Activities of Anna-Michelle ASIMAKOPOULOU related to 2022/2060(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on competition policy – annual report 2022
Amendments (29)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas competition policy should aim to support the European Green Dealencourage job creation, growth, competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation especially during times of uncertainty and transformation;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas international collaboration and cooperation are vital to attaining a global and viable level playing field and realising the twin transitions;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the current geopolitical challenges demonstrate that it is crucial to reduce the European Union’s dependency on third countries for Critical Raw Materials, products and technology;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Believes that proposals for a European Critical Raw Materials Act, a Net Zero Industry Act, and the revision of the EU’s internal electricity market offer an opportunity to level the playing field for European industry’s competitiveness vis-a-vis global competitors; calls on the Commission to take this opportunity to balance the EU’s climate ambitions with a broader industrial strategy;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Reiterates that Critical Raw Materials are vital to delivering the twin transition and retaining Europe’s industrial base; emphasises the role that recycling can play in securing our supply of Critical Raw Materials, both through the encouragement of smart design and the processing of a greater proportion of our waste streams within the internal market; notes that the EU’s high environmental standards should allow for the EU to fully utilise its own domestic sources of critical raw materials in a sustainable manner; strongly believes that strategic European projects need faster and more transparent permitting processes, new funding streams, and a consistent policy framework; reiterates that increased Union capabilities can complement and strengthen the Union’s trade policy and ambitions to forge new partnerships with third countries for critical raw material supplies; welcomes the Commission’s aim to better support third countries in their efforts to develop domestic value chains;
Amendment 64 #
3c. Welcomes the Commission’s acknowledgement that high energy prices are undermining European industrial competitiveness; reminds the Commission of the depth of this challenge, noting that some industries in Europe are currently operating at only 50% capacity as a result of the recent rise in energy prices; emphasises that energy costs, relative to those in other parts of the world, have been one of the key factors negatively impacting the ability of European industry to compete on the global market;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3d. Welcomes commitments by the Commission to examine possibilities for redesigning the EU’s internal electricity market in a way that would decouple the dominant influence of gas on the price of electricity; encourages the Commission to incentivise the uptake of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs); calls on the Commission to consider new approaches to PPAs, including aggregation models, which would be designed to help energy- intensive industries reduce firming and profiling costs associated with renewable energy supply; believes that aggregation models of this kind can help to de-risk private investment in the renewable energy sector and contribute towards the Green Deal;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. Notes that Union competition policy must respond to global trends and take into account its effects on European companies ability to compete in global markets; notes that the share of European companies by top market capitalisation in the world has drastically reduced since the year 2000;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. Strongly believes that Europe’s industrial strategy should provide for Europe’s existing industrial base, as well as clean-tech sectors that will provide jobs and prosperity in the decades ahead;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3f. Strongly believes that an ambitious global free trade agenda is of paramount importance for the EU’s competitiveness; notes that 38 million jobs in the EU are supported by EU exports; calls for the swift conclusion of Free Trade Agreements with New Zealand, Chile, Australia, Mexico, Mercosur and other partners;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 g (new)
Paragraph 3 g (new)
3g. Welcomes the continuation of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC); recognises that sustained dialogue and cooperation with our like-minded partners can contribute to the effectiveness of competition policy;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 h (new)
Paragraph 3 h (new)
3h. Emphasises the important role of national supervisory and competition authorities in enforcing EU competition rules; stresses the need and importance of the independence of the national authorities whilst reiterating the increasing need to ensure more cooperation and sharing of best practices between the national authorities;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 i (new)
Paragraph 3 i (new)
3i. Welcomes the implementation of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation; highlights the importance of combatting distortive effects on the single market and the need to level the playing field for European companies; underlines that all companies operating in the EU’s single market must abide by State aid rules;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 j (new)
Paragraph 3 j (new)
3j. Highlights that European industry is part of an export-orientated economy; recalls the importance of the EU’s competition policy in enabling European companies to compete internationally;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 k (new)
Paragraph 3 k (new)
3k. Calls on the Commission to create an attractive innovation environment for European companies through eliminating administrative obstacles;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 l (new)
Paragraph 3 l (new)
3l. Stresses that a robust competition policy is crucial for a level playing field, particularly for SMEs, which will lead to job creation, growth, competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation in the single market; points out that a robust competition policy will improve the resilience of the European Union’s single market;
Amendment 80 #
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; notes the Commission's announcement to transform this into a Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, by enlarging its scope to support all possible renewable sources of energy;
Amendment 87 #
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 publicUnderstands the need for additional public investments in order to respond to ongoing specific global shocks and a global trend towards increased state funded industrial policy; calls on the Commission to safeguard the integrity of the internal market in doing so, however, and reminds the Commission of the risks that excessive relaxation of State aid rules can pose to the functioning of the internal market; calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the differing levels of fiscal space available to Member States; considers the use of European investments; c funds alongsiders the introduction of dedicated permanent, if necessary debt-financed, European investment funds to be a better policy response; changes to State aid rules to offer a means of avoiding such risks; believes that expanding the scope of the Recovery and Resilience Facility could be part of the solution;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls on the Commission to take action to ensure that the State aid approval procedure is swift and efficient to ensure the timely approval of much- needed projects in light of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the twin transitions; supports the creation of a special operation centre within the Commission to accelerate the approval procedure;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the quantitative jurisdictional thresholds in the EC Merger Regulation to be reviewed and lowered; calls for 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 conditions;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the evaluation of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 and Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 initiated by the Commission; considers a legislative review of these regulations necessary; calls for stronger use of structural remedies, and therefore for the primacy of behavioural remedies to be removed from Regulation (EC) No 1/2003;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that competition law remains relevant to digital markets despite the entry into force of the DMA; considers that violations of privacy rights can constitute abusive practices;
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Deplores the distortive effects of aggressive tax planning on fair competition; calls for companies that use third-country tax havens to be excluded from receivingTakes note of the past EU efforts implementing international actions addressing base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS); takes note, in this regard, of the distortive effects of BEPS planning on fair competition; welcomes the Commission's recommendation of 14 July 2020 in not granting financial support to companies with links to tax havens and to protect honest taxpayers at the same time; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to inform Parliament about the implementation of the recommendations by Member States aidnd whether further legal initiatives seem necessary;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Underlines that the European Union’s State aid and competition rules should be simplified and allow flexibility in strategic sectors in order to achieve the Union’s strategic objectives;
Amendment 280 #
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;