4. Stresses that first-pillar, public pension schemes remain the most important source of income for pensioners; regrets that in the White Paper the Commission does not properly address the importance of universal, at least poverty-proof, first-pillar public schemes; calls on the Member States – in line with the Europe 2020 strategy’s targets on raising employment and combating poverty – to continue to work on more active and inclusive labour market strategies to decrease the economic dependency ratio between inactive persons and people in employment; calls on the social partners and the Member States to combine these reforms with con ...[+++]stant improvements in working conditions and the implementation of lifelong training schemes which enable people to have healthier and longer careers until the statutory retirement age, thereby increasing the number of people paying pension premiums, this also to avoid increasing public pension costs jeopardising sustainable public finances; calls on Member States to implement reforms to their first-pillar systems in such a way that the number of contributory years is also taken into account;

13. Stresses that discrimination in the labour market is one of the main causes of gender inequality and that equal opportunities in working life and women’s economic independence are crucial; highlights the unequal and vulnerable position of women of minority and immigrant origin as regards their access to education and the labour market; calls on the Commission to propose in its new gender equality strategy clear measures against discrimination in the labour market based on gender and gender identity, as regards e.g. recruitment, equal pay and pensions, and to combat sexual harassment at the workplace more efficiently; notes that de ...[+++]spite EU laws in place protecting individuals from discrimination in employment based on sex, 30 % of trans job seekers experienced discrimination according to a 2012 study from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA); points out that this is a violation of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights; calls, therefore, on the Commission closely to monitor the effectiveness of national complaint bodies and procedures in the implementation of gender equality directives;

1. Welcomes the fact that the Commission based its Recommendation 2008/867/EC on Recommendation 92/441/EEC which recognises the individual's fundamental right to sufficient resources and assistance to live in human dignity and defines common principles for implementing that right; endorses the common principles and practical guidelines presented in Recommendation 2008/867/EC on the active inclusion strategy based on three pillars, namely adequate income support, inclusive labour markets and access to quality services; and in particular points out that any active inclusion strategy has to be built on the principles of individual rights, ...[+++] respect for human dignity and non-discrimination, equality of opportunities and gender equality, on the promotion of labour market integration combined with full participation in society, and on the realisation of the principles of quality, adequacy and accessibility across all three pillars;

13. Considers that among the impacts of the economic crisis the rise of poverty in the European Union is the greatest concern; considers it essential to halt the current rise in unemployment in the European Union; points out that the most efficient way of reducing and preventing poverty is through a strategy based on the goals of full employment, high-quality jobs, social inclusion, measures to encourage entrepreneurship, and activities to boost the role of SMEs and investments; recalls that a strategy to address exclusion from the labour market should be based on adequate living standards and income support, inclusive labour markets ...[+++]as well as access to high-quality services and education; considers, therefore, that employment must be supported by actions for entrepreneurs, SMEs and investments, as well as initiatives to help people in re-entering the labour market; considers that a special priority in this respect should be retraining the unemployed and providing education aimed at creating a skilled and specialised workforce; considers that the principle of solidarity is fundamental to the European construction process, that Community financing should be made available to Member States in respect of schemes aimed at preventing the excessive loss of jobs, retraining workers and endowing non-skilled people with skills; considers that labour regulation needs to be developed in order to achieve a higher degree of flexibility and security within the labour market as well as in getting a new job; considers that Community financial instruments, such as the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, must be revamped so that they can be deployed efficiently and in a timely manner, in relation to large sectors of the economy that are shedding jobs; welcomes the Commission's proposal to simplify the criteria for the European Social Fund and refocus activities towards the most vulnerable;

1. Design and implement an integrated comprehensive strategy for the active inclusion of people excluded from the labour market combining adequate income support, inclusive labour markets and access to quality services.

28. Rejects the new concept of ‘flexicurity’ introduced by the Commission as part of the strategy connected with the Lisbon Strategy and the Green Paper on Labour Law Reform, which is defined as combining sufficiently flexible work contracts with coupled labour market policies that support switches from one job to another, i.e. the adjustment of labour (and wages) to the business cycle with the public employment services of the Member States assuming the costs of labour recycling and rotation; considers that this concept, in parallel with the ‘employability’ concept, places responsibility for finding a job on the worker; stresses that ...[+++]both concepts promote labour market deregulation and the liberalisation of firing, jeopardising social cohesion and the quality of work; alerts to the fact that behind this strategy is also the purpose of reviewing unemployment benefit schemes with the aim of reducing benefits and their duration;