5 Amendments of Burkhard BALZ related to 2014/2245(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that the economic crisis and the austerity measurestructural weaknesses and macroeconomic imbalances inside several Member States, which build up over years and sometimes decades, ended up seriously affecting the economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Union; notes how painful the correction of internal macro-economic imbalances can be; reminds thave greatly increased economic and social disparities, worsening the differences between (and within) Member Statest the worst negative external effects ever registered in the Economic and Monetary Union were due to the sovereign debt crisis in a limited number of Member States; urges all Member States to prevent the recurrence of a sovereign debt crisis by insuring sustainable public finances and increasing international competitiveness through timely structural reforms; reminds of the importance of national ownership as far as the country specific recommendations are concerned for achieving the aim of economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses the important role of cohesion policy in mitigating the effects of the financial, economic and socialxtremely negative effects of the sovereign debt crisis, as well as its positive effects on all regions; underlines its importance in closing the public/private investment gap, especially in the Member States whit most by the crisisch had lost access to the capital markets and were therefore put under an adjustment programme;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that the reform of cohesion policy has focused on delivering an investment policy; welcomes the Commission’s Investment Plan, and endorses its proposal to finance the new EFSI by making nationalencourage additional national contributions to the EFSI through not triggering an Excessive Deficit Procedure under the conditions that the 3% deficit value be breached only because of the contribution to the EFSI, and as long as the excess over the reference value is small and is expected to be temporary; notes that, as far as the attainment of the Medium Term Objective of reducing the overall debt is concerned, the contributions to the fundEFSI is fiscally neutral as regards the SGPboth in the preventive and the corrective arm; reminds that the national contributions to the EFSI are considered as an expenditure and do not lead to a reduction of the deficit under the new rules; stresses the interdependence of cohesion policy with the EU’'s other investment initiatives; calls on the Commission to create a coherent and effective investment framework;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls for the establishment of an appropriate mechanism for democratic accountability in the future governance of the fund and reminds that the fund shall primarily operate with private investors' money;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. WelcomesNotes the clarification of the ‘investment clause’ as outlined in the Commission communication on flexibility within the SGP; strongly believnotes that the 'investment clause' does not allow for expenditures to be excluded from the calculation of the deficit, neither in the preventive, nor in the corrective arm of the Pact; notes that under the 'investment clause' should be symmetrically extended to the corrective armome investments deemed to be equivalent to major structural reforms may justify a temporary deviation from the Medium Term Objective of reducing the overall debt; reminds that there are stringent conditions attached to activating the 'investment clause', including severe growth weaknesses in the Member State, as well as the obligation to compensate in the future for that temporary deviation from the MTO, and finally that the clause can only be activated if it doesn't lead to an excess over the 3% deficit limit;