30 Amendments of Markus FERBER related to 2023/2077(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas EU competition policy has an important role in addrsetting fair conditions for doing business ing the consequences of crises, setting fair conditionssingle market, to protect markets against concentrations and the undue accumulation of market power, to encourage innovation and providing greater choice for consumerand lower prices for consumers and businesses;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas competition policy cshould contribute to bolstering the resilience of the internal market, as well as achievbe neutral ing the goals of the European Green Deal and the Digital Compaserms of secondary policy objectives;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the European Commission and national competition authorities need to act in an impartial and objective way in order to preserve the credibility of the EU's competition policy;
Amendment 21 #
Cb. whereas the political independence of national competition authorities is of utmost importance to ensure the impartiality and credibility of competition policy;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to safeguard the integrity of the single market; recalls that the response to the US Inflation Reduction Act must not be solely based on the use of State aid, but also on creating a more favourable environment for doing business, a renewed competition framework, providing speed and flexibility for companies investing and competing fairly in Europe;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes note of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF), as well as of the update of the State aid rulebook that allows investments for the green and digital transitions; welcomestakes note of the 2023 reviewadoption of the TCTF to introduceincluding the ‘matching clause’ and avoid a race towards; calls on the European Commission to carefully avoid creating the conditions for a subsidiesy race;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the European Commission to ensure that all temporary State aid instruments are sufficiently targeted to avoid fragmentation of the single market;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that additional public and private investment will be needed to face new challenges; underlines that athe European Sovereignty Fund financbudget needs to be properly equipped byto additional fresh money will addressress the challenges of the future, including the fragmentation of the internal market, supporting the EU’s industrial strategy, reduceing our critical dependencies and ensureing our open strategic autonomy; highlights that those challenges cannot be addressed by public spending alone;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines the importance of the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) for financing large transnational projects and achieving the EU’s strategic priorities, but deplores the process and time; takes note of the specific criteria for IPCEIs for the analysis of the compatibility with the internal market of State aid; deplores that the lengthy and complex procedures required as beingre often too burdensome for SMEs; calls on the Commission to ensure that any notification is completed within six months at the latest;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes the European Commission's vigilance in enforcing State aid rules in the area of taxation; points out that Commission rulings are often challenged in court and therefore need to be thoroughly prepared;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Deplores that several recent Commission decisions in high-profile competition cases in the area of taxation have been annulled by the Courts; calls on the European Commission to prepare their competition policy cases more thoroughly so that they can hold up in a court of law;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Notes with concern that annulment of fines as well as retroactive payment of default interest in annulled cases also poses a budgetary risk for the Union;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. WelcomesTakes note of the Commission’s announcement that it will launch an anti- subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles under Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union; underlines the importance of the effective implementation of EU instruments on foreign subsidies, including Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 on foreign subsidies in order to ensure the mitigation of potentially distortive effects on the single market; draws attention to the lack of resources with only five FTE within the Commission;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission to modernise public the procurement rules to help foster green and digital industry; calls on the Commission to take into account the sustainability and sovereignty criteria for public procurement rules in order to foster the production of goods ‘made in Europe’in order to deal with new priorities and operational challenges;
Amendment 75 #
8. Underlines the key role of the European Competition Network (ECN) as a forum to foster collaboration and cooperation among European competition authorities; calls on the Commission to strive for continued constructive dialogue and cooperation at international level; underlines the need to increase collaboration between antitrust and other sectoral regulators, such as those dealing with data privacy, to both supervise corporate data misuse and prevent companies from using consumer data to gain an unfair competitive advantage;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Points out that in a globalised world, international cooperation is crucial to ensure effective competition enforcement; stresses that dedicated cooperation agreements with third countries in the area of competition policy can meaningfully contribute to its effectiveness; calls on the Commission to develop the influence of competition policy in the world, in particular by stepping up cooperation with third countries via second generation cooperation agreements that allow for a more effective exchange of information between competition authorities;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. UNotes that the buying-out of start- ups by dominant players might dry up innovation and eventually competition; underlines the importance of the Commission takpaying decisive action, under Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation, againstclose attention to the phenomenon of ‘killer acquisitions’ that must be reported under the Digital Markets Act and taking decisive action under Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation where appropriate;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the Commission’s initiative to review its notice on the definition of ‘relevant market’ and looks forward to the outcomes of the public consultation; underlines the need to adopt a more dynamic approach and take into account a longer-term vision encompassing the global dimension and potential future competition; deplores that, in the past, the Commission has sometimes taken a too narrow perspective of the relevant market thus depriving European companies of the opportunity to effectively compete in a globalised arena;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls for the quantitative jurisdictional thresholds in the EC Merger Regulation to be reviewed periodically to reflect new market developments; notes in particular that the turnover thresholds in the Merger Regulation alone might not be suitable to detect all cases that should be reviewed by competition authorities;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to adopt furthermake better use of the instrument of interim measures to stop any practice which would seriously harm competition, particularly in relation to dynamic and rapidly developing markets such as digital markets;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to speed up antitrust procedures and introduce a, set appropriate time limits for antitrust cases in order tothe procedures and ensure thean effectiveness of EU rules; underlines that Spotify filed a complaint against Apple in 2019 and that, in spite of the Commission having issued a statement of objections, no concrete actions have been taken thus far to address Apple’s restrictions, preventing app developers from freely communicating with their own users follow-through of decisions taken;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Insists on effective remedies, which may require greater coordination between enforcers and further dialogue with third parties, as well as an appropriate enforcement; recalls that undertakings designated as gatekeepers have been subject to previous antitrust rulings, which have not led to effective behavioural changes; regrets the reluctance of the Commission to address market dominance through structural separationinvites the Commission to make better use of behavioural and structural remedies as a matter of last resort;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the market investigation into Apple’s iMessage in order to assess its role as a gateway; highlights the inclusion by default of iMessage on all iOS devices for more than 144 million users; stresses the importance of smartphones as an essential personal and professional tool; highlights that today’s market is dominated by two operating systems, with their own non-interoperable messaging services, which limits the possibility for users and businesses to freely move from one ecosystem to the otherlaunched by the European Commission to assess whether certain core platform services should be designated as gatekeepers under the DMA;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. RegretsTakes note of the absence of cloud services providers from the gatekeepers list, despite the damaging anti-competitive practices underlined by national competition authorities; highlights that the European cloud market is dominated by a few very large playconcentrated market structure and the substantial impact cloud services providers can have on their customers; calls on the Commission to ensure that all eligible services are designated in order to restore fair and equal competition in the European cloud market;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the Commission to monitor emerging technological trends and to look at emerging gatekeepers in generativenew fields such as Artificial Intelligence under the Digital Markets Act;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Stresses the need for the effective coexistence of competition law and the Digital Markets Act; calls on the Commission to ensuredeploy sufficient resources andstaffing resources, make the best use of possible synergies, and to avoid overlaps or duplications of existing structures and measures;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Calls on the responsible Member of the European Commission in charge of competition policy to stay in close contact with the European Parliament's competent Committee and its working group on competition issues;