Activities of Sander LOONES related to 2018/2102(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Annual Report on Competition Policy
Amendments (21)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Reminds that international trade and investment agreements should have a specific and strong competition chapter;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
– having regard to the Commission Notice of 19 July 2016 on the notion of State aid as referred to in Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Underlines the importance of global cooperation on competition enforcement, encourages an active involvement of the Commission and the national competition authorities in the International Competition Network;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that a competition policy aimed at ensuring a level playing field in all sectors is a cornerstone of the European social market economy, and a key factor in guaranteeing the proper functioning of the internal market; Welcomes the Commission’s activities and efforts to ensure the effective application of competition rules in the Union;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that the treaty-based competition rules must be interpreted in the light of the wider European values underpinning the Union’s social market economy, notably environmental and social protection, equality considerapplied in consistency with the other policies and activities of the European Union, as enshrined in article 7 TFEU; notes furthermore that article 9 TFEU states that ‘in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of educations, consumer protection and public health, as mandated by Article 7 TFEU; takes the view,training and protection of human health’; draws attention to article 36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, demanding the refore, that activities which cause negative social and environmental externalities create market distortions that need to be addressed by means of competition law while, conversely, activities which bringspect for access to services of general economic interest as provided for in national laws and practices, in order to promote the social and territorial cohesion of the Union; takes the view, therefore, that social orand environmental benefits should be explicitly taken into account when assessing treaty- basedinterpreting the EU competition provisionrules;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that even when products or services are supplied for free, most notably in the digital economy, consumers may still have to endure unjust behaviour, such as a degradation in quality or extortive practices; calltakes therefore, for the purposes of the cases under consideration, for the formulation of a 'theory of harm', which view that EU competition rules should transcend price- centric approaches and account for broader considerations such as the impaquality of products onr services also in view of citizens’ privacy;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. UCalls on the Commission to take ambitious steps to eliminate illegitimate obstacles to online competition; underlines the urgent need for an effective framework tailored to the challenges of the data-driven economy; notes in particular that digital platforms, in controlling ever-increasing data flows, generate considerable network externalities and economies of scale, and ultimately, by dint of excessive concentration, rent extraction and abusive market power, bring about market failures;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission, in this regard, to adjudge the control of data necessary for the creation and provision of services as a proxy for the existence of market power, including when issuing its guidance on Article 102 TFEU, and to require interoperability between online platforms and social network providers; requests that the Commission provide a dedicated chapter on these issues in its next annual report on competition policy, including case studies onand monitor price caps in sectors such as online platforms for accommodation and tourism;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the fact thatexistence of barriers to entry in the digital economy are becoming increasingly insurmountable, as the more that unjust behaviour is perpetuated, the harder it gets to revert to anti-competitive effects; affirms, in this regard; considers in this regard that interim measures can be a useful tool for competition authorities to ensure that competition is not harmed while an investigation is on-going; affirms, therefore, that the Commission should make effective use of interim measures, while ensuring due process and the right of defence of undertakings under investigation;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Welcomes the Commission's commitment that it will undertake an analysis of whether there are means to simplify the adoption of interim measures within the European Competition Network within two years from the date of transposition of the ECN+ Directive; recommends in this regard that the Commission learns from best practices in other jurisdictions;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Considers that it is a priority to ensure that State aid rules are strictly and impartially adhered to when dealing with future banking crises, so that taxpayers are protected against the burden of bank rescues;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Reiterates its request for the Commission to examine whether banking institutions have, since the onset of the crisis, benefited from implicit subsidies and state aid through the provision of liquidity support from central banks; recalls the commitment made by Commissioner Vestager at the structured dialogue with Parliament’s ECON committee in November 2017 to reflect on possible distortions of competition arising from the ECB’s Corporate Sector Purchase Programme and to report back with a qualitative answer; emphasises in this regard that the notion of selectivity in State aid is an essential criterion that needs to be investigated thoroughly; further points in this regard to Article 4(3) TEU which contains the so-called principle of loyalty;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Welcomes the constant efforts of the Commission to clarify the different aspects of the definition of state aid, as demonstrated in its Notice on the notion of State aid as referred to in Article 107(1) of the TFEU; notes in particular the efforts to clarify the notions of 'undertaking' and 'economic activity’; points out that nature conservation activities, accessible to the general public free of charge or for which a monetary contribution is paid that only covers a fraction of the true costs, fulfil a purely social and cultural purpose which is non- economic in nature; observes nonetheless that it remains difficult, especially in the field of social affairs, to draw the line between economic and non-economic activities; further points out that it is the role of the European Court of Justice to ensure the proper interpretation of the Treaty;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Underlines that the application of competition rules to mergers must be evaluated from the perspective of the entire internal market;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Is deeply alarmed at the far- reachingNotes the concentration of the food supply chain, whereby four companies, all with close financial ties, own and sell up to 60 % of the global seed market and 75 % of global pesticides, to the potential detriment of consumers, farmers, the environment and biodiversity alike; points out that such an oligopoly will make farmers even murges the Commission to remain vigilant and strictly enforce technologically and economically dependent on a few globally integrated one-stop-shop platforms, produce limited seed diversity, re-direct trends in innovation away from the adoption of a production model which is respectful of the envirarticle 102 prohibiting the abuse of a dominant position as well as its merger control procedures, enshrined in Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of conmcent and biodiversity and ultimately, as a result of reduced competition, generate less innovationrations between undertakings;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Asks the Commission to come forward with a revision of the EU Merger Regulation, so that it may be vested with the powers, much as a numbexamine the viability in the digital era of Member States are at present, to adopt measures to protect the European public order and the rights and principlesexisting competition law instruments and concepts, particularly in the field of mergers, and to come forward with a revision of the TFEU and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, including environmental protecMerger Regulation;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls for Article 101(3) TFEU to be interpreted, including in the Commission’s horizontal guidelines, in a way that does not focuNotes that the European Court of Justice interprets article 101 TFEU taking into account the different aims of the Treaties; points oin narrow, price- centric consumer welfare but that considers the need for social and environmental efficiency, by encouraging horizontal coordination in orparticular to the Wouters judgment (C-309/99) in which the general interest was predominant and therefore limitations of competition were considered to improve the environmental and social sustainability of the supply chain; points out that the efficiencies generated by such agreement in a relevant market must be sufficient to outweigh the anti-competitive effects that they produce in either the same or an unrelated geographical markebe justified; welcomes and encourages that EU competition practice does not solely focus on price-centric consumer welfare; stresses the importance of the proportionality principle, meaning that limitation of competition cannot go beyond what is necessary to achieve the general interest;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recognises that the legally binding commitments undertaken by the Member States as part of the Paris Climate Agreement will not be realised without concrete state measures to promote and finance the production and use of renewable energy; takes note of the forthcoming revision of the guidelines on state aid and energy, which will no longer exclude two of the sectors that benefit the most from state subsidies, nuclear energy and fossil fuel extraction, and which provide for greater flexibility for consumer-generated renewable energnotes that the definition of the energy mix of Member States remains a national competence; considers that the high diversification of energy mixes across the EU contributes to the EU's energy security;
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Highlights that global cooperation on competition enforcement helps to avoid inconsistencies in remedies and outcomes of enforcement actions and helps businesses to reduce their costs of compliance; supports an active participation of the Commission, national and where applicable regional competition authorities in the International Competition Network;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Reiterates its support for international trade and investment agreements to include strong competition sections;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the national and where applicable regional competition authorities, and the national parliaments of the Member States.