Activities of Liadh NÍ RIADA related to 2015/2353(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Preparation of the post-electoral revision of the MFF 2014-2020: Parliament's input ahead of the Commission's proposal (A8-0224/2016 - Jan Olbrycht, Isabelle Thomas)
Preparation of the post-electoral revision of the MFF 2014-2020: Parliament's input ahead of the Commission's proposal (debate) GA
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the preparation of the post-electoral revision of the MFF 2014-2020: Parliament’s input ahead of the Commission’s proposal PDF (834 KB) DOC (333 KB)
Amendments (26)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the social, economic, environmental, migratory and terrorist crises faced by the EU provide all the more grounds for a substantial revision of the MFF, which, as it stands, has demonstrated its limitations as regards effectively addressing recent crises and the EU's new political priorities;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers, in this respect, that while a review aims at assessing and evaluating the functioning of the MFF against its implementation, new economic conditions and other new developments, and as such could maintain the legislative status quo, a revision implies a modification of the MFF Regulation, which also includes (besides the legislative provisions) the MFF ceilings, on a basis of due respect for Article 312 TFEU and the limitations on the scope of the MFF revision laid down in the last sentence of Article 2 of the MFF Regulation; recalls that this article stipulates that the pre- allocated national envelopes shall not be reduced through a revision; stresses in this context that Article 323 TFEU requires that the financial means to fulfil the Union’s legal obligations in respect of third parties are being ensuredpoints to the principle of budget unity as the sole guarantee of genuinely democratic decision-taking and oversight in connection with expenditure; stresses therefore that revision of the MFF cannot result in a reduction of envelopes for heading 1b on cohesion policy, for heading 2 on rural development and the EMFF, or for jointly managed programmes under headings 3 and 4, i.e. AMIF, ISF or the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa; stresses in this context that Article 323 TFEU requires that the financial means to fulfil the Union’s legal obligations in respect of third parties are being ensured; takes the view accordingly that the fact that, for most spending items, envelopes cannot be reduced and the imperative for the EU to honour its commitments in other sectors make it all- important to raise ceilings;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Council to apply the qualified-majority rule provided for by Article 312(2) TFEU for revision of the MFF;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – introductory part
Paragraph 5 – introductory part
5. Considers that a review of the MFF in 2016 should take stock of a number of serious crises and new political initiatives, together with their respective budgetary consequences, which were not anticipated at the time of the MFF’s adoption; notes, inter alia, the migration and refugee crisis, external emergencies, internal security issues, the crisis in agriculture, the funding of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the persistent high level of unemployment, especially among young people, and the payment crisis in the EU budget; observes that, in order to finance the additional pressing needs, an unprecedented recourse to the MFF’s flexibility mechanisms and special instruments was deemed necessary, as the MFF ceilings proved to be too tight in some headings; considers that, over the past two years, the MFF has essentially been pushed to its limits; considers that an upward revision of MFF ceilings is warranted by the fact that flexibility instruments and margins have been fully utilised;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that the conflicts in Syria, the Middle East and several regions in Africa have had humanitarian, security and migratory consequences on an unprecedented scale; recalls that the EU has been directly impacted, with more than one million refugees reaching Europe in 2015 alone and more expected in the coming years; recalls that this crisis led to a major financial response on the EU’s part and hence, which, albeit insufficient by any standard, has had a significant impact on the EU budget, notably on headings 3 (Security and Citizenship) and 4 (Global Europe);
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that significant budgetary means have been deployed to tackle the root causes of the refugee and migration crisis by Points out that migration/refugee- related actions are inforcing specific EU programmes under Heading 4; recalls the reallocations in favour of migration/refugee-related actionssufficient by any standard despite the reallocation of EUR 170 million to them in the course of 2015, as well as the approval in 2016 of an additional EUR 130 million under Heading 4 for migration/refugee-related activities, together withfor them and the reshuffling of EUR 430 million under the Instrument for Pre- accession Assistance, the Development Cooperation Instrument and the European Neighbourhood Instrument; recalls, furthermore, that in order to address the external dimension of the migration and refugee crisis the Commission has made various additional proposals having an impact on the EU budget, such as those for the establishment of EU trust funds (the Madad Trust Fund and the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, with an estimated initial budgetary impact of EUR 570 million and EUR 405 million respectively), as well as of the Refugee Facility for Turkey, for which EUR 1 billion is to be funded from the EU budget, not counting possible additional funding; stresses, however, that further pressure on the Union budget mightwill arise from other planned actions announced by the Commission such as the ‘London pledge’ or from events such as the EU- Turkey summit of 18 March 2016; is concerned, however, that owing to the magnitude of the problems the EU is facing further actions might still be required; points out in addition that migration/refugee-related actions must not be overly outsourced to non-EU countries and that it is the duty of the EU to mount its own response too;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls for an immigration clause to be established so as to exclude Member State spending on migrant reception and integration from excessive-deficit calculations;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls for stepped-up EU budget support for Member States bearing the brunt of migration flows, such as Greece and Italy;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recalls that, since the global economic and financial crisis, the EU has suffered from low levels of investment; notes in particular that in 2014 total investment was 15 % below the 2007 level, which corresponds to an investment drop of EUR 430 billion; considers that the austerity measures imposed and weak investment have slowsed economic recovery and hasve had direct repercussions onin terms of growth, jobs, increased poverty, a fresh upsurge in inequalities, disparities between EU regions and Member States, and competitiveness;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Underlines that, in response to this pressing problem,Notes that the new Commission in 2014 proposed an investment plan for Europe and the establishment of EFSI, with the aim of mobilising EUR 315 billion in new investment in the real economy; notes that the guarantee provided by the Union for EFSI is covered by a Guarantee Fund of EUR 8 billion constituted in the EU budget;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that youth unemployment remains dramatically highhas reached an extremely worrying level and represents one of the most pressing and serious problems that the EU is currently facing; highlights the fact that 4.4 million young persons under 25 were unemployed across the Union in February 2016 and that this corresponds to a proportion of over 40 % in several Member States and over 60% in several EU regions;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Underlines the fact that the EU budget makes a signin insufficaient contribution to the fight against unemployment, especially throug and that both the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), though they are positive actions, are not sufficient; stresses also that, despite the initial delays in the designation of national authorities and the implementation of the YEI, the current figures indicate full absorption capacity; notes that an evaluation of this initiative will soon be concluded, and expects that the necessary adjustments will be introduced to ensure its successful implementation; calls for the establishment of new programmes with a view to giving substance to a genuinely social Europe;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Is particularly concerned, however, at the lack of new commitment appropriations for the YEI as of 2016, given that its entire original envelope was frontloaded in 2014- 2015 (Article 15 of the MFF Regulation); stresses that in supporting this frontloading Parliament never intended that the initiative should be terminated after only two years of funding and that other MFF mechanisms, such as the Global Margin for Commitments, were put in place with the purpose of ensuring its continuation; also notes the frontloading of appropriations, on the basis of the same article, for Erasmus + (EUR 150 million), this being another EU programme that makes a major contribution to improving the employability of young people, which was fully implemented in the first two years of this period;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recalls the recent terrorist attacks in France and Belgium and the increased threat levels in other Member States, which call for more coordinated and reinforced action at EU level; underlines that the Union already has the Internal Security Fund as an appropriate instrument and has several agencies operating in this field; considers that more European action, and therefore funding, will be needed in this area to provide an adequate response to this threat, mainly taking measures in order to halting any economic and trade relationship with all those economic players who trade with the so-called Daesh, sanctioning those companies or States which take advantage of the armament selling or the purchasing of oil and gas at low price;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Recalls the various crises that European farmers have faced since the beginning of the current MFF, most notably the dairy sector crisis and the long- term negative effects on European farmers of the losses caused by the Russian embargo on agricultural products, free- trade agreements with many non-EU countries and the financialisation of global agricultural trade; highlights the budgetary impact of the emergency measures taken in response to these crises, involving EUR 500 million in the budget 2016 and EUR 300 million in 2015; underlines the persistent situation of crisis in the agricultural sector in several Member States, and calls for European agricultural programmes for small and medium-sized farmers to be stepped up;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls for an early response to be made to the impact of the abolition of sugar quotas in 2017, which is likely to undermine the sugar cane sector in the outermost regions, and for provision to be made for support measures for small- scale sugar cane planters in those regions;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Urges the Commission, when preparing its legislative proposal, to take into consideration the following demands of Parliament regarding changes to the MFF Regulation, with respect both to the figures and to the raising of ceilings and to several provisions relating to the functioning of the MFF which need to be applicable already for the current MFF;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Points out that the specific envelopes for regions and Member States initially provided for under the MFF must simply be complementary and in no way result in a reduction in funding granted to regions and Member States in line with the criteria laid down in cohesion policy regulations; calls for any reduction in envelopes to be rectified as part of this mid-term revision;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 b (new)
Paragraph 28 b (new)
28b. Calls for stepped-up budget support for all Member States carrying out excessive-deficit reduction programmes;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 c (new)
Paragraph 28 c (new)
28c. Calls for the investment clause to be revised so that national and regional investments which co-financed ESI funds are excluded from the calculation of national deficits under the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Strongly supports the continuation of the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), as a means of ensuring an urgent response in the fight against youth unemployment, following the necessary adjustments brought about by the ongoing evaluation; considers that this can only be achieved through the provision of an adequate level of commitment appropriations for the YEI for the remaining years of the current MFF; in order to increase the utilisation rate of this funding, very low in those less developed regions, which need in a larger extent this sort of budgetary line; points out the necessity of making easier the anticipation of available funds at the outset of the programs; notes that this should entail an upwards revision of the ceilings of Subheading 1b, as no margins are available;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Considers that the magnitude of the migration and refugee crisis goes to show that additional needs with significant budgetary consequences may be expected to arise in the coming years; underlines, moreover, that the need for internal security in the EU and the fight against terrorism are expected also to necessitate additional funding to back up reinforced action at EU level; is of the firm opinion that, even with the mobilisation of the small margins available under Heading 3 (Security and Citizenship) and existing flexibility provisions, the resources available will not be sufficient to tackle the increased needs under this heading; calls, therefore, for significant reinforcements for the AMIF and the Internal Security Fund, as well as for the Union agencies operating in the field, as well as other initiatives that can be undertaken; considers that an upward revision of the ceilings under Heading 3 is required;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Expects that concerted action to effectively respond to the external dimension of the migration and refugee crisis will intensify over the coming years, and will be accompanied by increased requests for funding under Heading 4 (Global Europe); which entails implementing solutions in origin, persecuting those practices which promoting directly or indirectly the Daesh and those who are taking advantage of human traffic, guaranteeing a safe mobility for the people under refugee status, and setting the resources needed in order to provide a worthy social integration during the period of stay for this population in Europe; underlines that such requests for additional funding should not be deployed to the detriment of the EU’s existing external action, including its development policy; calls, therefore, for a significant reinforcement of appropriations under this heading;
Amendment 300 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Calls for the introduction of one or several new own resources, ideally with a clear link to European policies that create added value, through progressive tax figures, reinforcing the fiscal capacity to tackle the financial, economic and environmental crisis along cycles; notes that a large number of possible new own resources have already been discussed by the High Level Group, and eagerly awaits its recommendations;