19 Amendments of Alfred SANT related to 2017/2226(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 20
Citation 20
— having regard to the proposal for a regulationRegulation (EU) 2017/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of the Structural Reform Support Programme for the period 2017 to 2020 and amending Regulations (EU) No 1303/2013 and (EU) No 1305/2013 (COM(2015)0701),
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the economic recovery is uneven across the EU; 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 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas both employment and unemployment rates are still higher than in 2008too high, particularly among young people; whereas hidden unemployment (unemployed, willing to work, but not actively searching for employment) stood at 20 % in 2016;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights, however, the persistent structural problem of insufficient growth of potential output and productivity, flanked by too low a level of investments and wages, leading to persistent social and regional inequalities;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Believes that given the improvement in the economic situation of the EU and the Eurozone, it no longer makes sense to use the arguments of austerity to deny to working and middle classes as well as to pensioners, an improvement in their purchasing power while applauding the increased profitability of corporations;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the importance of a wage increase at European level in order to boost private consumption as the main support for growth; points out the need to focus on the interaction between monetary, fiscal and incomes (including wage and profit development) policies rather than only fiscal issues; believes, therefore, that this wage increase should take the following format: an increase of 5 per cent as of mid-2018 in the minimum wage of all countries that have a minimum wage, while the minimum wage system, always adapted to national circumstances, is introduced in those countries that do not have it;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Recommends that pension systems across the European Union are made inflation proof and that they ensure as of now, that pension payments really reflect the needs of elderly families;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls the importance of public investment for boosting and leveraging investment in the EU; considers that the policy mix proposed in the AGS 2018 should be further developed to remedy the current decrease in public investment in the EU; highlights that this decrease also affects local and regional authorities, threatening their ability to deliver quality public services; notes that the lack of administrative capacity of the public administration at local and regional level is an obstacle to the implementation of structural reforms and to the long-term investments needed to bridge the investment gap; urges Member States to remove existing obstacles which hinder private and public investment at local and regional level;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Recalls the importance of a business-friendly administrative and regulatory environment to make it easier for companies, and particularly for scale- ups, to access finance and raise funds cross-border; welcomes the AGS 2018 emphasis on the need to improve the quality of the public administration, which should involve all levels of government;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines that the European Semester and the Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs) should achieve the objectives set out in the Pillar of Social Rights; in this regard an increased role should be given to social indicators in the European Semester; moreover, considers that the CSRs should give a more prominent place to the issues related to demographic change;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the fact that the AGS 2018 acknowledges the need for efficient and fair tax systems to ensure sustainable finance and reverse the current fall in capital income taxation; supports the Commission’s initiatives to achieve increased transparency, a reformed VAT system and a common consolidated corporate tax base; notes however:
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – indent 1 (new)
Paragraph 9 – indent 1 (new)
- that care must be taken not to let a new form of tax populism distort the fact that the European Union needs to extend support to financial services that enable individuals and corporations to transparently manage their own funds flexibly in a globalised world;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – indent 2 (new)
Paragraph 9 – indent 2 (new)
- that tax competition is necessary to enable EU Member States from the periphery or with limited endowments to stay in the competitive race;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – indent 3 (new)
Paragraph 9 – indent 3 (new)
- that one size fits all measures are neither desirable nor effective; and
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – indent 4 (new)
Paragraph 9 – indent 4 (new)
- that the admirable urges for tax purity within the European Institutions do not end up pandering to the aggressive tax policies being developed by extreme right ideologues in the US;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. IUnderlines that innovation and R&D are key drivers for growth productivity and competitiveness; insists on a common effort to bring euro area expenditure on R&D closer to the EU2020 targets; calls for proper policies and investment to ensure equal access to higher education and training in order to adapt them to the new skills and knowledge demand of the EU labour market;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Highlights the importance of an improved European Semester process, including the formalisation of the euro area aggregate fiscal stance as a key tool for policy formulation and implementation across the EMU; calls for a broader reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in order to improve its flexibility, to incorporate the differentiated treatment of investments and to introduce the concept of aggregate fiscal stance; calls on the European 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 368 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines that any further step towards a deepening of the EMU must go hand in hand with stronger democratic controls; insists that, to this end, the role of the European Parliament and national parliaments must be strengthened; asks to include trade unions, local and regional authorities in the negotiation process at both national and European level; urges the launch of the long-awaited negotiation of an interinstitutional agreement (IIA) on the Semester;
Amendment 370 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Stresses that the implementation level of the CSRs is still very low; believes that the national, regional and local authorities should be better involved in the European Semester process; calls on the Council and the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of CSRs;