Activities of Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA related to 2022/2060(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Competition policy - annual report 2022 (debate)
Amendments (18)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas competition policy should aim to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation by establishing a legal framework that enables our companies to be stronger both in our internal market and in the international market;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the institutions must ensure the proper functioning of competition policy in the internal market because of its impact on the economic interests of businesses and citizens;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the European Commission must develop the requisite instruments to act impartially and objectively in order to preserve the credibility of EU competition policy, adopting the digital measures that will enable it to respond in a more agile and resilient manner so as to establish a more appropriate framework that is better suited to the new challenges that arise;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that EU competition policy protects market structures against concentrations and accumulations ofmust safeguard the integrity and resilience of the single market, power, just as it advances consumer welfarerotecting its consumers by fostering the market economy;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the quick adoption of the Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy following the aggression against Ukraine by Russia, and the subsequent prolongations thereof; invites the Commission to apply the requisite flexibility to enable Member States to support the companies and sectors affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to safeguard the integrity of the internal market and is deeply concerned about the risk of increasing fragmentation within the internal market due to excessive use of subsidies in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act; understands the need for additional public investments; considers the introduction of dedicated permanent, if necessary debt-financed, European investment funds to be a better policy responsetakes the view that the trade war between the USA and China is having a major impact on the European market; deplores the EU’s sluggish reaction to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA);
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers the rise ing energy and food prices to becaused by the war in Ukraine to be one of the main drivers of the current hike in inflation; deplores some undertakings’ freeriding in the context of rising energy and food prices and reiterates that the Commission must make use of all the available tools under competition law to tackle market distortions and unfair price manipulation in the energy and food markets; calls for consumer vulnerability to be taken into consideration when assessing the abusiveness of a dominant undertaking’s conduct in an impartial and objective manner in order to preserve the credibility of EU competition policy; stresses that SMEs, which account for 99.8% of the EU’s companies, can face major difficulties in accessing finance and subsidies, thus placing them at a competitive disadvantage;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for a permanent market investigation mechanism, which should be triggered automatically upon the fulfilment of certain conditions, such as a specific rise in prices, in order to prevent any future freeriding effectson the European Commission to provide an effective set of instruments enabling it to act impartially and comprehensively in ensuring the proper functioning of the single market and competition policy;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the quantitative jurisdictional thresholds in the EC Merger Regulation to be reviewed and loweredTakes the view that that not all market concentrations have negative consequences; calls foron the introduction of a rebuttable presumption that effective competition is significantly impeded by any concentration leading to a dominant position in a relevant market or any concentration involving a very large market operator or a gatekeeper; calls for matters of public interest, such as climate protection, sustainability and the rule of law, to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market; calls for the inclusion of review clauses in decisions approving a concentration with a view to introducing more stringent conditionsCommission to make a distinction between anti- competitive and hyper-competitive behaviour when implementing the rules; calls for matters of public interest to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to establish a publicly accessible database of all European and national competition law cases, including summaries in English, and to facilitate cooperation between the national and international bodies responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the market and fair competition;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the creation of a new Commission directorate for the enforcement of the DMA; deplores the Member States’ unwillingness to make available additional financial resources to enable more data-science and technology staff to be hired for the Commission;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. WelcomNotes the presentation by the Commission of draft guidelines for sustainability agreements; underlines the need for a broad understanding of consumer welfare, which should include not only price levels, but also sustainability considerations; considers that similar authorisations should be extended to agreements that improve animal welfare, prevent deforestation, or provide for living wages;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Is of the opinion that sustainability is not only pursued by derogations from competition law provisions, but also by the application of competition law provisions in order to promote sustainability; calls for the presentation of draft guidelines on abusive practices, in particular with regard to achieving sustainability goals;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Deplores the distortive effects of aggressive tax planningtax practices contrary to the principle onf fair competition; calls for companies that use third-country tax havens to be excluded from receiving State aidinvestigations to be conducted into those who benefit from tax havens while also receiving state aid and for measures to be taken against them; takes the view that measures should be taken to reduce the distortive effects that foreign subsidies are having on companies operating in the European single market;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Recalls the negative correlation between subsidies and productivity within companies; calls for attention to be paid to recovery and resilience plans so that they take account of the involvement of the private sector, in particular of SMEs; stresses that the measures taken to alleviate the economic and social effects of the pandemic need to be phased out for the economy to return to its normal state of functioning; stresses the extraordinary nature of these measures, which should also mean that they not to be permanent fixtures;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Stresses that Parliament should be adequately involved in shaping competition policy; considers that more frequent use should be made of Parliament’s right to intervene in judicial proceedings concerning competition law; calls on the Commission to enter into negotiations for an interinstitutional agreement on competition policy;play a more active role in competition policy by participating as an observer; notes that the Competition Working Group can be a useful vehicle