Activities of Michel DANTIN related to 2016/2100(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Annual report on EU competition policy (debate) FR
Amendments (38)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular Articles 39, 42 and 101 to 109 thereof,
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. having regard to Articles 39 and 42 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)1 a; _________________ 1a This suggestion should be included in the motion for a resolution as a citation should the motion be adopted by the committee responsible.
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises that fair competition in the area of trade, services and investment has a positive impact on the social and economic development of Member States and of the EU’s trade partners; emphasises, however, the sensitive nature of the agricultural sectors and the need to take clear, effective steps to help producers stay competitive on the international markets and safeguard a European production model based on respect for the environment and animals, food safety and quality and maintaining a balance between regions;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-A a. - having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/20071 a; _________________ 1a This suggestion should be included in the motion for a resolution as a citation should the motion be adopted by the committee responsible.
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A b (new)
Recital -A b (new)
Ab. - having regard to Commission Regulation (EU) No 1218/2010 of 14 December 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of specialisation agreements1 a; _________________ 1a This suggestion should be included in the motion for a resolution as a citation should the motion be adopted by the committee responsible.
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to work together with trade partners with a view to ensuring that their markets are more open to EU firms, particularly as regards energy, transport, telecommunications, public procurement and services, including services provided in the context of exercising regulated professions; points out, however, that the agricultural sector should not be used as a bargaining chip in the EU’s trade negotiations;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the situation on the agricultural markets is characterised by the increased volatility of agricultural prices, and whereas these markets, and in particular on the dairy market, are facing an unprecedented crisis which is further weakening the position of farmers in the food supply chain;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Welcomes the fact that the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi brought progress in the efforts to reduce export subsidies in order to guarantee undistorted competition on international agricultural markets; takes the view, nonetheless, that the European Union should make fewer unilateral concessions in multilateral negotiations in order to safeguard its competitiveness on international markets;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Points out that the most recent common agricultural policy reforms represented the EU’s contribution to the overhaul of the international trading system; takes the view that the EU, unlike its international competitors, does not exploit the full margin for manoeuvre available to it to support its domestic farming industry, in particular the blue box or the ‘de minimis’ clause in the amber box provided for under the WTO agreements;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Emphasises that the concept of 'fair price' must not be understood solely as the lowest possible price for the consumer, but that such a price must be reasonable and make for fair remuneration of those involved at every stage in the production process;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Points out that, when the CAP reform was being considered, the European Parliament put forward innovative and ambitious proposals for measures to adapt competition law to agricultural markets;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Finds it regrettable that the scope of the current derogations is unclear, that implementation problems have arisen and that national competition authorities do not apply them derogations in a uniform way; calls, in that connection, on the Commission to submit to the European Parliament and the Council a survey of the use made by farmers in the Member States of the derogations available under Article 225 of the CMO Regulation;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to broaden its approach in terms of criteria for determining whether an agricultural undertaking, or a number of such undertakings linked by a horizontal agreement, is deemed to be in a ‘dominant position’, taking into consideration the degree of concentration in sectorsand the constraints resulting from the bargaining power of sectors upstream and downstream;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that, in a single agricultural market, the concept of the ‘relevant market’ needs to evolve and to be understood primarily from an EU-wide perspective, before lower levels are taken into account, so as not to jeopardise efforts to concentrate agricultural supply by narrowly compartmentalising the activities that agricultural undertakings may engage in;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Stresses that, in connection with the dairy crisis, the Commission has for the first time triggered Article 222 of the CMO Regulation, with a view to authorising recognised producer organisations, associations of such organisations and recognised interbranch organisations to derogate from competition law by planning their milk production collectively; calls on the Commission to assess the effectiveness of this measure and to propose more significant adjustments to competition law and its procedures in times of crisis;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the recent publication of guidelines on the application of the specific rules set out in Articles 169, 170 and 171 of the CMO Regulation concerning the olive oil, beef and arable sectors;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Considers that the legal scope of these guidelines is too limited to provide sufficient legal certainty for operators wishing to take advantage of the derogations laid down in Articles 169, 170 and 171 of the CMO Regulation; considers, further, that the criteria to be met are still too strict and vary too much from one sector to another;
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Proposes extending the scope of the rules in Article 170 on beef production, in the fattening sector, to ensure more effective implementation;
Amendment 102 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that full and satisfactory implementation of the ‘Milk Package’1 a is essential in order to strengthen the dairy sector; asks the Commission to propose that the ‘Milk Package’ should continue to apply beyond mid-2020 and to examine whether its rules could be extended to other sectors of agriculture; _________________ 1a Regulation (EU) No 261/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards contractual relations in the milk and milk products sector
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Welcomes, in the context of the abolition of quotas in the sugar sector, the retention of a contractual framework1 b between beet growers, their organisations and sugar companies in order, among other things, to establish the terms for sharing value on the basis of developments in the markets for sugar or other raw materials; _________________ 1b Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1166 of 17 May 2016 amending Annex X to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards purchase terms for beet in the sugar sector as from 1 October 2017
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Notes the conclusions of the study entitled 'Economic impact of modern retail on choice and innovation in the EU food sector' drawn up by the Commission's DG Competition, in particular that which suggests that there is a negative correlation between innovation and market penetration for retailers' own-brand products;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls on the Commission to inform Parliament of the scope of the work currently being carried out to determine whether greater concentration and the more aggressive marketing of retailers' own-brand products is likely to restrict choice and reduce the number of innovative products available to consumers and identify the long-term implications of these trends for the food supply chain and the situation of farmers in that chain;
Amendment 128 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Calls on the Commission to assess the influence exerted by retailers on the firms which manufacture their own-brand products;
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Recalls that Article 42 TFEU accords the agricultural sector a special status as regards competition law that is specified in the latest reform of the common agricultural policy by strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain and allowing for general or specific derogations to Article 101 TFEU;
Amendment 337 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Notes that the increased volatility of agricultural prices and the crises in the agricultural markets, especially in the dairy sector, accentuate the structurally weak position of farmers in the food supply chain;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5 a (new)
Subheading 5 a (new)
Agriculture and the Agri-food sector
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Emphasizes that Article 42 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) accords a special status to the agricultural sector with regard to the application of competition law;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Considers that the lack of clarity as to the scope of these derogations, difficulties in implementation and the lack of uniform application by national competition authorities do not provide sufficient legal certainty for farmers and their organisations wishing to apply the right of derogation;
Amendment 342 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Recalls that the most recent reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) sought to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain through a series of derogations and exemptions from the provisions of Article 101 TFEU;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Calls on the European Commission to adopt new initiatives to take better account of the specific nature of agriculture in the application of competition policy and to ensure a complete and satisfactory implementation of the general derogation for agriculture and the specific derogations for the dairy, olive oil, beef and veal, and arable crops sectors;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Believes that the current crisis situation in farming worsens the already weak position of farmers in the food supply chain and calls for fresh initiatives to ensure that competition policy takes better account of the specific nature of agriculture;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Finds it regrettable that, despite the publication of guidelines on the application of the specific rules set out in Articles 169, 170 and 171 of the Single CMO regulation1b , the scope of the current derogations remains unclear, difficult to implement and unevenly applied by national competition authorities; __________________ 1bRegulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007.
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls on the Commission and the national competition authorities to address the concerns raised by the cumulative impact at the upper end of the food supply chain of national-level concentration in the distribution sector and the development of European-level alliances of distributors;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls on the Commission to broaden its approach in terms of criteria for determining whether an agricultural undertaking, or a number of such undertakings linked by a horizontal agreement, is deemed to be in a 'dominant position', taking into consideration the degree of concentration and the constraints resulting from bargaining power from upstream and downstream sectors;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 f (new)
Paragraph 20 f (new)
20f. Considers that the collective activities of producer organisations and their associations, such as production planning and sales negotiation, are necessary for achieving the aims of the CAP and that they should benefit from a presumption of compatibility with Articles 39 and 101 TFEU;
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 g (new)
Paragraph 20 g (new)
20g. Believes that full and satisfactory implementation of the 'Milk Package'1a is essential in order to strengthen the dairy sector and asks the Commission to propose that the 'Milk Package' should continue to apply beyond mid-2020 and to examine whether its rules could be extended to other sectors of agriculture; __________________ 1aRegulation (EU) No261/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards contractual relations in the milk and milk products sector.
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 h (new)
Paragraph 20 h (new)
20h. Calls on the Commission and the national competition authorities to address the concerns raised by the cumulative impact – particularly at the upper end of the food supply chain – of, on the one hand, national-level concentration in the retail sector and, on the other, the development of European- level alliances of major distributors;
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 i (new)
Paragraph 20 i (new)
20i. Takes note of the conclusions of the study "Economic impact of modern retail on choice and innovation in the EU food sector" of the Directorate General Competition, including the existence of a negative relationship that may exists between innovation and penetration of products under private labels on the food market; calls on the Commission to submit to Parliament the extent of the on- going discussions to determine whether this negative relationship does reduce innovation and variety of products available to consumers and what would be their long-term consequences for the supply chain and on the situation of farmers;