28 Amendments of Roberts ZĪLE related to 2018/2119(INI)
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Europe’s economy is now entering its sixth year of uninterrupted growth; whereas the growth rate has been weak and is expected to moderate further; whereas growth rates for both the euro area and the EU are lagging behind the rest of the world;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas economic growth remains vulnerable, including to continued geopolitical tensions, which have an impact on global trade, and persisting uncertainties surrounding the Union’s future relations with the UK;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the euro area and the EU GDP growth rates have been downgraded with growth forecast at 1.9 % and 2.0 % respectively in 2019;1a _________________ 1a European Economic Forecast. Autumn 2018. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/ec onomy-finance/ip089_en_0.pdf [Accessed 17 January 2019]
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) has lately decreased significantly in both the euro area and the EU, although remains well above the 2007-2009 levels;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas, according to Eurostat, the old-age dependency ratio in the EU is predicted to increase from 29.3 % in 2016 to 52.3 % by 2080, which amounts to fewer than two working-age people for every elderly person; whereas there are vast differences between the Member States in this regard;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas over the past two decades, total factor productivity in the euro area has lagged behind that of major global competitoreconomies;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas according to the Commission forecast, ten Member States are expected to have debt-to-GDP ratios of more than 60 % in 2019 and in seven Member States the ratio will remain above 90%; whereas debt reduction measures have been slow in a number of Member States;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Urges Member States to take responsibility for future generations, and to ensure the sustainability of finances and our social security systems in particular and, in so doing, the future of our welfare states;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Urges Member States to prepare for these demographic developments by: 1) building fiscal buffers to arm against rising fiscal costs; 2) implementing structural reforms to reduce these costs; and 3) enhancing productivity growth, which by embracing automation, which by extension is essential to ensuring sustainabletrong economic growth in the future;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that a higher proportion of elderly people entails higher healthcare, old-age care and pension spending; notes, moreover, that in an ageing society the proportion of working-age people is falling in relation to the proportion of elderly people, meaning that there are fewer working-age contributors per elderly person; highlights that this places a massive burden on public finances, threatchallenging their sustainability;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is concernedDeeply regrets that some Member States with budget deficits and high levels of public debt have missed the opportunity presented by favourable macroeconomic conditions to carry out the necessary reforms and build fiscal buffers, while, in contrast, some Member States with fiscal space have consolidated further, thereby contributing to the euro area’s current account surplus of around 3.2 %, the highest in the world;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Regrets that five euro area Member States with high debt-to-GDP ratios are forecast to have a sizeable structural deficit in 2019;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Urges Member States to build fiscal buffers for future generations; calls for improvements to the enforcement of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), with a focus on deficit and debt reduction;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recalls that Notes that according to a study by Aiyar et. al. (2016), “workforce ageing is likely to be a significant drag on European productivity growth over the next few decades; urges”1c ; is of the view that Member States, therefore, toshould implement productivity- enhancing structural reforms; _________________ 1c Aiyar, S.and C. Ebeke and X. Shao (2016) The Impact of Workforce Aging on European Productivity. IMF, December 2016. Available at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2 016/wp16238.pdf [Accessed 17 January 2018], p. 19
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses the importance of increasing the labour force participation rate in order to, also to help keep social security systems sustainable, particularly in the context of an increasing dependency ratio;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Welcomes that the unemployment rate in the EU is below the pre-crisis level; Regrets that the unemployment rate in the euro area is still above the pre- crisis level;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls for a tax shift away from the high tax burden on labour in Europe; welcomes the efforts of those Member States that are implementing such reforms;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Underlines that digitalisation, globalisautomation and technological change arehave the potential of radically transforming our labour markets, thus potentially helping to improve productivity growth and by extension helping to fuel economic growth;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Highlights that mobilising a shrinking working-age population will require more versatile employees and more flexible labour markets, combined with active labour market policies, life-long learning, upskilling and retraining, ands well as accessible social security systems, as outlined in the European Pillar of Social Rights;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Highlights that small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs), which are an important driver of employment, cannot fully harness the potential of the European single market owing in part to legislative and administrative barriers; urges the Commission to reduce these barriers; urges the Commission, moreover, to tackle unfair competition and taxation among SMEs and multinational corporations;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls for taxation reforms with a viewon Member State to improvinge the tax collection; highlights the need for better coordination of administrative practices in the field of taxation;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recalls the importance of a resilient banking sector that safeguards financial stability; welcomesnotes the calls for the step-by- step completion of the banking union, with a credible European deposit insurance scheme and a package to reduce non- performing loans;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Highlights that a transition to a new risk weight regime for banks’ sovereign exposures will help to weaken the ‘doom loop’ between banks and sovereigns;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Highlights that to ensure intergenerational fairness, Member States must increase productivity through productive investments, such as in growth- enhancing infrastructure projects, in order to help stimulate much-needed potential economic growth;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Highlights that to ensure intergenerational fairness, Member States must increase productivity through productive investments, such as in growth- enhancing infrastructure projects, in order to help stimulate much-needed potential economic growth;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Remains concerned about the low productivity growth in the EU and the pronounced decline of productivity growth in the euro area; Stresses that increasing productivity growth requires investment in R&D, innovation, and digitalisation, with an emphasis increased automation, increasing both physical and human capital;
Amendment 280 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Stresses that intra-European foreign direct investment leads to productivity gains for both the investing firm and local firms in the host regions, and helps generates economic convergence within Europe;