MEP Romana Tomc reported that the European Parliament is adopting the joint report of the Committees on Employment and Women’s Rights for the future European care strategy.
It includes recommendations that will form the basis for the preparation of a European strategy on care. The European Parliament draws attention to the provision of accessible and affordable quality care services as well as decent working conditions and access to social protection for formal and informal caregivers.
The purpose of the report is to provide a long-term strategy for the care sector at EU level, which would ensure that the rights of carers and those in care are properly considered. The care sector is dominated by women, so when it comes to the issue of care, we also face the issue of equality. The report calls for a number of different legislative and non-legislative measures at European and national levels to accompany the strategy, including a European programme for informal carers.
Romana Tomc (SDS/ELS) emphasised: “The European Union urgently needs a long-term strategy for the supply sector. It is in the interest of all of us to spend our old age with dignity, in neat and friendly homes for the elderly that we can afford, with people who like to work with us. That is why today I voted in favour of such legislation at the EU level, which will enable member states to provide this to their elderly. After years of warnings from Brussels, under the government of Janez Janša, Slovenia recently got this much-needed law. I now expect the new government to allocate money primarily to those who need care and work in care.”
The European Commission is expected to present the proposal in the third quarter of this year.
By: C.R.
