10 Amendments of Nils TORVALDS related to 2017/0335(CNS)
Amendment 14 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires that Member States regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern, that their budgetary policies are guided by the need for sound public finances and that their economic policies do not risk jeopardising the proper functioning of economic and monetary union. This requires Member States to have a budgetary position in balance or in surplus over the medium term .
Amendment 15 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) In order to encouragWith the aim to ensure Member States' full compliance with obligations under the TFEU in the area of budgetary policy, detailed rules concerning the characteristics of the budgetary frameworks of the Member States were laid down in the Council Directive 2011/85/EU.16 _________________ 16 Council Directive 2011/85/EU of 8 November 2011 on requirements for budgetary frameworks of the Member States (OJ L 306, 23.11.2011, p. 41).
Amendment 18 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) In order to maintain sound and sustainable public finances and to avoid excessive government deficits as required by the TFEU, while at the same time improving the resilience of the euro area as a whole, there should be specific provisions in the national law of the Member States whose currency is the euro to strengthen their fiscal responsibility and their medium-term budgetary orientation beyond the provisions of Directive 2011/85/EU and to ensure their full compliance with EU fiscal rules.
Amendment 21 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Since the economic and financial crisis has left a number of Member States with a legacy of high, unsustainable public debt, a framework of numerical fiscal rules specific to each Member State and which aim at strengthening its responsible conduct of fiscal policy while effectively promotensuring compliance with EU fiscal rules including the budgetary obligations deriving from the TFEU is instrumental in ensuring convergence of public debt to prudent levels. Such a framework should operate in particular by setting a medium- term objective in terms of structural balance that is binding on the national budgetary authorities and their annual decisions. Medium-term objectives for the budgetary position allow the different public-debt-to-GDP ratios and sustainability risks of Member States to be taken into account, anchoring debt developments towards the reference value set out in Article 1 of Protocol No 12 on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the TFEU.
Amendment 27 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Due to their future positive effects, the implementation of major structural reforms fostering long-run sustainability could justify changes in the adjustment path towards the medium-term objective, provided that they have a verifiable positive budgetary impact which is confirmed by the assessment conducted according to the procedural requirements of the SGP. In order to facilitate economic stabilisation, exceptional circumstances – in the form of severe economic downturns for the euro area or the Union as a whole or unusual events outside the control of the Member State concerned which have a major budgetary impact – should allow for a temporary deviation from the medium- term objective or the adjustment path towards it, where such a deviation does not risk endangering fiscal sustainability in the medium-term.
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Strengthened national fiscal responsibility and a binding multi-annual orientation of fiscal policy requires fiscal institutions to be independent and have their own and sufficient resources for actively monitoring fiscal developments and providing recommendations throughout the medium- term bugdgetary cycle, including in particular where a significant deviation from the medium-term objective or the adjustment path towards is observed. In order to boost the credibility and enforceability of the medium-term objective, its underlying government expenditure path and the related correction mechanism in case of significant deviations, the budgetary authorities of the Member States should comply with the recommendations put forward in the assessments of the independent bodies or publicly justify the decision not to fully comply with them. Anchoring that principle in the national legal order can play ais crucial role in that respect.
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12 a (new)
Recital 12 a (new)
(12a) To enhance fiscal surveillance, to strengthen the credibility of fiscal policy and to foster economic convergence, the Commission should assess the possibility to strengthen the role and the independence of the European Fiscal Board. An independent European Fiscal Board could be tasked with preparing independent economic and fiscal forecasts and the preparation of country reports.
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) The European Council on 19 October 2012 concluded that the process towards deeper economic and monetary union should build on the Union institutional and legal framework and be characterised by openness and transparency towards Member States with a permanent exception or those whose currency is not yet the euro. National measures to strengthen fiscal responsibility in those Member States would facilitate their adoption of the euro and therefore the mechanisms established by this Directive should be open to all Member States wishing to participat, making their economies more resilient and improve their long term growth potential and therefore all Member States should be encouraged to comply with this Directive. Therefore, provision should be made for this Directive to be applicable to Member States with a permanent exception or those whose currency is not yet the euro where those Member States so decide.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Directive lays down provisions for strengthening fiscal responsibility and the medium-term budgetary orientation in the Member States to ensure full compliance with obligations relating to the avoidance of excessive government deficits.
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
The Commission shall assess the possibility to strengthen the role and the independence of the European Fiscal Board in a report presented to the European Parliament and the Council by 30 June 2020, and, if appropriate, accompany this report with a legislative proposal.