Activities of Anni PODIMATA related to 2013/2157(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: Annual Growth Survey 2014 PDF (189 KB) DOC (93 KB)
Amendments (26)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 a (new)
Citation 14 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 21 May 2013 on 'Fight against Tax Fraud, Tax Evasion and Tax Havens',
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 b (new)
Citation 14 b (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 12 December 2013 on a "Call for a measurable and tangible commitment against tax evasion and tax avoidance in the EU",
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 c (new)
Citation 14 c (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 12 December 2013 on "preparations for the European Council meeting (19-20 December 2013)",
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that economic recovery in the EU is under way; believes, however, that the recovery is still fragile and needs to be sustained in order to deliver more growth and jobs in the medium termstill fragile and smarter and democratically accountable policies at the European level are needed in order to achieve sustainable growth and jobs creation;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Welcomes the recognition of the need for a fiscal consolidation that is growth friendly; urges the Commission to transmit this priority into concrete recommendations to the Member States, including those under economic adjustment programmes so that they do not only address fiscal consolidation but also structural reforms that lead to real, sustainable and socially balanced growth, employment, strengthened competitiveness and increasing convergence;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Regrets that the Commission promotes double-standards when it calls for the need to invest in growth and competitiveness by imposing as a precondition for a "growth-friendly fiscal consolidation" the existence of fiscal room of manoeuvre; stresses that back- loading of fiscal consolidation must still be taken into account as it could leave more room for counter-cyclical investments;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Notes that widening sovereign spreads have reduced significantly fiscal room for manoeuvre in a number of Member States; stresses that relying on institutional advances, monetary policy should substantially reduce sovereign spreads that still exist within the Euro area and hence contribute to stronger growth and sustainable public debts;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Urges the Commission to translate Europe 2020 objectives into the recommendations to all Member States, including those under economic adjustment programmes, and take proper account of the constraints created by these adjustment programmes in the delivery of Europe 2020 objectives;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that the EU economy as a whole needs to further boost its competitiveness in the global economy, particularly by increasing competition in the product and services markets to enhance productivity and to lower prices, and by keeping labour costs in line with productivitywhile ensuring that internal macroeconomic imbalances are reduced;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. WelcomNotes the ambitious structural reforms implemented by those Member States that have experienced serious difficulties; encourages the rest of the euro area to be equally ambitious and to make their economies more competitive in order to increase growth and employmentadoption and implementation of structural reform programmes that promote convergence and competitiveness at national and European level and increase growth and employment; underlines the importance of a swift and effective implementation of programmes and schemes to fight unemployment especially of the youth;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the importance of continuing the process of deep and sustainable structural reforms; stresses that the EU cannot compete on costs alone, but needs to invest more in research and development, education and skills, and resource efficiency, at both national and European level; stresses that wage deflation has to be addressed and a minimum wage norm across the EU has to be implemented, respecting national practices and economic conditions;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Reiterates its demand for a legal act on 'convergence guidelines' and its request that the Member States ensure that the national reform programmes are established on the basis of the aforementioned convergence guidelines; calls on the Member States to commit themselves to fully implement their national reform programmes; suggests that, on this basis, the Member States could enter into a 'convergence partnership' with the EU institutions, with conditional funding for reform activities; the European Parliament should be formally associated with this process; reiterates that such stronger economic cooperation should go hand in hand with an incentive-based financial mechanism; considers that any additional funding or instruments, such as a solidarity mechanism, must be an integral part of the EU budget, but outside the agreed multiannual financial framework (MFF) ceilings;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that EU financial assistance to certain Member States, being a combination of solidarity and conditionality, has proved to be successful when there is strong ownership and commitment to reform; urges the Commission and the Member States, however, to bring financial assistance under the Community framework and incorporate the countries under financial assistance into the European Semester cycle as a means to increase transparency and accountability of Commission as supervisory partner of the adjustment programmes and to include recommendations to these countries into a process of community dialogue; calls for the replacement of the ad hoc system of Troikas into a legally sound structure under the Community law guaranteeing democratic accountability;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines the fact that Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is far from complete, and reminds the Commission of its obligations and commitments to enhance economic convergence and strengthen competitiveness in the EU; believes that this could best be achieved if the Commission were to finally put forward proposals for the completion of EMU as outlined in its blueprint on a deep and genuine EMU; notes that the completion of the EMU should be based exclusively on the community method;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Encourages Member States under an adjustment programme to continue implementing growth friendly structural reforms; expresses concern aton the lack of political will ofownership on specific reforms in those Member States experiencing an excessive deficibudget or a current account deficit to modernise their economies;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Points out once more that a lack of political will to modernise economies,ambitious reforms to enhance competitiveness of the European economies, as well as to safeguard the sustainability of the social security systems and health care systems will put an excessive burden on future generations;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses that structural reforms need to be complemented by longer-term investment in education, research, innovation and sustainable energy; believes that public-private partnerships are more successful in delivering growth thancan also be considered as a tool to promote investment, complementing public investment programmes alone;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Member States to simplify their tax systems and reiterates its call for them to shift taxes from labour to consumption where possible and where indirect taxes are particularly low in order to make resource use more efficient and sustainable; calls for urgent action to be taken and a comprehensive strategy based on concrete legislative measures and a set of tangible and measurable targets to be launched by the Commission to fight tax fraud and tax evasion; urges the Commission to incorporate these targets into the Europe 2020 strategy, and calls on the Commission to examine whether they could be given a clear role within the European Semester;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that access to finance, particularly for SMEs, is one of the biggest obstacles to growth in the EU; believes that more alternatives to bank financing are needed, especially by improving the business environment for venture capital but also, more broadly, by improving the efficient allocation of capital through capital markets; believes that the completion of the Banking Union will enhance access to finance and create a level playing field for SME's access to finance;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls on the Commission to explain to Parliament the specific measures it intends to take in order to deliver on its objectives of higher growth and, strengthened competitiveness and convergence; underlines the need for a clear definition of the growth-friendly fiscal consolidation that will also be reflected to Commission recommendations to achieve this target;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Takes note of the Alert Mechanism Report; notes the gradual reduction of inconclusions on internal imbalances in the EU economy; draws attention also to the external imbalances, in the EU economycluding the excessive external surpluses and the alarming reduction of export market shares in the majority of the member-states;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Points out that the objective of the macroeconomic imbalance procedure is to prevent the effects of ill-designed national policies from spilling over into other euro area Member States; is concerned that the Commission, in its reading of the scoreboard, does not take sufficient account of the fact that thenegative spill-overs into other euro area and its Member States are open economies;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Is concerned that only two Member States attained their medium-term objective; concludes that this means furtheralls on Member States to continue and if necessary strengthen their efforts for a growth-friendly fiscal consolidation in the non-complying Member States is necessary;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Stresses that the European Semester must in no way jeopardise the prerogatives of the European Parliament and of the national parliaments; underlines the fact that there should be a clear division between EU and national competences and that the European Parliament is the seat of accountability at Union level; urges the Commission to ensure the proper formal involvement of the European Parliament in all steps of the European semester process in order to increase the democratic legitimacy of the decisions;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Stresses the need to strengthen the democratic accountability to the European Parliament and to the national parliaments of essential elements of the euro area’s operation, such as the European Stability Mechanism, Eurogroup decisions and the monitoring and evaluation of financial assistance programmes; asks the Commission to conduct and publish internal ex-post evaluations of its recommendations and its participation in the Troika;