Activities of Louis MICHEL related to 2015/2233(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) (A8-0009/2016 - Viviane Reding) FR
Shadow opinions (2)
OPINION on recommendations to the European Commission on the negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA)
OPINION on recommendations to the European Commission on the negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA)
Amendments (32)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Union is bound by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter), including Article 7 thereof concerning the right to respect for private and family life and Article 8 thereof on the right to the protection of personal data, and by Article 16 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on the same fundamental right, as a key pillar of EU primary law which must be fully respected by all international agreements;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas Article 31 of the Charter requires the Union to ensure fair and just working conditions;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas data flows are assuming growing importance for the economy and for international trade and whereas the increase in these flows must have as a corollary a greater effort by the Union to ensure its independence in the digital sphere and to develop cutting-edge expertise in the field of cybersecurity;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the USA is a party to the negotiations on the future agreement; having regard to the recent judgment of the Court of Justice declaring the European Commission’s decision on Safe Harbour invalid;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas TiSA will entail movements of natural persons and whereas in this context all European citizens should be treated equally as regards access to the territory of the other parties to the agreement;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas the European Parliament will have the power to approve or reject the final agreement;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Points out that in a globalised economy, services are playing an increasingly important role and that they are a key sector for investment, innovation, and job creation, making them an essential element of economic growth in developing countries;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Maintains that if developing countries have access to world markets in services, this will consolidate their economic integration and their adjustment to globalisation; calls on the EU to make every effort to encourage them to participate in the negotiations on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA);
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Notes that TiSA is based on the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), in which all members of the WTO are participants; calls on the EU to take advantage of TiSA to reactivate the discussions on services in the Doha Development Round while safeguarding the provisions on special and differentiated treatment under GATS Article IV;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. RecCalls TiSA’s risks ofon the EU to prevent TiSA from increasing asymmetric international trade relations between participating and non- participating countries;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
(da) to implement the recommendations of the European Parliament formulated in its resolution of 12 March 2014 concerning European independence in the fields of IT and cybersecurity in order to ensure optimal security of data flows;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Rejects TiSA and other macro-trade deals, taking the view that they are a tool for the privatisation of public services and liberalisation of public procurement, such public services and public procurement being key elementsPoints to the benefits of economic liberalisation in the development of the private sector, a key factor for sustainable development; and for ensuring respect for people’s dignity; asks the Commissionsks the Commission to ensure that TiSA does not serve to isolate developing countries or to cement instances of unfair competition adversely affecting them; maintains that TiSA must seek in particular to respect the policy space of developing countries’ governments and parliaments to take decisions in order to ensure internationally agreed standards on labour, the environment and human rights;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the EU to ensure that TiSA does not jeopardise labour mobility in developing countries which, though not part of TiSA, provide services in the area that it covers;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the EU to safeguard the achievements of the Cotonou Agreement as regards the partnership between the EU and the ACP countries;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls the Commission to mainstream gender equality and women’s empowerment in its trade policy and to considerforestall the negative impact that TiSA and other trade agreements may have in this respect in developing countries;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Points out that trade in services entails substantial flows of private data from developing countries; calls on the EU to ensure that privacy is respected and to protect personal data from developing countries involved in trade in services between the EU and TiSA parties;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Points to the importance of fighting cybercrime, and asks the EU to allow for the risk that cybercriminal networks might spread within developing countries if cybercriminals were to remain outside the regulatory framework to be established under TiSA; calls on the EU to help the digital world to grow on a sound and secure footing in developing countries;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the globalisation,having regard to servicification and digitalisation both ofin the globalisation process; whereas both globalisation and services are essential to our economies and tof international trade call for, and whereas they call therefore for integrated multilateral policy action to enhance international rules;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. having regard to the position of emerging countries in trade in services and the market opportunities represented by developing countries;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas multilateralism should be promoted as the framework for globalisation;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recalls the primacy of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union over TiSA and any other international treaty negotiated by the EU, andMaintains that TiSA has to be in accordance with Union law and must not violate the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; calls on the Court of Justice of the European Union to effectively guarantee this juridical supremacycompliance with European law and the EU’s core values;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Maintains that TiSA must continue to exclude audio-visual and cultural services while enabling developing countries to preserve their cultural assets.
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas the TiSA will involve movements of natural persons between the parties to the agreement and in this respect all European citizens must be treated equally regarding access to their respective territories;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K b (new)
Recital K b (new)
Kb. whereas the European Parliament will have the power to approve or reject the final agreement;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point v a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point a – point v a (new)
va. to ensure the inclusion of developing countries in the TiSA negotiations and safeguard the achievements of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the ACP and EU countries;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ii a (new)
iia. to ensure that the agreement is not detrimental to developing countries;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v
v. to undertake limited commitments in Mode 1 so as to avoid regulatory arbitrage and, social dumping; to ensure that European rules are fully respected when a company provides a service from abroad to European consumer and unfair competition; ensure that EU rules, including social and employment provisions, are fully respected when a company provides a service to European consumers from abroad; calls on all contracting parties to ratify and implement the principal standards of the International Labour Organization; urges all contracting parties to comply with OECD guidelines for multinationals;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
ii. to acknowledge that data protection is not aand respect for privacy are not trade barriers, but a fundamental right, enshrined in Article 39 TEU and Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; to acknowledge that GATS Article XIV, which fully exempts the existing and future EU legal framework for the protection of personal data from these negotiations, will be replicated in the TiSA core text;
Amendment 372 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point c – point vi
vi. to ensure that the provisions of the final agreement are consistent with existing and future legislation at EU level, including the Connected Continent Package, the General Data Protection Regulation and the 16 measures embedded in the communication on the Digital Single Market; to safeguard net neutrality and to guarantee that the EU retains its ability to limit or even suspend the transfer of data from the EU to third countries where the rules of the third party do not meet EU adequacy standards and where alternative avenues, such as binding corporate rules or standard contractual clauses, are not used by companies;
Amendment 402 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point ii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point ii a (new)
iia. to ensure that the agreement does not jeopardise the mobility of workers in developing countries not participating in the agreement but providing services in the area covered by the agreement;