28 Amendments of Philippe LAMBERTS related to 2013/2134(INI)
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the Commission's country- specific recommendations (CSRs) contain some useful insights, but on the whole fail to convince in terms of the balance of the policy prescriptions across policy areas as well as in terms of methodology regarding the assessment of National Reform Programmes and the follow-up of country-specific Recommendations;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas urgent action is required in many areas, inter alia in restoring lending to the real economy and SMEs, in fighting tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, and in seeking effective European solutions to unemployment and thus also significantly enhancing the social dimension of EMU;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the democratic legitimacy of economic governance in the European Semester requires real and dedicated respect for parliamentary prerogatives at European and national level against the trend of an increasingly de- parliamentarised and intergovernmental culture of economic-policy making at EU the EU and euro area level;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the 2-pack sets a clearrules within the Community method in respect of Member States in the euro area experiencing, or threatened with, serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission's recognition that ‘'to be successful, policies need not only to be well designed but to have political and social support’', and that Europe needs, beyond fiscal consolidation, real growth andforms that enhance the sustainable growth potential as well as specific and urgent actions to tackle the unacceptably high levels of unemployment;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Points out that that in only 15% of the around 400 country-specific recommendations the Commission has identified a significant degree of progress in comparison with previous years;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Underlines that the lack of a properly defined methodological framework for assessing progress made in the framework of NRPs or for adopting and assessing CSRs; deems that the adoption of a legal framework for the ex-ante economic policy coordination offers a genuine opportunity for codifying further the CSRs and NRPs;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the fact that the Commission's recommendations are directed not only at Member States but also to the euro area as a whole; considers it regrettable, however, that the recommendations made to Member States do not take sufficiently into account the strong interdependence between EU economies, particularly within the euro area, or all the relevant information contained in the Alert Mechanism Report;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for a prudent assessment of the ‘'slow recovery’' growth forecasts as previous Commission forecasts have successively been revised downwards and recommends a closer look into the sustainability of the improvements identified in trade and current account balances and public deficits; stresses the need to design assistance programmes under conservative rather than optimistic assumptions and scenarios, in order to avoid self-defeating and pro-cyclical effects;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Urges the Commission to monitor EU2020 National objectives in Member States under financial assistance and to recommend with that purpose adapted CSRs taking proper account of the constraints created by macroeconomic adjustment programmes;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the Commission's recognition that European competitiveness ‘'cannot and will not be based merely on costs’' and that it is essential to enhance productivity, including capital, resource and energy productivity, investment in education, research and innovation and resource efficiency, in line with Europe 2020 goals; regrets therefore the lack of progress on the EU 2020 targets; calls for the above recognition to be adequately reflected in the ‘'deficit’' countries' CSRs as these are the Member States which are in critical need of boosting their competitiveness;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Welcomes the Commission's Country Specific Recommendations in the field of environmental taxation; highlights the positive budgetary, employment, social, and environmental impacts of environmental taxation and the phasing out of environmental harmful subsidies, calls on the Commission to make environmental taxation a priority in the upcoming Annual Growth Survey;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Recalls its resolution of 23 May 2013 in which it considers that any further proposal towards a deeper EMU should be adopted by the ordinary legislative procedure according to the principle that steps towards enhanced economic policy coordination must go hand in hand with more solidarity;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission to submit as a matter of urgency the legislative proposal ons with the aim of creating a genuine convergence process within the EU Semester based on EU 2020 objectives and including a new financial incentives supporting Member States in the implementation of structural reforms, including the form of a Competitiveness and Convergence Instrument (CCI) as well as provisions on ex-ante economic policy coordination based on the Community method, as a first step towards a European fiscal capacity;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Recalls its position that CCIs should be funded by means of a new facility triggered and governed under the Community method as an integral part of the EU budget, but over and above the MFF ceilings; agrees with the Commission that CCIs are the first building blocks of a genuine fiscal capacity supporting solidarity, cohesion and the implementation of sustainable growth enhancing structural reforms;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Is concerned by the EU summit conclusions of June 28 in which the European Council announces that it will decide on the main features of 'contractual arrangements' as well as look a the indicators to be taken into account in the framework of enhanced economic policy coordination and social dimension of the EMU; emphasizes that the European Council does not have any Treaty based prerogative for legislative initiative;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the use by the Commission of the margin of manoeuvre offered by the revised SGP to extend the deadlines for the correction of excessive deficits in seven procedures; calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that the content and the calendar of the fiscal adjustment path are adapted to the specificity of each country and, particularly in ‘'deficit’' countries, include the aforementioned margin of manoeuvre and the full use of structural funds, sound and sustainable structural reforms and the identification of investments (namely in the CSR) essential to boost competitiveness; calls on the Commission to clarifyput forward as a matter ofr urgency the report committed in its declaration annexed to the two-pack on the ways in which to accommodate, under certain conditions, non-recurrent, public investment programmes with a proven impact on the sustainability of public finances;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Takes note of the communication on the harmonized framework for draft budgetary plans and debt issuance reports within the euro area adopted by the Commission as guidelines in the framework of Regulation (EU) No 473/2013; looks forward to the economic dialogue foreseen with the Commission on the content of these guidelines;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Welcomes the inclusion of reporting guidelines on indications on how measures in the draft budgetary plans address CSRs, the targets set in the EU2020 strategy, reporting guidelines on the expected distributional impact of the main expenditure and revenue measures as well as details on the general government expenditure by function; underlines that such guidelines will facilitate the monitoring of budgetary measures taken with a view of achieving EU2020 national targets;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Looks forward to the forthcoming disclosure agreed on the 'two pack' outcome of the Commission's and Member States' parameters and methodological benchmarks including fiscal multipliers estimators underlying their macroeconomic prospects;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Urges in that perspective the Commission to adopt without delay the committed communication on the EMU social dimension and in that perspective to update the scoreboard of macroeconomic imbalances with a set of social indicators together with the adoption of a standalone scoreboard related to the EMU social dimension;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Agrees that the ECB's action has ‘'decisively contributed to the stability of the euro area’', limiting speculationexcessive spreads on sovereign debt; considers, however, that insufficienta lack of sustainable growth and high (and still growing) levels of private and public debt in many Member States mean that ‘'a carefully managed process of deleveraging’' is required; calls on the Commission, therefore, to quickly deliver its 2-pack commitments to Parliament in order to deepen the analysis on the partial substitution of national debt issuance through joint issuance in the form of a redemption fund and eurobills; looks forward to the report of the recently launched Expert Group on stability bonds;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Urges the Commission to submit aWelcomes legislative proposal to create a Single Resolution Mechanism (including a Single European Authority and an industry financed Single European Fund), which is essential for completing the Banking Union; urges the Council to rapidly conclude negotiations with Parliament on the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive and on the Banking Recovery and Resolution Directive (to be negotiated in parallel);
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls for direct banking recapitalisation by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to be available as soon as all the pillars of the Banking Union – namely the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the Deposit Guarantee and Recovery and Resolution frameworks – are in place; given the urgency of having a Single Resolution Fund to accompany the SSM, supports the immediate frontloading of the ESM to feed the SRF, with a reimbursement period by industry; believes that the ESM facility must reinforce the EU budget and be managed under the Community method;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Asks the Commission to put forward a proposal taking stock of the ECJ 'Pringle' ruling on the ESM consistency with the EU legal framework so as to bring the ESM under the community acquis while providing for a comprehensive European Parliament democratic accountability;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls for the urgent application of the 2-pack, with, as an immediate consequence, the reshaping of the ad hoc system of ‘'troikas’' into a legally sound structure under Europeancommunity law, respecting minimum levels of democratic accountability;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Reminds that the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, confirmed in his remarks to the European Parliament on 1 February 2012 that the ESM operation will be "subject to the scrutiny of the European Parliament"; looks forward in that perspective to the negotiation of an arrangement with the Eurogroup providing inter alia for the possibility to organise hearings and address written questions to the ESM Managing Director and its Board of Governors;