Activities of Franck PROUST related to 2013/2006(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Reindustrialising Europe to promote competitiveness and sustainability (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on reindustrialising Europe to promote competitiveness and sustainability PDF (495 KB) DOC (277 KB)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION Reindustrialising Europe to promote competitiveness and sustainability
Amendments (58)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes the decline of Europe’s industrial sector, which has shed 3 million jobs and suffered a 10% fall in production since 2008 despite the fact that it is one of the main drivers of growth in Europe; cCalls on the Commission to implement a genuine joint strategy for the reindustrialisation of the European Union; points out that the Union’s trade policy is of critical importance for industry;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 28 a (new)
Citation 28 a (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 25 November 2010 on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements1,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A (new)
Recital A (new)
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the importance of research and innovation as a means of ensuring the competitiveness of European companies in world markets; urges the Union and Member States to increase the funds allocated to research and development; calls on the Commission to encourage the emergence of industrial sectors which are based on new technologies, generate products with a high added value and are sparing in their use of energy resources; stresses the need for our companies to anticipate the needs of third-country markets more effectively and thereby meet global demand;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B (new)
Recital B (new)
B. whereas the Member States should be guided by industrial restructuring methods which have proved successful in Europe and elsewhere in the world;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C (new)
Recital C (new)
C. whereas the figures put forward by the Commission are ambitious but conditional, since they are bound up with a host of factors which are, as yet, not properly identified;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D (new)
Recital D (new)
D. whereas the first priority of Europe must be to safeguard the manufacturing base and know-how while enabling industry to regain its global competitiveness;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the importance of a clear and stable legal framework to encourage investment in industry; urges the Commission and the Member States to encourage the development and internationalisation of Europe’s SMEs, which will play a major role in tomorrow's industrial policy, by facilitating their access to funding; calls for the establishment of a ‘one-stop shop’ to advise SMEs on issues concerning both domestic and foreign markets with a view to helping them access sources of information and funding;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the Commission to ensure European companies have access to international markets, and considers that it is essential to establish reciprocal access to public markets, to protect the industrial property rights of European companies and to enhance the effectiveness of the Union’s Trade Defence Instruments; recalls that trade policy must be a consistent overall policy allowing our enterprises to access international markets; calls therefore on the Commission to carry out comprehensive impact assessments to consider the effects of all free trade agreements, whether already concluded or under negotiation, on our producers; calls for ex-post impact assessments also to be carried out.
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that public procurement forms an integral part of industrial policy among most of our trading partners; is concerned about the protectionist revival plans mobilising the public procurement market adopted by many of our trading partners; believes therefore that a reciprocity instrument promoting the opening of third markets is an essential tool for the re-industrialisation of the Union and welcomes the Commission’s proposal in this connection;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that Europe’s future industrial strength lies in a Renaissance of Industry for a Sustainable Europe (RISE) strategy that pursues technological, business and social innovation towards a third industrial revolution including a low-carbon modernisation offensive; argues that RISE willcan create new markets, business models and creative entrepreneurs, new jobs and decent work, bringing an industrial renewal with economic dynamism, confidence and competitiveness; believes that the main priority is to safeguard the manufacturing base and know-how and that energy and resource efficiency are key pillars of such a strategy;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Recalls that the strength of European enterprises lies primarily in innovation; emphasises the importance of protecting the industrial property rights of European enterprises;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Notes the modernisation of Trade Defence Instruments proposed by the Commission; believes that effective Trade Defence Instruments are likely to discourage certain unfair practices; calls therefore on the Commission not to weaken them de jure or de facto;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Welcomes the proposal for a regulation seeking to exercise the Union’s rights as regards the implementation and enforcement of respect for the rules of international trade; considers that better responsiveness as regards the enforcement of our rights is likely to restore our credibility and rebalance our trade relations;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that RISE must be embedded in an ecological and social market economy in accordance with the principles of fair competition, the internalisation of externalities and environmentally conscious Ordnungspolitik; states that Europe´s future industrial competitivenesspolicy must be guided by the vision of sustainabilityinnovation and competitiveness in order to safeguard and expand the manufacturing base and know-how;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises that RISE needs a short- term agenda so as to safeguard the manufacturing base and know-how, in order to meet the urgent challenges in some sectors (production overcapacity, restructuring and unfair competition) plus a long-term framework based on clear targets, indicators and a life-cycle and circular economy approach that steers investments into creativity, skills, innovation, sustainable technologies and promotes modernisation of Europe’s industrial base through a value chain- conscious policy that is conducive to maintaining the production chain in Europe and also includes the basic industries;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls for the Commission to improve its communication about its commitments in support of IP in order to restore investors’, workers’ and citizens’ confidence in EU action;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that RISE will only succeed if underpinned by an adequate macroeconomic framework and the necessary budgetary resources in order to leverage private investment; demands, in this context, a European greeninclusive growth strategy., and deplores the Council’s cuts to MFF heading 1A;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Applauds the Commission’s transversal approach to IP; holds that RISE should follow a horizontal rather than vertical IP concept; believes that sector-specific measures must as a rule be connected to sectoral specialisation promoting high-tech and high-value -added strategies, while safeguarding basic industries; calls on the Member States and the Commission to focus their efforts on sectors with solid know-how and a high degree of R&D investment and added-value creation;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Agrees with the Commission that IP must have an effective, integrated governance structure including monitoring; recalls the EP’s recommendation in the Lange report on industry to establish a permanent Commission IP task force of relevant DGs; asks the Commission to carry out a study to identify clearly the overcapacity and restructuring challenges facing some sectors, and to put forward short-term solutions, and to report annually to the EP on the progress of RISE, including an examination of the mismatch between its ambitions and the competences and tools at its disposal; stresses that RISE needs an alliance of stakeholders from industry, trade unions, academia, and civil society; calls on the Commission to marshal its resources more effectively (competences, tools and services) and to make full use of Article 173(2) of the Treaty to advance RISE;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Believes that regionsthe various levels of territorial unit should be fully involved, and take coordinated action in the process, in identifying priorities and potential for industry in their territories; welcomes the work undertaken by the Committee of the Regions as well as the Commission’s work with regard to smart specialisation strategies for the streamlining of EU funding towards the Europe 2020 objectives;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Points out that industrial SMEs are an asset because their size and responsiveness allows them to adjust to change, but are being hit hardest by the crisis; calls on the Commission and Member States to introduce specific SME support and assistance programmes, in particular identifying prospective industrial champions early;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Welcomes the Commission’s focus on ecodesign; calls on it to set ecodesign specifications for recyclability and resource efficiency; welcomes the proposal to develop and promote new sustainability criteria for construction products and processe, recyclability, new sustainability criteria for construction products and processes, and resource efficiency; calls for legislative proposals and studies on resource efficiency to take account of the viability of an investment on the basis of the criteria of effectiveness, profitability and long-term returns;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. BWelieves thatcomes the action line on smart grids is too narrow with too few proposals;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to urgently complete the single market for energy, telecoms, green products and venture capitalsupply of raw materials and venture capital; calls for the Union to pursue closer integration in the areas of employment law and tax incentives;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Notes that there are areas in which EU Member States do not compete with one another (fiscal and social dumping) or with third countries (high prices for energy and raw materials, strong euro) on an equal footing;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to develop a horizontal action plan to boost demand for innovative goods and services; calls on the Commission to use the environmental footprintcontinue studying the life cycle of products, from the raw material to the recycling stage, with a view to setting sustainability and efficiency benchmarks for products that take cost/benefit ratios into account;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Stresses that public procurement should be an innovation driver; believes that state aid guidelines shoulpoints out that public procurement is an integral part of the industrial policies of the Union’s trading partners; believes that state aid guidelines should aim to boost the EU industry’s competitiveness, as the practices employed by the EU's trading partners do, and be open for innovation- enhancing policy measures; believes that standardisation and ecolabelling have an important role to play upstream from the production and distribution chain should be a principle guiding the uptake of new technologies; calls on Member States to step up cooperation regarding standardisation on the world market in order to ensure that European technological developments are market leaders;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Believes that the digital and new information and communications technologies market offers potential for industrial development which has not yet been fully tapped and which Europe is well-placed to exploit;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Takes note of the Commission’s investigation into the reform of the internal market for industrial products; calls on the Commission to ensure that this does not lead to lowering standardse relevant standards are compatible with the market;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. ABelieves that the bureaucratic burden is one of the main barriers to improving the competitiveness of industrial companies; acknowledges the Commission’s smart regulation drive designed to reduce bureaucratic burdens without undermining the effectiveness of legislation; supports regulatory coherence and improvedthe inclusion of competitiveness proofing under the impact assessment guidelines before any new legislation is drawn up;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Calls on Member States and the Commission, as a matter of urgency, to put in place strategies to simplify and standardise the administrative arrangements for SMEs as regards their declarations and dealings with the authorities;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 b (new)
Paragraph 28 b (new)
28b. Stresses the need to create industrial giants, as in the aeronautical and space industry, in order to attain the critical mass needed to compete internationally;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 c (new)
Paragraph 28 c (new)
28c. Draws attention to the economic benefit of building closer ties between companies (buying groups, partnerships, alliances) in order to achieve significant economies of scale and the critical mass needed to compete internationally;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to harness the power of the internet in its work on market surveillance, allowing people to participate by providing appropriate and verifiable feedback on products;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Believes that the current IPR regime is not favouring innovation; believes that increased transparency, innovative management and licensing practices can bring faster market solutions; Stresses that technological development is a sensitive and vulnerable sector; believes that IPRs are an essential component of a knowledge economy which foster innovation and strengthen European industry; welcomes, therefore, the creation of an EU unitary patent; believes that the procedure which led to its creation should be held up as an example of good practice in the context of the pursuit of closer industrial and internal market integration; calls on the Commission and Member States to strengthen the protection of IPRs, in particular to tackle counterfeiting and industrial espionage; calls on the Commission to draw up a European strategy to protect business secrets;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Notes that European companies have to comply with standards, in particular environmental standards, which are more stringent than those applied by most of the EU's trading partners; believes that this state of affairs serves to make them less competitive; calls on the Commission to carry out specific studies to estimate the costs resulting from these disparities;
Amendment 290 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Notes the importance of an EU trade strategy; askscalls on the Commission, together with the VP/HR, to develop a strategy of including SME desks at EU Missin the light of increased competition from the EU’s trading partners, to reorganise its trade policy; calls on the Commission to phase in the principle of trade reciprocity, counter non-tariff barriers, and improve responsiveness with a view to taking retaliatory action and launching investigations;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to step up their cooperation in support of European firms on external markets; calls on them in particular to give priority to instruments to assist SMEs, to centralise information for SMEs by setting up one-stop shops throughout the EU, and to develop a strategy for including SME desks at EU missions;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Amendment 309 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Acknowledges the importance of the TTIP undertaking; advocates that it should endeavour to phase out fossil fuel subsidies; advocates newly defining the likeness of products by distinguishing them on the basis of their carbon footprCalls on the Commission considerably to improve its appraisals of trade agreements, in particular the impact assessments carried out, by taking the issue of industrial competiveness into account and carrying out ex post assessments, as well as analyses of the aggregate effect of all agreements already concluded or under negotiation; acknowledges the importance of the TTIP undertakintg;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Acknowledges the fact of bank lending constraints and their impact, particularly on SMEs; deplores the fact that such constraints are also affecting the instruments made available by the EU and believes that the Commission should ask the financial intermediaries responsible for the administration of those instruments to submit annual reports; welcomes the Commission Green Paper on long-term financing; highlights the need to strengthen the robustness of the EU banking sector via Basel III, a banking union and the ESM;
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37a. Believes that the EU aid and financial instruments that are available are not sufficiently well known to economic operators, in particular SMEs; insists on one-stop shops centralising information for SMEs on the EU funding available being set up throughout the Union;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 b (new)
Paragraph 37 b (new)
37b. Points out that investments in industry are long-term investments; calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the legislative framework so as to make it clearer and more predictable and thus encourage investment in industry;
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Calls on the Commission to support the development of national investment banks for SMEs and to enable existing ones to expand their operations in other Member Statebecome involved in funding projects outside their national borders;
Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. CallsViews late payments as a source of instability and lost competitiveness for industrial firms, in particular SMEs; calls accordingly on the Member States to fully implement the late payment directive;
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Welcomes the EIB’s capital increase; believes that it should have a 60 % low- carbon investment target by 2020;
Amendment 365 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
42a. Stresses the importance of setting up networks of intermediary associations for the purposes of setting up and providing support and loans to SMEs, with a view to developing entrepreneurship;
Amendment 383 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Stresses that RISE is an opportunity for stable employment with good jobs and decent pay; emphasises the indispensable partnership with stakeholders, especially social partners and youth organisations, in the context of integrating the young into the workforce; calls on the Commission and the Member States to intensify social dialogue within branches of industry and firms;
Amendment 398 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Emphasises that workplace democratisation needs to be expanded and that workers should have an individual right to trainingccess to ongoing training ensuring that their skills remain ahead of growing demand in the sector and are adaptable to a new market or, in case of redundancy, usable in another industrial sector;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47
Paragraph 47
47. Calls on the Commission to work closely with the Member States in order to draw up medium- and long-term forecasts regarding the skills required by the employment market, for example through the creation of European industry skills councils;
Amendment 416 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. WPoints out that, in certain Member States, apprenticeships do not to a sufficient degree form an integral part of employment policy; welcomes the decisions to implement the Youth Guarantee and promote an Alliance for Apprenticeships; calls on industry to offer quality employment or traineeships to young people where possible, and to c; urges the Member States to make apprenticeship schemes more ate quality internships with decent patractive to companies by means of tax incentives and to young people by lowering the age limit for eligibility where necessary;
Amendment 433 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 6
Subheading 6
Resource and energy transitionpolicy for an industrial turnaround
Amendment 438 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
Paragraph 57
57. Highlights the fact that resources and energy are at the heart of RISE; advocates an affordability-integrated approach for both, giving priority to their affordability, while bearing in mind also the need for sustainability- and accessibility triangle approach for both;
Amendment 443 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57 a (new)
Paragraph 57 a (new)
57a. Calls for the implementation of a unique and ambitious energy policy which is at the same time realistic and progressive, with a view to securing investments;
Amendment 458 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59
Paragraph 59
59. Calls for the swift implementation of the energy efficiency directive and the national action plans; calls on the EU to follow-up on the Reul report on renewable energy, setting an ambitious renewable energy target for 2030Commission to carry out an in-depth study of returns and cost recuperation with regard to renewable energy sources before setting any new objectives;
Amendment 501 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
Paragraph 65
65. Believes that southern economies are strategically located to benefit from new export markets in the Maghreb; calls for tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of migrants to create businesses that can access those marketssouthern Mediterranean; calls on the Commission and Member States to promote business relations between the southern and northern Mediterranean; welcomes also Vice- President Tajani’s Mission for Growth;