36 Amendments of Danuta Maria HÜBNER related to 2014/2145(INI)
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, according to the Commission’'s autumnwinter forecast, after two consecutive years of unanticipated negative growth, gross domestic product (GDP) in the euro area is expected to rise by 0.81,2 % in 2014 and by 1.1,8 % in 2015, meaning that the pre-crisis growth rate will not be regained this year; but the economic recovery is expected to catch up in 2015 ;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas huge differences will continue to prevail between the Member States, also following the Troika’s intervention, with forecasted GDP growth rates in 2014 ranging between -2.8 % in Cyprus and +4.6 % in Ireland reflecting increasingly undermining growing internal divergencnecessary post- crisis adjustments in some Member States as well as the success of the financial consolidation in other member States ;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas, according to the Commission’'s autumnwinter forecast, investment in the euro area decreased by 3.4 % in 2012, by 2.4 % in 2013 and by 175 % since the pre-crisis period, with the expected rebound rate in 2014 (0.6,9 %) and that anticipated for 2015 (1.7 2,0%) being very weak; whereas a lack of investment can be just as detrimental to future generations as excessive public debt;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the current economic situation calls for urgent, comprehensive and decisive measures to face the threat of the deflationary pressure or very low inflation, low growth and high unemployment;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights the fact that the current economic governance framework does not allow for a proper debate on the economic perspective of the euro area or on an aggregate fiscal stance and does not address the different economic and fiscal situations on an equal footing;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses, however, that excessive debts and large macroeconomic imbalances accumulated in some Member States were directly caused by systematic violations of the existing EU fiscal rules;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that major policy initiatives which included policy recommendations were based on economic forecasts that had not anticipated the low growth and inflation experienced and have not fully taken into account the underestimation ofed the size of the fiscal multiplier, the importance of spillover effects across countries in a period of synchronised consolidation and the deflationary impact of cumulative structural reforms ;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that the current situation calls for closer and inclusive economic coordination (to increase aggregate demand, improve fiscal sustainability and allow for fair and sustainabl, encourage structural reforms and relatedboost investments) and for swift reactions so as to correct the most obvious fault liimprove the effectiveness inof the economic governance framework;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Warns that the accumulation of procedures makes the economic governance framework complex and not transparent enough, which is detrimental to the ownership and acceptance by parliaments, social partners and citizens of guidelines, recommendations and reforms stemming from this framework;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines allAcknowledges the existing provisions under the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) which have been put in place to ensure an anti-cyclical policy; finds it regrettable that these provisions were not put to full use in previous years, in the context of low inflation, low growth and high unemployment;
Amendment 325 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the fact that in its interpretative communication on flexibility, "Making the best use of the flexibility within the existing rules of the SGP", the Commission acknowledgnotes that the way in which the current fiscal rules are interpreted is crucial in bridgas it explaings the linvestment gap in the EU and implementing growth-enhancing structural reformsk between investment, structural reforms and fiscal responsibility;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Supports all the incentives to finance the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), mainly by makingnot taking into account national contributions to the fund fiscally neutral as regardswhen defining the fiscal adjustment under the preventive or the corrective arm of the SGP; calls for further clarification regarding the concrete treatment of these contributions in accordance with the new paradigm set out in the communication;
Amendment 380 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that the communication rightly broadens the scope of the investment clause, allowing for flexibility in the preventive arm of the SGP to accommodate investment programmes by the Member States, in particular as regards expenditure on projects under structural and cohesion policy, including the Youth Employment Initiative, trans-European networks and the Connecting Europe Facility, and co-financing under the EFSI; believes that this approach must be urgently reassessed to be symmetrically applied to the corrective arm of the SGP;
Amendment 396 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. BelievNotes that structural reforms should have a positive socioeconomic return and contribute to increased administrative capacityare still essential in a number of countries; notes also the fact that those Member States that have successfully implemented adjustment programmes or financial programmes have been able to return to the financial markets; believes that particular attention should be paid to structural reforms which have a positive socioeconomic return ;
Amendment 418 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Underlines that the deficit rule and the MTO rule under the Stability Growth Pact should be applied in tandem, and that for a Member State that observes the MTO rule the 3% deficit limit ensures sufficient fiscal flexibility in responding to shocks;
Amendment 437 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that more room for flexibility and soft laws exists under the SGP and in the European Semester; invites the Commission to build on this flexibility and to propose rule changes where neededstreamline and reinforce the European semester ;
Amendment 459 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Invites the Commission and the Council to better articulate the fiscal and macroeconomic frameworks, notably in the corrective arm of the SGP, to allow for earlier debate among stakeholders, taking into account the need to increase convergence between euro area Member States and the role of national parliaments and social partners regarding the design and implementation of structural reforms;
Amendment 475 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. InsistBelieves that the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) and euro area recommendation must be better designed and put to better use to allow for a global economic debate, notably as regards competitiveness and convergence in the euro area; proposes that the country- specific recommendations (CSRs) should be established on the basis of striking a better balance between the AGS and the macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP), and suggests that the euro area recommendation should be made compulsory following a proper debate with the European Parliament, with incentives being offered so as to encourage the implementation thereof; requests that the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) recommendation be joined togethercoordinated with the CSRs;
Amendment 481 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Believes that as flexibility is added to the fiscal treatment of structural reforms under existing SGP rules, more sustained political attention must also be given to the ability of the economic governance framework to monitor, foster and sustain these national-level structural reforms from commitment stage to reality.
Amendment 492 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Asks the Commission to verify whether the current 1/20 rule on debt reduction is sustainableffective and whether it needs to be reconsidered;
Amendment 517 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Asks the Commission to make the three-pillar strategy (investment, fiscal rules and structural reforms), presented in the AGS 2015, more concrete under the euro area recommendation and in the CSRs and to strengthen its approach by building a fourth pillar on taxation;
Amendment 532 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Believes that national fiscal councils could play a useful role at EU level; requests the set-up of a European network allowing for an independent analysis of the economic perspectives to be established as a basis for a proper political discussion among stakeholders;
Amendment 536 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 555 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 587 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Insists that the focus on structural deficits since the 2005 reform of the SGP, together with the introduction of an expenditure rule with the 2011 reform, creates margins for the discretionarymore flexibility in the implementation of the SGP, as the calculation of potential growth, underpinning the assessment of structural deficits, and that of the expenditure rule are subject to several questionable assumptions and substantial revisions between the Commission’'s autumn and spring forecasts, thereby leading to various calculations and diverging assessments as regards the implementation of the SGP;
Amendment 601 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission, when evaluating the fiscal position of Members States, to include a better balance between the impactconsider the implications of the agreed fiscal measures and the fiscal figures based on estimated potential growth for GDP, output gaps and structural deficits that may introduce unexpected radical change at a later stage;
Amendment 608 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Believes there is a strong and urgent need for less complexity, better ownership, more transparency and democracy in economic governance; believes that looking forward towards deeper integration cannot be achieved by adding a new layer of rules to the already existingmore transparency, increased country ownership and democratic accountability in economic governance; believes that constructing a resilient EMU that will ensure a sustainable recovery while surviving inevitable political challenges cannot be achieved without sustained national input and parliamentary involvement at every stage of the European Semester – and particularly as regards national ownesrship of structural reform commitments. ;
Amendment 632 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
Amendment 649 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Recalls the European Parliament’s request that the creation of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) outside of the structure of the institutions of the Union represents a setback to the political integration of the Union and, therefore, demands that the ESM be fully integrated into the community framework and made formally accountable to Parliament;
Amendment 653 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
Amendment 670 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
Amendment 678 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
Amendment 693 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
Amendment 708 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Recalls that the functioning of the Single Market needs to be improved, in particular in areas that are vital to increasing the adjustment capacity of the euro area economies, such as the digital economy and energy. Enhancing labour mobility, especially for women and young workers, is key in this respect.
Amendment 720 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Recalls that the banking union was the result of the political will to avoid a financial crisis and that the same will is needed as regards a potential fiscal union in order to avoid a political crisis;
Amendment 743 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 – introductory part
Paragraph 37 – introductory part
37. Invites the stakeholders in this necessary next step of the EMU to avoid left-over and to explore all options which have been well discussed and documented over a long period of time as ways of achieving a deepening of the EMU, such as(deleted) explore all options to deepen the EMU and to make it more resilient: