10 Amendments of Jean-Paul DENANOT related to 2016/2004(BUD)
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the Union budget has proven to be a crucial resource in tackling recent crises and responding to needs that had not been anticipated during the negotiation of the MFF 2014-2020, such as the migration and refugee crisis or geopolitical tensions in the European neighbourhood producing a number of serious emergencies, and such as the agriculture crisis while in the Union a continuous lowering of investment levels has led to an investment gap;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines that the capacity of the Union budget to tackle these crises arises principally from the use of all means available agreed upon in the MFF negotiations, and particularly the use of special instruments such as the flexibility instrument; recalls Parliament’s decisive role in shaping those instruments during the MFF negotiations; highlights, however, that if the crises continue to worsen even the full activation of the existing flexibility provisions will be insufficient to address the problem; in this context, invites the Council to reconsider its position on the question of budgeting the MFF special instruments so as to alleviate the constraints weighing on the Union budget; reiterates in that connection its long- standing position that the payment appropriations for the special instruments (the flexibility instrument, the EU Solidarity Fund, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and the Emergency Aid Reserve) should be calculated over and above the MFF ceilings, as is the case for commitments; expects these issues to be resolved, particularly by tackling the own resources system reform;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the Commission’s European Economic Forecast (Autumn 2015), which indicates a modest recovery; stresses, however, that this recovery remains worryingly weak and too slow for a prompt return to full employment to be achieved, with long-term and very long-term unemployment on the rise, combined with social challenges and difficulties for the European Union to restructure its industrial branches; notes, furthermore, the appearance of new challenges, such as the slowdown in emerging market economies and global trade, with particular pressure arising from volatility on Chinese markets, the need to tackle the refugee crisis, and persisting geopolitical tensions;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes, additionally, the Commission’s Annual Growth Survey for 2016; strongly believes that boosting investment, including a coordinated increase in public investment with a focus on the Europe 2020 targets, is a proper policy response with a view to a more balanced economic policy; believes that those two elements should be taken into consideration in the preparation of the draft budget for 2017 insofar as this should help identify priorities within an economic context; calls, consequently, for more synergies between the Union dimension of the European semester for economic policy coordination and the Union budget, that is also the cornerstone for the Euro preservation;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Regrets that the Union budget has in recent years been a collateral victim of Member States’ fiscal consolidation efforts aimed at complying with their obligations under the Stability and Growth Pact, which have led them to consider their contribution to the Union budget as a burden and to treat it as an adjustment variable, and calls, in this context, for further flexibility regarding expenditures made by the Member States in specific fields such as defense and investments in the framework of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI);
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Highlights the fact that the Union has had to face numerous crises in recent years, among them the agriculture crisis; recalls that a solution has still not been found for the Europe-wide migrant and refugee crisis, which escalated in 2015 with a sudden and massive increase in the numbers of refugees and migrants travelling to the Union to seek asylum, which has further impacted on the internal crisis; underlines that the Union budget should be used as part of a European solution to overcome these emergencies;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers the European Youth Initiative (YEI), in particular, to be a fundamental contribution to the Union’s priority objective for jobs and growth, and therefore reiterates its commitment to continued funding for this programme with a view to scaling it up and thereby offering a greater number of young people the prospect of effectively entering the labour market by receiving a good quality offer of employment, continued education or apprenticeship; recalls that this objective shall be considered together with the necessity of promoting the young people mobility within the European Union; recalls the commitment made by the three institutions to ‘ensure appropriate funding via an Amending Budget in 2016, by making use of all available means provided for in the MFF, and primarily of the Global Margin for Commitments’; notes that the figures for implementation indicate full success in terms of absorption capacity; calls on the Commission to present its evaluation of the YEI at the latest by the end of April 2016, and at all events in time for the inclusion of a prolongation of the programme in the EU budget 2017, while also laying the groundwork for the search for a permanent source of funding for the YEI as part of the revision of the MFF;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recalls that in the 2015 and 2016 budgets the Commission in many cases refrained from asking for additional payment appropriations for a number of its crisis responses (frontloading of EUR 2 billion for Greece, first initiatives in the area of migration), instead reverting to the redeployment of already existing resources; stresses that this has increased the burden on payment appropriations in 2016 and beyond, potentially re-creating a situation where appropriations may not be sufficient to meet the actual needs of financial programmes across headings, impacting project leaders and citizens directly; recalls its long-standing position that unforeseen payment needs should be financed with fresh appropriations;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Confirms its strong support for the international ITER programme and is committed to securing appropriate financing for it; is concerned, however, that further delays and additional costs may arise regarding this programme, as well as at the related potential repercussions for the Union budget; regrets, therefore, that it was unable to assess the level of the 2016 ITER appropriations against the updated payment plan and schedule; expects this revised plan to be included in the preparation of the draft budget for 2017; calls for a proper accountability mechanism that will offer a clear overview of the amount in financial resources provided for the international project and will evaluate the efficiency of their use;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Reiterates its position in favour of anthe required in-depth reform of the system of Union own resources, and gives the highest political importance to the work of the High Level Group on Own Resources created as part of the MFF 2014-2020 agreement; expects the Commission and the Council to take on board the final outcome, which is expected by the end of 2016, including any new candidate for own resources; recalls that the leading idea behind the own resources reform is to make the Union budget more stable, more sustainable, more predictable, and more autonomous, while also alleviating the burden of excessive spending from national budgets and improving transparency for the citizens;