demographic challenges and regions impacted by crises, among others Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine;

4. Insists that the ESF+ must continue to enhance employment opportunities, facilitate fair labour mobility, foster the creation of quality jobs, ensure decent working conditions and improve the employment participation rate, in particular of women, persons with disabilities and other people in vulnerable situations, to enhance social and economic resilience and thus help to adapt to industrial changes, also through training, reskilling and upskilling;

5. Underlines the need for the ESF+ to be based on a social investment strategy and life-long approach by supporting measures that can provide medium- to long-term solutions for people;

6. Insists that the objectives of the ESF+ should be to achieve social inclusion, high employment levels with high-quality and sustainable jobs, adequate wages, decent working conditions, including the wellbeing of workers, healthy working environments, fair social welfare systems in the Member States, as well as vocational education and training opportunities, and lifelong learning for all, taking into account specific needs of people in vulnerable situations, in order to develop a skilled, competitive and resilient workforce, ready for the twin transition and the future world of work, and to build fair social protections and inclusive and cohesive societies, with the aims of eradicating poverty, combating inequalities and delivering on the principles and the headline targets set out in the EPSR;