Activities of Miguel VIEGAS related to 2014/2059(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European Semester for economic policy coordination: implementation of 2014 priorities (A8-0019/2014 - Philippe De Backer) PT
Amendments (41)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas compliance with the EU fiscal and macroeconomic surveillance frameworkfiscal sustainability is essential to the proper functioning of the European Monetary Union (EMU);
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas low or negative growth and unemployment are responsible for lower revenues and increasing social expenditure and are, thus, the main cause for fiscal unsustainability;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas, in the context of persistently high debt and unemployment levels, low nominal GDP growth, and the challenges of an ageing society and of supporting job creation, particularly for young people, fiscal consolidation must continue in a growth-friendly and differentiated mannergrowth and job creation policies are the crucial pre- conditions to fiscal consolidation;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the priorities for this year’s European Semester were established by the European Council in March, and were reconfirmed in June; whereas the emphasis is on policies that enhance competitiveness, support job creation and fight unemployment, and on the follow-up to reforms to improve the functioning offurther deregulate labour markets;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis in the EU have significantly hampered access byausterity policies have significantly hampered demand, restricting the flow of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to financial resources;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes the fact that economic recovery in the EU is under way; reiterates, howgrowth in the EU has stagnated, with 0,2% in the 2nd semester of 2014. Furthermore, ever,n that this recovery is fragile and uneven, and must be sustained in orderis stagnation scenario is uneven, with several member-states in recession. In any case, austerity policies are failing to deliver more growth and jobs in the medium term;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes that even this extremely low growth was only possible because of 0,3% rise in household consumption, showing the importance of a shift from labour market deregulation to demand-oriented policies and wages increases;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the ambitiousNotes the structural reforms implemented by Member States under the macroeconomic adjustment programmes; finds it regrettable that the Member States in the rest of the euro area are less ambitious in modernising their economies, which is one of the reasons for the low growth prospects in the medium and long term which have caused recession, huge rises in unemployment and also public debt relative to GDP;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses, therefore, the importance of continuing the process of deep and sustainable structural reformshifting from austerity to public investment and demand-oriented policies to deliver on growth and jobs; reiterates, in this connection, the fact that the EU cannot compete on costs alone, but needs to invest more in research and development, education and skills, and resource efficiency, both at national and European level;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines, once again, the fact that the overall indebtedness of Member States in the euro area was worsened by austerity policies; Notes that this situation is not only an obstacle to growth but also puts a huge burden on future generations;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Reiterates, therefore, the fact that Member States should pay particular attention when devising economic policies and reforms as regards the impact on future generations not to deprive young people of theirjob opportunities from th, decent work and welfare starte;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the fact that the EMU is far from complete and reminds the Commission of its obligations and commitments to enhancachieve economic convergence and strengthen competitiveness in the EU; welcomes, in this respect, the commitment by the next President-elect of the Commission to deliver on the roadmap set out the report of 5 December 2012 entitled ‘Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union’in the EU;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes the 2014 package of country- specific recommendations (CSRs) by the Commission; notesIs puzzled by the Commission’'s assessment that some progress has been achieved in sustaining fiscal consolidation and structural reform, particularly in reforming labour marketswhen the opposite has occurred;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Supports the objective of placing emphasis on policies that enhance competitiveness, support job creation, fight unemployment and improve the functioning of the labour market; Notes however that emphasis on labour market and "competitiveness" that has inspired those policies has failed to deliver on any those objectives;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recalls, however, that Member States’ track record of implementing the CSRs is very lowariable; believes that there is an inconsistency between European commitment and national implementation of the CSRs by Member States; stresses the importance of ‘national ownership’ by the relevant governments of EU-level commitmentrespecting the sovereignty of elected governments and deplores persistent attempts by the Commission to put pressure or override national institutions;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. UnderRealinzes theat this fact that thesuch low levels of implementation of CSRs is a precoinseparable from the poor track record of European recommendiation fors in achieving economic convergence in the EMU, which is key to the proper functioning thereof, allowing for financial and economic stability that is conducive to growth and jobs;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Underlines the fact that a number of CSRs are based on EUhave no legal actbasis and that failure to act upon them may result in legal procedures; reminds Member States to deliver on their legal obligations under EU laware examples of interference of the Commission on national policies;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission, as guardian of the Treaty, to make full use of all measures provided for in EU law to support the enforcement of the implementation of the CSRsto assess the results of the implementation of the CSRs and other European policies on eurozone economic performance and evaluate the impact of its guidelines on growth and job creation;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Requests that the Commission report on a quarterly basis in Parliament’s competent committee on the measures taken to ensure progress on the implementation of the CSRs and on the progress achieved thus far; invites Member States to explain the reasons for non- compliance with the CRSs in Parliament’s competent committee; suggests that the economic results of complying member- states are compared with those of non- complying ones;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the President of the Eurogroup to effectively monitor the implementation of the CSRs by the Member States of the euro area, and to report on the progress made and the results as part of the assessment by the Eurogroup of the draft 2015 budgetary plans, to be submitted by mid-October 2014 by the Member States concerned;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Believes that with regard to the forthcoming European Semester, the policy of growth-friendly fiscal consolidation through growth should be pursued to improve fiscal sustainability; stresses, however, the fact that special emphasis should be placed on growth-enhancingdemand-oriented reforms and, policies and investment;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Encourages Member States to overcome domestic political opposition to modernise their economies,strengthen their public social security systems and health care, in order to avoid placing an excessive burden on future generationsrobbing future generations of the welfare state;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Believes that structural reforms should particularly be targeted at improving labour markets’ capacity to integrate young people into the workforce; believes, also, that structural reform should be aimed at theunemployment is, by far, the greatest threat to mid- and long-term sustainability ofor social security, health-care and pension systems, making job creation the absolute priority to protect these systems;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Points out that the absence of a well functioning internal labour marketrising levels of unemployment and precarious work and of a positive approach to immigration hampers growth in the EU; calls on the Commission and the Members States to establish a common labour market and abased on solid rights and an open modern immigration policy;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Stresses, once again, its call on Member States to simplifyrove the redistributive capacity of their tax systems and reiterates its call to shift taxes from labour to consumption to make the use of resources more efficient and sustainablrevenue; calls on the Commission to take urgent action and develop a comprehensive strategy based on concrete legislative measures to fight tax fraud and tax evasion banning tax heavens and creating and a minimum corporate tax rate in the eurozone;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Reiterates the fact that structural reforms must be complemented by longer- term investment in education, research, innovation and sustainable energy; stresses, however, the fact that private investment is more conducive to growth than public investment;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Points out that government-induced growth risks being unsustainable over the medium term; stresses the fact that the already high levels of public debt do not allow for a significant increase in spending, if the reform and consolidation efforts are not to be in vainin a liquidity trap scenario, with historically low levels of credit to the real economy, even unconventional monetary policy will prove ineffective without public expenditure and investment; stresses the fact that austerity reforms and consolidation efforts proved counter- productive, particularly in the countries under the adjustment programmes which have consistently failed all consolidation objectives;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Believes that the biggest limitation on the EU economy is the low level of aggregate demand, which leads to low levels of private investment;
Amendment 294 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Underlines the fact that public and private investment is crucial, as it works on the supply and demand side of the economy, creating jobs, generating incomes for households, increasing tax revenue, helping governments consolidate and boosting growth;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Underlines the fact that public and private investment iss are crucial, as it works on the supply and demand side of the economy creating jobs, generating incomes for households, increasing tax revenue, helping governments consolidateing and boosting growth;
Amendment 300 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission finally to deliver on its commitment to complete the single market, particularly as regards services; uUrges the Member States to deliver on their commitments on the EU2020 strategy, particularly with regard to research and innovation an objective only possible with full use of existing public resources and further public investment in this area;
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Is concerned abouNotes that protectionist tendencies in certain Member States; points out that the Treaty does not provide for the restriction of the free movement of people, services or capital, and recalls that the Commission must safeguard and enforce these freedoms reflect the failure of eurozone to deliver on economic growth and convergence, job creation and improving social indicators and quality of life;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Underlines the fact that a lack of access to finance, particularly for SMEs, poses a huge obstacle to growth in the EUSMEs main obstacle is a depressed demand;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Stresses the fact that a solid and stable financial system, only possible with strong market-making public institutions, is crucial for future growth;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Maintains that, as the President of the ECB has said, action must not be confined to austerity measures, given that Member States have a vital role to play in boosting aggregate demand, a key factor in economic growth and employment;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Maintains that, as the President of the ECB has said, action must not be confined to austerity measures, given that Member States have a vital role to play in boosting aggregate demand, a key factor in economic growth and employment;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Stresses the need to strengthen democratic accountability to the European Parliament and the national parliaments as regards essential elements of the euro area’s operation, such as the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism, Eurogroup decisions, and the monitoring and evaluation of financial assistance programmes;