39 Amendments of Lucy ANDERSON related to 2015/2354(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 b (new)
Citation 8 b (new)
– having regard to the Commission communication of 25 October 2011 entitled "Social Business Initiative - Creating a favourable climate for social enterprises, key stakeholders in the social economy and innovation" (COM (2001) 682 final),
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
– having regard to the Council Conclusions of 7 December 2015 on the promotion of the social economy as a key driver of economical and social development in Europe,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
– having regard the study of 2016 entitled "Social Economy", commissioned by the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the single market has been, and remains, theis a cornerstone of EU integration and thean engine of growth and jobs;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas a strong social market - which turns the focus back to the people, directed towards the fight against unemployment, poverty, inequalities, social exclusion and wage dumping, promoting respect of fundamental social rights, fair mobility and improvement of living and working conditions in Europe - is an important factor to increase solidarity and cooperation among Member States;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the single market is underperforming in almost all areas – in stimulating a digital-driven market, encouraging start-ups, integrating global supply chains, improving workers mobility and social rights, dealing with new business models and ensuring market facilitation, standardisation and the licensing of professionals – due to a number of physical, legal and technical barriers;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the EU should pursue a genuine single market and treat it as a common asset of all citizens, workers, economic operators and Member States;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Reiterates that the perception of the single market as being solely tied to the economic aspects has exhausted its own potential and a new broader based strategy must be put into action, establishing a balance between economic rights and fundamental social rights, integrating consumers’ and citizens’ interests into the single market;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Supports the overall objectives of the Commission’s Single Market Strategy for goods and services, and welcomes its vision for how to unleash the full potential of the single market in order to increase the number of quality jobs and to develop SMEs;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Believes in this respect that equal treatment principle for workers should be considered a pillar of an effective and socially sustainable single market and urges the Commission to take the necessary legislative and non-legislative actions in order to ensure that the this principle is fully respected in the single market;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines the urgent need to eliminate the remaining barriers from the single market in order to achieve tangible and quick results in terms of growth, innovation, job creation, consumer choice and, new business models and supporting SMEs in their development while increasing their life duration;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Believes that it is necessary to adopt a common definition of ‘innovative’ start- ups and SMEs,, SMEs and social economy enterprises or objective criteria, that can be used as a point of reference for the adoption of related measures; reminds that social economy enterprises have revealed a huge innovative potential, coming up with creative solutions to major economic, social and environmental challenges: calls on the Commission to propose such a definition including social economy enterprises;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that there is a need to promote social economy enterprises within the internal market policies, having in mind that there are around 2 million social economy enterprises in EU, accounting for approximately 10-12% of all European businesses; stresses, moreover, that the social economy is rapidly growing, it provides quality products and services, and creates high quality jobs;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to actively involve all stakeholders, in particular social partners and consumers organisations to assess impacts of draft legislation and better regulation activities in the single market, run the proportionality and subsidiarity check (at ex-ante stage), and monitor implementation (ex-post stage); stresses, furthermore, that any exemptions for SMEs and micro entities must be assessed on a case-by-case basis for each proposal, while ensuring that exemptions do not lead to circumvention of social, labour or environmental legislation;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. WelcomesCalls on the Commission’s determination to address the difficulties faced by SMEs as a result of the complexity of differing national VAT regulations; extends its full support to the Commission in respect of the VAT reform; callin particular calls on the Commission to consider how the new rules con the Commission to assess the feasibility of further coordination and, in particular, to assess the possibility of a single tax in the e-commerce sectorcerning place of supply for VAT on digital services can be amended so as to accommodate the specific needs of small and micro-businesses;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Draws attention to the fact that each year thousands of SMEs across Europe go bankrupt while waiting for their invoices to be paid, including by public administrations; calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up their efforts to facilitate the application and enforcement of the Late Payment Directive; calls, furthermore, on the Member States to consider, in the event of unsatisfactory implementation of the Late Payment Directive, forms of adequate compensation for companies owed money by a public administraremuneration for commercial transactions;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. WelcomAcknowledges the legislative initiative on business insolvency, including early restructuring and second chances, which will ensure thatcould be one method to encourage Member States to provide a regulatory environment that is able to accommodate failure without discouraging entrepreneurs from trying new ideasand non-regulatory environment that accepts that failure sometimes happens and encourages innovation, but reminds that the costs and consequences of failing companies affects not only the company’s owner and shareholders, but also its creditors, employees, citizens and taxpayers; stresses that the legal framework on business insolvency must ensure responsible risk-taking providing certainty and fairness to creditors and employees; calls on the Commission, in this context, to reinforce workers’ protection and the defence of their interest, including through guaranteeing the full respect of their right to information and consultation, and establishing preferential rights for employees in case a business goes bankrupt;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Emphasises that the collaborative (or sharing) economy isand the social economy are growing fast and changing the way that many services and assets are provided and consumed; underlines, furthermore, the strong link between these new business models and the performance of the single market;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to come forward with proposals to prevent abuses in the employment area and bogus self- employment, to examine infringements of workers’ rights and social protection provisions in the sharing economy as well as to assess the impact of crowdworking and crowdsourcing; calls on the Commission to establish an European Forum, which organises regular exchanges with stakeholders, including social partners, who play a decisive role in the transition of the different employment sectors towards the digital economy, in order to promote an effective legal framework as well as quality employment and workers’ rights;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the Member States to ensure that employment rights, high quality working conditions, effective social welfare coverage and a real level playing field in the single market are guaranteed in the growth of the sharing economy, taking into account its potential for more flexible forms of employment, identifying new forms of employment, enhancing the rights and protection of genuine self- employed workers;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that, in the collaborativesharing economy, the samesimilar rules should apply to the samesimilar services, with a view to ensuringpreserve the solid framework of existing regulations, safeguard high quality of services, independent of how their access and provision is organised, ensure a level playing field, and consumer safetrights and safety and full adherence to employment and social rights by companies operating in the sharing economy while avoiding fragmentation that would hamper the development of new business models;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Draws attention to the important role of EU technical standards for innovation and progress in the single market; calls on the Commission to support and reinforce European standards, including by exploiting tguarantee EU standards will be matched opportunities offered by the ongoing negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)r bettered in harmonisation exercises undertaken in any and all trade negotiations;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to present a proposal for the protection of geographical indications for non-agricultural products in the EU considering that this would contribute to job stability, especially in poor rural areas;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Supports the general approach set out in the Commission’s Communication in relation to public procurement to improve procurement decisions and the transparency and quality of procurement systems; encourages national procurement authorities to promote greener and more social tendering processes by including social and environmental criteria in the public procurement tenders; calls on the Commission to use the upcoming evaluation report and revision of the Remedies Directive to address problems such as ‘abnormally low bids’ and other social dumping practices in the procurement process;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Reiterates its call for the rapid adoption of the Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package by the Council and calls on the Commission to fully engage in its role as a solution facilitator in this respect; underlines the importance of the indication of country of origin, which is crucial to protect consumers and to strengthen the fight against counterfeiting;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Emphasises, in respect of the single market in services, that there is a clear need to improve the cross-border provision of services; urges theUrges Member States to ensure proper and morthe effective application of the Services Directive, while avoiding the practice of gold-plating; welcomes; stresses that employment and social standards must be guaranteed in both the Cdommission proposal to improve notification under the Services Directive; agrees to extend the notification procedure provided for in Directive 2015/1535 to all the sectors not covered by that directiveestic and cross-border provision of services; underlines that any extension of the notification procedure provided for in Directive 2015/1535 must not be inappropriately applied to services of general economic interest;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27b. Calls on the Commission to draw up a detailed assessment on the social impact of the single market legislation, as it has done on the economic impact and to include the "Monti II" clauses in all single market legislation;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 c (new)
Paragraph 27 c (new)
27c. Calls on the Commission to adopt a clear single market legislative agenda to strengthen workers’ rights, improve working conditions, promote equal treatment, prevent social dumping and exploitation of workers and ensure fair competition among the Member States;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 d (new)
Paragraph 27 d (new)
27d. Welcomes the fact that the strategy refers to the high level of unemployment across the EU, but regrets that it does not present specific steps and measures that can help people find employment, such as improving education and training standards, meeting lifelong learning targets, and tackling skills mismatches and qualifications of workers and professionals; considers that it is self- evident that the single market is changing rapidly due to digitalisation of the different industries and the new jobs will require a different set of skills and qualifications;
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 e (new)
Paragraph 27 e (new)
27e. Disapproves that the Commission did not adopt any specific measures in the Single Market Strategy to address the needs of people and consumers with disability, elderly people and people living in rural and remote areas;
Amendment 351 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 h (new)
Paragraph 27 h (new)
27h. Is of the opinion that a legal framework encompassing the different forms of social economy in Europe, i.e. cooperatives, foundations, mutual societies and associations will enable social economy enterprises, which do not benefit from the same measures applicable to SMEs, to operate on a legally sound basis and thus enjoy the advantages of the internal market and free movement; furthermore calls for the development of the Social Business Initiative (SBI), mainstreaming social entrepreneurship and social economy enterprises into the Small Business Act, and adopting the Statute for Mutuals;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 i (new)
Paragraph 27 i (new)
27i. Regrets that the Commission’s Communication does not suggests any proposal to acknowledge the specific character of public services within the single market and in particular to adopt a legal framework for services of general economic interest (SGEI) based on Protocol N26 and Article 14 of the TFEU, for instance in relation to quality requirements and notably with regard to social and territorial cohesion;
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. SEmphasises that the genuine single market should provide benefits and protection for citizens, consumers and businesses in terms of better quality, greater variety, reasonable prices, and safety of goods and services; stresses that unjustified discrimination against service recipients (consumers and entrepreneurs) on the basis of nationality or place of residence, in both online and offline environments, is not acceptable within the single market;
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Highlights that the ADR Directive and ODR platform may benefit consumers and businesses in cross-border transactions; calls for further mechanisms for adequate consumer redress to be introduced, including a collective approach to redress where needed;
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 b (new)
Paragraph 28 b (new)
28b. Calls on the Commission to analyse the current legal uncertainties affecting consumers and if necessary to resolve them through clarification and supplements to the legal framework of consumers rights; reiterates its commitment to the principle of flexible harmonisation for any proposed EU legislation concerning consumers and that full harmonisation is only applied when it sets a very high level of consumer protection and provides clear benefits for consumers;
Amendment 375 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Emphasises that social economy enterprises represent a diversity of business models, that is key for a highly competitive and fairer single market; calls on the Commission to mainstream the social economy within its single market policies and to develop a European Action Plan for social economy enterprises in order to unlock the full potential for a sustainable and inclusive growth.
Amendment 377 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 b (new)
Paragraph 29 b (new)
29b. Reiterates that the Commission’s Social Business Initiative (SBI) stressed that the single market needs an inclusive growth, focused on employment for all; calls, therefore, on the Commission to launch a second phase of the SBI by developing an Action Plan for the social economy enterprises in Europe;
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 c (new)
Paragraph 29 c (new)
29c. Calls on the Commission to provide an analysis within the Single Market Strategy on how the development of digital technologies and online platforms contribute to the rise of social economy enterprises characterised by democratic business models and reinvestment of profit, creating added value to enterprises, consumers and workers;