Activities of Ernest MARAGALL related to 2016/2004(BUD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Guidelines for the 2017 Budget - Section III (debate) ES
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on general guidelines for the preparation of the 2017 budget, Section III – Commission PDF (383 KB) DOC (114 KB)
Amendments (20)
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. Whereas the huge EU external trade surplus makes the EU economically dependent on global developments
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the Union budget has proven to be a crucial resource in tackling recent crises and responding to needs that had not been anticipated during the negotiation of the MFF 2014-2020, such as the migration and refugee crisis or geopolitical tensions in the European neighbourhood producing a number of serious emergencies, while in the Union a continuous lowering of consumption and investment levels has led to an investmentaggregate demand gap;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the Commission’'s European Economic Forecast (Autumn 2015), which indicates a modest recovery; stresses, however, that this recovery remains worryingly weak, too dependent on exports and too slow for a prompt return to full employment to be achieved, with long- term and very long-term unemployment on the rise; notes, furthermore, the appearance of new challenges, such as the slowdown in emerging market economies and global trade, with particular pressure arising from volatility on Chinese markets, the need to tackle the refugee crisis, and persisting geopolitical tensions;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes, additionally, the Commission’s Annual Growth Survey for 2016; strongly believes that boosting investment, includingaggregate internal demand, as well as a coordinated increase in public investment with a focus on the Europe 2020 targets, is a proper policy response with a view to a more balanced economic policy; believes that those two elements should be taken into consideration in the preparation of the draft budget for 2017 insofar as this should help identify priorities within an economic context; calls, consequently, for more synergies between the Union dimension of the European semester for economic policy coordination and the Union budget;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes and regrets that corporate tax avoidance has caused huge losses of tax income for member states, and therefore a reduction of their contributions to the EU budget. Moreover, such unfair tax competition in some cases means GDP transfer from one to other MS and GNI transfer to non EU tax havens, thus reducing aggregate member state contributions to the EU budget.
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Urges the High Level group on Own Resources to direct their proposals to increasing real EU own resources without decreasing member states' tax incomes, as would be the case with an EU element corporate taxation coupled with a common consolidated corporate tax base.
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls that the Union budget provides the backbone of the investment plan by making available the EUR 8 billion required in commitment and payment appropriations for the provisioning of the guarantee fund of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), out of which a total of EUR 3.38 billion has already been mobilised in the 2015 and 2016 budgets; reiterates its commitment to reinforce Horizon 2020 and the Connecting Europe Facility through the annual budgetary procedure, in order to compensate the cuts agreed during the EFSI negotiations as much as possible; Insists on the need to properly apply the scoreboard.
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers the European Youth Initiative (YEI), in particular, to be a fundamental contribution to the Union’s priority objective for jobs and growth, and therefore reiterates its commitment to continued funding for this programme with a view to scaling it up and thereby offering a greater number of young people the prospect of effectively entering the labour market by receiving a good quality offer of employment, continued education or apprenticeship; and enhancing workers mobility in connection with Erasmus+, recalls the commitment made by the three institutions to ‘ensure appropriate funding via an Amending Budget in 2016, by making use of all available means provided for in the MFF, and primarily of the Global Margin for Commitments’; notes that the figures for implementation indicate full success in terms of absorption capacity; calls on the Commission to present its evaluation of the YEI at the latest by the end of April 2016, and at all events in time for the inclusion of a prolongation of the programme in the EU budget 2017, while also laying the groundwork for the search for a permanent source of funding for the YEI as part of the revision of the MFF;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Is alarmed by increasing poverty, particularly among children; recalls its report advocating the establishment of a child guarantee in order to lift children out of poverty and avoid their being exploited and socially excluded7 ; considers education, childcare, health services, housing and security to be basic needs to which every European child has the right; including those travelling to and arriving in Europe amongst refugees and migrants. __________________ 7 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2015)0403.
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes the setting-up of the Union Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis and of the Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing the root causes of irregular migration and displacement of people in Africa; urges theregrets the failure of Member States to stand by their promises and to make corresponding adequate contributeions to these funds; points out that lack of adequate funding for humanitarian aid, including for health and education measures in camps, has prompted more refugees to embark on the risky journey to the EU, underlines that the Member States have reconfirmed their commitment, at the informal meeting of EU Heads of State or Government held to discuss migration on 23 September 2015, the European Council of 15 October 2015, and the Valletta summit of 11-12 November 2015; stresses, however, that further financial efforts will be needed to provide humanitarian assistance along the transit routes and to manage the challenges posed by increasing numbers of refugees; reminds that the above funds were created in response to the lack of flexibility and funding in the EU budget; insists that the actions undertaken to tackle the migration and refugee problem should not come at the cost of the EU´s development policies in other areas;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the principle and objectives of the envisaged EUR 3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey, and calls on each Member State to take on its share, but raises the question of how the Union contribution should be made available within the respective ceilings of the Union budget for 2016 and 2017; deplores the fact that Parliament was not properly involved in eitherCriticises Council and Commission for deliberately excluding Parliament from the deliberations on the setting-up of the facility orand the mobilisation of the Union’'s contribution, as shown by the Commission’s 's announcement of its intention to finance the Union contribution by redeployment from the recently adopted Union budget for 2016 and by pre-empting the margins of the 2017 budget; considers these actions to be clear infringements of Parliament’'s rights as an arm of the budgetary authority;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. In this context, points out that the time is ripe to perform a comprehensive scan of the EU budget to identify budget lines that contribute to mitigation and adaptation, as well as spending that - as it is currently designed - directly or indirectly contributes to emitting GHG, and therefore should be phased out. Believe that such an assessment is indispensable given the need to "climate- fine-tuning" the EU budget.
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Encourages the Commission to see to a swift implementation of the General Affairs Council conclusions from the 17th of November 2015 with regard to climate and cohesion policy funds.
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18 c. Asks the Commission to boost and make more efficient spending on infrastructure that is necessary and conducive to - speedily - delivering the energy transition that the Paris agreement requires.
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 d (new)
Paragraph 18 d (new)
18 d. Asks the Commission to boost and make more efficient spending on infrastructure that is necessary and conducive to - speedily - delivering the energy transition that the Paris agreement requires.
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 e (new)
Paragraph 18 e (new)
18 e. Urges the re-concentration of EU spending on sustainable modes of transport.
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 f (new)
Paragraph 18 f (new)
18 f. Urges the use of existing margins of manoeuvre to redirect CAP funding to make EU agriculture climate-proof while overall reducing agricultural GHG emissions.
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 g (new)
Paragraph 18 g (new)
18 g. Recalls that the EU has agreed that at least 20% of its budget for 2014-2020 – as much as €180 billion − should be spent on climate change-related action.
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Regarding ITER, is concerned that further delays and additional costs may arise regarding this programme, as well as at the related potential repercussions for the Union budget; regrets, therefore, that it was unable to assess the level of the 2016 ITER appropriations against the updated payment plan and schedule; expects this revised plan to be included in the preparation of the draft budget for 2017; calls for a proper accountability mechanism that will offer a clear overview of the amount in financial resources provided for the international project and will evaluate the efficiency of their use; believes it is time to propose the phasing out of EU funding for ITER and redirect the funding towards energy efficiency and renewables.