32 Amendments of Helmut SCHOLZ related to 2017/2204(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred fromf the People’s Republic of China over Hong Kong was restored on 1 July 1997 and in this way the occupation by force of Chinese territory by British colonial troops was brought to end by means of negotiations and compromises between the United Kingdom toand the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration guaranteed under international law, and the 1990 Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR stipulates that Hong Kong will maintain the autonomy andd as a constitutional principle, that Hong Kong would retain for 50 years from the handover of sovereignty, as an integral part of a unified People’s Republic of China, monetary, tax and legal systems, including an independence of thet executive, legislature and judiciary for 50 years after the handover of sovereignty, separate from those of the People’s Republic and budgetary autonomy; whereas, under the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR, key aspects of the structure of the State are subject to oversight and intervention by the central state authorities and the power to interpret the Basic Law lies with the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the European Union and the Parliament remain strong supporters of theunconditionally support the two principles set out in the 1984 Sino- British Joint Declaration governing the restoration of the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China over Hong Kong, namely ‘one country, two systems’ principle and Hong Kong’sand ‘a higher degree of autonomy under China’ for Hong Kong;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the purpose of the two principles is to define a ‘federal’ concept to govern the relationship between two antithetical social development processes taking place in one State and to offer scope for development;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas even after 1 July 1997 existing agreements on civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and international human rights agreements have continued to apply; whereas the People’s Republic of China has also signed and ratified international agreements guaranteeing these rights and thus acknowledged the significance and universality of human rights; whereas China has established forums for dialogue with the EU and other international partners on matters linked to the rule of law;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas Articles 45 and 68 of the Basic Law stipulate that the Chief Executivehead of government and all members of the Legislative Council should ultimately be elected by universal suffrage; whereas the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China has decided that the provisions of the Basic Law on the head of government should be implemented at the earliest in 2017 and those on the parliament not before 2020;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the People’s Republic of China (PRC) State Council issued a white paper on the phas sole power to set up special administracticve of the ‘one country, two systems’ policy in Hong Kong on 10 June 2014, stressing that the autonomy of the Hong Kong SARregions on its territory and endow them with rights which grant them a measure of autonomy; whereas on 10 June 2014 the People’s Republic of China (PRC) State Council reiterated this position in its ultimately subject to central PRC government’s authorisationwhite paper on the practice of the ‘one country, two systems’ policy;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas Hong Kong’s tradfollowing the politioncal openand society has paved the way for the development of a genuineal protests against the policies of the colonial authorities in the late 1960s and independent civil society thats developed and is seeking to take an actively and constructively takes part in the public life of the SAR;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas Hong Kong’s civil society has, which has done much to raised public awareness of political rights,freedoms and problems linked to health care, environmental issues and protection, climate change, women’s political participation, the rights of domestic workers, LGBTI rights, religion, and academic and cultural freedoms, has been able to secure strong popular support when it has combined efforts to safeguard existing freedoms with the fight to secure social rights with a view to addressing the extreme social inequalities in Hong Kong;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas, despite years of stable economic development, the Hong Kong SAR faces complex international and economic and social challenges which will call for far-reaching adjustment processes: whereas these adjustments are bound up with the search for a sustainable development model, and whereas, in that connection, the SAR Government is focusing on economic diversification, reindustrialisation, in particular in sectors which generate high local revenues and which offer significant potential for technological innovation, gearing the economy to the major projects being carried out by the People’s Republic of China, such as the new Silk Road and closer integration in the Pearl River delta region, and on addressing glaring social inequalities and improving Hong Kong’s poor environmental record;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas, according to the UNCTAD World Investment Report, in 2016 the Hong Kong SAR was the world’s second-largest target market for foreign direct investment; whereas almost two- thirds of the direct investment funds arriving in Hong Kong come from tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands or the Cayman Islands and these funds, if they are not diverted to the People’s Republic of China, are channelled directly into the overheated property and business services sector and thus exacerbate the serious housing crisis in Hong Kong; whereas even in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations the SAR Government has made only paltry efforts to meet OECD requirements as regards legislative measures to combat base erosion and profit shifting;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas Hong Kong enjoys a lively multi-party system; whereas, over the years, the people of Hong Kong have witnessed mass demonstrations in favour of democracy and the full implementation of the Basic Law, including the 2014 protests by the so-called Umbrella Movement, as well as on media freedoms, and, amhas recently seen repeated mass demonstrations when local citizens’ expectations as regards gradual democratisation and the full implementation of the Basic Law were disappointed as a result of the very narrow interpretationg other things, against the disappearance of the Hong Kong booksellersf that document by the competent authorities of the People’s Republic of China;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas the main reason for the economic success of the Hong Kong SAR thus far has been the extremely lax regulatory regime in the area of workers’ rights and industrial relations; whereas today Hong Kong society is deeply divided and polarised, because the wealth generated has been distributed very unevenly; whereas according to Oxfam Hong Kong 1.2 million inhabitants of the SAR (20% of the population) and almost one-third of the population over the age of 65 live below the poverty line, even though the SAR has more than 100 000 millionaires; whereas large sections of the population have no decent housing; whereas some people are forced to live in metal cages, incessant speculation means that housing is only available at exorbitant rents and social housing is allocated only after an average waiting period of roughly five years, if at all;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J b (new)
Recital J b (new)
Jb. whereas the SAR Government has taken the first steps towards implementing an active social policy, but individual aspects of that policy, such as the new minimum wage of EUR 4 per hour, are not even enough to offset Hong Kong’s low inflation and social security systems are inadequate to address social problems, given the number of recipients and the range of benefits involved;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e
Paragraph 1 – point e
(e) to callencourage, in this context, on the Governments of Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China to maintain their commitment and to build up momentum once again for the quickimplement the provisions of the Basic Law on democratisation, for example by means of a transition to universal suffrage in the future election of the Chief Executivehead of government and the members of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, as quickly as possible, and at least in accordance with the undertakings they themselves have given;
Amendment 57 #
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g
Paragraph 1 – point g
(g) to call for the release of the three leaders of the pro-democracy movement Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law recently sentenced to jail for between six and eight months for ‘unlawful assembly’, after having been sentenced last year to non-custodial penalties, including community service, for their participation in peaceful protests, and to urge the Hong Kong Government to revise the Public Order Ordinance to bring it in line with international human rights standards and secure peace and stability in the SAR;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point j
Paragraph 1 – point j
(j) to point out to China that, even though the Basic Law, the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the ‘One country, two systems’ principle are largely respected, there are growing and widespread concerns thatthe Government of the People’s Republic of China that there are concerns in the EU that the implementation of the agreed high degree of autonomy of Hong Kong, or the legal value, or the spirit of the Sino-British Joint Declaration have recently been called increasingly into question;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point k
Paragraph 1 – point k
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point l a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point l a (new)
(la) to encourage the authorities of the People’s Republic of China, in the interests of safeguarding legal security and stability, to implement restrictively Article 22 of the Basic Law of the SAR, which protects the autonomy of Hong Kong against ‘interference’ in areas including justice and internal security;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point m a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point m a (new)
(ma) to urge the Government of the Hong Kong SAR to comply with internationally binding agreements;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n
Paragraph 1 – point n
(n) to continue the bilateral dialogue with the Government of the Hong Kong SAR on a variety of policy areaswith the Government of the People’s Republic of China and with the Government of the Hong Kong SAR on closer cooperation in policy areas of shared interest as well as on the implementation of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point n a (new)
(na) to submit to the European Parliament in the near future practical proposals as to how future cooperation with the SAR which takes account of both the autonomy rights granted to Hong Kong and the sovereignty rights of the People’s Republic of China can be addressed in the many forums for dialogue and cooperation mechanisms already established with the People’s Republic;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point n b (new)
(nb) to applaud the Government of the SAR for the initial steps it has taken to introduce legislation which strengthens the protection of workers, including as regards working hours and wages, and to propose the opening of a specific social welfare dialogue involving social partners and social organisations from the EU;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point p
Paragraph 1 – point p
(p) to find ways to support Hong Kong’s civil society in particular in relation to organisations upholding universal values and promoting human rights, and with a view to supporting the independence of the judiciary and press freedom;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point r
Paragraph 1 – point r
(r) to call for the timely adoption of an anti-discrimination law to protectguarantee the rights of groups such aswomen, persons with a disability, LGBTI people and foreign domestic workers and prevent discrimination on grounds of race, nationality, citizenship or residency status;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point r a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point r a (new)
(ra) to step up cooperation with the Task Force newly set up by the Government of the Hong Kong SAR to combat human trafficking and, in that connection, to support the development of a single legal and policy framework;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point s
Paragraph 1 – point s
(s) to recall that the roots of Hong Kong’s society and its people are largely in immigration, including refugees from east and south-east Asia in particular, and to call, therefore, for this reason in particular, for the establishment of an appropriate refugee and migration policy addressing the plight of refugees and migrants;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point u a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point u a (new)
(ua) in the light of the disastrous environmental situation, to work together with the authorities of the Hong Kong SAR to develop cooperation in the area of innovative environmental technologies, in particular with a view to combating atmospheric pollution and improving the energy performance of buildings;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point v a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point v a (new)
(va) to submit to the European Parliament in the near future proposals for the development of cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities in the area of tax transparency, including AEOI, the combating of money laundering and terrorist funding and the implementation of the measures called for by the OECD in its BEPS package;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point w
Paragraph 1 – point w