29 Amendments of Aurore LALUCQ related to 2020/2078(INI)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 21 a (new)
Citation 21 a (new)
- having regard to the Commission's proposal of 28 May 2020 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility (COM(2020)0408),
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas a determined, coordinated and solidarity-based European response is essential to mitigate the negative economic and social consequences of the crisis, the fragmentation of the internal market and the further deepening of macroeconomic divergence and structural polarisation between regions and countries;
Amendment 32 #
Ca. whereas COVID-19 has highlighted the fact that the European Union does not have strong enough tools to deal with a health emergency such as the spread of a novel infectious disease, which by its nature knows no borders;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas the Commission estimates total government financing needs at € 5.4trn over 2020 and 2021. This includes pre-crisis financing needs of € 3.7trn and additional financing needs due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis of € 1.7trn for EU Member States over 2020 and 2021;1a _________________ 1a Commission Staff Working Document: Identifying Europe's recovery needs https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/ec onomy- finance/assessment_of_economic_and_in vestment_needs.pdf
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas the COVID 19 crisis is affecting vulnerable groups in particular, resulting in increased inequalities, poverty, unemployment and social divergences, as well as undermining social and employment standards in Europe;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas women are disproportionately hit as a result of the crisis;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas the EU and its Member States have committed to the treaty-based values, implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Paris Climate Agreement;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas the disruption is affecting the European economy as a whole, and whereas an equal debt issuance capacity and access to funding must be ensured in order to deal with the crisis, including for Member States not in the euro area;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is concerned at the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the global economy, trade, income inequalities and poverty; , with a projected contraction of the global GDP (excluding the EU) by about 3% this year, which is a sharper downturn than during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-2009, a fall of world import volumes by more than 10% and a fall of euro area exports by about 13% in 2020; Is alarmed about the increase in poverty since many emerging and low-income countries have limited capacity to deal with a health crisis of this magnitude as well as limited policy space to absorb the macroeconomic impact, in particularly in face of subdued prospects for commodity prices and tightened financial conditions; 1b _________________ 1b European Economic Forecast Spring 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/ec onomy-finance/ip125_en.pdf
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that the Commission’s estimate of the investment needs of the EU for delivering the green transition and digital transformation amounts to at least EUR 595 billion per year8 27 in 2020 and 2021 will amount to €1,5trn in addition to the baseline assumed in the spring forecast, and for delivering the green transition and digital transformation to at least €595bn per year8; including additional investment needs of €20bn per year to make the strategic investments for EU autonomy to strengthen the resilience of industries and the EU’s strategic autonomy for most- needed goods and services (medical products and pharmaceuticals, strategic digital infrastructure, key enabling technologies, critical raw materials, defence and space); _________________ 8 Commission Staff Working Document -: Identifying Europe's recovery needs, p. 16: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/eco nomy- finance/assessment_of_economic_and_inv estment_needs.pdf
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that the Commission’s estimate of the investment needs of the EU for delivereffecting the green transition and digital transformation amounts to at least EUR 595 billion per year8; _________________ 8 Commission Staff Working Document - Identifying Europe's recovery needs, p. 16: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/ec onomy- finance/assessment_of_economic_and_in vestment_needs.pdfadds that these needs are concentrated in a limited number of sectors: renewable energy, transport, energy efficiency in public, residential and service-sector buildings, environmental conservation and natural- resource management; meeting these needs requires public investment and proactive policies at EU, Member State and local and regional levels;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the swift and strong response to the crisis in the area of monetary and fiscal policy, at both EU and Member State level, as well as the European Recovery Plan; cConsiders it essential that the recovery package is fully aligned with the EU’s new growth strategy, i.e. in accordance with the principles of the European Green Deal (EGD), the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and with the aim to protect women’s rights and achieve gender equality and that puts the well-being of citizens and sustainability in the center of our action; Moreover, the recovery fund should provide additional support to the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan (SEIP) to boost the EU’s economies towards a sustainable and inclusive economy that would enable the essential transition to a climate-neutral economy; demands that funds and resources be directed to projects and beneficiaries that comply with our Treaty-based fundamental values, including the rule of law, and that recipient firms protect their workers, pay their fair share of taxes, and refrain from paying out dividends or offering share buy- back schemes aimed at remunerating shareholders;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Underlines the need for the recovery plan to protect workers, employees, the self-employed and SMEs and ensure their income compensation; The recovery must be based on upward social economic convergence, social dialogue and improved social rights and working conditions with targeted measures for those in precarious forms of work; Calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to ensure that public financial support to corporations is provided under the condition to guarantee the jobs and the income of their employees, to commit to sustainability objectives upon adherence to international standards of responsible business;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the activation of the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact, and expects that it will remain activated at least until the end of 2021 in order to support the efforts of the Member States to recover from the pandemic crisis and strengthen their economic and social resilience; and to pave the way to the ecological transition that is fair and inclusive, that supports the economy’s competitiveness and that addresses the risks posed by climate change, including the resulting increase in regional disparities and social inequalities; In this regard, shares the view of the European Fiscal Board that rapidly reversing the fiscal stance is not favourable for the recovery and that larger and longer fiscal support and the extension of discretionary fiscal measures, including a strong component of government spending, is needed, also in 2021, to sustain demand; 1e _________________ 1e EFB Report 2020: Assessment of the fiscal stance appropriate for the euro area https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/asse ssment-fiscal-stance-appropriate-euro- area_en
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls for the European institutions and the Member States to draw the right lessons from the COVID-19 crisis and engage in far stronger cooperation in the area of health; asks therefore for a number of measures to create a European health union; urges the Commission to integrate generous funding for the health- care system and well-being indicators and targets into the country-specific recommendations under the European Semester;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the conclusion of the European Fiscal Board (EFB)9 that the fiscal framework has to be revised, and is convinced that the deep economic crisis triggered by the pandemic further exacerbates this need; believes that the review and reform have to meet the above requirements in terms of increasing investment relating to climate change and digitalisation and stabilising the new level of investment, while ensuring sound budgetary management; _________________ 9EFB Annual report 2019, p. 71 - https:/ec.europa.eu/info/sites/infos/files/2 019-efb-annual-report_en.pdfis pleased that the Commission has initiated a process likely to give rise to such a review and calls for it to be debated in a thoroughgoing, democratic manner before the adoption of its outcome; recalls the scientific consensus that there is a non-negligible probability that climate change and falling biodiversity will cause disruptive events of a manner as yet unknown, with far- reaching, irreversible economic and societal ramifications; stresses that the tax base, the stability of financial markets and the sustainability of public finances depend heavily on the ecological and social sustainability of the economy and its resilience; takes the view that, in order to ensure permanently sound budgetary management in the interests of the well- being of the population, the review of the budgetary framework should strike a better balance between the requirement for coordination of public deficits and the requirements, that must be prioritised, for a sustainable increase in investment in the green transition, resilience, including in health care, and digitalisation.
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the conclusion of the European Fiscal Board (EFB)9 that the fiscal framework has to be revised, and i due to its unnecessary complexity, pro- cyclicality, overreliance on unobservable variables and the fact that it has not protected the quality of public expenditure nor promoted public investment during the period of growth the last seven years before the crisis; Is convinced that the deep economic crisis triggered by the pandemic further exacerbates this need; believes that the review and reform have to meet the above requirements in terms of increasing investment relating to climate change and digitalisation and stabilising the new level of investment, while ensuring sound budgetary management; _________________ 9EFBuropean Fiscal Board Annual rReport 2019, p. 71 - https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/infos/files/20 19-efb-annual-report_en.pdf
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers it essential that the revision of the EU’s fiscal and economic policy framework should be completed by the time the escape clause is repealed and should provide tailor-made solutions to respond to the different needs of the Member States. Calls for rules that enable fiscal policy to respond with discretion to shocks in the short term, and to reduce high public debt ratios to an agreed reference value in the long term, while allowing a sufficient level of public investment, progressive tax policies and stable government revenues, the repayment of loans in a cycle- comfortable manner, and the long-term modernisation of public commodities;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers it essential that the revision of the EU’s fiscal and economic policy framework should be completed by the time the escape clause is repealed and should enable fiscal policy to respond with discretion to shocks in the short term, and to reduce highensure convergence in public debt ratios to an agreed reference value in the long term, paying due account to the macroeconomic context which, even before the pandemic, had undergone profound changes over the last ten years, while allowing a sufficient level of public investment, progressive tax policies and the repayment of loans in a cycle- comfortable manner, and the long-term modernisation of public commodities;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Proposes a combination of expenditure rules for public non- investment expenditure and a golden rule for public investment which is central to both; wishes to see a rapid recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and a transition to a cleaner, socially sustainable and more digital societyusing differentiated rules to change the course of public non- investment expenditure towards a transition to a decarbonised and more egalitarian economy, and using a golden rule for public investment;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the refocus of the European Semester Spring Package aimed at providing an immediate economic policy response to tackle and mitigate the health and socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and reboot economic activity; supports the Commission’s announcement of a reform of the European Semester to convert it into a tool to coordinate the recovery measures, framed by the principles of the EGD, the EPSR and the SDGs; is convinced that this has to include thegreater coordination of measures concerning state aid and tax policiess well as fiscal and social policy and policies regulating labour relations in order to avoid any forms of competition between Member States for investors or taxable income liable to undermine the green transition or fiscal and social justice; underlines the need for the integration of a new set of binding sustainability and well- being indicators and alternative measurements of growth performance;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the refocus of the European Semester Spring Package aimed at providing an immediate economic policy response to tackle and mitigate the health and socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and reboot economic activity; supports the Commission’s announcement of a reform of the European Semester to convert it into a tool to coordinate the recovery measures, framed by the principles of the EGD, the EPSR and the SDGs; is convinced that this has to include the coordination of measures concerning state aid and tax policies; underlines the need for the integration of a new set of binding sustainability and wellbeing indicators and alternative measurements of growth performance, as they offer an integrated framework encompassing public health, social, environmental and economic concerns; is convinced that this has to include the coordination of measures concerning state aid and tax policies;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recognises the role that the Commission has allotted to the European Semester in the Recovery Plan; notes, however, that the effectiveness and success of the alignment of Member States’ investment and reform programmes to the Semester process will depend on the progress of the Semester reform and the above-mentioned reform of the Stability and Growth Pact; transformation of that Semester and, beyond 2021, the above-mentioned reform of the Stability and Growth Pact; recalls that in the long term any change in economic activity is essentially far more dependent on our capacity to keep climate change under control and protect the environment than on short-term gains in competitiveness; warns against making recommendations for macroeconomic reforms with a view to accelerating potential growth without assessing their long-term social, climate-related and environmental consequences; takes the view that four-year recovery plans based solely on the principle of 'zero environmental or climate damage' cannot be seen to be satisfactory; asks, in respect of the European Semester and the national recovery plans, for the policies and investments in the sectors referred to in paragraph 3 – decisive factors in the energy transition and protecting the environment – to be given pride of place, and to be underpinned by the national energy and climate plans and the 8th Environment Action Plan, the Biodiversity Strategy, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Zero-Pollution Action Plan; calls for the coordination of conditions for granting exceptional aid to companies – such as airlines, which have been hit by the pandemic and are high-volume producers of greenhouse gas emissions – particularly when their activities are trans-national in scope.
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recognises the role that the Commission has allotted to the European Semester in the Recovery Plan and its importance for policy coordination at EU level given the size and the unprecedented nature of the policy measures adopted at the Member State level; notes, however, that the effectiveness and success of the alignment of Member States’ investment and reform programmes to the Semester process will depend on the progress of the Semester reform, reinforced implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations by the Member States and the above-mentioned reform of the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls for an institutionalised economic and social dialogue with social partners and relevant stakeholders to strengthen democratic accountability, transparency and the scrutiny role of civil society;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Recalls the urgent need to complete and reinforce the EMU architecture with a view to protecting citizens and reducing pressure on public finances during external shocks so as to overcome social and economic imbalances, by creating, inter alia, a fiscal capacity for public investment, a macroeconomic stabilisation and cohesion function for the euro area, the completion of the Banking Union and a European unemployment benefit reinsurance scheme; Insists on the principle of the community method to enhance the democratic and social dimension of the EMU;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls for the capital requirements of European banks to be raised with a view to increasing the financial sector's resilience and capacity to lend to the real economy and for the possibility of establishing a public structure for eliminating bad debts to be explored;