Activities of Alfredo PALLONE related to 2012/2028(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Feasibility of introducing stability bonds (debate)
Amendments (52)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
- having regard to the presentation by Vice-President Rehn in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on 23 November 2011 and of the exchange of views with the German Council of Economic Experts on the European redemption fund on 29 November 2011,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 b (new)
Citation 2 b (new)
- having regard to the report by President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy "Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union",
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 c (new)
Citation 2 c (new)
- having regard to the decision of the European Council of 30 June 2012 to explore ways of improving the economic and financial architecture of the eurozone
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Parliament requested that the Commission submit a report on the posfeasibility of introducing eurostability bonds, which was an integral part of the agreement between Parliament and the Council on the economic governance package (six pack); whereas the Green Paper, however, proposes neither crisis resolution measures nor ways in which the options presented could be implemented;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the crisis has demonstrated not only the interdependence between eurozone Member States but also has made clear the need for a more robust fiscal union with effective mechanisms to correct unsustainable fiscal trajectories, macroeconomic imbalances, debt levels and the upper limits of budget balance of Member States;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas it is now recognized that the common issuance of debt is not an immediate response to the present crisis nor an immediate crisis resolution mechanism but just an instrument within a completely functional economic and monetary union to the reinforcement of financial stability and prevention of future sovereign debt crisis;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas the common issuance of debt with joint and several liabilities and an enhanced fiscal integration and budgetary discipline and control are two faces of the same coin;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Be. whereas a substantial part of the national budgetary sovereignty should be transferred to the EU, making the participation on the common debt issuance system conditional on the respect of SGP rules - and on the acceptance of EU powers to requires changes to national budgets when in violation of fiscal rules - so to ensure compliance and prevent moral hazard;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Welcomes the presentation of the Green Book, which fulfils a long standing requests of the European Parliament; Considers that the possible introduction of stability bonds would be an operation at par in importance with the introduction of the single currency;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Welcomes the decision of the European Council of 30 June 2012 to explore ways of improving the economic and financial architecture of the euro area; notes that great emphasis is put by the Council on avoiding moral hazard and achieving sound and sustainable public finances;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Notes that the EFSM, the EFSF and the ESM are the most important firewalls designed so far by the EU; stresses that as a common bond system does not prevent individual country default, the role of the ESM regarding solvency issues shall not be disregarded and reiterates its vital importance to help ring-fencing such system;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Stresses that fiscal consolidation and structural reforms throughout all Member States are necessary to restore fiscal credibility and are essential to achieve a sustainable balance of payments and sound and sustainable public finances. Restoring sound state finances and carrying out structural reforms should be a prerequisite for introducing a common debt issuance system;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the fiscal consolidation and structural reform efforts undertaken by a number of Member States; acknowledges the difficult and demanding efforts that are being requested to the European citizens but reinforces the need for fiscal consolidation; welcomes that two Member states saw their excessive deficit procedure ended this year;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Believes that growth is only possible with sound fiscal policies and therefore, and due to the deepen inter-dependence between Member States and the spill-over effects of macroeconomic policies, even those Member States out of assistance programmes should improve their consolidation efforts and structural reform programmes in order to foster competitiveness, growth and employment;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is deeply concerned, however, that despite Member States‘ reform and consolidation efforts euro area sovereign bond markets are in distrthe markets have not acknowledged the considerable efforts towards reforms and consolidation in some Member statess, which is reflected in widening spreads and high interest rate volatility;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that there is an urgent need to further discuss a longer-term vision for the euro area which ensures sound public finances, sustainable growth and high levels of employment, preventing moral hazard and supporting convergence which is only possible with a qualitative move towards a fiscal union;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that an integrated budgetary framework is essential to ensure sound fiscal policy, encompassing coordination, joint decision-making, greater enforcement and commensurate steps towards common debt issuance (including short-term funding instruments on a limited and conditional basis, or gradual roll-over into a redemption fund);
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that the prospect of common bonds can foster stability in the euro area and be an additional element to incentivise compliance with the stability and growth pactReiterates its position that as a necessary precondition for common issuance bonds, a sustainable fiscal framework needs to be in place, aimed at both enhanced economic governance, fiscal discipline and SGP compliance; reiterates its position that sequencing is a key issue involving a binding roadmap, included in the annex,roadmap similar to the Maastricht criteria for introducing the single currency; asks for further clarification on the Commission's suggestion to make the common debt issuance conditional, e.g. on the respect of the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Reminds that even under a common bond issuance scheme every Member state is obliged to pay back the entirety of its debt; reminds that common bond issuance are no guarantee against a Member state defaulting on its debt;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Urges to only consider commonly issued bonds that insure strict seniority status to the holders of these bonds in order to protect the EU taxpayers;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Notes that most proposals for eurobonds include ways to reduce the access to the bonds for Member states whose budgetary positions spin out of control; urges therefore to maintain mechanisms that are able to help those Member states which are experiencing difficulties in form of a liquidity crisis (as opposed to a solvability crisis) and that are excluded from the common issuance of bonds; believes that the ESM should be maintained for that purpose; urges to make the ESM subject to the Community method;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 g (new)
Paragraph 7 g (new)
7g. Believes that it is essential to establish a roadmap in a two-phase approach: in a short-run exit the current crisis and in a long-run to move towards a fiscal union by completing, strengthening and deepening the economic and monetary union;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Urges Member States to seriously considertudy the option of immediately establishing a temporary European Redemption Fund in order to allow participating countries to reduce excessive debt over a maximum period of 25 years by using the interest rate savings for debt reduction;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Urges Member States to seriously consider the immediate issuance of common short-term debt in the form of eurobills to protect those Member States with fundamentally sustainable fiscal polices from illiquidity runs and the negative feedback loop between sovereign and banking crises;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Believes that, in parallel, there is an urgent need to recapitalise the European banking sector and to further complete financial integration in the EU; calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for a Banking Union with a single financial supervisory authority to oversee systemic financial institutions with pre-emptive intervention powers, a banking resolution regime including a recapitalisation fund and an EU-wide common deposit guarantee scheme;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12c. Shares the view expressed by the Commission in its Green Paper that the stability of a eurobond system cannot rely solely on the shoulders of a small number of Member states with sustainable finances, and that such system demands a strengthened fiscal union and stronger budgetary discipline and control to prevent moral hazard;
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Believes that if the blue-bond/red- bond system proves to be beneficial to the euro area as a whole, a further step, requiringa system of mutualisation of debt is deemed possible and well interwoven in a stability oriented framework, a Treaty change, should be envisaged, which iscould result in the issuance of bonds under joint and several liability;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Believes that a system of partial substitution of national issuance (such as the blue/red bonds) might reduce the cost of borrowing for those Member States that have sound and sustainable public finances on the one hand, and might create an incentive for those with excessive debt to reduce it on the other, as the risk associated with red bonds would be higher and interest rates would increase;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Strengthens that the Commission should study the feasibility of each and all of the options presented in the Annex (both phase 1 and phase 2), which are not necessarily alternative but can be, under certain circumstances, cumulative and concurrent;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Is aware that an ever increasing number of proposals for the mutualisation of debt are being made, especially in the academic field; notes that these proposals vary considerably; outlines a chosen number of possible options in the annex;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Title
Annex - Phase 1 - Title
Phase 1 - Immediate measures to exit theShort term measure in view of the present sovereign debt crisis
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Subtitle 1
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Subtitle 1
Option 1. Setting up of a temporary European redemption fund to reduce debt to sustainable levels at affordable interest rates
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 1
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 1
- transfer of debt amounts above the Maastricht reference value of 60 % of GDP to a common fund subject to joint and several liabilthrough a roll-in phase of five years; such transference should be phased and start wityh through a roll-in phase of five yearse transfer of only 10% of the debt above the Maastricht threshold of 60% of the GDP; subsequent transfers should be gradual;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 2
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 2
- limit participation to Member States without an adjustment programme; provide for a phasCountries with adjustment program can joing in of Member States that havmmediately but their debts can only be transferred, following a phase-in plan after the successfully completed anion of the adjustment programme;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 3
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 3
- oblige Member States to autonomously redeem the transferred debt over a period of maximum 25 years by using the interest rate savings for debt redemption, which could be shorter if the growth rate is higher than foreseen;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 3 a (new)
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 3 a (new)
- apply strict conditions such as (i) depositing collaterals; (ii) commit to fiscal consolidations plans and structural reforms;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 5 a (new)
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 1 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 5 a (new)
- provide for transparent and predictable exit procedures for Member States. Staying should be incentivised and therefore exit should be costly; failure to honour commitments during the roll-in phase should immediately stop the roll-in phase and failure to honour commitments at any time should forfeit the collateral deposited with the Fund.
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Subtitle 2
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Subtitle 2
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 1 c (new)
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 1 c (new)
- total eurobill issuance can not exceed 10% of country GDP;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 2
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 2
- maximum maturity of eurobills (amounting to maximum 10% of GDP) of up to one year, which allows for continued monitoring and due to short term maturity frequent renewal of guarantees;
Amendment 291 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 3
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 3
- eurobills replace all short-term debt to be issued by Member States which consequently remain solely responsible for issuing their own debt for longer maturities which should be monitored and limited according to each country needs, fiscal situation and debt ratio;
Amendment 294 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 4
Annex - Phase 1 - Point 2 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 4
- provide for dismissible participation by a decision of the national parliamenttransparent and predictable exit procedures for Member States. Staying should be incentivised and therefore exit should be costly;
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 2 - Title
Annex - Phase 2 - Title
Phase 2 Blue bond proposal: yearly allocated debt ≤ 60 % of GDP to be issued in common without a Treaty changeLong term solutions in order to complete the EMU
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 1 a (new)
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 1 a (new)
Progress to phase 2 shall be conditional to the establishment of an enhanced fiscal integration and budgetary discipline and control with effective mechanisms to prevent and correct unsustainable fiscal policies.
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 1 b (new)
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 1 b (new)
A substantial part of the national budgetary sovereignty should therefore be transferred to the EU, making the participation on the common debt issuance system conditional on the respect of SGP rules - and on the acceptance of EU powers to require changes to national budgets when in violation of fiscal rules - so to ensure compliance and prevent moral hazard. Such a progress would ultimately lead to the establishment of a euro area fiscal body equivalent to a treasury office.
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 1 c (new)
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 1 c (new)
Option 1 Common issuance of national debt involving a Treaty change
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 2
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 2
The Commission puts forward proposals for theshall study and report its conclusions to the European Parliament on the possibility of setting up of a system for the allocation of debt below 60 % of GDP to be issued in common, which is safeguarded by national debt brakes according to principles such as:
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 2 - Subparagraph 2
Annex - Phase 2 - Paragraph 2 - Subparagraph 2
- strictly limit the amount of debt to be issued under joint and several liabilities to a part of less than 60 % of GDP by prohibiting participating Member States from issuing senior debt outside the common issuanceto a part of less than 60 % of GDP, possibly even at an upper level that is lower than 60%;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 3 - Title
Annex - Phase 3 - Title
Amendment 333 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 3 - Paragraph 1
Annex - Phase 3 - Paragraph 1
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 3 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 1
Annex - Phase 3 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 1
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Phase 3 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 2
Annex - Phase 3 - Paragraph 1 - Subparagraph 2
- establish a European debt agency for the issuance of bonds, or confer this task to the ESM;