16 Amendments of Monika VANA related to 2014/2145(INI)
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Is pleased withRegrets that the European economic governance framework, which, by coordinating policies more closely in order to p has not contributed to fostering smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and points out that the EU’s Annual GDP Growth is projected at below 1.5%; stresses that growth in revcent major imbalances, fosters smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in line with the targets set by the Europe 2020 strategy;years has been modest or stagnated, the EU 2020 targets on employment and poverty are far from being achieved and that inequality as well as poverty are continuing to be unacceptably high; 1 a __________________ 1a EU Economic Forecast 2014 http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publ ications/european_economy/2014/pdf/ee7 _en.pdf
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Deeply regrets that the Commission Communication does not do justice to the fact that the 6-pack failed and calls on the Commission to propose a revision of the 6-pack; calls on the European Commission to live up to President Juncker’s commitment to a social Triple A rating by refocussing the economic governance framework on the delivery of the EU2020 targets, with economic, employment, education and poverty and social exclusion targets on an equal footing and to put an end to those policies in the economic governance framework which have been counterproductive to achieving the 2020 targets;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Expresses regret that the current economic governance policy remains focused solely on economic growth without acknowledging the need for an inclusive, rights-based and sustainable approach; stresses that the benefits of growth need to be spread throughout society for it to become sustainable and inclusive;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the Commission’s initiative to conduct an initial review of the framework’s effectiveness with a view; calls on the Commission to assddress ing the effective and uniform application of governance rules by the Member States and by the Commission its review also the shortcomings of the framework, including with regards to the delivery on the Europe 2020 headline targets; also suggests that the review presents an opportunity for an exchange of views on the ways in which the framework could be deepened and fundamentally improved especially as regards ownership of the semester process;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the European Semester to be strengthened and deepened as an effective way of preventing potential way of balancing fiscal sustainability and macroeconomic balance with social cohesion a crisioss the Union and delivery on the 2020 targets; with this in mind, welcomescalls on the Commission’s proposal to focus its action not only on budget responsibility but also on investment and structural reform in order to link the market economy with social progress to extend its proposal beyond reductionist budget responsibility and move towards policies addressing social investment and structural reform in order to ensure that the social market economy is geared towards more social progress as well as a fairer distribution of wealth and cohesion and a better gender equality;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. PStresses the need for a more balanced distribution of responsibilities and better cooperation between EPSCO and ECOFIN related bodies and therefore proposes that joint meetings between the EPSCO Council and the Ecofin Council be held with a view to promoting coordinated socio-economic policies geared towards strengthenreducing inequalities, poverty and social exclusion as well as improving competitiveness in Europe and giving sustainable growth and quality jobs a sustainable boost towards social, economic and territorial cohesion;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises that including the social indicators scoreboard in the Alert Mechanism Report is importanta first step in order to identify, in advance, the social impact of measures designed to correct macroeconomic imbalances; calls on the Commission to assess its scope and effectivenessstresses that this so far has no policy impact and therefore calls as a next step on the Commission and the Council to put all social indicators, including those regarding poverty and social exclusion, on a par with macroeconomic ones; calls on the Commission to assess and improve its scope and effectiveness as well as to make sure that the findings of the Scoreboard of employment and social indicators are taken fully into account when developing country specific recommendations and when assessing their implementation in Member States; calls on the Commission to put in place a system that triggers preventive and corrective actions once the social indicators reach a set threshold;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to present as soon as possible a revision of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure and the Alert Mechanism in Regulations 1176/2011/EU and 1174/2011/EU addressing (a) a change of indicators and thresholds, moving from cost competiveness to a broader understanding of competitiveness including the quality of human capital, labour market participation, capital costs, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and inequality (b) symmetry in the MIP procedure regarding current accounts treating surpluses similarly to deficits;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Stresses that excessive inequality should be a trigger within the Alert Mechanism system as it destabilizes societies and puts cohesion as well as economic performance at risk; Stresses that an increase in inequality, as experienced in the EU and documented by the country reporting in the Semester, involves major democratic risks; points to the warnings by the IMF and the ILO that a further rise in inequalities in the EU could destabilise our societies;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Member States to implement the country-specific recommendations so as to support growth and jobsustainable growth and quality jobs as well as social cohesion and to achieve progress towards the Europe 2020 goals; calls on the Commission to submit to the European Parliament an annual assessment of the progress made as regards the effective implementation of those recommendations, and points out that the assessment could be included as an annex to the Annual Growth Report;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Reminds the Commission that while wages are considered an important element in resolving euro-area macro- economic imbalances, they are not merely a tool for economic adjustment, but above all the income that workers need to live on; calls on the Commission to ensure that recommendations in the field of wages do not increase in-work poverty or wage inequalities within Member States, or harm low-income groups;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission, in tandem with the EIB, to make it easier for SMEs – the main sources of jobsone backbone of job creation in Europe – to access financing from the European Fund for Strategic Investments, in connection with the European Investment Fund; regrets that the European Fund for Strategic Investment does not foresee earmarking or targeting of SMEs but leaves that solely to the Steering Board; calls for the European Fund for Strategic Investments to respect the existing investment principles of the Union;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. With a view to improving the effectiveness and focus of budget policiesof fiscal policies, reducing poverty and enhancing fair mobility, calls on the Member States to press ahead withbetter coordinate their efforts to modernisimprove their labour markets and social security systems; with this in mind, encourages them to share best practicesprotection systems while making sure that the structural reforms implemented in these sectors do not undermine labour standards or reduce access to adequate social protection which is a universal right and a precondition for the creation of more equal societies; with this in mind, calls on the Commission and the Member States to share best practices and to further promote mutual learning also at regional and local level;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Regrets that in its attempts to balance fiscal policies, the Commission has chosen to side-line the importance of social protection systems as key instruments for stabilising the economy, as well as society;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Calls on the Commission to extend the wage safeguard clauses in the Two-Pack, which safeguard the right to bargain and to take action, to all existing instruments of European economic regulation; calls on social partners to increase wage coordination within the Eurozone to avoid imbalances;
Amendment 130 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. With a view to stepping up democratic scrutiny, recommends that the European Parliament, national parliaments and management and labour be more closely involved in economic dialogue between the Member States and the Commission.accountability of the Economic governance as well as increasing the quality and ownership of the semester process, recommends that the European Parliament, national parliaments as well as civil society organisations and social partners at national and EU level be more closely involved throughout the whole semester cycle between the Member States and the Commission; stresses that meaningful and structural consultation with civil society stakeholders would not only boost the democratic legitimacy of the process and the chances of reforms being acceptable to citizens and successful in their implementation, but could also strengthen the evidence base for the evaluation of reforms;