27 Amendments of Ernest URTASUN related to 2014/2221(INI)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic recovery in the EU slowed down considerably in the course of 2014 but has a prospect of catching up in 2015 and of doing even better in 2016, whereas most recent forecasts foresee a high risk of deflation for the euro area as a whole for the next quarters;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the investment level has fallen by around EUR 470 billion since the peak of the crisis, and the investment gap is estimated at around EUR 230- 370 billion compared to its long-term trends;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that growth in 2014 is more broadly based; believes, however, that the recovery is still fragile and should be enhanced if it is to dIs of the opinion that the EU is still trapped in an exceptionally long severe economic downturn initiated in 2008; points out that the output gap remains too wide leading to hysteresis and a permanent loss of capacities; believer substantially more growth and jobss, that urgent and additional and coordinated fiscal and monetary policies are required inf the medium termpurpose is to avoid a debt deflation trap;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. WelcomesTakes note of the Commission’'s Annual Growth Survey 2015, which endeavours to promote a return to higher growth levels and to strengthen the recovery; supports the under three main pillars approach (boosting investment, accelerating structural reforms and pursuing responsible growth friendly fiscal consolidation) as the right way to achieve these goals; welcomes; takes note of the Commission’'s suggestions for improving the European Semester by simplifying procedures and increasing national ownership as needed, considering that only 10-15 % of the Country Specific Recommendations are fully implemented by the Members States;including more and better consultation with national stakeholders, particularly civil society; calls for the adoption of guidelines to ensure genuine accountability and meaningful dialogue with civil society organisations and trade unions, making national and European Parliament equal partners
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Expresses concern that most Member States are still losing market shares globally and have a growing negative net international investment position; believes that the EU economy as a whole needs to boost its competitiveness further in the global economy, particularly by increasing competition in the product and services markets in order to enhance innovation- driven efficiency, while keeping labour costs in line with productivity whilst acknowledging the contributions that wages make to sustaining social security systems ;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that the lack of investment is caused by low confidence, high indebtedness, slow deleveraging and subdued expectations of demanda multiplicity of interwoven factors including inter alia cyclical patterns such as low confidence, excessive austerity, high indebtedness, slow deleveraging and subdued expectations of demand as well as structural patterns such as the financialization of the economy;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WelcomesTakes note of the Investment Plan for Europe, which is and important instrument forts aim of increasing private and public investment; notes that the plan is meant to trigger additional investment, develop new projects, attract investors and restore confidence; is concerned by the content of the legislative proposals for delivering the outlined plan and establishing the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) as it shifts and repackages already foreseen EU funds under unrealistic leverage assumptions and raises serious concerns regarding the democratic accountability as funds are shifted from democratically controlled EU programmes to a less accountable mechanism
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Underlines the need to specifying in the legal texts to be adopted under the ordinary procedure a high quality governance and selection process as well as a democratically accountable monitoring and evaluation framework underpinning the EFSI;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Members States actively to support the Investment Plan, and to contribute to the European Fund for Strategic Investment, supplementing the amounts provided through the EU budget and by the EIB, in order to guide and encourage the private sector to invest; welcomes the principle of usingpoints out that the use of public money to leverage and attract additional private capital needs to be strictly limited to providing financing for projects delivering high social and environmental returns in a measurable way and hence avoid crowding-out and reshuffling effects; emphasizes the need to take explicit account of the employment potential of the projects selected in Member States experiencing high rates of unemployment;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that a lack of access to finance, particularly for SMEs, is one of the greatest obstacles to growth in the EU; believes that alternatives to bank financing are needed, especially by improving thea well regulated business environment for venture capital, but also, more broadly, by improvcreating the conditions for an efficient allocation of capital through capital markets;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Is still concerned about the lack of progress in reducing excessive private debt levels; points out that this is not only a concern for financial stability, as it also limits the EU’'s growth potential and makes the ECB’'s monetary policy less effective; calls on the Commission to make further proposals for the preparation of effective procedures for private sector deleveragingfacilitating the deleveraging of excessive indebted sectors while fostering a fair and transparent burden sharing of costs , including harmonized bankruptcy and insolvency procedures, as the huge debt burden weighing on companies and households is one of the key factors limiting private investment; reiterates the need to implement the Commission's recommendation to ensure access to a basic and affordable bank accounts for all.
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the ambitiousUnderlines that structural reforms implemented by those Member States most affected by the crisis; welcomes as well the fac have caused severe social hardship and a backlash on gender equality; points out that those Member States that have successfully implementeimplemented austerity measures and adjustment programmes or financial sector programmes have been able to return to the capital markets, where they now access capital at low interest ratesset in motion a downward spiral whereby public investment is being curtailed, including in vital services such as childcare and dependent persons care;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Underlines that those reforms are also causing a backlash with regards to gender equality as women lose jobs in the public sector, undermining years of progress towards women's integration in the labour market and that this contrary to the EU's own objectives, notably the 75% employment rate of women and men by 2020;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Member States to make their labour markets more efficient, to modernise social protection systems, including pensions, and to improve and streamline the legal and administrative environment for business investment; stresses that structuralsafeguard and enhance the inclusiveness sustainability and fairness of social protection in particular for those most in need and to improve and streamline the legal and administrative environment for business investment; stresses that jobs must be of quality, to counteract in-work poverty, and should address the gender pay gap; underlines that economic reforms need to be and complemented by well-targeted, longer- term investments in education, research and development, innovation, infrastructure, ICT and sustainable energy;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that the EU cannot compete on costs alone, but needs to increase productivity through sustainable investment in research and development, education and skills including the prevention of early school drop-out, and resource efficiency, at national as well as European level;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Points out that EU financial assistance to certain Member States, provided on terms combining solidarity withof conditionality, has proved to be most successful whedisastrous in there was a strong ownership and commitment to reformms of the social and gender impact; reminds the Commission and the Member States that they need to carry out a social and gender impact assessment while exploreing ways of bringing the financial assistance under the EU framework;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls for urgent action to be taken by the Commission to fight tax dumping, tax fraud and tax evasion; calls for a swift adoption of an ambitious FTT with a broad tax basis, a mandatory CCCTB, country-by-country reporting, an obligation to disclose tax rulings, with a minimum tax rate, calls for a swift implementation of the recently agreed parent-subsidiary directive and for a tax system that is simple and transparent; reiterates its call on the Member States to shift taxes from labour to consumption; and socially and environmentally harmful activities;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that the Member States and the Commission have not yet delivered on their commitment to complete thea well regulated single market, especially the single market for services and the digital economy;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Reiterates its call on the Commission to improve the governance of the single market; urges the Commission to align the aimsensure consistency between the monitoring mechanism of the Single Market with those of the European Semester; believes that analytical tools, composed of indicators measuring the implementation of the single market, can provide useful guidance for country- specific recommendations and the Annual Growth Survey;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Underlines the fact that the absence of a well-functioning internal labour market and of a balanced approach to immigration is hampering growth in the EU; reiterates the urgency of legalizing the administrative situation of current undocumented women and men who are living in and contributing to the European economy, providing cheap labour without the safety nets of the European Social Model;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Reiterates the importance of ensuring labour mobility (both cross-border and cross- sectoral), enhanced labour productivity (connected with skills trainings to improve employability) and labour market flexibility, while preserving the necessary scope of work security and social protection; reiterates that failure to set EU standards with regards to maternity rights hampers women's mobility as workers and urges the Member States to unblock the current deadlock on the Maternity Leave Directive;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3
Subheading 3
Fiscal responsibipolitcy
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Welcomes the strong decrease in the number of countries under the excessive deficit procedure – down to 11 in 2014 from 24 in 2011; notes that due to this fiscal improvement the fiscal stance in the EU is now expected to remain broadly neutral in the coming years; expresses its concern, however, about growing inequalities, decrease in spending power and the still very high public and private indebtedness of a number of Member States in the euro area, a circumstance that not only hinders growth but also constitutes a substantial risk in case of possible future shocks and with regards to the long term negative impact on social cohesion; point-out that pro-cyclical policies over the years before and after the crisis have substantially worsened the debt sustainability of the public and private sectors in most Member States;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Agrees with the CommissionPoints out that most Member States need to continue to pursue growth-friendly fiscal consolidation; invites Member States with sufficient fiscal space to consider reducing taxes and social security contributions with a view to stimulatingimplement a long-term strategy for a growth-friendly and counter-cyclical fiscal policy; invites Member States with sufficient fiscal space to consider adopting measures for increasing both public and private investments;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes the Commission assessment of the Member States’' draft budgetary plans; stresses that the examination of draft budgetary plans should aim at fostering sustainable finance; insists on the strict application of fiscal rules and on respect for the equal treatment principle to meet real needs for an inclusive and sustainable society and that gender budgeting tools are applied in conformity with the EU's objective on gender equality and gender mainstreaming of all policies including budgetary policies; calls the Commission to take full account of the current serious economic downturn when updating its CSRs;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Is concernedTakes note that only five Member States were found to be fully compliant with the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP); underlines that in the current severe economic downturn excessive austerity measures are self- defeating and worsen overall debt ratios given their large negative effect of nominal GDP growth;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Welcomes theTakes note of the latest Alert Mechanism Report; welcomes the gradual reduction of internal imbalances in the EU economy; draws attention to the external imbalances, including the large trade surplusedraws attention to the internal and external imbalances, including the large trade surpluses; recalls its repeated requests to enrich the scoreboard of macroeconomic imbalances with social indicators and indicators on resource efficiency; calls for a symmetric rationale regarding current account imbalances and recalls its demand for the integration in the scoreboard of an indicator of unit capital costs;