18 Amendments of Jens GEIER related to 2021/0227(BUD)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the draft budget for 2022 as the first general budget with full implementation of the MFF Agreement, with the highest share of climate-relevant EU expenditure to date and a significant contribution to the EU’s digital transition; underlines the importance of ensuring sufficient funding in order to contribute to the twin transition towards the achievement of the 2030 energy and climate targets and climate-neutrality by 2050; considers that the budget should fully align with the updated New Industrial Strategy; stresses that 2022 should be a year for boosting a rapid recovery for a resilient Europe;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Recalls its resolution of 16 September 2020 on the draft Council decision on the system of own resources of the EU; calls on Commission to ensure timely implementation of New Own resources as agreed in the Interinstitutional agreement of16 December 2020;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Reminds of the crucial role of strategic foresight and importance of the evidence based anticipatory policy making;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Reminds that ambitious policies in pathway to climate neutrality require significant investments in research and innovation and in this regard regrets recent Council cuts in allocations to Horizon Europe for 2022;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Welcomes the Commissions ambition to strengthen Union competitiveness, strategic autonomy and resilience and in this context recalls the success of the European Battery Alliance that in line with EGD, Circular Economy Action Plan and New Industrial Strategy aims to contribute to clean and digital transition by creating a competitive, circular, sustainable and safe value chain for batteries, crucial for future low- emissions mobility and energy storage and can, therefore, serve as a good example;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1 e. Stresses the importance of achieving the biodiversity spending level of 10 % and a climate mainstreaming spending level of 30 % agreed under the 2021-2027 MFF ; stresses that clear eligibility criteria and comprehensive methodology for defining and tracking relevant climate and biodiversity expenditure in line with the ‘do no harm’ principle are necessary, together with the corresponding correction measures, and the proofing mechanism to identify potential harmful impacts of Union actions on biodiversity and climate;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that the Union budget must be equipped with the tools to enable it to respond to multiple crises simultaneously; reiterates Parliament’s view that the 2022 budget should play a pivotal role in ensuring a positive and tangible impact on citizens’ lives; against this background, supports increases to boost sustainable investment with a particular focus on SMEs, strengthen efforts towards the socially just green and digital transitions, give fresh opportunities to young people in particular, build a strong European Health Union; reinforces, further, priorities in the fields of security, migration, fundamental rights, while acknowledging the recent deteriorating situation in external policy and humanitarian aid and the need to be able to react swiftly to the upcoming challenges;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1 f. Calls for addressing the social, economic, energy and environmental impacts of the transition whilst maintaining and expanding employment opportunities in the affected territories in order to avoid social exclusion; points, in this respect, to the role of the Just Transition Fund in addressing societal, socio-economic, technological and environmental impacts on workers, sectors and communities adversely affected by the transition from coal and carbon dependence; calls for securing workers’ rights, reducing of the energy poverty and avoiding deepening of inequalities;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 g (new)
Paragraph 1 g (new)
1 g. Underlines the important role that SMEs, microenterprises and start-ups play in the recovery while maintaining employment and growth and calls on Union and Member States to ensure stronger support for SMEs and start-ups and to further reduce their administrative burden; underlines that SMEs are an essential part of the European economy and stresses the need to create a SMEs- friendly business environment and support SMEs cluster and network; Calls for the need for sufficient financial resources in the SME window under InvestEU;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 h (new)
Paragraph 1 h (new)
1 h. Underlines the need to reform the European industry and hard-to-abate sectors in order to achieve a competitive and sustainable Union and its climate goals; stresses, therefore, the need for sufficient funding for programmes supporting these goals, innovative solutions and breakthrough technologies such as Horizon Europe, CEF, InvestEU and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 (FCH 2) Joint Undertaking;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 i (new)
Paragraph 1 i (new)
1 i. Insists on the importance of increased investments in digitalisation and digital connectivity to clearly define 2030 digital target and tackle challenges related to reducing the digital divide and digital literacy, cybersecurity, free flow of data, safety, liability and artificial intelligence;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Is concerned by the severity of natural catastrophes in the summer of 2021, including the floods in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria, with a high number of human casualties; is concerned that the resources of the Solidarity Fund might not be sufficient to cover the financial needs following the upcoming applications for deployment by the national authorities of the affected Member states; expects the Commission to make use of all options to ensure sufficient funding, including a frontloading of future annual budgets; invites the Commission to seize the opportunity of the upcoming MFF revision to propose an increase of the EUSF envelope for the remainder of the MFF;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. calls on the Commission to provide financial resources for a European network of trade-union linked national advisory networks for short-term migrant, posted and seasonal workers that supplements other channels of support for this target group; believes that trade union representatives are closer to the ground and more accessible for most workers than official authorities;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Emphasises that youth remains an overarching priority for the Union budget; reinforces therefore funding to meet increasing demand for the Erasmus+ programme by a total amount of just over EUR 137 million, as a 5% increase represents an additional 40,000 mobility exchanges; furthermore increases the European Solidarity Corps by EUR 5 million as the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic should not adversely affect support for the youth; welcomes the Commission Presidents’ announcement to come up with a new programme that will help these young Europeans to find temporary work experience in another Member State; asks the Commission provide additional information on the budget and a timeline for the proposal as soon as possible;
Amendment 116 #
38. Stresses the importance of a progressive framing of the Union’s common security and defence policy; underlines the importance of enhancing European cooperation in defence matters since it not only makes Europe and its citizens safer, but also leads to a cost reduction; calls for increased funding for the European Defence Fund and for military mobility in order to fully foster an innovative and competitive defence industrial base that will contribute to the much-needed strategic autonomy of the Union; reminds that the purpose of European defence cooperation is to create syerngies to avoid double spending in member states; invites the Commission to report to Council and Parliament about national spendings that have been avoided as a consequence of European spending;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 a (new)
Paragraph 45 a (new)
45 a. Calls for sufficient funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 2022, in recognition of its essential role at contributing to regional stability at a time of political uncertainty in the region and in view of the growing needs of Palestine refugees;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53 – point k
Paragraph 53 – point k
k) reminds that following the 2018 Bureau decision on the General Expenditure Allowance (GEA), subsequent plenary decisions have been taken and therefore reiterates its demands to the Bureau to introduce changes to the rules governing the GEA by the end of 2021; instructs the Bureau to change the necessary rules to enable Members that wish to do so to transfer part of their General Expenditure Allowance (GEA) to the Parliamentary Assistance Allowance; believes that this would improve accountability of expenditure, would be budgetary neutral, and would allow Members to cope with the increasing workload;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53 – point k a (new)
Paragraph 53 – point k a (new)
k a) Highlights the need to revisit Parliaments HR policy in order to allow the institution to make use of expertise acquired by all Parliament staff; believes that it is therefore necessary to change the rules to enable all categories of staff, including Accredited Parliamentary Assistants, to participate in internal competitions and to establish HR development schemes that will allow Parliament to keep the expertise of these categories at the service of the Institution;