25 Amendments of Xabier BENITO ZILUAGA related to 2018/0213(COD)
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) At Union level, the European Semester of economic policy coordination isand the framework to identify nNational rReform priorities and monitorProgrammes have to change their implemorientation. Member States develop their own national multiannual investment strategies in support of those reform priori, in order to alter the adjustment objectives. Those strategies should be presented alongside the yearly National Reform Programmes as a way to outline and coordinate priority investment projects to be supported by national and/or Union funding. They should also serve to use Union funding in a coherent manner and to maximise the added value of the financial support to be received notably from the programmes supported by the Union under the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion fund, the European Social Fund, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the European Investment Stabilisation Function and InvestEU, where relevant for undertaking reforms committed with an expansive economic policy. This policy has to be able of reinforce social investments, counter-cyclical economic policy, and provide a strong cohesion policy, within a Europe based on solidarity.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) The economic and financial crisis has shown that developing sound and resilient economies and financial systems built one vulnerability of European economies and financial systems. The depth and duration of the subsequent recession, as well as the asymmetry of the current recovery, demonstrate the need for economic reform in order to build strong economic and social structures helpsin Member States to respond more efficiently to. This should allow economies to withstand shocks and recover more swiftly from them. The implementation of structural reforms is among the Union’s policy priorities because such reforms seek to set the recovery on a sustainable path, unlock the growth potential, strengthen the adjustment capacity and support the process of upward convergence. Pursuing structural reforms can also contribute to strengthening economic and social cohesion, boosting productivity and investment and creating good conditions for sustainable growth and employment in the Union.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) The Commission's Communication of 6 December 201720 , part of a package of initiatives to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union, proposed to create a reform delivery tool and a convergence facility as new budgetary instruments. The objective of such instruments was to strengthen resilience of domestic economies and unleash positive spillover effects across Member States by providing incentives for the implementation of structural reforms that contribute to those objectives and are essential for the stability ofreforms. The European Parliament is of the opinion that modification is needed to the economic architecture of the Eurozone, and paving the way to set the conditions of a real convergence in the field of investment, employment rate and income and wealth distribution at social and territory level. A Monetary Union in a single market, without an internal distribution mechanism, will only intensify the Eeconomic and Monetary Uniondivergence between core and peripheries. __________________ 20 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council and the European Central Bank, new budgetary instruments for a stable euro area within the Union framework, COM(2017) 822 final
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Against that background, it is necessary to strengthen the current framework for the provision of support to Member States by offering direct financial support, alongside technical support. To that end, a new Reform Support Programme ('the Programme') should be established to provide effective incentives to step up the implementation of structural reforms in the Member States. The Programme should be comprehensive and should also benefit from the experience gained by the Commission and the Member States from the use of the other instruments and programmes. The Programme should also continue the actions and the mode of operation of the SRSP, since they have been proven very useful, and have been appreciated by Member States, for strengthening the administrative capacity of national authorities in various policy domains. The Programme should also include targeted support for reforms in Member States whose currency is not the euro and which have taken demonstrable steps towards adopting the single currency within a given time-frame.
Amendment 86 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) The Programme's overall objective is the enhancement of cohesion, competitivenesseconomic cooperation, productivity, growth, and employment. For that purpose, it should provide financial incentives for addressing challenges of a structural nature, and should help to strengthen the administrative capacity of the Member States insofar as their institutions and economic and social sectors are concerned.
Amendment 104 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) With regard to the reform delivery tool, it is necessary to identify the types of reforms that should be eligible for financial support. To ensure their contribution to the objectives of the Programme, the eligible reforms should be those addressing the challenges identified in the context of the European Semester of economic policy coordination, including those proposed to address the country-specific recommendationof economic recessions, increased unemployment, or a financial crises, attributing a more important role of intervention to the public policies.
Amendment 122 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) It is necessary to establish a process for the submission of proposals for reform commitments by the Member States, and the content thereof. With a view to ensuring the expediency of procedures, a Member State should submit the proposal for reform commitments together with its national reform programme, but in the form of a separate annex, which may also be submitted at a different point in time. While participation in the Programme is voluntary, Member States experiencing excessive imbalances should be particularly encouraged to come forward with reform proposals under the reform delivery tool, which address the problems that led to such excessive imbalanwhose economies have been damaged by recessive economic policy that were imposed through the conditionality of financial assistance programmes should be given additional support for the implementation of growth-enhancing reforms and the strengthening of social services.
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) Appropriate guidelines should be set out, as an annex to this Regulation, to serve as a basis for the Commission to assess - in a transparent and equitable manner - the proposals for reform commitments put forward by the Member States and to determine the financial contribution in conformity with the objectives and any other relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation. In the interest of transparency and efficiency, a rating system for the assessment of the proposals for reform commitments should be established to that effect. This rating system will provide for the possibility of a broad spectrum of economic policies within the Programme. This is necessary in order to ensure that The Programme does not restrict the Member States' ability to implement economic policies and reform agendas that reflect the democratic mandate of their national governments.
Amendment 153 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) To foster the stability of the reform commitments, a Member State should have the possibility to amend the reform commitments only once within the period of implementation, where objective circumstances justify such a course of actionor in the event of a change of government at national level with a democratic mandate for different economic policies or reform agenda.
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 33
Recital 33
(33) The technical support instrument under the Programme should continue to support, the implementation of reforms undertaken at the initiative of the Member States, reforms in the context of economic governance processes or actions related to the implementation of Union law, and reforms in relation to the implementation prioritise assistance to countries who have experienced an exacerbated recession due to the harmful economic conditionality of economic adjustment programmes. It should also provide technical support for the preparation and implementation of reforms to be undertaken under the other Programme instruments.
Amendment 160 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 37
Recital 37
Amendment 177 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2
2. ‘financial support’ means a financial contribution to a Member State for the purpose of the implementation of structural reforms identified in the context of the European Semester process in accordance with Article 2-a of Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/9728 , and for the purpose of implementation of reforms that are relevant for preparation for participation in the euro area; __________________ 28 Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies (OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 1)reforms, including reforms that are relevant for preparation for participation in the euro area;
Amendment 181 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6 a (new)
6a. "Real convergence and acceptable conditions of integration in the Eurozone". The EU assumes the commitment of addressing the necessary reforms to prepare the conditions of having an economic area conceived for an optimal integration of all the old and new Member States. This implies that the EU is obliged to give steps in the way of implementing policy for a real convergence. In other words, economic and employment policies to tackle first the lower levels of unemployment or investment in peripheral countries, due to the privileges enjoyed by the countries with external surplus, and the implementation of an internal redistributive and automatic mechanisms for off-setting the single market trends, which creates divergences within the Eurozone.
Amendment 210 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
The general and the specific objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5 shall refer to policy areas related to cohesion, ecompetitivenessnomic cooperation and efficiency, productivity, research and innovation, smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth, jobs and investment, and in particular to one or more of the following:
Amendment 220 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) fairer business environment, including for small and medium-sized enterprises, re- industrialisation, private sector development, product and service markets,sustainable development, public investment, public participation in enterprises, nationalization and privatisation processes, trade and foreign direct investment, competition andfair trade, public procurement, sustainable sectoral development and support for research and innovation and digitisation;
Amendment 223 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) education and training, democratic labour market policies for protecting workers and quality of work and employment conditions, including social dialogue, for the creation of jobs, digital skills, the fight against poverty, the promotion of social inclusion, social security and social welfare systems, public health and healthcare systems, as well as cohesion, asylum, migra reception and border policiesintegration;
Amendment 229 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point e
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point e
(e) policies for implementing climate action, mobility, promoting energy and resource efficiency, renewable energy sources, achieving energy diversification and ensuring energy securitytransition away from hydro- carbons, and for the agricultural sector, fisheries and the sustainable development of rural areas; and
Amendment 266 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Amendment 275 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Amendment 316 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 7 – point a – point 1 – indent 1
Article 11 – paragraph 7 – point a – point 1 – indent 1
Amendment 321 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 7 – point a – point 1 – indent 2
Article 11 – paragraph 7 – point a – point 1 – indent 2
Amendment 359 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 7
Article 15 – paragraph 7
Amendment 391 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 25 – paragraph 1
Article 25 – paragraph 1
Structural reforms eligible for financing under the convergence facility shall be reforms that help eligible Members States in their preparation to join the euro area. Those reforms shall be aimed at addressing challenges identified for having a stronger public administration and policy with means to overcome economic recessions and low level of employment or investment. At the same time, the EU will develop a new architecture for avoiding the contextfailures of the European Semester of economic policy coordinationzone, as it is not underpinned by an internal redistributive mechanism nor a basis for a real convergence among the Member States.
Amendment 404 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 35 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 35 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2