Activities of Maria João RODRIGUES related to 2015/2285(INI)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: Annual Growth Survey 2016 PDF (395 KB) DOC (172 KB)
Amendments (42)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
– having regard to Article 9 TFEU (horizontal social clause),
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
– having regard to the conclusions of the European Council of 25-26 March 2010 and 17 June 2010 as well as the Commission communication of 3 March 2010 entitled ‘Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (COM(2010)2020),
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 22 a (new)
Citation 22 a (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 30 September 2015 on cohesion policy and the review of the Europe 2020 Strategy,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 23 a (new)
Citation 23 a (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2015 entitled ‘towards a European energy union’,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 24
Citation 24
– having regard to its resolution of [xx17 December 2015] on completing Europe’s economic and monetary union,
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas economic recovery in the European Union is under way but remains uneven between and within Member States and is partly driven by temporary factors, such as low oil prices and unconventional monetary policies;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas global economic growth is slowing down amid financial turmoil in several emerging economies and new strategic challenges are arising;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the euro area’s current account surplus continues to rise, while Europe still faces an important investment gap, indicated, for instance, by gross fixed capital formation being some 2% GDP lower in 2015 (19.5%) than in the pre- crisis decade (21.4% for 2001-10), which significantly weakens the EU’s longer- term growth potential;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the employment rate is improving but not enough to significantly curb unemployment and poverty, also because many new jobs are of precarious nature;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the 2016 Annual Growth Survey package and the proposed policy mix of investment, structural reform and fiscal responsibility, with increased emphasis on domestic demand and convergence, complementing accommodative monetary policies; underlines that major national efforts as well as stronger European coordination and instruments are needed to achieve a more robust economic recovery and sustainable, widely-shared prosperity;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes improvements in public finances, in particular gradually declining debt/GDP ratios; notes however that many Member States have limited fiscal space to cope with possible new economic shocks; therefore stronger European coordination and instruments should be considered to support individual Member States’ efforts;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that Europe’s global competitiveness remains an important objective, while the worsening global outlook calls for strengthening domestic sources of growth in order to make Europe’s economy more resilient; is concerned notably with increasing financial turmoil in emerging economies and consequent slow-down in global demand, the possibility of new financial crisis related to build-up of excess liquidity and growing social inequalities in many parts of the world, as well as geopolitical instability in Europe’s neighbourhood;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for further efforts to support recovery, foster convergence and correct macroeconomic imbalances, including by channelling excess savings towards the domestic economy and boosting investment; notes that high public and private debt levels represent an important vulnerability of the European economy and that higher inflation and growth levels would help to reduce them faster;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is encouraged by mild improvements in labour market indicators; calls for more effort to reduce poverty, while recognising that unemployment still remains above pre-crisis levels and nearly half of it is of long-term nature; notes that part of the recent increase in employment is attributable to involuntary part-time work and precarious jobs, with new forms of labour market insecurity emerging; calls for more effort to create quality employment and reduce poverty (including in-work poverty), social exclusion and growing inequalities in income and wealth;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the renewal of the Europe 2020 Integrated Guidelines, and calls for strengthening the role of the Europe 2020 Strategy in guiding the European Semester; highlights the importance of ambitious policies and instruments to ensure that Europe makes the best out of the energy and digital transitions, also thanks to adequate investment in skills; consider this crucial for reducing Europe’s gap vis-à-vis its main global competitors in terms of total factor productivity;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for the European Fund for Strategic Investments to be used to maximum effect to support higher-risk projects not financed otherwise, and to promote growth, job creation and cohesion, renewed economic convergence and social and territorial cohesion; calls on Member States and the EIB Group to closely involve local and regional authorities in developing project pipelines and investment platforms;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to use the European Structural and Investment Funds to their full potential in order to strengthen cohesion and mitigate divergence in the Single Market by enabling all regions to develop their competitive advantages and facilitating additional private investment;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is aware of the ongoing deleveraging process in the private sector; points to the importance of completing the banking union and boosting equity investments in SMEs, which are crucial engines of economic growth and job creation; considers that higher domestic demand complementing external demand would improve investors’ confidence;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Highlights the importance of investments in human capital and other social investments, such as in healthcare, childcare and affordable housing;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Invites the Commission and the Member States to involve all levels of government and relevant stakeholders in the identification of obstacles to investments, focusing in particular on the internal market, structural reforms and on making available adequate instruments bringing together public and private financing;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Considers that, after a long period of nominal adjustment, focus should be put on structural reforms and investments aimed at strengthening growth potential by boosting quality employment and productivity, promoting fair and sustainable welfare systems and reducing social inequalities to restore equality of opportunity; considers that National Competitiveness Boards can be useful in helping to develop such reforms;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Urges that further steps be taken towards resilient labour markets with reduced segmentation and sustainable welfare systems with increased focus on social investment, empowering people throughout their lives; reminds that the best way to maintain sustainability of pension systems is to ensure a high employment rate;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Emphasises the need for modern, efficient and citizen-friendly public administration at all levels of government;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls for a greater shift of taxation away from labour towards wealth, capital gains, financial transactions and pollution;
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls for stronger consideration of the possibility to increase taxation on fossil-based fuels and to use the proceeds for investment in the transition to a low- carbon economy, offsetting the disincentive created by temporarily low oil prices;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Reiterates the need for responsible fiscal policies, taking into account debt sustainability, the economic cycle and investment gaps; recalls that with monetary policy at or near the zero lower bound, fiscal policy has a particularly important impact on economic growth;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Insists on implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact, while making full use of available fiscal space, inter alia, to support greater investment and structural reforms as well as to deal with security threats and refugee inflows;
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Emphasises the need for improved tax collection, fighting tax evasion and avoidance and improved tax policy coordination; highlights the crucial role of taxation in reversing recent increases in social inequalities and mitigating the economic damage which has resulted from them;
Amendment 330 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Supports all efforts towards improving the quality and growth-friendly character of public expenditure; notes that some outlays categorised as current expenditure actually represent important economic investment, for example in the field of education and other social investment; points to the need to consider the impact of public expenditure on sustainability in all its aspects;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Emphasises that, given its high level of interdependence and the singleness of its monetary policy, the euro area needs to be viewed as one macroeconomic entity where convergence must be promoted; calls therefore for an in-depth aggregate assessment of macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area to complement the assessment of country-specific vulnerabilities; underlines the importance of an aggregate perspective also in the work of National Competitiveness Boards and calls for strengthening the Macroeconomic dialogue at European level; insists on full coherence between the euro area recommendation and country- specific recommendations, so that it is clear what contribution each euro area Member State should make in terms of the aggregate fiscal stance and macroeconomic rebalancing;
Amendment 367 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Welcomes increased attention to the euro area’s aggregate fiscal stance; calls for greater discussion on whether it can be, to be further developed with the help of the advisory European Fiscal Board; doubts whether the aggregate fiscal stance can be currently considered broadly neutral and appropriate given the large investment gap; calls on the Commission and Council to be ready to support more expansionary aggregate fiscal stance in case downside risks materialise and recovery is weaker than expected;
Amendment 380 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Supports the recommendation to differentiate fiscal effort by individual Member States taking into account their respective positions vis-à-vis Stability and Growth Pact requirements and stabilisation needs, as well as spillover effects; notes that high-surplus countries have significant fiscal space which they could use to the benefit of their populations and the monetary union as a whole, with higher growth very likely offsetting the impact of deficit-based investment on debt sustainability;
Amendment 393 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Agrees that while the euro area’s high current account surplus is a welcome sign of the euro area’s external competitiveness, it also implies a lack of internal investment and a risk of euro appreciation when monetary policy starts to become less accommodative, with adverse effects on growth and employment; considers that stronger domestic demand would be better for the euro area's sustainable growth as well as from a global viewpoint;
Amendment 399 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Notes that while current account deficits pose greater risks in terms of financial instability of the given Member State than current account surpluses, the existence of a current account surplus in one country pushes for the existence of current account deficits in other countries, therefore an aggregate view is necessary in this regard; points out that while the MIP regulation establishes asymmetric thresholds for current account deficits and surpluses (-4%/+6% GDP), some Member States have maintained current account surpluses well in excess of 6% GDP for a number of years;
Amendment 401 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Notes that while an effort to build up savings for future pension requirements in the euro area is understandable to some extent, export of savings also involves financial risks; considers that satisfaction of future pension needs in countries with adverse demographic outlooks depends largely on sustained economic growth, high employment and manageable economic dependency ratios; points out that adequate investment of today's savings in human capital and future productive capacity is crucial in this respect;
Amendment 407 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Emphasises the need to foster real economic and social convergence driven by improvements in productivity and non- cost factors; underlines the importance of all Member States having sufficient investment capacity, reducing output gaps and enabling balanced and sustainable growth, which is crucial also to reduce debt/GDP ratios;
Amendment 418 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Recognises the benefits of a more symmetrical adjustment in nominal unit labour costs, where regaining cost competitiveness does not require undergoing deflation which is detrimental to debt sustainabilityrequires responsible wage setting but should not lead to deflation which is detrimental to debt sustainability and overall economic performance; calls therefore on relevant actors in high- surplus countries to support faster wage increases and greater investment, enabling higher domestic demand and inflation in these countries and helping to achieve the ECB's price stability target of inflation close to but below 2%;
Amendment 424 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls for measures preventing a race to the bottom in terms of taxation and social standards, building on better use of social indicators in macroeconomic surveillance; points to the importance of poverty and inequality indicators in this context;
Amendment 428 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Notes the European Council conclusions on the Economic and Monetary Union and calls on the Commission to start preparing the longer- term measures as soon as possible;
Amendment 453 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. RequestAppreciates thate plenary debates with the President of the Commission and the President of the Eurogroup on the draft euro area recommendation on 15 December 2015 and requests that this debate becomes a regular features of the European Semester in order to strengthen democratic dialogue and accountability; this will provide the democratic context to consider the positions expressed by the independent advisory European Fiscal Board;
Amendment 460 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Underlines that the spring European Council should remain the central moment where policy priorities are defined on the basis of input from the Commission, Parliament and the Council; calls therefore on the Council to adopt the euro area recommendations and conclusions on the Annual Growth Survey package after the Parliament has been able to take a position on them; affirms its resolve to consider these documents swiftly and to take a position well before the Spring European Council;
Amendment 463 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Highlights the importance of national parliaments debating country reports and country-specific recommendations and voting on national reform programmes; calls on Member States to involve social partners, local and regional authorities and other relevant stakeholders in a structured manner, taking advantage of the early publication of country reports; suggests that a code of conduct could be elaborated for this purpose; highlights the irreplaceable role of social partners in wage-setting and the vital role they should play in wider economic discussions, particularly when it comes to promoting productivity;