Activities of Barbara KAPPEL related to 2016/2100(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on EU competition policy PDF (554 KB) DOC (121 KB)
Amendments (21)
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the annual report by the Commission on competition policy, which can help to restore a sufficient level of investment and innovation by creating a fair competition environment; also reiterates that Europe’s future should be based on innovation; notes that in the area of competition law the European Parliament is as a rule involved only through the consultation procedure, with the result that its influence still remains very limited in comparison with that of the Commission;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Reiterates that all market players should pay their fair share of tax; Wwelcomes the Commission’s in-depth investigations into anti-competitive practices such as selective tax advantages or excess profit ruling systems; emphasises that comprehensive, transparent and effective exchanges of tax information are a key prerequisite for preventing aggressive tax planning; stresses, at the same time, that simplifying tax arrangements at Member State level can do much to foster transparency and clarity;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission to make full use of its powers under competition law to help Member States to tackle harmful tax practices efficiently;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy; reiterates that a unified digital single market could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and could contribute EUR 415 billion per year to the EU economy; observes at the same time that traditional market models of competition policy are often not sufficiently relevant to the digital internal market; calls, therefore, for greater attention to be focused on the new business models used by digital companies and for new assessment criteria to be applied to those companies; calls also for the specific market structures in the digital economy to be taken more fully into account;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to take more ambitious steps to eliminate obstacles to online competition, in order to ensure barrier-free online shopping for EU consumers purchasing from sellers who are based in another Member State; notes that, to eliminate these obstacles, long-term investments in the necessary infrastructure are needed and should be made in accordance with the requirements of the market and of competition;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes, furthermore, the current Commission practice whereby instant messaging (IM) applications are not compared with services of a different nature provided by the general telecommunications sector; notes, however, that these services use, free of charge, infrastructure provided and financed by the telecommunications sector;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the Commission’s investigations into certain anti-competitive practices by a number of companies, in particularly Google, Amazon, Qualcomm and other media companies, film studios and TV distributormultinational companies; calls on the Commission to speed up all procedures against behaviour which infringes EU antitrust rules;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that competition in the telecommunications sector is essential, not only to drive innovation and investment in networks but also to encourage affordable prices and choice of services for consumers; calls on the Commission, therefore, to safeguard competition in this sector, including with regard to spectrum allocation; stresses, however, that in order to maintain competition in this sector it is not only necessary to focus on Europe as a whole but also to guarantee competition among telecoms providers within the Member States;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. ConsiderWelcomes thate ending of roaming charges in the EU isand not sufficient and that intra-EU calls must be also regulated on the same level as local calls; calls on the Commission to submit a legislative proposal for regulating intra-EU caes that problems persist regarding the level playing field in the wholesale roaming market, which could lead to arbitrage with an adverse impact on individual companies; calls on the Commission to monitor market abuses more carefullsy;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the overhaul of the state aid rules; reminds the Member States, nonetheless, that the aim was to better target aid measures towards economic growth, quality job creation and social cohesion; also remindscalls on the Commission of, in the need to prevent certain governments from acting in bad faith as they do when misspending EU fundMember States and at regional and local government levels, to actively promote compliance with EU competition policy, in particular with regard to the classification and granting of illegal state aid, especially when it is tantamount to anti-competitive and protectionist measures;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Stresses that, according to a new European Court of Auditors report, there has been in the past a significant level of non-compliance with state aid rules by Member States; points out that that stems from the fact that, to reduce administrative burden and increase transparency, the Commission has simplified state aid legislation, but that, as a result, Member States have made many mistakes when designing and implementing state aid schemes; calls on the Commission to support Member State audit authorities in carrying out checks, having regard to the scope and quality thereof, on compliance with state aid rules;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses that – as the Commission has stated for the sixth time in its annual competition report – the temporary state aid granted in the financial sector was necessary for the stabilisation of the global financial system, but must quickly be reduced, or totally removed and scrutinised, once the Banking Union is completed;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission to keep its cartel enforcement record strong and effective in all cases where it has sufficient evidence of infringement; welcomes last year’s five decisions relating to a total of EUR 365 million in fines; also calls, however, for extra vigilance regarding airlines’ ‘anti-competitive cooperation practices’;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes that the number of notified mergers increased significantly in 2015; asks, therefore, for the relevant serviceCalls for the services examining proposed mergers to be provided with the necessary resources to deal with the workload, thus enabling them to continue to deal effectively with this situation;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. WelcomesStresses that the Commission’s Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy, and agrees with its five interrelated policy dimensions; also stresses that the EU needs to move away from an economy driven by fossil fuel must continue to be subject to competition law and that state aid checks should also be carried out on measures involving, for example, subsidies for mature technologies;
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the different antitrust investigations, in particular those into against Gazprom and Bulgargaz, aimed at ensuring market integration in the Energy Union; regrets, however, the practice on the part of certain Member States of buying gas through offshore companies, as being a typical example of tax avoidance and an act that is contrary to a properly functioning Energy Union;
Amendment 324 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the efforts of the Commission to promote the market integration of renewable energy sources in order to avoid distortions of competition; underlines, however, the responsibility of Member States in promoting and financing the production and use of renewable energy, but looks to the Commission also to take measures to prevent distortions of competition arising out of Member State support programmes;
Amendment 358 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Stresses that excessive taxation of the agri-food industry could easily destroy competition and would be against the interests of consumers; points out, however, that tax policy remains exclusively a Member State matter, so that the Commission should confine itself to issuing recommendations;
Amendment 406 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to put forward a proposal for EU action to ensure that the national competition authorities are more effective enforcers, so that the full potential of the decentralised system of EU competition enforcement can be realised;
Amendment 431 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Stresses that Parliament should also be granted codecision powers in the field of competition policy, and regrets that this area of Union policy has not been strengthened in its democratic dimension in recent treaty amendments; calls, therefore, for the treaties to be amended accordingly and for the ordinary legislative procedure under the Lisbon Treaty to apply to competition law too;