31 Amendments of Edward SCICLUNA related to 2010/0278(COD)
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2a) The annual policy recommendations by the Commission should be discussed in the European Parliament before the beginning of discussions in the Council.
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2 b (new)
Recital 2 b (new)
(2b) Without prejudice to their rights and obligations under the TFEU, the Member States whose currency is not the euro should have the right to apply the economic governance legislation, including those Member States whose currency is not the euro but have been admitted to ERM II under the terms of their accession treaty to the Union.
Amendment 100 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) AIncentives and additional sanctions are necessary to make the enforcement of budgetary surveillance more effective in the euro area. Those sanctions should enhance the credibility of the fiscal surveillance framework of the Union and the incentives should support the compliance.
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4 a (new)
Recital 4 a (new)
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4 b (new)
Recital 4 b (new)
(4b) A European Monetary Fund managed under Union rules and financed in part with the revenues of the fine, should be established in compliance with Article 3 (1) (c) and Article 122 (2) TFEU in order to safeguard financial stability of the euro area and its Member States whose currency is the euro. That fund should be based on the decisions taken by the Council of 9 and 10 May 2010 and the statement by the Euro group of 28 November 2010.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Sanctions for Member States whose currency is the euro in the preventive part of the Stability and Growth Pact should provide incentives for prudentsustainable fiscal policy-making. Such policy-making should ensure that the growth rate of government expenditure does not normally exceed a prudentsustainable medium-term growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP), unless the excess is matched by increases in government revenues or discretionary revenue reductions are compensated by reductions in expenditure.
Amendment 137 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) PrudentSustainable fiscal policy-making should effectively achieve and maintain the medium-term budgetary objective. Adherence to the medium-term objective for budgetary positions should allow Member States to have a safety margin with respect todeal with normal cyclical fluctuations while keeping the government deficit below the 3% of GDP reference value for the government deficit, toand ensure rapid progress towards fiscal sustainability, and at the same time to have room for budgetary manoeuvre, in particular taking into account the needs for public investment. Taking this into account, the medium-term budgetary objective should allow room for budgetary manoeuvre, in particular for public investment conducive to the achievement of the Union's growth and jobs objectives.
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) In the preventive part of the Stability and Growth Pact, the incentive for prudentsustainable fiscal policy-making should consist of an obligation to temporarily lodge an interest-bearing deposit temporarily imposed on a Member State whose currency is the euro that is making insufficient progress with budgetary consolidation. This should be the case when, following an initial warning from the Commission, a Member State persists in conduct which, while not amounting to a violation of the ban on excessive deficits, is imprudentunsustainable and potentially detrimental to the smooth functioning of economic and monetary union, and the Council therefore issues a recommendation in accordance with Article 121(4) of the Treaty.
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) The interest-bearing deposit imposed should be released to the Member State concerned together with the interest accrued on it once the Council has been satisfied that the situation giving rise to the obligation to lodge that deposit has come to an end.
Amendment 152 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) The size of the interest-bearing deposit, of the non-interest-bearing deposit and of the fine provided for in this Regulation should be set in such a way as to ensure a graduation of sanctions in the preventive and corrective parts of the Stability and Growth Pact while avoiding pro-cyclicality and to provide sufficient incentives for the Member States whose currency is the euro to comply with the fiscal framework of the Union. The fine linked to Article 126(11) of the Treaty as specified in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 1467/974 is composed of a fixed component that equals 0.2% of GDP and of a variable component. Thus, graduation and equal treatment between Member States are ensured if the interest-bearing deposit, the non-interest-bearing deposit and the fine specified in this Regulation are equal to 0.2% of GDP, the size of the fixed component of the fine linked to Article 126(11) of the Treaty. __________________ 4JO L 209 de 2.8.1997, p.6.
Amendment 160 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) A possibility should be provided for the Council to reduce or to cancel the sanctions imposed on Member States whose currency is the euro on the basis of a Commission proposal following a reasoned request by the Member State concerned. In the corrective part of the Stability and Growth Pact,s an exception the Commission should also be able to propose to reduce the size of a sanction or to cancel it on grounds of exceptional economic circumstances following hearings within the competent committee of the European Parliament.
Amendment 165 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) The non-interest-bearing deposit should be released upon correction of the excessive deficit while the interest on such deposits and the fines collected should be distributed among Member States whose currency isallocated to the eEuro which do not have an excessive deficit and which are not the subject of an excessive imbalance procedure eitherpean Monetary Fund.
Amendment 176 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15 a (new)
Recital 15 a (new)
(15a) Given that the monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro is an exclusive competence of the Union, the Commission should be entrusted with emergency intervention powers when the stability of the euro is put at risk.
Amendment 192 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Regulation sets out a system of incentives and sanctions for enhancing the enforcement of the preventive and corrective parts of the Stability and Growth Pact in the euro area.
Amendment 194 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. In order to improve the dialogue between the Union institutions, in particular the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, and with the national parliaments, governments and other relevant bodies of the Member States, and to ensure greater transparency and public accountability, the competent committee of the European Parliament may organise public hearings on macro- economic and budgetary surveillance undertaken by the Council and the Commission.
Amendment 198 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2
Article 1 – paragraph 2
2. This Regulation shall apply to Member States whose currency is the euro. It shall also apply to Member States whose currency is not the euro but who have been admitted to ERM II.
Amendment 204 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 a (new)
Article 2 a (new)
Article 2a A European Monetary Fund shall be established with the aim of safeguarding financial stability of the euro area composed of its Member States whose currency is the euro and to reinforce budgetary discipline among Member States.
Amendment 212 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 b (new)
Article 2 b (new)
Article 2b Common eurobonds 1. Common eurobonds in the euro area shall be established with the aim of reinforcing discipline and compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact. Eurobonds shall be introduced only once the criteria in this Article have been met, including a comprehensive impact assessment. Eurobonds shall be established and shall function in accordance with the relevant provisions of the TFEU. Eurobonds shall not increase the quantity of debt. They shall be issued in exchange, at market price, of existing national bonds or in place of national bonds issuance. 2. The participation for the issuance of eurobonds shall be subject to strict conditionality consistent with the principles and objectives of the Union as laid down in the TEU and the TFEU. 3. Eurobonds may pool up to 60% of GDP of the national debt of each Member State. Common debt shall be senior debt and shall take priority over all other debts issued by the Member States. 4. Member States with a derogation may participate 5. The issue of eurobonds shall be subject to robust institutional and administrative supervision in accordance with the highest standards and best practices of agencies currently managing sovereign debt in the Member States.
Amendment 214 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 c (new)
Article 2 c (new)
Article 2c Revenues from unused payments appropriations Revenues arising from unused payments appropriations in the Union budget may be carried over into the following year's Union budget, and allocated to programmes conducive to the Union's priorities set out in Article 9 of the Treaty.
Amendment 222 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. If the Council addresses to a Member State a recommendation in accordance with Article 121(4) of the Treaty to take the necessary adjustment measures in the event of persisting or particularly serious and significant deviations from prudenthe medium- term budgetary objective, or from the appropriate adjustment path towards it fiscal policy-making as laid down in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1466/97, the lodging of an interest bearing deposit shall be imposed by the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission. The decision shall be deemed to be adopted by the Council unless it decides by qualified majority to reject the proposal within ten days of the Commission adopting it. The Council may amend the proposal in accordance with Article 293(1) of the Treaty.
Amendment 225 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. The Member State concerned may ask the European Parliament to organise public hearings in its competent committee. Such hearings shall allow the government of the Member State concerned to make its case in the presence of the Commission and the President of the Euro-group. It will take place within the 10-day deadline referred to in paragraph 1. Representatives, at an appropriate level, of the European Central Bank shall be invited.
Amendment 228 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 2
2. The interest-bearing deposit to be proposed by the Commission shall amount to no more than 0.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Member State concerned using the latest available figures collected by Eurostat in the preceding year.
Amendment 235 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 4
Article 3 – paragraph 4
4. By derogation from paragraph 2, the Commission, following a reasoned request by the Member State concerned addressed to the Commission within ten days of adoption of the Council recommendation referred to on paragraph 1, may propose to reduce the amount of the interest-bearing deposit or to cancel it in order to take account of any cumulative effect of any sanction imposed in regard of Regulation (EU) No .../2010 on enforcement measures to correct excessive macro-economic imbalances in the euro area and Regulation (EU) no .../2010 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure.
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5
Article 3 – paragraph 5
5. If the situation giving rise to the recommendation referred to in paragraph 1 no longer subsexists, the Council, on the basis of a proposal from the Commission, shall decide that the deposit and the interest accrued thereon are returned to the Member State concerned. The Council may amend the Commission proposal in accordance with Article 293(1) of the Treaty.
Amendment 242 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. If the Council refuses to consider that the situation has ceased to exist´, the Member State concerned may ask the competent committee in the European Parliament to organise public hearings.
Amendment 248 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
1. If the Council decides in accordance with Article 126(6) of the Treaty that an excessive deficit exists in a Member State, the lodging of a non-interest-bearing deposit shall be imposed by the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission. The decision shall be deemed adopted by the Council unless it decides by qualified majority to reject the proposal within ten days of the Commission adopting it. The Council may amend the proposal in accordance with Article 293(1) of the Treaty.
Amendment 255 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. The non-interest-bearing deposit to be proposed by the Commission shall amount to no more than 0.2% of the GDP of the Member State concerned in the preceding year.
Amendment 266 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. If the Council decides in accordance with Article 126(8) of the Treaty that the Member State has not taken effective action in response to a Council recommendation within the period laid down, the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, shall decide that the Member State shall pay a fine. The decision shall be deemed adopted by the Council unless it decides by qualified majority to reject the proposal within ten days of the Commission adopting In respect of Member States who have been admitted to ERM II this sanction shall not apply. In respect of Article 153 of the Treaty, no fine will be levied if the fine is related to a recommendation concerning the issue of pay and/or collective bargaining in the public sector. The decision shall be adopted by the Council by a qualified majority. The Council may amend the proposal in accordance with Article 293 (1) of the Treaty.
Amendment 271 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. In the event that a Member State manipulates financial data, falsifies statistics or provides misleading information on its public finances, the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, may adopt a decision requiring the Member State to pay a fine. The Council may amend the Commission's proposal in accordance with Article 293 (1) TFEU.
Amendment 272 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2
Article 5 – paragraph 2
2. The fine to be proposed by the Commission shall amount to no more than 0.2% of the GDP of the Member State concerned using the latest available figures collected by Eurostat in the preceding year.
Amendment 290 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
The interest earned by the Commission on deposits lodged in accordance with Article 4 and the fines collected in accordance with Article 5 shall constitute other revenue referred to in Article 311 of the Treaty, and shall be distributed, in proportion to their share in the gross national income of the eligible Member States, among Member States whose currency is the euro which do not have an excessive deficit as determined in accordance with Article 126(6) of the Treaty and which are not the subject of an excessive imbalance procedure within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No […/…]be credited to the fund referred to in Article 2(a).