35 Amendments of Godelieve QUISTHOUDT-ROWOHL related to 2010/2203(INI)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas it is generally acknowledged that inward investment improves host countries‘ competitiveness but outward investment may exacerbate adjustment costs for low-skilled workeras well as outward investment improves countries‘ competitiveness,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas Articles 206 and 207 TFEU do not define 7 TFEU only mentions foreign direct investment (FDI), whereas the Court of Justice of the European Union has specified its understanding of the term FDI, on the basis of three criteria: it should be considered as a long-lasting investment, representing at least 10 % of the affiliated company's equity capital / shares and providing the investor with managerial control over the affiliated company's operations, whereas this definition is in line with those of the IMF and the OECD and is opposed to, in particular, portfolio investments and intellectual property rightMember States use broad definitions of the term "foreign investor", thereby including in particular portfolio investment and intellectual property rights, in order to grant the highest level of protection to their investors,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas after the first dispute settlement cases of the 1990s a number ofbesides general positive experiences some problems became clear, particularly concerning the possibility of conflict between private interests and the regulatory tasks of public authorities, for example in cases where the adoption of legislation led to a state being condemned by international arbitrators for ‘indirect expropriation’,
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the new exclusive EU competence on FDI poses a double challenge, on one hand for managing the existing BITs and on the other hand for defining a European investment policy which meets the expectations of investors and beneficiary states but also the EU's broader economic interests and external policy objectiv, namely by raising the level of protection and concluding new treaties with trading partners that have few or no BIT´s with Member States;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes this new EU competence and calls on the Commission and the Member States to seize this opportunity to build with Parliament an integrated and coherent investment policy which promotes high- quality investments and makes a positive contribution to economic, social and environmentalworld wide economic progress;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls that the current phase of globalisation has seen a dramatic increase in FDI, accounting in 2007, the year before investment was affected by the global economic and financial crisis, to a record high of almost EUR 1.500 billion, with the EU being the largest source of FDI in the entire global economy;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the Commission's Communication ‘Towards a comprehensive European international investment policy’ butand stresses that, while extensively focusing on investor protection, it should better address the need to protect the public capacity to regulatee importance of inward and outward investment for the economy of the European Union, European enterprises and European employees, as investment establishes businesses and jobs in Europe as well as abroad and builds the global supply chains that are part of the modern international economy;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that the same high level of protection should not be granted to all kinds of investments and that, for example,, besides foreign direct investment in particular portfolio investment and intellectual property rights should be exincluded fromin the scope of future international investment agreements signed by the EU;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that the standard EU Member State BIT uses a broad definition of "foreign investor" in order to grant the highest level of protection to inward as well as to outward investors; stresses in that regard the need for a strong and coherent investment policy of the EU, building on the best practises of Member State experiences with BITs;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the need for a stricterbroad definition of ‘foreign investor’, considering that broadsuch a definitions have led to abusive practices, which should not be permitted assures the favourable standard protection of all investments without creating problems of demarcation; underlines that any reflection on a stricter definition could have serious negative consequences for investor confidence and could lead to significant irritations in partner countries;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that investor protection, namely legal certainty for all investment decisions, must remain the first priority of investment agreements;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Commission to invest all its personal and material resources in the negotiation and conclusion of EU investment agreements instead of reviewing and questioning existing BITs of Member States;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Doubts whetherWelcomes the request expressed by the Council in its conclusions on the Communication – that the new European legal framework should not negatively affect investor protection and guarantees enjoyed under the existing agreements – constitutes an achievable objective; considers that with such a broad and undefined criterion any new agreement could be opposed;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that the need to identify best practices, to which the Council's conclusions also point, is a more sensible and more effective option, enabling the development of a consistent European investment policy;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – introductory part
Paragraph 11 – introductory part
11. Considers that future investment agreements concluded by the EU should be based on the best practise of Member State experiences and include the following standards:
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 11 – indent 3 a (new)
- strong enforcement mechanisms, including investor-state dispute settlement,
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 3 b (new)
Paragraph 11 – indent 3 b (new)
- a so-called "umbrella clause", which enables integration into the scope of a BIT of all private-law contracts concluded between an investor and the signatory state of the BIT and makes international arbitration possible if such a contract is violated,
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 3 c (new)
Paragraph 11 – indent 3 c (new)
- a most favoured nation clause,
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses that future investment agreements concluded by the EU must protect the capacity for public intervention, but underlines that in case of direct or indirect expropriation of an investor by such an intervention compensation must be provided;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission to includerespect in all future agreements specific clauses laying down the right of the EU and its Member States to regulate, inter alia, in the areas of protection of the environment, public health, workers‘ and consumers’ rights, industrial policy and cultural diversity;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Stresses that the EU's future policy must promote investment which is sustainable, respects the environment (particularly in the area of extractive industries) and encourages good quality working conditions in the enterprises targeted by the investment; asks the Commission to include, in all future agreements, a reference to the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Reiterates, with regard to the investment chapters in wider free trade agreements (FTAs), its call for a corporate social responsibility clause and legally binding social and environmental clauses to be includedthe promotion of CSR in every FTA the EU signs;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Welcomes the fact that a number of BITs currently have a clause which prevents the watering-downmention the importance of social and environmental legislation in order to attract investment and calls on the Commission to include such a clause in its future agreementstandards;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Requests the inclusion of a "Member State" clause in all future EU investment agreements, which states that inward investment to the EU comes under the laws of the Member State it is directed to and that only the laws of that Member State apply in regard of the legality of the investment;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Believes that major changes must be madefeasible and appropriate changes to the present dispute settlement regime, in order to include greater transparency, the opportunity for parties to appeal, the obligation to exhaust local judicial remedies (where relevant), the possibility to use amicus curiae briefs and the obligation to select one single place of arbitrationprocedures should be explored;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Requests thatUrges the Commission and the Member States take up their responsibility, knowing that a future EU investment agreement cannot make reference to the dispute settlement process of ICSID or UNCITRAL since the EU is not as major international players to work towards the necessary reforms of theember of neither organisation, to explore possible ways to provide in future EU investment agreements the same legal certainty European investors and Member States enjoy at the moment using the dispute settlement process of ICSID andor UNCITRAL rules; ;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Believes that a future EU investment policy, especially the decision who to negotiate with first, must be based on the following grounds: degree of legal protection of European investors in a third country, number of BITs already concluded by Member States with a third country, the potential added value of an EU agreement with the third country;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Calls on the Commission to require Member States to extend the protection under existing INTRA-EU BITs to all EU investors, instead of calling for the termination of them;