Activities of Igor ŠOLTES related to 2014/2228(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (A8-0175/2015 - Bernd Lange) SL
Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (debate) SL
Amendments (28)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is convinced, however, that TTIP should not only cut down barriers but also aim at promoting European high levels of consumer protection; observesensure that TTIP does not ultimately reduce the high levels of protection enjoyed by consumers in Europe and the United States or call into question the ability of the public authorities on both sides of the Atlantic to adopt or modify the rules which govern the marketing of products or the provision of services, public procurement and the protection and development of public services; given that in most sectors EU and US standards and regulatory environments ensure this high level; considers, ensure, therefore, that any approximatingon of our regulations represents a unique chance to establishdoes not come at the expense of high-quality standards and laws for consumers which will bcould become the de facto international standards;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Insists, while respecting the freedom of governments to protect public services,safeguard the freedom of governments to protect and develop public services, to define their scope, to organise and fund them as they see fit, and to choose and change the method of provision and the ownership arrangements, in keeping with the subsidiarity principle; as regards the sectors explicitly included in the scope of the agreement, ensure that EU service providers must have full market access to liberalised services in the US, under transparent rules, set by the authorities in the place of provision, at both federal and sub-federal levels;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. given the importance, for local and regional authorities in particular, of maintaining high-quality public services, seek a global exemption from the scope of the TTIP for all public services and urge the two Parties to give a clear undertaking to that effect in a joint declaration;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. ensure that the exemption for public services is not confined to sovereign tasks, such as public security, but covers all services of general interest which receive any form of public support, in particular social services, health, education, culture and postal services;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. urge that all sectors excluded from the scope of the EU Services Directive, in particular health, social and audiovisual services, should also be excluded from the scope of the TTIP negotiations;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3d. ensure that all water-related services (production, distribution and treatment) are excluded from the scope of the TTIP;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. as regards purely commercial services, ensure that the negotiations are based on a positive list of sectors which are included, rather than a negative list, and ensure that it is possible at any time for the public authorities to re-establish public control over liberalised sectors;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3f. ensure that the TTIP does not call into question the principle of ‘economic needs tests’, which are useful regulatory tools for the public authorities in some sectors;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for mutual recognition of professional qualifications between the Parties and for the abolitionEnsure that any progress made between the Parties as regards mutual recognition of professional qualifications in no way undermines the ability of the public authorities of a work permit requirements for high-skilled workers in sectors covered by TTIP, so as to create maximum mobility of professionals between the EU and the USer’s country of residence to lay down rules and procedures in this area, so as to encourage mobility of professionals between the EU and the US without compromising the application of the general interest rules laid down by the competent authorities;
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to ensure that European companies, including SMEs,Ensure that the new European rules adopted when the public procurement directives were revised are safeguarded and promoted in the negotiations, in particular as regards SMU access to public procurement, the use of award criteria based on value for money, not the lowest prices, the setting-aside of contracts for social economy operators, the possibility for contracting authorities to cooperate as inter-municipal associations and the thresholds below which public procurement is not subject to European or international rules; guarantee that European companies are not discriminated against when tendering for public contracts on the US market at all government levels, and to ensureenjoy transparent access at a level equal to or higher than that applying to US companies today in Europe under the new EU procurement rules;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. enforce the right of contracting authorities, when awarding public procurement contracts, to give preference to local suppliers, with a view to minimising the impact on the environment;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. ensure that public-private partnerships are excluded from the scope of the negotiations, given their importance for the public authorities as a tool, in particular in the area of local development;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. ensure that concession contracts are excluded from the scope of the negotiations, given their importance for the public authorities as a tool, by virtue of the long periods for which they are generally concluded;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that, while safeguardTo maintaing the protection achieved by EU standards and regulations, TTIP should go beyond the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, in areas such a and the possibility for the EU legislator, in accordance with the principle of democratic accountability, to continue to adopt and improve these standards and regulations as it sees fit, especially in the areas of the environment, social matters, health, safety, consumer protection and cultural diversity, and in particular as regards conformity assessment, product requirements, or standards, as well as providing for transparency in the preparation and availability of technical regulations;
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for the setting-up of an ambitious and effectiveTo ensure that cooperation mechanism aimed at creating common standards where possible in existing procedures, and to ensure that there is no unintended divergence in future standards in key sectors; believes that EU-US common standards should be promotedin key sectors covered by TTIP does not lead to the setting-up of a mechanism which undermines the right of the competent authorities to regulate; to promote stringent quality, safety and consumer protection standards which, wherever possible, are common to the EU and the US, in all international forums;
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. To safeguard the role of the European Parliament in the EU legislative process, including as regards impact assessments and delegated and implementing acts, and its right to verify implementation of such legislation;
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. ETo emphasises that internationally agreed standards, where existing and up-to-date, should be adopted by the US and the EU, for example in the electronic devices sector, and that they must be consistent with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
Amendment 159 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. To reject the ISDS dispute settlement mechanism in that it would in fact lead to justice being privatised and would undermine the right of the competent authorities to regulate by exposing them to the threat of legal proceedings by private investors; to reject ISDS in particular in the light of the threat it would pose to the legal certainty of public procurement contracts in the EU;
Amendment 165 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. RecallsTo ensure, in view of the aim to continue to guarantee a high level of product safety within the Union; considers, that TTIP shoulddoes not question this requirement, but should eliminate unnecessary dupli and that testing and market surveillance measures are based on the precaution of testing that causesary principle, that they are necessary and that they do not lead to a waste of resources, in particular on low-risk products; demandsto call for the recognition by the US of self- declaration of conformity on products, where allowed by EU law;
Amendment 171 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. SupportsTo see to it that in the establishment of a mandatory structural dialogue and cooperation between regulators, in complete respect of regulatory autonomy, in particular in the engineering sector, comprising electrical and mechanical machinery, appliances and equipment;cluding on technical procedures linked to delegated and implementing acts in the sectors TTIP covers, regulatory autonomy is fully upheld, something which may be achieved through exchanges between the competent authorities when the regulations are drawn up; to make sturesses, however, that this should involve early warning mechanisms and exchanges at the time of preparation of regulations; believes that regulatory divergencooperation does not increase the administrative burden on EU and Member State institutions by adding unnecessary procedures or structures, that it does not slow down the legislative process arend the central non-tariff barrier (NTB) to trade, andat it does not create a risk of regulatory standstill; to make sure that regulators should exploretudy ways to promote compatibility, such as mutual recognition, harmonisation or alignment upwards of requirements, as regulatory divergences, when they do not reflect public interest explicitly set by the competent authorities, may be a non-tariff barrier (NTB) to trade;
Amendment 184 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Considers that the recognition of equivalence of the greatest possible number of vehicle safety regulations would be one of the most important achievements of TTIP; stresses that this will require verifying that the EU and US regulations provide for a similar level of protection; believes that this mustTo verify that EU and US regulations provide for equivalent levels of protection, as harmonisation or convergence upwards of the greatest possible number of vehicle safety regulations would be one of the most important achievements of TTIP, and this would be a step towards full regulatory convergence for the sector; urgesto advocate the strengthening of EU-US cooperation in the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), especially regarding new technologies;
Amendment 191 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. StressesGiven that SMEs are disproportionately affected by NTBs, which TTIP must seek to reduce or eliminate completely;, to urges that a coherent framework be established to allow SMEs to raise NTB issues with the appropriate authorities;
Amendment 198 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. ExpectsTo ensure that the agreement to makes it easier for SMEs to participate in transatlantic trade and reduce costs by modernising, digitising, simplifying and streamlining procedures, and by raising the de minimis threshold for customs duties and non-randomised controls;
Amendment 203 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. To make sure that the question of intellectual property rights, including copyright, trademarks and patents, is not included in the negotiations, as neither the Member States nor the EU have adopted comprehensive harmonisation measures for these matters;
Amendment 205 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. To make sure that data protection is not included in the negotiations, so as to abide by Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
Amendment 206 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13c. To make sure that measures on encryption are not included in the negotiations, so that the European Union’s high standards can be updated and constantly improved;
Amendment 212 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. ConsidersTo make sure that the EU and the US need to establish common rules to define the origin of products, and ensuring that such rules should bare clear and, easily applicable and shoul, support fair trade and consider current and future trends in production.