3 Amendments of Markus PIEPER related to 2017/0335(CNS)
Amendment 3 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) With the aim of strengthening the foundations which ensure budgetary discipline throughout the economic cycle, on 2 March 2012 25 Member States signed and ratified the inter-governmental Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) in the Economic and Monetary Union. Title III of the TSCG, the “Fiscal Compact”, is binding on the Member States whose currency is the euro and, on a voluntary basis, on Bulgaria, Denmark and Romania (hereinafter the ‘Contracting Parties’), and sets an obligation to enshrine in the national legal order of those Contracting Parties a balanced-budget rule in structural terms equipped with a correction mechanism automatically triggered in case of significant deviation and monitored by independent institutions. The Contracting Parties expressed their will to use that inter-governmental instrument as a temporary device. That will is reflected in Article 16 of the TSCG which stipulates that, within five years at most following its entry into force, the necessary steps are to be taken with the aim of incorporating its substance into the Union legal framework. Therefore, provisions that allow the substance of the TSCG to take effect should be introduced in the Union’s legal framework This substance includes, in particular, Article 3 of the Treaty, the so-called Fiscal Compact. Neither Article 16 nor any other part of the TSCG stipulates that any provision of the Treaty should be revised as part of this incorporation. The TSCG should therefore not be revised.
Amendment 4 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) In order to achieve and maintain the medium-term objective in structural terms, it is necessary for Member States to set out a consistent adjustment path, based on variables under the control of the budgetary authorities. National fiscal planning underpinned by a government expenditure path adjusted for the impact of discretionary revenue measures favours effectiveness, transparency and accountability when monitoring fiscal developments. In order to tightly connect plans with the overall fiscal outcomes in the medium-term and to ensure an enhanced sense of national ownership of fiscal policy, a medium-term growth path of government expenditure net of discretionary revenue measures should be set for the whole term of the legislature as established by the constitutional legal order of each Member State. That path should be set as soon as a new democratically elected government takes office and annual budgets should adhere to it so as to bring about resolute convergence towards the medium-term objective. The fact that national governments determine the path of expenditure guarantees two aspects: on the one hand, fiscal discipline in accordance with the Maastricht criteria remains under national control and, on the other hand, Member States’ budgetary plans are democratically legitimised and scrutinised.
Amendment 5 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Strengthened national fiscal responsibility and a binding multi-annual orientation of fiscal policy requires fiscal institutions to be independent and have their own resources for actively monitoring fiscal developments and providing recommendations throughout the medium- term budgetary cycle, including in particular where a significant deviation from the medium-term objective or the adjustment path towards is observed. In order to boost the credibility and enforceability of the medium-term objective, its underlying government expenditure path and the related correction mechanism in case of significant deviations, the budgetary authorities of the Member States should comply with the recommendations put forward in the assessments of the independent bodies or publicly justify the decision not to comply with them. Anchoring that principle in the national legal order can play a crucial role in that respect. Thanks to these independent bodies, and very much in line with the TSCG, greater transparency and greater democratic accountability will be ensured.