Activities of Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ related to 2021/2176(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the future of EU international investment policy
Amendments (9)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with concern the asymmetry of international investment agreements (IIA), which give rights to foreign investors without putting the host state under any obligations in terms of human rights, labour and environmental law; regrets that IIAs usually include the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS), which provides protection for investors but not for states or citizens; highlights that, in order to respond to public concerns, the EU has replaced the ISDS mechanism with Investment Court Systems (ICS) in recently negotiated international investment agreements, including those with Canada, Mexico, Singapore and Vietnam; notes that the agreements also include an appellate mechanism and provisions for the transition from bilateral ICS to a permanent Multilateral Investment Court (MIC); notes that the MIC would be a permanent body with first and appellate instances, and with full- time judges.
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the EU to align its investment policy with the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law1 ;Recalls that the aim of EU investment policy to promote investment that supports sustainable development, including due diligence, and the promotion of environmental, labour and human rights provisions; calls for the EU to continue working towards alignment of its investment policy with the EU’s sustainability goals, the SDG´s, the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law1 as one of the biggest challenges of the post-Lisbon agenda. _________________ 1 OJ L 243, 9.7.2021, p. 1.
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Notes that low- and middle-income countries face massive investment needs to finance their sustainable development strategies; points out that accelerating private financial flows towards our partner countries will be critical to collectively delivering on our global sustainability agenda.
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on the Commission to seek an ambitious consensus in international fora and to support low- and middle- income countries in scaling up their access to sustainable finance by developing a comprehensive strategy and by promoting sustainability-related financial instruments.
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the EU to review its investment treaties in order to ensure a fair balance between rights and obligations for investors with full respect for human rights and the environment; stresses the need to oblige the investor to support sustainable investment in the host state and to oblige the home state of the investor to allow victims to seek justice; reiterates its previous call on the Commission to propose a negotiating mandate for the Union to constructively engage in the negotiation of a UN-based international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other businesses;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. BelieveRecalls its previous positions that governments should not sign new investment protection treaties that include the ISDS mechanism and should remove it from the existing ones;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Calls on the Commission to support efforts to scale up sustainability- related financial instruments in our partner countries and help build back better globally, notably via ‘Global Europe’ - the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), welcomes the €5.1 billion European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) to leverage additional financing by allowing risk sharing with private investors, international financial institutions and development banks, fostering economic and social development.
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the EU to refrainPoints out that less than 1 out of 5 people in least developed countries have access to the internet; notes that developing countries are now putting in place the first efforts to develop a digital industrialisation agenda aiming at creating local economic activity and that many such countries are still in the early stages of creating a legal framework for the protection of personal data and ensuring that digital innovation benefits working people; expresses its concern that locking in global rules at such an early stage of the development of the internet and digital trade would lock in a status quo which sees ownership and control of data tightly concentrated in the hands of a few corporations while leaving States unable to maximise the public good that comes from digital innovation; urges the Commission to assess specifically the potential consequences from including a digital clause in investment trade agreements that woul, so as to avoid restricting the digital industrialisation strategy of developing countries; and help bridge the digital gap .