Activities of Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ related to 2020/2117(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the trade-related aspects and implications of COVID-19
Amendments (11)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented health, economic, social and humanitarian crisis on a global scale, with asymmetric effects for least developed countries (LDCs) and low- and middle- income countries (LICs and MICs), especially for people in poverty or at risk of poverty; calls for the EUCommission to tailor its commitments and approach to developing countries, LDCs, LICs and LDMICs accordingly to reduce inequalities, and to update its trade and development policies according to the impact of the pandemic in partner countries;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to mount an assertive and coordinated international trade policy response geared towards a multilateral, resilient and sustainable recovery in developing countries; calls o, especially in the Ccommission to deepen EU-Africa trade relations through economic partnership agreements, while making the most of the EU’s Aid for Trade Strategy; odity-dependent developing countries with depressed export earnings due to the pandemic; reminds that revenues obtained from commodity exports are critical for financing public spending and health systems; calls on the Commission to deepen trade relations with the OACPS, CELAC and African countries through economic partnership agreements, while making the most of the EU’s Aid for Trade Strategy; calls on the Commission and the Member States to cooperate in widening the fiscal margin in LDCs, LICs and MICs for health measures and in the support of SMEs through balance of payments aid and debt relief agreements;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Encourages the EU and the Member States to help developing countries and regions to keep their borders open and to set up ‘green corridor mechanisms’ to allow the unhindered flow of essential goods, agri-food products and humanitarian aid across borders, medical and pharmaceutical products and humanitarian aid across borders; reiterates the importance of observing the provisions of the UNGA Resolution 74/274 approved on April 20, 2020, requesting the strengthening of supply chains that promote and ensure fair, transparent, equitable, efficient and timely access to the medicines, vaccines and medical supplies needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic; and of the World Health Assembly Resolution 73.1 approved on May 19, 2020, that recognizes the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 as a global public good for health in preventing, containing and stopping transmission in order to bring the pandemic to an end;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. InvitUrges the Commission to adapt its trade policy in order to help developing countries to boost the resilience and diversification of their value chains at a global, regional and local level, including reshoring and nearshoring; calls on the Commission to cooperate in further development and enforcement of business due diligence obligations in global value chains, helping to develop mechanisms of compliance in supply chains and production in developing countries;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Underlines that the post COVID- 19 recovery is a unique opportunity to re- set sustainable growth; calls on the Commission to present its review of the 15-point Action Plan on TSD Chapters, with the briefest of delays; expects the review to urgently address the enforceability of TSD commitments which have proven to be lacking, taking as a minimum recent advances in enforceability, namely the ability for the EU to tackle any non-compliance by partners;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the commitment shown by the EU and its Member States in tackling the wider impact of COVID-19, in particular through the Coronavirus Global Response and COVAX initiatives; acknowledges the commitment of the Commission to make the COVID-19 vaccine a global public good and requests adequate measures for the global challenges of shortages, insufficient manufacturing capacity and the gap between COVAX objectives and their financing; calls on the Commission to coordinate with the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organisation and the African Union in order to scale up vaccine production for developing countries; calls on the Commission to promote contracts between pharmaceutical companies and generic manufacturers in developing countries to increase global manufacturing capacity and reduce the delay in vaccination and ensure affordability especially for LDCs; calls on the Commission and the Member States to close the funding gap for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and COVAX and to ensure that the sharing of excess vaccine doses is coordinated under Team Europe, in close cooperation with COVAX;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes UN Secretary-General’s call to ensure equal, affordable and rapid access to COVID-19 vaccines globally; urges the Commission to take a leading role in the WTO TRIPS Council debates on avoiding barriers to access to vaccines and transfer of technology by promoting consensus in the flexibilization of TRIPS obligations; requests to consider compulsory licensing and implementation of Regulation (EC) No 816/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on compulsory licensing of patents relating to the manufacture of pharmaceutical products for export to countries with public health problems as a means to boost EU cooperation with developing countries facing COVID-19;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Requests to provide to the Commission-Parliament Contact Group an oversight over the decision making in the COVID-19 response, including the negotiation of Advance Purchase Agreements (APAs); requests the inclusion of DEVE Committee representatives in the Commission- Parliament Contact Group to provide adequate input for an EU Global vaccination strategy that is prepared for challenges such as the deployment of the vaccine in countries with insufficient medical infrastructure, production of vaccines in developing countries, a humanitarian buffer of vaccines and risk reduction and preparedness against new strains of the virus;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Commission to identify the appropriate measures to ensure that this pandemic does not precipitate a food crisis in the developing world; supports actions to facilitate trade with a view to promoting food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary measures in response to COVID-19, including nutritious, safe, affordable and high quality food throughout the year; recalls the principle of policy coherence for development to ensure European exports do not hinder the development of local production; calls for the prioritisation of local production and consumption that ensure local job creation, guarantee fair prices for producers and consumers, reduce countries' dependence on imports and their vulnerability to international price fluctuations;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to consider the implications of COVID-19 and its impact on achieving the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals; accordingly, urges the Commission to re- adapt its trade policy in line with its global development policy accordingly to ensure that economies and societies are rebuilt better, more sustainable, more resilient and more socio-economically equal after the pandemic; stresses that tackling inequalities must become central to the EU’s post-COVID-19 global strategy, including its trade agenda, to make sure that progress on reducing poverty, education, public health, gender equality and climate action is not lost due to the pandemic;