25 Amendments of Alfred SANT related to 2016/2306(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that thea well-targeted EU budget could help relieve the strain on national budgets and bolster fiscal consolidation efforts and contribute to the EU’s quest for further investment, while not calling into question the principle of shared management;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Agrees that stability mechanisms are essential, but recalls that they must guarantee a framework for living together, in particular by preserving public services accessible to all generations and territories; considers that the expenditure incurred by the policies related to food, European defence, international cooperation, as well as social and territorial cohesion should be removed from the convergence criteria established by the Stability and Growth Pact; notes that the methodology by which public investment is treated on the same basis as recurrent expenditure, has served to further depress public investment in recent years and should therefore be reviewed;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that improving the systems for collecting VAT and custom duties should be the highest priority of all Member States; welcomes the Commission’s proposal for establishing an EU black list of tax havens, which should be enforced by criminal sanctions with the aim of dealing with multinationals that evade taxes; recalls the need to resort toagree on a form of new own resources for the EU budget, such as taxation on speculative financial movements and on environmental and social drifts;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that growth is still insufficient to create the jobs the EU urgently needs, especially for its young people, and that it is necessary to encourage more public and private investment in infrastructure, education and training, and SMEs;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 h (new)
Paragraph 4 h (new)
4h. Welcomes the proposal for an extension and reinforcement of the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI); expects further improvements in the areas of additionality, geographical and sectorial coverage, as well as transparency; underlines the potential of synergies between EFSI and European Structural and Investment funds, in particular with regard to their contribution to territorial cohesion; calls on European and national institutions to better involve regional and local authorities in order to address low project generation capacity and borrowing capacity in some Member States;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas this recovery in the labour markets, and growth, is uneven among the Member States, benefitting those that have implemented structural reforms;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas growth has to an important degree relied upon unconventional and, in the long term, unsustainabl accommodative monetary policies; whereas this supports the call for a three- pronged policy approach of growth- friendly investment, a full and consistent implementation of the Stability and Growth pact across Member States, and a particular focus on structural reforms;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the EU requires important investment effortsinvestment levels remain below pre-crisis levels, thus requiring important investment efforts at European and national level;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas there are still significant imbalances within the euro area and the EU as a whole, with the EU objective to close the economic and social gap between Northern and Southern countries far to be reached;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that public investment has an important role to play in addressing key infrastructure and skills barriers; emphasises that in the current economic juncture, there is a strong case for increasing public investments in areas that increase the resilience of the European economy; in this regard stresses that, while countries which have to continue on the path of fiscal consolidation must do that by cutting public expenditure in unproductive areas, countries having the margin for manoeuvre must use it for more productive investment;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Underlines that innovation and R&D are key drivers for growth, productivity and competitiveness; calls on the EU and Member States to boost investment in human capital, notably education and training in order to adapt them to the new skills and knowledge demand of the EU labour market;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that the financial system and its institutions are crucial for investment and growth in the European economy; stresses that the current financial system is characterised by increased safety and stability; believes, however, that care should be taken to ensure that prudential reforms being undertaken do not serve to further restrict investment opportunities especially at SME level;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that a step-by-stepthe completion of the Banking Union shall aim at increasing resilience in the banking sector and, contributing to financial stability as well as improving the lending to the real economy;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that reliable investment requires a regulatory environment that allows for a return on investment; considers that predictable rules, a level playing field ands well as reduced compliance costs and administrative burden are crucial factors for attracting investment;
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Considering that structural reforms may have a negative impact on national budgets, notes that the mismatch between the flexibility granted by the Stability and Growth Pact and the temporal horizon needed to reap the benefits of structural reforms is counterproductive;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that well-functioning, flexible labour markets have in some instances proven to be quicker to recover from the economic downturn but deplores that this was done at the expense of social rights whose protection had been synonymous with the European Union's ethos; believes that flexibility in labour markets should not mean a race to the bottom in the protection of workers' rights but should fully respect such rights;
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the fact that, on average, youth unemployment is declining; notes, however, that there remain stark differences across the Member States that call for continued reforms to facilitate the entry of young people into the labour market; notes too and regrets that the creation of much youth employment remains of a precarious nature, disallowing young employees from the possibility of planning for their future;
Amendment 365 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Underlines the fact that all Member States are obliged to comply with the Stabidivergences in economic performance among the members of the Euro area are growing and that this is undermining the support for the single currency; observes the current excessive reliance on the monetary politcy and Growth Pactof the European Central Bank (ECB) to ensure macroeconomic stability; points, in this regard, also to the importanche role of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG), and urges the Commission to submit a report on the implementation of the TSCG in the Member States;
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises the Commission’s role as guardian of the treaties; calls on the EU Institutions to assess whether the EU methodologies for the evaluation of the economic and social performance of EU Member States as well as the targets applied under the Stability and Growth Pact are still up-to-date, given that the overall economic and social conditions both at national and European level have changed drastically since the time when they were first drafted;
Amendment 392 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 409 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes with concern that, following the assessment of the 2017 Draft Budgetary Plans, eight Member States are considered to be at risk of non-compliance, with some significantly deviating from the required adjustment path and unlikely to be able to contain the risks unless they deliver on the necessary fiscal measures;
Amendment 434 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Takes note ofWelcomes the Commission’'s communication on a fiscal stance; questions the usefulness of an aggregate target, given the lack of significant spill- over effects of domestic demand between Member States; recalls that the Member States must comply with the Stabilitpoints, in this regard, to the importance of complementing the EU's fiscal framework with binding rules and instruments to directly mand Growth Pact, regardless of aggregate recommendationsage the aggregate fiscal stance of the Euro area;
Amendment 479 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Highlights the importance of national and regional parliaments debating country reports and country-specific recommendations;
Amendment 490 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Believes that better implementation of country-specific recommendations requires clearly articulated priorities at European level and genuine public debate at national and regional level, leading to greater ownership;