Activities of Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO related to 2014/2228(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (A8-0175/2015 - Bernd Lange) ES
Amendments (35)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph a
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph a
a. take immediate action to ensure that a comprehensive and ambitious agreement is reached on the TTIP enhancing fair competition on both sides of the Atlanticsuspends all actions with regards to the TTIP agreement in view of guaranteeing the adequate democratic scrutiny of the citizens of the options, at both European and national level;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point i
Paragraph 1 – point i
(i) to ensure that TTIP will make a significant positive contributionimmediately suspend the negotiations; and to creating more and better jobs and set ambitious global trade standards for sustainable development and labourfrain from any further attempts of imposing a global model of free trade standards; Believes that any further negotiations between the EU and US need to be subject to a fundamental rethink as called for by the European Trade Union Conference (ETUC);
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph b
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph b
b. take immediate action to ensure that free and fair competition on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as market access,any dispositions in the Treaty are subordinated to the right of the EU and its Member-States to define the levels of protection and that any such policy is not secured at the cost of social cohesion or the delivery of critical infrastructure or public services and is addressed on the basis of maintaining the highest standards possible within theand is done so with regard to existing levels of protection, especially within areas such as health and safety, education, consumer, labour and environmental legislation;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the CommissExpresses deep concern on Commission´s intention to maintain the objective of including a specific energy chapter in the TTIP which could significantly increase the EU’s energy security;.
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph c
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph c
c. take immediate action to include restrictions on state aid in the agreement; propose greater transparency within state aid rules and within the allocation of state aidallow individual member states use more state aid to vulnerable sectors of industry and allow for more proactive public sector enterprises. ;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point ii
(ii) to ensurguarantee that TTIP includes comprehensive provisions on labour laws and policies that are consistent with the core ILO Conventions and the Decent Work Agenda, with a clear commitment to promote higher standards and, furthermore, to ensurguarantee that where disputes arise, labour provisions will have a conditional dimensionprimacy over provisions of free movement;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph d
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph d
d. take immediate action to ensure that market accessongoing negotiations on financial services are combined with upward convergence in financial regulation; support high international standards in on-going cooperation efforts in other international foraand any eventual Agreement are used as an opportunity to improve and enforce higher standards through regulatory convergence;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point ii a (new)
(ii a) to guarantee a clear commitment from the EU and the US to revoke anti- trade union laws and actors such as the Troika and the right to work legislation;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point iii
(iii) to ensurguarantee that the horizontal dimensions of labour and social provisions are recognised and fully integrated into all relevant operational parts of the agreement to ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to trade and sustainable development;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph e
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph e
e. take immediate action to ensure that aggressive tax planning, and distortion of competition by e.g. moving of headquarters across the Atlantic to obtain competition-distorting conditions, are addressedprevent fiscal competition, namely through the dumping in the taxation of profits and financial gains and maintenance of offshores and other fiscally privileged zones;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point iv
(iv) to ensure that civil society can make a meaningful contribution to implementing relevant TTIP provisionsrespect the overwhelming opposition in civil society against TTIP which has been clearly expressed by the 1.5 million European citizens who have signed the Citizens' Initiative against TTIP;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph f
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph f
f. take immediate action to ensure that systematic movement of capital across the Atlantic, in order to avoid tax payments in the country of production and/or sale of goods or services, is addressedprohibited or subject to heavy taxation within the realm of TTIP;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls onReminds the Commission tohat work on transatlantic harmonisation of standards and regulations that define the principles of public support for different energy sources cannot in any way impair the right of Member States and the EU to set their own standards and regulations, especially with regard to the development of renewables and more efficient energy use;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph g
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph g
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point v
Paragraph 1 – point v
(v) to take immediate steps to safeguard the right of EU governments to legislate, organise, set quality and safety standards for, manage and regulate public servicesunequivocally exclude public services, including Services of General Interest and Services of Non-Economic Interests, as well as rules on public procurement from areas that can be liberalised;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph h
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph h
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point vi
(vi) to ensure that the specific challenges faced by SMEs are fully taken into accouthe 87 percent of all SMEs in Europe which are not involved in export but relies on domestic demand are fully taken into account; and to identify and clearly communicate which sectors and branches are likely to be adversely affected by TTIP prior to the signing of an agreement;
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points to the huge differentials between the USA and the EU in energy prices but also in per capita CO2 emissions; calls on the Commission, therefore, to provide energy-intensive sectors in the EU, including the chemicals industry, with appropriate measures maintaining current tariff rates over the longest possible period after the entry into force of the TTIPabstain from negotiations lowering regulatory standards in Europe or favouring environmental dumping;
Amendment 98 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph i
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph i
i. propose the introduction of a national court systems-first principle, to be supplemented with mediation and intergovernmental dispute mechanisms in legal disputes in order to ensure easier access and lower litigation costs than those offered by current ISDS- mechanisms, benefitting especially SMEs (having fewer resources available than large corporations), thus insists on the protection of democratic powers of legislators and takes immediate action to ensure the removal of any investor - state dispute settlement body (ISDS) as any interference from non- democreating more equal competition conditions; stress that any and all dispute mechanisms set in place within the TTIP-framework must uphold full transparency and be subject to democratic principlesc or non -EU bodies, contravenes democratic principles of sovereignty, transparency and scrutiny;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point vii
Paragraph 1 – point vii
(vii) to take steps to promote the uptake of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which must be additional to and not replace existing labour and environmental laws;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point viii
Paragraph 1 – point viii
(viii) to guarantee that agreement on anyno mechanism for investor-state dispute- settlement mechanism must take into accoun(ISDS) will be part of a final agreement; and to respect the results of the public consultation on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), must be fully transparent and democratically accountable and must not hinder legislators from passing laws in the area of employment policywhich showed wide opposition against ISDS rather than public support of a reformed ISDS; Believes that the ISDS undermines democratically adopted legislation which has been put in place to safeguard public interests;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph j
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph j
j. acknowledge the importance of state- owned enterprises for certain crucial services; and calls for immediate action in order to ensure that specific and identifiable provisions for the protection of State Owned Enterprises are prioritised;
Amendment 135 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x
Paragraph 1 – point x
(x) to ensure that statistical projections on job losses/gains, and on sectors, affected are constantly updated so that timely intervention can be undertaken by the Commission to support affected sectors, regions or Member States.; Believes that the negotiations are based on a flawed and biased impact assessment study which has not addressed the negative impacts on employment, job displacement, public finances and trade diversion1 ; __________________ 1 The Commission Impact assessment of TTIP is based on analysis carried out by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). However, a number of independent studies which have critically assessed the CEPR studies points out that the study has exaggerated the claims of growth and job creation. "Nor does it contain an adequate assessment of the risks or drawbacks", says the European Parliament Impact Assessment team (IMPA) (page 8 of the EP Initial appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/et udes/note/join/2013/507504/IPOL- JOIN_NT%282013%29507504_EN.pdf )
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph k
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph k
k. stress the need to uphold the EU’s tradition for organisfor each Member State to organise its own public services, to prioritise funding itsfor public services, and calls for an exclusion of public services from the agreementimmediate action to make provisions to allow flexibility to bring public services back into public control;
Amendment 143 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Requests thatCalls on the Commission facilitate more active participation of EU firms in US public procurement as this can contribute to stimulating private-sector innovation and to the emergence of new, high-growth innovative companies and sectorto exclude public procurement from TTIP negotiations;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph l
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph l
l. propose that there should be no obligation in TTIP to expose sensitive sectors to competitiontake immediate action in order to table additional vulnerability provisions which will allow for the exclusion of susceptible sectors from any final trade agreement; any agreed provisions should be made in tandem with consultation with relevant stakeholders and interested committees.
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point x a (new)
(x a) to abandon the export-led growth model and explore and prioritise other ways of stimulating much needed growth and creation of decent jobs in the EU: - promote counter-cyclical actions aimed at stimulating domestic demand and consumption and countering high; unemployment and social exclusion - revoke the 1/20 rule on debt reduction; - allow all public investments to be regarded as fiscally neutral as regards the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph l a (new)
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph l a (new)
la. ensure that the application of the Lisbon Treaty Article 218.10 (TFEU) which provides that the European Parliament shall be immediately and fully informed at all stages of the procedure;
Amendment 157 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point x b (new)
(x b) to reject the Regulatory Cooperation Council as it lacks democratic accountability, does not ensure multi- stakeholder representation and does not foresee social impact assessments of how new laws and regulations will affect working and living conditions of citizens;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x c (new)
Paragraph 1 – point x c (new)
(x c) to insert a sunset clause that activates after 5 years and that ensures that any subsequent re-activation can only be proposed after an extensive evaluation of the effects of the TTIP agreement;
Amendment 162 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reminds the Commission, while welcoming the potential benefits of regulatory alignment and mutual recognition, including the establishment of common principles in standards and technical specifications in the area of ICT, about the importance of maintaining high levels of safety and securit about the importance of maintaining high levels of safety and security in the area of ICT; calls on the Commission to exclude from the European market those firms who do not comply with EU standards, in particular in the fields of data protection and privacy;
Amendment 190 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Reminds the Commission, regarding ICT services, that it is of particular importance that the TTIP ensure a level playing field with equal access for EU service companies to the US market and with anof the asymmetries in size between EU and US service companies and of the obligation on US service providers to respect the rules applicable to EU companies when providing services in Europe or to European customers.
Amendment 197 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 8 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Regrets the lack of transparency in the Commission trade negotiations. Calls for a public and democratic debate with all relevant stakeholders, in particular trade unions and civil society representatives, ensuring adequate monitoring of the implications of the Commission s free trade agenda.
Amendment 199 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 – point 1 (new)
Paragraph 8 – point 1 (new)
(1) Underlines that any FTA agreement must be conditional to the safeguarding of current levels of regulation labour, environmental and social rights protection and safeguards on public provision, including the right of States to adopt higher standards in the futures in this regards, insists that any form of ISDS be excluded from FTA negotiations, in order to maintain democratic control over said regulations.