37 Amendments of Ska KELLER related to 2012/2225(INI)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the EU's trade and investment policy should be guided by the general principle of its external action as laid down in Article 21 TEU and by the principle of Policy Coherence for Development as laid down in Article 208 TFEU and should contribute to ‘the sustainable development of the Earth (…), free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights’;11
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas trade and investment cannot in themselves have a decisive impact on growth or on the structural weaknesses (shortfalls in human capital, governance and infrastructure, heavy reliance on exports of raw materials, poor export diversification, high trade costs, etc.) from which DCs suffer and which hamper their full access to world trade and, if not primarily focussed on development goals, can even be detrimental;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the EU's trade and investment policy in respect of developing countries should not hamper policy coherence for development and therefore be supplemented by technical and financial assistance coupled with parallel national measures;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas however many countries are still not benefitting from trade and the ratio of least-developed countries (LDCs) in the world GDP is falling; whereas trade has not been beneficial to all DCs and in some cases it has exacerbated social inequalities;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Supports the Commission's aim of enhancing synergies between trade and development policies and urges it to integrate development goals when designing trade policy; recommends that it award priority, in these policies, to measures aimed at creating jobs, reducing social inequalities, improving the trade and investment climate, resistance to economic shocks, fiscal governance and diversification of trade and investment flows, andll these goals having to be consistent with the overarching principle of promoting sustainable development;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Encourages the DCs to mainstream the objective of economic development into the respective policies, strategies and measures they initiate at national level; Calls on the Commission to strengthenoffer more assistance to improve the capacity of governments to incorporate sustainable development considerations into their national trade strategies and programmes;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Views as decisive investment aimed at creating, developing and strengthening key port, transport,sustainable transport, sustainable energy and telecommunications infrastructure, and in particular cross- border infrastructure;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – introductory part
Paragraph 5 – introductory part
5. Considers that when trade and investment are used as drivers for sustainable growth and economic development, they should target in particular the following objectives:
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 1 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 1 a (new)
- support the need for DCs and LDCs to carve out some sensitive agricultural products from reciprocal liberalisation;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 1 b (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 1 b (new)
- include concrete measures for positive incentives in the Trade and Sustainable Development chapters of trade agreements to encourage the import of agricultural products to the EU that comply with specified environmental, social and human right standards, in particular by ensuring fair revenues for producers and living wages for agricultural workers as called for by the UN special rapporteur on the right to food;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 2
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 2
– improving their access to financing and micro-financing;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 3
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 3
– ensuring compliance withsupporting DCs in aligning to international health and plant health standards, in order to guarantee fair competition and broader access to agricultural marketimprove the opportunities for them to have better access to the market of industrialised countries while better protecting their populations;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 4
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 4
– gradual removal of export restrictions and countering agricultural price speculation and volatility;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 6 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 6 a (new)
- acknowledge the potential need for safeguard clauses for DCs preventing undercutting and distortive effects on their local agricultural markets by subsidised European agricultural products;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 6 b (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 1 – indent 6 b (new)
- terminate the praxis of export subsidies that put DCs' farmers under unfair competition with European products;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 1
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 1
– creation, strengthening and diversification of production capacities and sustainable manufacturing development;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 2
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 2
– improving the businvestments climate in order to facilitate private sector participation, including the local small business;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 2
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 2
– improving the businvestments climate in order to facilitate private sector participation, including the local small business;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 3
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 3
– gradual removal of trade restrictions in conformity with the necessity for DCs to diversify their economy and build a domestic sustainable industry;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 4 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 2 – indent 4 a (new)
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 1
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 1
– strengthening the legal certainty and legality of private investments, and in particular of FDIrule of law and good governance in a way that is beneficial also to private investments;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 2
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 2
– protection of intellectual property rights proportionally to the level of development of countries and with a view to favouring technology transfer, including in green technology, and with a view not to hamper access to medicines in compliance with the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health.
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 3 a (new)
- carefully scrutinise existing provisions and negotiating directives on financial services in and for trade agreements, in order to eliminate inconsistencies and incompatibilities between the liberalisation of financial services and efforts to guarantee regulation and transparency and supervision of the European financial sector, and avoid relocation of financial institutions to evade EU rules;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 3 b (new)
Paragraph 5 – point 3 – indent 3 b (new)
- support national governments to fight tax evasion and establish information exchange and supervisory mechanisms on corporate payments;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point 4 – indent 4
Paragraph 5 – point 4 – indent 4
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. SupportsTakes note of the Commission proposal concerning the differentiation of EU aid for trade and the focusing of efforts on those countries in most need of this, and particularly the less developed countries (LDCs) and low-income countries; calls on the Commission, nevertheless, not to take revenue (gross national product) as its sole criterion, but also to take into account a country's general level of development and its needs, capacities and internal development inequalities; urges the Commission to take into account the principles of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) for the LDCs;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the work done by the international institutions (WTO, UNCTAD, UNIDO, OECD, World Bank and multilateral development banks, and the G20) in the field of aid for trade; believes that, in the framework of Aid for Trade programmes, the inclusion of compensation measures for DCs is crucial to balance the losses stemming from trade liberalisation; believes that a system should be established for international, national and local cooperation between donors and that the WTO should play a leading role in doing this;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Deplores the lack of international coordination of investment policies; welcomestakes note of the agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on transitional arrangements for bilateral investment agreements between Member States and third countries; encourages the Commission to develop an EU policy on international investment which reflects the capacity of states to generate their own rules, and particularly social and environmental standards and which encompasses obligations for investors concerning social and environmental standards as, amongst other, proposed in the UNCTAD's Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development; stresses the fact that DCs suffer disproportionally from high costs of investor-to-state dispute settlement and that the majority of investor-to-state law suits are filed against DCs;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Urges the Commission to produce disaggregated data on outbound EU foreign direct investment (FDI) to DCs and LDCs, while considering the following categories of investment: mergers and acquisitions, intra-company shuffling of assets, speculative investment and green investment;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. Believes that cooperation should also focus on capacity and institution building in order for DCs to be able to frame the necessary conditions for investment, such as building tax collection capacities and avoidance of tax evasion and implementing the best standards for accounting;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the WTO's decision to facilitate accession for LDCs; calls on the developed countries and the major emerging countries which are WTO members to use the derogation applicable to services in the case of LDCs and to apply preferential treatment to services and service providers from LDCs, while giving particular attention to Mode 4 which is a priority for LDCs;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Urges the Commission to propose tangible ways of bolstering its support for swifter and deeper regional integration, with a view to developing regional markets and creating regional value chains; to this purpose, invites the Commission to pay attention to the effects of trade agreements to make sure that bilateral agreements are not in contradiction with the purpose of regional integration; calls on the Commission to consider simplifying and harmonising rules of origin and the means of facilitating their use by small- volume exporters; calls on the Commission to strengthen its partnerships with existing regional institutions, and particularly the African Development Bank; points to the vital role played by the local private sector in terms of trade integration and economic development;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. WelcomesTakes note of the conclusion of a first economic partnership agreement (EPA) and calls on the Commission to harness this momentum to relaunch the negotiations on EPAs not yet concluded; at the same time encourages the Commission to take stock of the little progress made so far in concluding EPAs and , on this basis, to open up a reflection process on how to make these agreements more development-oriented; points to the importance of establishing a firm and fair legal and commercial framework for promoting investment in ACP countries in a way that is beneficial to their development; calls on the Commission to take into account the European Parliament's recommendations concerning preference erosion and the flexibility and scope of tariff dismantling, and to award special attention to implementing the EPAs;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Stresses that export duties are fully compatible with WTO rules and reminds of the importance of supporting DCs in diversifying their economy and building a sustainable industry;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Encourages the Commission to include Trade and Sustainable Development chapters in bilateral trade agreements with binding environmental and labour rules and CSR clauses; additionally, the Commission should offer cooperation to help DCs and LDCs meet those standards; believes that a strong involvement of civil society in the monitoring of the implementation of such chapters increases the awareness and the acceptance of environmental and social standards;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Recommends that the Commission negotiate the inclusion of binding and enforceable human rights provisions, in addition to social and environmental provisions, in all future trade agreements in order to increase the effectiveness and credibility of the EU's conditionality policy;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18 c. Urges the Commission to implement the guidance prepared by the UN rapporteur on the right to food which calls on the use of Human Rights impact assessments: "Guiding Principles on Human Rights Impact Assessment of Trade and Investment Agreements" when concluding trade and investment agreements, to ensure these are consistent with obligations under international human rights instruments; (Justification: the guiding principles are aimed at providing States with guidance on how best to ensure that trade and investment agreements they conclude are consistent with their obligations under international human rights instruments. As the EU has signed up to these instruments, implementing this guide would be a clear example of Policy Coherence for Development.)