Activities of Jean-Paul GAUZÈS related to 2013/2134(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European Semester for economic policy coordination (debate)
Amendments (28)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 a (new)
Citation 18 a (new)
- having regard to the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG),
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic, social, financial and sovereign debt crises have not yet abated and the objective of a more balanced and integrated Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) remains an unattained ambitionis still in process of being realised;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the Commission's country- specific recommendations (CSRs) contain some useful insights, but on the whole fail to convince in terms of the balance of the policy prescriptions across policy areaand detailed insights;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission's recogniCountry Specific Recommendations, which are more detailed than their previous editions, which remain in a consistent line with the policy followed in the past and which gives more insight concerning the Member States assiduity in carrying out the obligations that ‘ey agreed to in the past; welcomes the spirit of the CSR, which is oriented to overcoming the current crises as well as their social consequences by achieving sound and sustainable public finances and restoring competitiveness through structural reforms ; welcomes the Commission's statement that 'to be successful, policies need not only to be well designed but to have political and social support’', and that Europe needs, beyond the inevitable fiscal consolidation, real growth and specific and urgentadditional action to tackle the unacceptably highbearable levels of unemployment;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Welcomes the achievements made in several Member States which allowed their deficit procedures to be closed;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the Commission's recognitioninsistence that ‘'deficit’' countries need to urgently boost their competitiveness and that ‘'surplus’' countries need to boost twheir demand, and that this calls for a deep revision of the prevailing policy stancere possible their demand;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. UrgesWelcomes that the Commission and the Council to avoiddon't takinge a one-size-fits-all approach to the CSRs andthus ensureing that recommendations are fine-tuned according to the national specificities and needs of the Member State concerned;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the fact that the Commission's recommendations are directed not only at Member States but also to the euro area as a whole; considers it regrettable, however, that thethat recommendations made to Member Sstates do not take sufficientlyshould take increasingly take into account the strong interdependence between EU economies, particularly within the euro area, or all the information contained in the Alert Mechanism Report;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for deeper investigation of the reasons for the huge increase in internal divergences in competitiveness and economic performance across Member States that have resulted from the functioning of the single currency, and in particular of the asymmetric impact of common polici; especially those due to the deep and increasing divergence between low productivity increases and substantially higher wage increases in a number of Member States;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. CNotes that a slow but real recovery is under way; calls for a prudent assessment of the ‘slow recovery’ growth forecasts as previous Commission forecasts have successively's and even more so government's forecasts have more often than not been revised downwards and recommends a closer look into the sustainability of the improvements identified in trade and current account balances and public deficits; wonders however if the real and major improvements already achieved are being given their due credit;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the Commission's recognitionstatement that European competitiveness ‘'cannot and will not be based merely on costs’ and that' ; in addition it is essential to enhance productivity, investment in education, research and innovation and resource efficiency, in line with Europe 2020 goals; regrets therefore the lack ofencourages to make additional progress on the EU 2020 targets especially in the area of employment; calls for the above recognition to be adequately reflected in the ‘'deficit’' countries' CSRs as these are the Member States which are in critical need of boosting their competitiveness;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Regrets the lack ofslow implementation of the EUR 120 billion ‘'Compact for Growth and Jobs’' agreed in June 2012, of the Project Bond initiative launched in November 2012 and of the EUR 180 billion additional investment by the EIB (after the EUR 10 billion increase in EIB paid in capital approved on 8 January 2013); calls on the Council and the Commission to investigate and remove as a matter of urgency the obstacles preventing full delivery of these initiatives;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission to submit as a matter of urgency the legislative proposal on new financial incentives supporting Member States in the implementation of structural reforms, including a Competitiveness and Convergence Instrument (CCI) based on the Community method as a first step towards a European fiscal capacity;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the use by the Commission of the margin of manoeuvreflexibility offered by the revised SGP to extend the deadlines for the correction of excessive deficits in seven procedures; calls on the Commission and thunderstands that this extension is intended to take some pressure off those Ccouncil to ensuretries which are in great need of implementing structural reforms, thus helping to speed up the implementation of these reforms ; understands that the content and the calendar of the fiscal adjustment path are being adapted to the specificity of each country and, particularly in ‘'deficit’' countries, includeing the aforementioned margin of manoeuvreflexibility and the full use of structural funds, sound and sustainable structural reforms and the identification of investments (namely in the CSR) essential to boost competitiveness ; calls onwelcomes that the Commission todid clarify as a matter of urgency the ways in which to accommodate, under certain conditions, non-recurrent, public investment programmes co financed by the EU with a proven impact on the sustainability of public finances within the preventive arm of the SGP whilst not modifying the 3% deficit threshold; notes that this accommodation is meant by the Commission to be compensated by stronger consolidation efforts in the future;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the Commission's statement that ‘'surplus’' countries have a role to play in overcoming the current crisis, not onlyincluding by reducing taxes and social security contributions but also by developing wages were this is still possible without damaging international competitiveness in order to boost sustainable domestic demand and promoting new investment opportunities; stresses the importance of the positive spill-over effects which these actions will have across the EU; and also for the rest of the world;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Commends the Commission's recognitionstatement that there is a need for greater attention to be paid to the distributional impact of reforms, and ; calls on the Commission to carry out a thorough ex- ante assessment of the social impact of all the new recommended reforms and to derive all the necessary conclusions from previous recommendations, including those made to Member States under financial assistance programmes; further calls on the Commission for an evaluation of what would have happened in the programme countries if they had not gotten last minute help from the other euro-area Member States and the IMF in order to prevent them from defaulting on their sovereign debt; especially concentrating on the social consequences of not being able anymore to pay public wages and pensions or having those deferred for months, and then comparing these averted catastrophes with the effects of the adjustment programmes;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Agrees that the ECB's action, which the Central Bank insists were not possible before decisions had been taken concerning fiscal adjustments and structural reforms at national level, has ‘decisively contributed to the stability of the euro area’, limitby averting a melt-down of the banking speculation on sovereign debttor, by helping to sever the link between the banks and the sovereign, and by temporarily reducing the spreads; considers, however, that insufficient growth and high (and still growing) levels of private and public debt in many Member States mean that ‘'a carefully managed process of deleveraging’' is required; calls on the Commission, therefore, to quickly deliver its 2-pack commitments to Parliament in order to deepen theWelcomes the appointment of an expert group chaired by Gertrude Tumpel- Gugerell to analysies on the partial substitution of national debt issuance through joint issuance in the formros and cons of a redemption fund and eurobills;.
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that the financing of the real economy, and of SMEs in particular, has not been restored on the EU's periphery; points out that major differences in access to credit further stimulate the growing internal divergence trends in the EU and euro area in particular and deistroyorts the internal market through unfaireven competition conditions; points out also that negative economic prospects only partially justify such restrictive credit constraints; calls for closer monitoring of the banking sector practices in financing the real economy, in particular economically viable SMEs; calls for the Commission to prioritise work on alternative sources of financing for SMEs, in particular through the structural funds, the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund and public development banks;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the Commission's ‘'Action Plan to strengthen the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion’' and its recommendations on ‘'measures intended to encourage third countries to apply minimum standards of good governance in tax matters’' and on ‘'aggressive tax planning’', adopted on 6 December 2012; stresses that fairness and justice in burden sharing require a completely new approach to tax fraud and evasion; calls for urgent action by the Commission and for clear support from the Council on these dossiers;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls for the urgentfull application of the 2-pack, with, as an immediate consequence,6- Pack and 2-Pack as well as the reshaping of the ad hoc system of ‘'troikas’ into a legally sound structure under European law, respecting minimum levels of democratic accountability;'; Urges to explore the possibilities offered by the present Treaty to communitise the Troika; Urges the Troika to revise its communication strategy which repeatedly proved to be a disaster.
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Stresses that the European Semester must in no way jeopardise the prerogatives of Parliament; urges the Commission to ensure the proper formal involvement of Parliament in all the steps of the European Semester process in order to increase the legitimacy of decisions which affect all citizens; calls for Commission to find ways to increase the visibility of the process;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Urges the Commission to ensure that Member States to actively involve their national parliaments, the social partners and civil society in the European Semester process as a whole, and particularly in the development and discussion of their national reform programmes;