Activities of Henri WEBER related to 2013/2006(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION Reindustrialising Europe to promote competitiveness and sustainability
Amendments (31)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes the decline of Europe’s industrial sector, which has shed 3 million jobs and suffered a 10% fall in production since 2008 despite the fact that it is one of the main drivers of growth in Europe; takes the view that a European strategy to promote, develop and make industry more attractive is the only means of ensuring that European industry continues to lead the way on the global stage; calls on the Commission to implement a genuine joint strategy for the reindustrialisation of the European UnionU as soon as possible;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18
Citation 18
– having regard to the Commission Working Document of 26 September 20112 entitled ‘Competitiveness of European high-end industries’ (SWD(20132)0286),
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for European industrial policy to support the growth-promoting sectors where Europe already leads the field;, and calls on the Unionfor the consolidation of sectors, such as aerospace, chemicals, the automotive industry, food, clothing and textiles and mechanical engineering, in which, by dint of cooperation, the European Union has secured a global comparative advantage; calls on the EU to invest in major transport, energy and telecommunications infrastructure projects;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the importance of research and innovation as a means of ensuring the competitiveness of European companies in world markets; urges the EUnion and Member States to increase the funds allocated to research and development; calls on the Commission to encourage the emergence of industrial sectors which are based on new technologies, generate products with a high added value and are sparing in their use of energy resources; calls for the development of new business lines such as renewable energy and the creative industries, which are sectors where Europe has certain competitive advantages on a global level, to be fostered;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses that the availability of raw materials is of crucial importance to European industry’s development possibilities; warns that, without certain key raw materials, no future development would be possible in most strategic industries in Europe (nuclear, space, aeronautics, medicine, IT, new materials, military hardware, etc.);
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Calls, therefore, on the Commission to strengthen its strategy for the defence of the EU’s interests with regard to the security of supply of raw materials in the wider context of trade agreements (FTAs, EPAs, etc.); considers that this strategy should put an end to the restrictions imposed on exports by certain states and allow adequate provision of raw materials through fair-trade agreements and strategic partnerships;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Encourages the Commission to ensure European companies have access to international markets by developing an advisory service for SMEs in the export business, particularly as regards gaining access to markets in third countries, ensuring a long-term presence in those markets and protecting intellectual property and patents and optimising their financial and technological value;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Takes the view that the European directive on takeover bids must be revised to give the EU the means to oppose projects that may prove to be detrimental to its industrial and business fabric; takes the view that the Union must be able to oppose takeover bids from firms that are not socially responsible and/or fail to comply with good-governance requirements, along with proposed takeover bids in sectors that the Member States deem to be strategic;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Maintains that it is essential to establish reciprocal trade relations, particularly with regard to access to public procurement markets, to protect the industrial property rights of European enterprises and to enhance the effectiveness of the EU’s Trade Defence Instruments;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b(new)
Paragraph 5 b(new)
5b. Recalls the need, wherever circumstances so warrant, to use Trade Defence Instruments against countries that do not respect the rules of international trade or the terms of free trade agreements contracted with the EU;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Considers it essential that the Union acquire instruments enabling it: - to pursue a more active anti-dumping policy and react, inter alia, to the unfair funding of exports practised in some third countries, - to levy a ‘carbon’ tax at the borders of the Union in the event of non-compliance with environmental standards, - to conduct a genuine exchange rate policy, defending European trade interests, - to uphold the concept of ‘fair trade’ which is based on mutual respect for social, environmental or cultural standards or respect for human rights in international trade;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the Commission to ensure European companies have access to international markets, and considers that it is essential to establish reciprocal access to public markets, to protect the industrial property rights of European companies and to enhance the effectiveness and consistency of the Union’s Trade Defence Instruments with the Union’s trade and re- industrialisation strategies.
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that RISE must be embedded in an ecological and social market economy in accordance with the principles of fair competition, the internalisation of externalities and environmentally conscious Ordnungspolitik; states that Europe´s future industrial competitiveness must be guided both by the vision of sustainability and by the vision of transparency, including with regard to supply chains;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Applauds the Commission’s transversal approach to IP; holds that RISE should follow a horizontal rather than vertical IP concept; believes that sector-specific measures must as a rule be connected to sectoral specialisation promoting high- tech andand aim to promote skills, jobs, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and exports; believes that they must also aim to promote high- value -added strategies; in sectors stimulating employment and growth in Europe;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises that only with an innovation, efficiency and sustainable technology offensive, and by fostering new economic models based on skills, creativity and local production, can the EU’s industrial base modernise and increase its core competitiveness;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Emphasises that the completion of the digital single market is a Union priority; calls for similar legal frameworks to be applied to online and offline markets in order to tackle unfair commercial practices and restore consumer confidence;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Welcomes the Commission’s recognition of a definition of high-end cultural and creative industries as a sector of the economy which covers the high-end sections of markets for products and services and reflects specific characteristics such as the cultural and creative dimension of the product or service, the product’s prestige, intellectual property, manufacturing quality, design and innovation, and the way products and services are marketed and advertised; calls on the Commission to recognise the specific nature of the highly skilled professions in its industries, which account for a substantial number of jobs in Europe and which are founded on four criteria – creativity, excellence, know-how and career-long learning;
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)
Paragraph 25 b (new)
25b. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to support the competitiveness of the high-end sector, which accounts for 3 % of GDP in the EU and more than 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs, and calls on it to take measures to address the risk of a skills shortage in the sector in order to safeguard specifically-European production methods and know-how;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Supports the current reform of the system of trademark law which will boost protection for trademarks online, offline and throughout the internal market and in international trade;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 b (new)
Paragraph 31 b (new)
31b. Draws attention to the fact that, in her Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union [1], the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy gave an undertaking to develop a cyber defence policy and tools and to promote industrial and technological resources for the cybersecurity field; calls for these policies to be implemented swiftly and broadened in scope in order to protect companies, in particular SMEs, against cyber crime; [1] JOIN(2013) 1 final - 7.2.2013
Amendment 292 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Notes the importance of an EU trade strategy; asks the Commission, together with the VP/HR, to develop a strategy of including SME desks at EU Missions; calls on the Commission to make sure, at all times, that negotiations on free-trade agreements with third countries do not jeopardise the innovative and competitive potential of European firms;
Amendment 298 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32a. Calls on the Commission to use the Union’s trade and competition policy to further the aims of European industrial policy;
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Paragraph 32 b (new)
32b. Draws attention to the key role research and innovation plays in ensuring the competitiveness of European firms on world markets and highlights the need for our firms to become better at anticipating third-country market requirements in order to respond to global demand;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 c (new)
Paragraph 32 c (new)
32c. Recalls the need, wherever circumstances so warrant, to use trade defence instruments against countries that fail to comply with international trade rules or the terms of free-trade agreements concluded with the EU, and calls for it to be made easier, faster and less costly for SMEs to gain access to anti-dumping procedures, so as to enable them better to protect themselves against unfair practices;
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 d (new)
Paragraph 32 d (new)
32d. Takes the view that the European directive on takeover bids should be revised in order to give the EU the means to oppose plans that could prove detrimental to European industry;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 e (new)
Paragraph 32 e (new)
32e. Considers it essential to the success of efforts to revitalise EU industry for the Union to require its trading partners to show reciprocity, in particular as regard access to public procurement markets, to make sure that EU firms’ industrial property rights are better protected and to enhance the effectiveness of trade defence instruments;
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 f (new)
Paragraph 32 f (new)
32f. Deplores the failure to provide adequate protection for intellectual property rights protected and criticises the lack of specific means for European firms, in particular SMEs, to take action in cases where infringements damage their interests;
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 g (new)
Paragraph 32 g (new)
32g. Considers it essential, as part of efforts to revitalise its industry, for the EU to provide itself with the means to: – pursue a more active anti-dumping policy and take appropriate action in response to, inter alia, the unfair export subsidies put in place by some third countries, – conduct a genuine exchange rate policy that protects European trade interests, – uphold the principle of ‘fair trade’ which is based on mutual respect for social, environmental, cultural and human rights standards in international trade;
Amendment 417 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. WelcomeApplauds the decisions to implement the Youth Guarantee and promote an Alliance for Apprenticeships; calls on industry to offer quality employment or traineeships to young people where possible,youth initiatives; welcomes also the launching of the European Alliance for Apprenticeships; strongly urges the entire industrial sector to commit fully to quality education and training for young people and to create quality internships with decent pay, leading to jobs as far as possible;
Amendment 441 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57 a (new)
Paragraph 57 a (new)
57a. Stresses that continental industrial policy must be based on a European strategy facilitating European energy market integration, the development of energy infrastructures, the reduction of energy costs and the independence of the Union vis-à-vis third countries;
Amendment 444 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57 b (new)
Paragraph 57 b (new)
57b. Stresses that the availability of raw materials is of crucial importance to European industry’s development possibilities and warns that, without certain key raw materials, no future development will be possible in most strategic industries in Europe (nuclear, space, aeronautics, medicine, IT, new materials, military hardware, etc.); calls, therefore, on the Commission to defend the EU’s interests with regard to the security of supply in the context of its relations with third countries and its trade agreements;