38 Amendments of Emer COSTELLO related to 2013/2277(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 7, Article 9, Article 136 in combination with Article 121 , and Article 174 thereof,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 16 June 2010 on EU 2020 (text adopted, P7_TA(2013)0447),
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) statprescribes: ‘In implementing and defining its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health’;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas Article 36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union commits the Union to recognising and respecting "access to services of general economic interest as provided for in national laws and practices, in accordance with the Treaties, in order to promote the social and territorial cohesion of the Union"; whereas article 14 (TFEU) establishes that "given the place occupied by services of general economic interest in the shared values of the Union as well as their role in promoting social and territorial cohesion, the Union and the Member States, each within their respective powers and with the scope of application of the Treaties, shall take care that such services operate on the basis of principles and condition, particularly economic and financial conditions, which enable them to fulfil their missions"; whereas article 345 of the TFEU provides that the Treaties "shall in no way prejudice the rules in Member States governing the system of property ownership"; and whereas Protocol No.26 on services of general interest which elaborates on the shared values of the Union with respect to services of general economic interest.
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides for, inter alia, the right of collective bargaining and action (Article 28), protection in the event of unjustified dismissal (Article 30), fair and just working conditions (Article 31), recognition of and respect for the entitlement to social security benefits and social services and, in order to ‘combat social exclusion and poverty’, the right to ’a decent existence for all those who lack sufficient resources’ (Article 34), the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment (Article 35) and respect forcognition and respect for the right to access to services of general economic interest (Article 36);
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas in its resolution of 21 November 2013, Parliament welcomed the Commission communication of 2 October 2013 entitled ‘Strengthening the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union’ and its proposal to establish a scoreboard of key employment and social indicators to be included in the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP) and the Joint Employment Report (JER) as a first step towards building a social dimension of EMU, but regretted the fact that those indicators were insufficient to ensure comprehensive coverage of the Member States’ employment and social situations and the interdependence between them; whereas Parliament’s resolution stressed the need to ensure that this monitoring aims to reduce social divergences between Member States and to promote upward social convergence and social progress;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Deplores the fact that Parliament has been completely marginalised during all phases of the projectgrammes: the preparatory phase, the development of mandates and the monitoring of the results achieved byimpact of the programmes and related measures;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that the adjustment policies and structural reforms in the four countries have led to dramaticcontributed to unacceptably high levels of unemployment rates, historically high rates of job losses and worsento making working conditions more precarious; points out that the consequences for activity rates, in particular as regardsly in relation to the sustainability of social protection and pension systems, are even more serious becauseas the gap between the Europe 2020 targets and reality is rapidly growing ever wider;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with great concern that it is young people who are suffering the highest levels of unemployment, with the situation in countries such as Greece, where the rate is over 50%, or Portugal, and in Ireland, where it iwas in excess of 30% in 2012, being quite devastating; regrets the fact that even those who do find a job often find themselves working under precarious conditions or on part-time contracts which make it hard to live independently;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the total amount of financial assistance in the four programmes is unprecedented, as are the conditions, duration and shape of the programmes, leading to an unusual situation where the assistance has almost exclusively replaced the usual financing provided by the markets;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that the most vulnerable groups – the long-term unemployed, women, migrant workers and the disabled – have been strongly hit and are suffering fromsuffered most and are experiencing higher unemployment rates than the national average;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the economic situation and recent developments in some Member States have compromised the quantity and quality of employment, social protection, health services and health and safety standards;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls that the Europe 2020 strategy accurately states that the figure to watchkey indicator is the employment rate, which indicates the availability of human and financial resources to ensure the sustainability of our economic and social model; regrets that the slowdown in the rise of the unemployment rate is being confused with the recovery of jobs lost; recalls that in the last four years job losses have reached 2 million in the four countries, which is 15% of existing jobs; welcomes in this regard the recent Irish figures reporting a 3.2% increase in the numbers at work in Ireland in the year to September 2013
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is concerned that, among the conditions for financial assistance, the programmes include recommendations for specific cuts in fundamental areas of the fight against poverty, such as pensions, basic services, health care and pharmaceutical products for the basic protection of the most vulnerable; highlights the fact that the main impact of these measures is on the fight against child poverty and that they have been difficult to reconcile with a social investment strategy;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the programmes were in the short run primarily meant to avoid a disorderly default and stop speculation on sovereign debt; whereas the medium term aim was to ensure that the money that was lent would be reimbursed, thus avoiding a large financial loss that would rest on the shoulders of the taxpayers of the countries which are providing the assistance and guaranteeing the funds; whereas this also requires the programme to deliver sustainable growth and effective debt reduction in the medium and long term; whereas the programmes were not suitintended to comprehensively correcting macroeconomic imbalances which had accumulated sometimes over decades;
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the fact that in those studies the Commission recognised that only a strong reversal of current trends will make it possible for the entire EU to meet the Europe 2020 targets;
Amendment 161 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the fact that the levels of early school-leavers are falling in the four countries; notes, however, that this is partially explained by the difficultyies young people are facing in finding employment;
Amendment 165 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Welcomes the fact that tertiary education attainment levels have been rising in all four countries; notes, however, that this is partially explained by the need of young people to improve their future labour market chances;
Amendment 175 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Regrets that the social partners at national level were not consulted or involved in the initial design of programmes and that the Troika proved unwilling to engage in a meaningful way with national social partners; regrets the fact that the programmes imposed on the four countries allow firms to opt out of collective bargaining agreements and to review sectoral wage agreements directly affecting the structure and values of collective bargaining arrangements set out in the respective national constitutions; notes that this resulted in a request by the ILO Expert Committee, in the case of Greece, to re- establish social dialogue, and, in the case of Portugal, for the Constitutional Court to annul certain legislative measures; stresses that this despicable situation is the consequence of having limited structural reforms involving only the deregulation of labour relations and wage cuts at any cost, which is in clear contradiction with the EU’s general objectives and the policies of the Europe 2020 strategy;
Amendment 200 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls on the Commission to ask the ILO and the Council of Europe to draft reports on possible corrective measures and incentives needed to ensure full compliance with the European Social Charter and the Protocol thereto and with the ILO Core Conventions, since the obligations deriving from them have been affected by the budgetary adjustment measures and the structural reforms requested by the Troika;
Amendment 210 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the EU to provide support, after the assessment, including through financial resources where appropriate, for the recovery of social protection standards and of the fight against poverty reduction and the renewal of social dialogue through a social recovery plan aimed at ensuring a threshold of decency in welfare, in pensions and in wages and aimed at upward social convergence and social progress; calls on the Commission, the ECB and the Eurogroup to work towards this by phaseing out the exceptional measures that have been put in place;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that, at the beginning of the EU- IMF assistance programme, the Irish economy had just suffered a banking crisis of unprecedented dimensions, causing Irish GDP to fall by 6.3% in 2009 (1.1% in 2010) from a positive growth level of 5% of GDP in 2007, unemployment to increase from 4.7% in 2007 to 13.7% in 2010 and - its most detrimental impact - the government balance of payments to experience a deficit in 2010 of 30.6%, down from a surplus in 2007 (0.2%), peaking at 30.6% in 2010, as a result of Irish government support for the banking sector, down from a surplus of 0.2% in 2007; recognises that private losses of Irish banks were taken onto the balance of the Irish sovereign in order to minimise the risks of contagion across the Eurozone as a whole, and that the Irish government and its people acted in the wider interests of the Union in responding to its banking crisis; further notes in the decade prior to the assistance programme that the Irish economy experienced a prolonged period of negative real interest rates;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Acknowledges, however, that the immense challenge the Troika faced leading to the crisis was unique as a result of the poor state of European and national regulation of financial services, large macroeconomic imbalances, and the fact that a number of instruments such as external devaluation were not available due to the constrairequirements of monetary union; notes, moreover, that time was running out, legal obstacles had to be cleared, fear of a melt-down of the euro area was palpable, political agreements had to be reached, the world economy was in a downturn, and a number of countries which were intended to contribute financial support had seen their own public and private debt increase in alarming ways;
Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Deplores that recommendations contained in MoUs mark a departure from the thinking initiated by the Lisbon strategy and the Europe 2020 strategies)principles and objectives of the Lisbon strategy and the Europe 2020 strategies aimed at balanced economic, environmental and social development and instead undermined the achievement of the social goals; deplores also the fact that Member States with MoUs are exempt from the Europe 2020 reporting process, including reporting under the anti-poverty and social inclusion targets and did not receive Country Specific Recommendations, aside from implementation of its MoUs; points out however that this can be partly explained, even if not fully justified, by the fact that programmes had to be implemented under considerable time pressure in a difficult political environment;
Amendment 351 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Regrets that the programmes for Greece, Ireland and Portugal comprise a number of detailed prescriptions for health systems reform and expenditure cuts; regretsmandatory privatisation; deplores the fact that the programmes aredid not bound bycomply with Art.36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Treaties, including Art. 168(7) TFEU, Articles 14 and 345 of the TFEU and Protocol No.26;
Amendment 384 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Deplores that since 2008 the income distribution inequality has grown above average in the four countries and that cuts in social benefits and services and rising unemployment are raising poverty levels and have had a negative impact on the capacity of people from disadvantaged communities to engage in a meaningful way in decision-making;
Amendment 397 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Points to the unacceptable level of youth unemployment in the four Member States under assistance programmes; points especially to the sharp increase in youth unemployment in Greece, Cyprus and Portugal; expresses its concern at the rise in in-work poverty and at the quality of jobs being created; welcomes the fall in youth unemployment in Ireland since early 2012, whilst acknowledging that some of this is due to continuing emigration;
Amendment 510 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Regrets that the reduction of structural deficits in all programme countries since the start of their respective assistance programmes has not yet led to a reduction in the ratios of public debt to GDP; underlines that the ratio of public debt to GDP has instead sharply increased in all programme countries; supports the statement at the Euro area summit of 29 June 2012 on the imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns.
Amendment 528 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Considers that fiscal multipliers are difficult to assess with certainty; recalls in this respect that the IMF admitted to underestimating the fiscal multiplier in its growth forecasts prior to October 2012 but that the Commission stated in November 2012 that forecast errors were not due to the underestimation of fiscal multipliers; points out that this expression of public disagreement between the Commission and the IMF was not followed up or resolved;
Amendment 545 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Considers that too little attention has been given to alleviating the negative impact of adjustment strategies in the programme countries; poverty proofing and conducting social impact assessments of programmes, of alleviating the negative impact, particularly the negative social impact, of adjustment strategies in the programme countries, of reconciling programmes with the EU 2020 strategy targets, particularly the social inclusion, employment and education targets, and with a social investment strategy and of ensuring that any cuts to services used by the poor and social excluded or to the incomes of the poor and social excluded are avoided or balanced by compensatory measures to ensure that they do not increase poverty;
Amendment 596 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Notes that the Troika’s mandate has been perceived as being unclearis unclear, often inconsistent with the treaties and lackings transparency;
Amendment 642 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Takes note of the dual role of the Commission in the Troika as both an agent of Member States andnd as an EU institution; warns that conflicts of interests may therefore exist within the Commission between its role in the Troika and its responsibility as a guardian of the Treaties, especially in policies such as competition and state aid;
Amendment 662 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Notes that the ECB’s role in decisions leading up to the establishment of the Troika is unclear and that its role in the Troika is not sufficiently defined, as it is stated in the ESM Treaty that the Commission should work ‘in liaison with the ECB’, thus reducing the ECB’s role to that of a provider of expertise; further notes that the ECB mandate is limited by the TFEU to monetary policy and that the involvement of the ECB in any matter related to budgetary, fiscal and structural policies is therefore on uncertain legal ground;
Amendment 782 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Stresses that the ESM should evolve towards Community-method management as provided for in the ESM Treaty and demands that the ESM be made accountable to the European Parliament including with respect to decisions to grant financial assistance, in order to exert democratic accountability over the ESM; urges the ESM to implement its direct recapitalisation instrument to allow it to recapitalise banks directly;
Amendment 802 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Calls for the involvement of social partners in the design and, implementation and review of adjustment programmes, current and future and for the Troika to engage in a meaningful way with the social partners, particularly in the programme countries;
Amendment 828 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
42a. Calls on the EU to support the economic recovery of programme countries and countries which have exited Troika programmes, urges the Eurogroup to deliver on its commitment to examine the situation of the Irish financial sector with the view of further improving the sustainability of the adjustment in Ireland, and, having regard to all of the above, urges the Eurogroup to make good on the commitment to Ireland to deal with this bank debt burden;
Amendment 877 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Is of the opinion that the option of a Treaty change allowing for the extension of the scope of the present Art. 143 TFEU to all Member States, instead of being restricted to non-euro Member States, should be explored ; similarly, takes the view that the option of a Treaty change to create a European Monetary Fund within the Community framework as an alternative to the IMF should also be explored; further considers that other issues to be evaluated include the current institutional framework of the Troika, the involvement of the ILO and of the Council of Europe, ensuring compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the social commitments under the Europe 2020 strategy, the involvement of the ECB in the review of the programmes and the mandatory involvement of the IMF in euro area financial assistance programmes as enshrined in the ESM treaty;
Amendment 915 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, and to the European Central Bank and to the Member States.