Activities of Jonás FERNÁNDEZ related to 2020/2058(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Sustainable Europe Investment Plan - How to finance the Green Deal (debate)
Amendments (25)
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the Commission’s European Recovery Plan with the European Green Deal at its heart; endorses the underlying principle that public investments will respect the oath to ‘do no harm’; highlights that this oath applies to both social and environmental objectives; emphasises that national recovery and resilience plans should put the EU on the path to a 50 % to 55 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 and climate neutrality by 2050 while providing sufficient guarantees to ensure social equity in the sustainable transition;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls for the issuing of long-term common bonds to contribute to financing the recovery and the just and sustainable transition;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Wishes to see it ensured that funding from the SEIP, at EU and national level, goes towards the policies and programmes with the highest potential to contribute to the fight against climate change, and looks forward to the Commission’s upcoming climate tracking methodology using appropriately the criteria established by the EU taxonomy; calls on the Commission to propose, after consultation of Parliament, and using similar criteria a framework laying down a methodology establishing eligibility criteria for climate-related expenditures, defining and tracking climate expenditure together with a proofing mechanism to identify harmful impacts in accordance with the “do not significantly harm” principle and the commitments under the Paris Agreement;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Highlights that the success of the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan depends on the coherence of EU policies, therefore underlines the need for harmonised sustainability indicators and a methodology for measuring impact, including LCA and natural capital accounting;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines the fact that, in order to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement, the EU’s contribution to the climate objectives should be underpinned by an ambitious share of climate-related expenditure in the EU budget, going much beyond the levels of targeted spending shares of at least 25 % over the MFF 2021- 2027 period and of 30% as soon as possible and at the latest by 2027; considers the EU budget should follow the spending target of the European Investment Bank of 50% to climate and environmental spending so as to be in line with the ambitious objectives set by the Climate Law; highlights that all MFF and Next Generation EU funds should be consistent with National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) and territorial Just Transition Plans where they are set up;
Amendment 284 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Supports the Commission’s innovative approach in stating that the EU budget will contribute to achieving climate objectives also through its revenue side; recalls Parliament’s longstanding position in favour of generating added-value and policy co-benefits by introducing green new own resources;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Calls on all Member States to join the enhanced cooperation framework to implement a Financial Transaction Tax;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Considers that for the EIB to play a successful role in financing the Green Deal, a bottom-up and participatory approach is crucial, and to better coordinate with various stakeholders, such as local and regional authorities and representatives from civil society;
Amendment 371 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Recalls the statement of the ECB President that the ECB is supporting the development of a taxonomy as a way of facilitating the incorporation of environmental considerations in central bank portfolios; calls on the ECB to evaluate the feasibility of including sustainability criteria in its collateral framework and its annual stress testing exercise, while assessing ways to guide lending towards energy transition investments and to rebuild a sustainable economy in the aftermath of the COVID- 19 crisis; encourages the ECB to move forward with its monetary policy review in order to evaluate the financing of economic activities causing significant harm to environmental and social objectives; calls on the ECB to disclose annually its degree of alignment with the Paris Agreement and its exposure to the EU taxonomy;
Amendment 385 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Supports the calls from the European Central Bank and the Central Banks and Regulators’ Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) to extend the EU taxonomy to unsustainable activities as soon as possible, enabling financial regulators to better assess sustainability-related financial risks;
Amendment 388 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Amendment 391 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Supports a renewed sustainable finance strategy; underlines the need for an EU eco-label for financial products, for an EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS), and for more reliable, comparable and accessible sustainability data obtained by harmonising sustainability indicators and creating a public sustainability data registerwith sector- specific Key Performance Indicators, an EU public sustainability data register and mainstreaming sustainability within all financial legislation through legislative reviews, enabling investors to better act upon their sustainability preferences;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Calls on the Commission to swiftly follow the advice of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and fully exclude nuclear energy generation as a sustainable activity as defined by the taxonomy framework, including as a transitional activity;
Amendment 422 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Favours the extension of the sustainability framework to the corporate sector; calls for mandatory sustainability reporting and due diligence for both financial institutions and large corporates, for stricter corporate liability regarding sustainability risks and for better quality data reporting, including by introducing verification mechanism and independent auditing;
Amendment 423 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Amendment 425 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recalls that investments in unsustainable economic activities may lead to stranded assets with lock-in effects; considers this risk to be insufficiently integrated in credit ratings and prudential frameworks including the Basel framework; calls for a review of the Credit Ratings Regulation to promote transparency in sustainability rating and an assessment of the possibility of inclusion of sustainability factors in prudential legislation; calls for the development of a brown taxonomy indicating investments facing increased exposure to climate risks and for the use of this brown taxonomy in the prudential framework;
Amendment 449 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. CHighlights the risk of reduced public spending on the sustainable transition in the context of the covid-19 crisis; calls for the introduction of an enabling framework for public sustainable investments to achieve the goals set out in the European Green Deal, but stresses that whatever financing model is chosen must not undermine the sustainability of public finance in the EU; supports the commitment by EVP Dombrovskis to explore how taxonomy can be used in the public sector; calls for public support for airlines to be used in a sustainable and efficient manneradvocates for the creation of a Sustainable Green Golden Rule to exclude sustainable investments from the EU’s economic governance framework; calls for a sustainable development pact to survey the implementation of the sustainability objectives and the green investment gap in each Member State; welcomes that EU Taxonomy will guide investment in Europe’s recovery to ensure it is in line with the EU-long term ambitions ; calls for a greater transparency of the degree of sustainability of public investment at EU and Member State level; supports the commitment by EVP Dombrovskis to explore how taxonomy can be used in the public sector; calls for public support for airlines to be used in a sustainable and efficient manner; supports the pledge by the Commission to explore how the EU Green Bond Standard, as well as other enabling frameworks, can increase public and private finance for sustainable investments;
Amendment 466 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls for the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) to last throughout the current economic and sanitary crisis; highlights that high debt levels following the reactivation of the budgetary rules may result in excessive deficit procedures for many EU Member States; calls for the reform of the SGP with an expenditure rule that facilitates net public investments, allows for counter-cyclical action and takes into consideration the EU fiscal stance as a whole, so as to reduce the risk of severe austerity imposed following the reactivation of the SGP, and enable the investment needed for the recovery and the sustainable and just transition;
Amendment 510 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Calls for companies benefitting from public support to commit to public country-by-country reporting, to respect their non-financial reporting obligations and to guarantee jobs, and disclose any beneficial treatment received; urges that such companies should fairly contribute to the recovery efforts by paying their fair share of taxes; seeks in this context a new social contract for corporates, harmonizing aims for profit with considerations for people and planet;
Amendment 534 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Invites the Commission to revise the Energy Tax Directive to increase relevant minimum excise duties that lost their effect due to inflation, end current tax exemptions to kerosene and maritime fuels, and coordinate a kerosene tax that could also feed into the EU budget;
Amendment 545 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Recalls that tax evasion and tax avoidance cause potential lost resources for national and EU budgets quantified as ranging from €50-70 billion to€160-190 billion;1a therefore seeks an intensified fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning ; calls on the Commission to establish criteria on which it assesses EU Member State that would result in a black-list of EU Member States facilitating tax avoidance and to draft binding tax compliance plans for these Member States; __________________ 1aEuropean Parliament, EPRS, Bringing transparency, coordination and convergence to corporate tax policies in the European Union: I - Assessment of the magnitude of aggressive corporate tax planning, Study, 2015
Amendment 547 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 c (new)
Paragraph 26 c (new)
26c. Recalls that Value Added Tax (VAT) can be used to incentivise moving from harmful to sustainable activities; therefore urges Member States to adopt the definitive package on VAT which would enable them to make use of targeted VAT rates for goods and services supporting the realisation of the European Green Deal;
Amendment 566 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Reiterates its call for phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies including in the form of a tax advantage, while fully respecting of the rights of Member State to choose their energy mix; supports, however, tax measures that would incentivise investment in cleaner energy and mode of transportation;