Activities of Cristian Dan PREDA related to 2017/2053(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on a reform of the European Union’s system of own resources
Amendments (6)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Reiterates its strong support for a comprehensive reform of the European Union's system of own resources; recalls that the current system of own resources contradicts the letter and spirit of the Treaties in two major ways: firstly, ingiven that that Article 310(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) stipulates that the Union shall not adopt any act that would have budgetary implications without providing assurance that such expenditure can be financed within the limit of the Union’s own resources, and secondly, in that Article 311 of the TFEU stipulates that the Union budget shall be financed wholly from own resources, while; underlines that, nevertheless, in practice the majority of ithe EU's revenue comes from national contributions in the form of a percentage of GNI (69.1 %) and VAT (12.4 %), which are not perceived as genuine own resources, as they've lead to a zero-sum game between the Member States;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. IConsists on the use of the passerelle clause enshrined in Article 48(7) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) to switch from voting by unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) and the ordinary legislative procedure for the adoption of own resources, thusders that the Parliament role in the procedure for the adoption of own resources should be reinforced; insists that a thorough reflection should take place on the legal aspects of putting the Parliament on an equal footing with the Council when it comes to decision-making on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the EU budget;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Takes note ofUnderlines the importance of using the opportunity presented by Brexit to reconsiderabolish the current system of rebates and corrections, which are not only contrary to the letter and spirit of the Treaties, but which have also proven to shift the focus of discussions from the European added value of the EU budget to the ‘net balance’ effect on the contributions of Member States, which overlooks benefits of European budget that are not measurable on short-term;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that any reform of the system of own resources should be based on the principles of fairness, stability and unity, subsidiary and, comprehensibility for European citizens and visibility; underlines moreover the importance of ensuring sufficient revenues to the EU budget in order for the EU policies to be adequately and credibly financed, in particular after Brexit;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that reform on the revenue side should go hand in hand with reform on the expenditure side to ensure a visible link with EU policies and priorities and to support EU policies in key areas of EU competence, such as the single market, environmental protection and climate action, energy union, and reducing fiscal heterogeneity in the single market, as recommended in the Monti report1 ; ;draws attention, moreover, to the importance of prioritizing policy areas with a high potential for added value at the European level at the economic, political and social levels, such as research and development and internal and external security; _________________ 1 Final report and recommendations of the High Level Group on Own Resources on the future financing of the EU, adopted in December 2016
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Takes the view that all five scenarios forDraws attention that a thorough reflection is needed on the effects of the debate on the future of the EU presentEurope, launched by the Commission in March 2017 would necessitate additional financing for the new priorities of the Union derived from genuine own resources., on the reform of the system of own resources; insists on the importance of respecting the unity of the budget and of reducing, and not increasing, its complexity in order to ensure the coherence of EU policies internally and externally;