9 Amendments of Gunnar HÖKMARK related to 2013/2277(INI)
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas the debt crisis which has racked Europe in recent years has its ultimate roots in lack of competitiveness and obsolete economic structures; whereas, while these are more characteristic of some Member States than others, we all need to make an effort to enable Europe to resume its leadership of the global economy;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L b (new)
Recital L b (new)
Lb. whereas change is needed: a reduced tax burden, more flexible labour markets, abolition of private and public monopolies, more effective public administration, greater investment in research and knowledge, a genuine internal market in services, sustainable pension systems and an increase in the number of hours worked;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L c (new)
Recital L c (new)
Lc. whereas in various countries we have seen how fiscal stimulus programmes have rather aggravated than improved the situation; whereas in such Member States as Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, the situation was aggravated by the initial attempts to overcome the crisis by means of fiscal policy; whereas this not only aggravated the state of public finances: it also diverted the focus from the fundamental structural reforms which were necessary towards a belief that the crisis could be overcome by means of short-term stimuli;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L d (new)
Recital L d (new)
Ld. whereas in several Member States the crisis became so serious that it was not possible to tackle the challenges independently but became necessary to seek assistance from other Member States, for which purpose various temporary and permanent crisis funds were set up;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L e (new)
Recital L e (new)
Le. whereas as a condition for receiving emergency loans from these funds it was made a requirement that the recipient country should consolidate its finances and implement comprehensive structural reforms, which, from the point of view both of creditors and of lenders, was right and entirely reasonable; whereas the alternative for the creditors was that it would have become impossible to finance their deficits and current expenditure;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L f (new)
Recital L f (new)
Lf. whereas in mid-December 2013 Ireland was able, after three years of intensive economic and political efforts, to become the first Eurozone country which had passed through a crisis to leave the emergency financing programme set up by the EU and IMF in November 2010;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L g (new)
Recital L g (new)
Lg. whereas it is not by chance that within only three years Ireland managed to make the transition from the deepest crisis, with a budget deficit of fully 30 % of GNP in 2010, to standing on its own two feet again and, without guarantees from elsewhere, being able to meet its financing needs on the international capital markets; whereas this is the outcome of three years of very laborious and purposeful work;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L h (new)
Recital L h (new)
Lh. whereas this is the result of market- oriented reforms, a clean-up of the banking industry and austerity in public administration, but it was also thanks to the fact that the EU and IMF made EUR 85 bn available in emergency loans when no sources in the private sector were prepared to lend to Ireland any longer;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L i (new)
Recital L i (new)
Li. whereas without these emergency loans the situation in Ireland would have remained far worse for a long time: unemployment would have risen even higher, cuts in the public sector and welfare would have had to be even more swingeing and the social impact even worse, as without emergency loans Ireland would not have had any budget funds at all; whereas the same applies to Greece, Portugal and Cyprus, which also benefited from these emergency financing programmes;