62 Amendments of Tiziana BEGHIN related to 2014/2228(INI)
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point -i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point -i a (new)
(-i a) to consider the deep differences between the EU and US labour markets, to acknowledge that TTIP will displace 1.3 million workers across Europe and to put in place all necessary measures to face prolonged and substantial adjustment costs on the labour market;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point -i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point -i a (new)
(-i a) to acknowledge that the econometric model used in many impact assessment studies to estimate gain and losses from TTIP, inter alia on employment, is based on non-realistic assumptions such a full mobility of workers in Europe and does not allow for calculation of net employment gain/losses;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9
Citation 9
– having regard to the Commission report of 13 January 2015 on the online public consultation on investment protection and investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the TTIP (SWD(2015)0003), whose result showed clear contrariety to the inclusion of ISDS in TTIP,
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point i
Paragraph 1 – point i
(i) to ensurereject TTIP unless it is proven that TTIPit will make a significant positive contribution to creating more and better jobs in Europe and the US and set ambitious global trade standards for sustainable development and labour;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point ii
(ii) to ensure that TTIP includes comprehensive provisions on labour laws and policies that are consistent with the core ILO Conventions and, the Decent Work Agenda and European and national labour law, with a commitment to promote higher standards and, furthermore, to ensure that where disputes arise labour provisions will have a conditional dimension;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point ii a (new)
(ii a) to reject any agreement that might pose a threat to labour standards in Europe and lead to social dumping;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas an ambitious agreement with the US maywill not support the reindustrialisation of Europe and, as energy prices will continue to be lower in the US, and will not help achieve the 2020 target for an increase of the EU’s GDP generated by industry from 15 % to 20 %; whereas it has the potential to create opportunities especially fordamage SMEs, which will suffer more from non-tariff barriers (NTBs) thanfrom unprotected competition by larger companies; whereas an agreement between the two biggest economic blocs in the world has the potential to create standards, norms and rules which will be adopted at a global level, which third countries would serhave to the advantage of third countries as welladapt to;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point iv
(iv) to ensure that civil society cantizens and civil society are better informed, more closely involved in the negotiations and able to make a meaningful contribution to implementing relevant TTIP provisions;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point v
Paragraph 1 – point v
(v) to take immediate steps to safeguard the right of EU governments to legislate, organise, set quality and safety standards for, manage and regulate public services; therefore to reject the treaty if it will contain provisions on investors-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and to carefully consider its approval in light of the provisions on regulatory cooperation;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas it is acknowledged that TTIP will have considerable effects on intra-EU trade, reducing trade flows between all EU countries even by 40% in some cases; whereas this may lead to further European disintegration and will strike particularly the 87% of non- exporting SMEs in Europe which rely extensively on domestic and intra-EU trade;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point vi
(vi) to ensure that the specific challenges faced by SMEs including uneven competition with bigger US companies and trade diversion effects of TTIP are fully taken into account;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point vi a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point vi a (new)
(vi a) to consider that TTIP will negatively impact intra-EU trade and therefore reduce SMEs market shares in Europe;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas deep differences exist between the EU and US labour markets; whereas it is necessary to acknowledge that TTIP will displace 1.3 million workers across Europe and to put in place all necessary measures to face prolonged and substantial adjustment costs on the labour market;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point viii
Paragraph 1 – point viii
(viii) to guaranteeexclude from thate agreement on any dispute-settlement mechanism must take into accountfollowing the results of the public consultation on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), must be fully transparent and democratically accountable and must not hinder legislators from passing laws in the area of employment policyto acknowledge that such a mechanism creates discriminations between foreign and domestic investors;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas many economic impact studies on TTIP should be taken with caution as they are built on computable general equilibrium economic models with verexcessively optimistic results and equally optimistic predictions about the capacity of the EU and the US to reduce regulatory barriers to trade; whereas the Commission cherry-picked some of these results to support its argument for TTIP; whereas TTIP alone will noteither resolve economic problems in the EU, nor by itself make European households richer and no false hopes and expectations should be raised in that respect,;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas many economic impact studies on TTIP should be taken with caution as they are built on computable general equilibrium economic models with verexcessively optimistic results and equally optimistic predictions about the capacity of the EU and the US to reduce regulatory barriers to trade; whereas other studies based on different economic models comes to opposite conclusions; whereas the TTIP alone will noteither resolve economic problems in the EU nor by itself make European households richer and no false hopes and expectations should be raised in that respect;
Amendment 129 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ix
Paragraph 1 – point ix
(ix) to take stepsrequest to embed a ‘positive listing’ approach in the agreement and to make sure public services are excluded from the scope of TTIP;
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x
Paragraph 1 – point x
(x) to ensure that statistical projections on job losses/gains, and on sectors, affected in each Member State are constantly updated so that timely intervention can be undertaken by the Commission to support affected sectors, regions or Member States.
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the wellbeing of ordinary citizens, workers and consumers has to be the benchmarkand the development of our societies must be the main aim for a trade agreement; whereas TTIP should be a model for a good trade agreement responding to these requirements; whereas the effects of this Treaty should not be limited to the macro- economic level but should have a positive and concrete impact on the living conditions of the citizens of our countries;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) should not be taken as a benchmark for TTIP because, among others, it is based on a negative list approach, it includes non-satisfactory provisions on ISDS and it failed to protect many European geographical indications;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas President Juncker has clearly reiterated in his Political Guidelines that – while the EU and the US can go a significant step further in recognising each other’s product standards and working towards transatlantic standards – the EU will not sacrifice its safety, health, animal health, social and data protection standards or our cultural diversity, recalling that the safety of the food we eat and the protection of Europeans’ personal data are non- negotiable;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas the European Parliament in its resolution of 23 May 2013 has taken a clear stance for the exclusion of cultural and audiovisual services from the scope of the negotiations of TTIP, including those provided online, but at no point in the negotiating mandate it is clearly stated that cultural services and products should be considered and treated differently from other commercial services and products;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Hb. whereas in its answer to written question E-009607/2014 the Commission states that 'Audiovisual services' are not classified as 'culture' and that "the EU does not lay down a definition of 'cultural services' for the purposes of its trade agreements and that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement (TTIP) is no exception to this rule";
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)
Recital H c (new)
Hc. whereas in Europe PDO/PGI product designations are governed by strict specifications regarding quality and origin, while in the United States they represent no more than 'common names' that may be freely used without any restrictions;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas the Commission must keep in mind that in response to its public consultation on ISDS in TTIP, EU citizens requested the complete removal of ISDS from TTIP and not its reform;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas the Commission has held many more meetings with industry representatives than with civil society organisations (CSOs) and refuses to make the minutes of those meetings public;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas the ratification procedure for an agreement with such wide-ranging implications needs to include a referendum stage in each member State or at European level;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – introductory part
Paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Addresses, in the context of the ongoing negotiations on TTIP, the following recommendations to the Commission:Requests that the Commission suspends the ongoing negotiations on TTIP
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i
(i) to ensure that TTIP negotiations lead to a deep, comprehensive, ambitious, balanced and high-standard trade and investment agreement that would promote sustainable growth, support the creation of high-quality jobs for European workers, directly benefit European consumers, increase international competitiveness, and open up new opportunities for EU companies, in particular SMEs, without lowering EU standards, food safety and protection of geographical indications; the content of the agreement is more important than the speed of the negotiations;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i
(i) to ensure that transparent TTIP negotiations lead to a deep, comprehensive, ambitious, balanced and high-standard trade and investment agreement that would promote sustainable growth, support the creation of high-quality jobs for European workers, directly benefit European consumers, increase international competitiveness, and open up new opportunities for EU companies, in particular SMEs; the content of the agreement is more important than the speed of the negotiations;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i
(i) to ensure that the market access offers in the different areas are equally ambitious and transparent and reflect both parties’ expectations, as market access for industrial goods, agricultural products, services and public procurement is equally important in all cases and a balance is needed between the different proposals for these areas;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i a (new)
(ia) to consider the use of economic indicators that will measure any imbalances generated by the opening up of the market;
Amendment 351 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii a (new)
(iiia) to ensure that no harmonisation is pursued in the sector of telecommunication services as it may be detrimental to the interests of European customers;
Amendment 370 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iv
(iv) to increase market access for services according to the ‘positive list approach’ whereby services that are to be opened up to foreign companies are explicitly mentioned and new services are excluded while ensuring that possible standstill and ratchet clauses only apply to non- discrimination provisions and allow for enough flexibility to bring services back into public control; to ensure that TTIP is not based on a "negative list approach" nor on a "mixed approach";
Amendment 373 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iv a (new)
(iva) to enshrine in the text of the treaty the right of governments to protect and develop public services and their freedom to regulate the organisation, financing and modes of provision of these services;
Amendment 374 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iv b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iv b (new)
(ivb) to reaffirm that services with a cultural component will not be included in the agreement, especially since there is no previously known and shared definition of culture, cultural services and products for the purposes of this agreement;
Amendment 380 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v
(v) the negotiations should meaningfully address the current US restrictions on maritime and air transport services owned by European businesses, including in relation to foreign ownership of airlines and reciprocity on cabotage, as well as maritime cargo screening; to this aim, the abrogation of the "Jones Act" should be considered a prerequisite for TTIP;
Amendment 383 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v a (new)
(va) to ensure respect of safety, environmental, data protection and privacy standards with regards to the transport sector and to ensure reciprocity and transparency in the negotiations;
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v b (new)
(vb) to safeguard the European public transport sector and to foresee a special carve-out for this sector in TTIP;
Amendment 407 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vi
(vi) to ensure an adequate carve-out of sensitive services such as public services and public utilities (including water, health, social security systems and education) allowing national and local authorities enough room for manoeuvre to legislate in the public interest; a joint declaration reflecting negotiators’ clear commitment to exclude these sectors from the negotiations would be very helpful in this regard; furthermore a clear exclusion of all social security systems should be a precondition for TTIP;
Amendment 434 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vii
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vii
(vii) to combine market access negotiations on financial services with convergence in financial regulation on the highest level without lowering current EU financial regulations, in order to support the introduction of necessary regulation to prevent financial crises and in order to support ongoing cooperation efforts in other international forums, such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision;
Amendment 463 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ix
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ix
(ix) to ensure that European competition law is properly respected particularly in the digital world; to ensure that private companies can fairly compete with state- owned or state-controlled companies; to ensure that state subsidies to private companies should be regulated and subject to a transparent control system; to ensure that "net neutrality" can positively contribute to a more fair and free market; to ensure that collusion in price-fixing and the abuse of dominant market position is avoided and punished through some specific laws;
Amendment 483 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x a (new)
(xa) to keep in mind that the EU has not laid down a definition of 'cultural services' in TTIP and that a shared and precise definition of culture, cultural services and cultural products is necessary for the purposes of this agreement. Such definition needs to be made public as soon as possible;
Amendment 532 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xiv
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xiv
(xiv) to ensure that the negotiations on rules of origin aim at reconciling the EU and US approaches, since there is no clear European legislation on goods imported from third countries; given the conclusion of the negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between EU and Canada and the potential upgrade of the EU-Mexico free trade agreement, the possibility and scope of cumulation will need to be considered;
Amendment 556 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
(i) to ensure that the regulatory cooperation chapter promotes an effective, pro- competitive economic environment through the facilitation of trade and investment while developing and securing high levels of protection of health and safety, consumer, labour, animal health and environmental legislation and of the cultural diversity that exists within the EU; negotiators on both sides need to identify and to be very clear about which regulatory measures and standards are fundamental and cannot be compromised, which ones can be the subject of a common approach, which are the areas where mutual recognition based on a common high standard and a strong system of market surveillance and traceability of agricultural and industrial goods is desirable and which are those where simply an improved exchange of information is possible, based on the experience of one and a half years of ongoing talks;
Amendment 578 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
(ii) to base negotiations on SPS and TBT measures on the key principles of the multilateral SPS and TBT agreements; to aim in the first place at increasing transparency and openness, strengthening dialogue between regulators and stakeholders and strengthening cooperation in international standards- setting bodies; to recognise, in negotiations on SPS and TBT measures, the right of both parties to manage risk in accordance with the level either deems appropriate in order to protect human, animal or plant life or health; to respect and uphold the sensitivities and fundamental values of either side, such as the EU’s precautionary principle and to make commitments to respect the precautionary principle conditional to the approval of TTIP;
Amendment 600 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point iii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point c – point iii a (new)
(iiia) to ensure that clear and unambiguous language is used in the regulatory cooperation chapter, to make sure that no form of regulatory cooperation will be used to circumvent legitimate and democratic decision- making processes, to reduce the level of protection of European citizens or to prevent legislators from deciding for the public interest;
Amendment 627 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point i
Paragraph 1 – point d – point i
(i) to combine negotiations on market access and regulatory cooperation with the establishment of ambitious rules and disciplines, inter alia on sustainable development, energy, SMEs, investment, transparency in state subsidies, price- fixing, abuse of dominant market position, competition between private companies and state-owned/state controlled-companies and intellectual property;
Amendment 647 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iii
(iii) to ensure that labour and environmental standards are not limited to the trade and sustainable development chapter but are equally included in other areas of the agreement, such as investment, trade in services, regulatory cooperation and public procurement and to ensure through the use of clear and unambiguous language that no provision in the agreement will lower European environmental and food safety standards, in particular to oppose any agreement that may, even in theory, grant access to the EU market to GMOs, chlorine-treated poultry and hormone-treated beef;
Amendment 654 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv a (new)
(iva) to put in place mechanisms to support workers displaced by the effect of TTIP and to tackle the loss of net jobs in Europe;
Amendment 657 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv b (new)
(ivb) to take into account the effect of delocalisation of European enterprises to the US where more attractive conditions for production exist and to consider that many European enterprises will relocate their R&D departments to the US, leading to a reduction of EU capacity to innovate;
Amendment 658 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv c (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv c (new)
(ivc) to reject any agreement that might pose a threat to labour standards in Europe and lead to social dumping;
Amendment 690 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point vii
Paragraph 1 – point d – point vii
(vii) to ensure that in course of the negotiations the two sides examine ways to facilthe agreement does not include a specific chapter on energy, as different studies including one commissioned by the ITRE commitate natural gas and oil exports, so that TTIP would abolish any existing export restrictions on energy between the two trading partners, thereby supporting a diversification of energy sourcee demonstrate that the USA will not contribute to energy security in Europe mainly because of ceilings on energy exports, while exports of US gas will lead to price increase on EU markets;
Amendment 729 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xi a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xi a (new)
(xia) to ensure that the priorities and concerns of SMEs and crafts are fully taken into account in the TTIP negotiations by means of thorough impact assessments and targeted public consultations, ensuring the widest participation of the relevant stakeholders in all 28 Member States, since many SMEs rely on domestic and intra-EU demand and will be hit by the trade diversion effects of TTIP;
Amendment 766 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xiv
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xiv
(xiv) to ensure that foreign investors are treated in a non-discriminatory fashion and have a fair opportunity to seek and achieve redress of grievances, which can be achieved without the inclusion of an ISDS mechanism that has been strongly opposed by a vast majority of respondents to a public consultation held by the European Commission who requested its complete removal from TTIP and not its reform; such a mechanism is not necessary in TTIP given the EU’s and the US’ developed legal systems; a state-to- state dispute settlement system and the use of national courts are the most appropriate tools to address investment disputes;
Amendment 800 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xv
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xv
(xv) to ensure that TTIP includes an ambitious Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) chapter that includes strong protection of precisely and clearly defined areas of IPR, including enhanced protection and recognition of European Geographical Indications (GIs), and reflects a fair and efficient level of protection such as laid outing a stronger level of protection than CETA, safeguarding EU producers from the indiscriminate use of "European sounding" denominations in the EU’sUS, and the US’s free trade agreement provisions in this areaensuring common labelling standards to make sure consumers are properly informed, while continuing to confirm the existing flexibilities in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), notably in the area of public health;
Amendment 829 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point i
Paragraph 1 – point e – point i
(i) to continue ongoing efforts to increase transparency in the negotiations by making more negotiation proposals available to the general public, as requested, among others, by the European Ombudsman;
Amendment 848 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iii
(iii) to promote an even closer engagement with the Member States with the aim of forging their active involvement in better communicating the scope and the possible benefits of the agreement for European citizens and in order to ensure a broad, fact-based public debate on TTIP in Europe with the aim of exploring the genuine concerns surrounding the agreement;
Amendment 856 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv
(iv) to reinforce itsimplement a continuous and transparent engagement with citizens, civil society organisations and a wide range of stakeholders, including, business, environmental, agricultural, consumer, labour and other representatives, throughout the negotiation process; encourages all stakeholders to participate actively and to put forward initiatives and information relevant to the negotiations;
Amendment 857 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv
(iv) to reinforce its continuous and transparent engagement withinvolving a wide range of stakeholders, including business, environmental, agricultural, consumer, labour, civil society and other representatives, throughout the negotiation process; encourages all stakeholders to participate actively and to put forward initiatives and information relevant to the negotiations;
Amendment 862 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv a (new)
(iva) provide detailed and regular updated information to EU citizens about the latest developments on TTIP also via social networks, mass media and other communication channels.
Amendment 863 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point e a (new)
(ea) to ensure that the list of TTIP documents available on the Commission's dedicated trade policy website is accessible, comprehensive, exhaustive and thorough;