{"change_dates":[],"dossier":{"amendments":[],"changes":{"2014-11-10T00:11:41":[{"data":[{"body":"EP","committees":[{"body":"EP","committee":"CRIS","committee_full":"Special committee on the financial, economic and social crisis","date":"2009-10-15T00:00:00","rapporteur":[{"group":"S&D","mepref":"4f1ac652b819f25efd000032","name":"BER\u00c8S Pervenche"}],"responsible":true}],"date":"2009-10-07T00:00:00","type":"Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading"},{"body":"EP","committees":[{"body":"EP","committee":"CRIS","committee_full":"Special committee on the financial, economic and social crisis","date":"2009-10-15T00:00:00","rapporteur":[{"group":"S&D","mepref":"4f1ac652b819f25efd000032","name":"BER\u00c8S Pervenche"}],"responsible":true}],"date":"2011-05-30T00:00:00","text":["
The Special Committee on the Financial,\n Economic and Social Crisis adopted the own-initiative report by Pervenche\n BERES (S&D, FR) on the financial, economic and social crisis:\n recommendations concerning the measures and initiatives to be taken.
European sovereign debt\n and Eurobonds: following the downgrading of\n the sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal by credit rating agencies,\n Members point out that there has been a shift in portfolios reflecting\n speculative and risk-averse behaviour by investors and that, as a consequence\n of this, market funding at sustainable rates has become inaccessible to\n Greece and Ireland, resulting in the provision of financial assistance under\n EU-IMF programmes. They call for the following:
The Special Committee underlines that all\n Member States have systemic importance. It calls for a comprehensive,\n socially inclusive and cohesive reform package addressing the weaknesses\n of the financial system. It also calls for the following:
Members go on to ask the Commission to\n carry out an investigation into a future system of Eurobonds, with a\n view to determining the conditions under which such a system would be\n beneficial to all participating Member States and to the eurozone as a whole.\n They point out that Eurobonds would offer a viable alternative to the US\n dollar bond market, and that they could foster integration of the European\n sovereign debt market, lower borrowing costs, increase liquidity, budgetary\n discipline and compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), promote\n coordinated structural reforms, and make capital markets more stable, which\n will foster the idea of the euro as a global ‘safe haven’. It is recalled\n that the common issuance of Eurobonds requires a further move towards a\n common economic and fiscal policy. Members stress, therefore, that when\n Eurobonds are to be issued, their issuance should be limited to a debt ratio\n of 60% of GDP under joint and several liability as senior sovereign debt, and\n should be linked to incentives to reduce sovereign debt to that level. The\n overarching aim of Eurobonds should be to reduce sovereign debt and to\n avoid moral hazard and prevent speculation against the euro. The report\n notes that access to such Eurobonds would require agreement on, and\n implementation of, measurable programmes of debt reduction.
Lastly, it notes that there is political\n agreement on revising Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the\n European Union (TFEU) in order to transform the temporary EFSF system into a\n permanent ESM by 2013. It calls for the ESM to be converted into an European\n Debt Agency at a later stage and for Parliament to be given a consistent role\n in this modification of the Treaty.
Global imbalances and governance: Members call for China to become an active participant in the\n global economic governance system, and urge the USA, as well as major world\n actors, to ensure that currency management becomes a multilateral endeavour\n involving all major world currencies. They call for new financial assistance\n arrangements to be introduced, as follows:
(1) A reformed IMF could act as a global lender of last resort and could counteract\n the need of individual countries to accumulate currency reserves if its\n ability to deliver short-term liquidity and stronger financial safety nets\n were strengthened;
(2) MDGs:\n the current crisis has highlighted the need to create incentives for\n financial markets to promote long-term investment and sustainable\n development:
(3)The EU must identify political\n priorities and agree on funding for closer Euro-Mediterranean cooperation following the upheavals and accompanying developments in the\n South Mediterranean partner countries; it is necessary in this context for\n European project bonds to be extended to Euro-Mediterranean projects in the\n fields of education, sustainable transport and energy, thereby creating added\n value for both sides of the Mediterranean;
A new monetary system: Members request that the international monetary system (IMS) be\n reformed in such a way as to ensure systematic and comprehensive\n macroeconomic cooperation with sustainable and balanced global growth. The\n IMS should address inter alia:
Increasing competitiveness and\n implementing the Europe 2020 strategy: the\n report states that new investments should promote a knowledge-based economy,\n research and development, innovation, job creation and infrastructure and\n energy projects. It makes a series of observations and recommendations on\n energy and transport policies, migration, research and innovation, taxation\n and employment. On the Europe 2020 strategy, Members call for\n full and consistent account to be taken of the Europe 2020 strategy\n objectives and the need to overcome all EU internal imbalances when defining\n the content of the European semester. Fiscal consolidation must be\n accompanied by medium- and long-term targets such as those identified by the\n Europe 2020 strategy, especially with regard to job creation, social\n inclusion, investment in infrastructure, resource efficiency, ecological\n transformation of the economy and a knowledge-based economy, so as to\n increase competitiveness and social and territorial cohesion.
Members call for greater compatibility\n and complementarity between national budgets and the EU budget. They take\n the view that the next multiannual financial framework must focus on the key\n priority areas of the Europe 2020 strategy and should ensure adequate\n financing of the flagship initiatives in the fields in which the EU has\n shared competence with Member States, which can provide strong European added\n value. Furthermore, the Europe 2020 strategy will only be credible if it is\n backed up by adequate financial resources, and the report makes a\n series of recommendations including a more prominent role for the European\n Investment Bank (EIB) in enhancing the catalytic role and leverage function\n of structural funds.
On education, the report proposes\n the establishment of an EU internship programme analogous to the Erasmus\n programme, with the full involvement of the private sector. It also ;\n strongly supports the introduction of measures to increase the quality of\n higher education in Europe, inter alia, by further reducing barriers to\n student mobility, improving the links between academia and business and\n fostering a more entrepreneurial mindset in society. Members propose the introduction\n of a European innovation scholarship and believe that such a scholarship\n would address youth in vocational educational programmes. They support the\n call by the European University Association (EUA) for public investment in\n higher education to be increased to 3% of GDP.
Re-thinking the EU beyond European\n economic governance: the report emphasises that\n the EU is at a crossroads: either Member States decide to join forces in\n deepening integration or the EU could drift apart, due to stagnation at the\n decision-making level and divergences at the economic level. The report calls\n for a deeper democratic political Union in which the EU institutions are\n given a stronger role in both the design and the implementation of common\n policies, and emphasises the importance of strengthening the democratic\n legitimacy and control of the Union.
Members conclude that, in order to deepen\n democratic political union and economic integration commensurate with\n monetary union, all relevant expenditure from the EU budget must be effectively\n streamlined with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of the EU as a\n whole and of the less competitive regions, so as to maximise Europe’s\n economic strength in the interest of its citizens, while preserving or\n regaining a fair social balance. Therefore, that the EU budget needs to be\n raised to a level between 5% and 10% of the Union’s GDP. The Special\n committee asks that, in parallel to the increase in the EU budget on the\n basis of own resources – to finance policies and measures in the fields of\n foreign and security policy, the energy and transport sectors, development\n cooperation and R&D – the national budgets should be reduced to ensure\n tax neutrality for citizens.
\nThe European Parliament adopted by 434\n votes to 128 with 33 abstentions a resolution on the financial, economic and\n social crisis: recommendations concerning the measures and initiatives to be\n taken.
European sovereign debt\n and Eurobonds: following the downgrading of\n the sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal by credit rating agencies,\n there has been a spill-over effect across the eurozone countries and a shift\n in portfolios reflecting speculative and risk-averse behaviour by investors\n and that, as a consequence of this, market funding at sustainable rates has\n become inaccessible to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, resulting in the\n provision of financial assistance under EU-IMF programmes. Members call for\n the following:
Parliament underlines that all Member\n States have systemic importance. It calls for a comprehensive, socially\n inclusive and cohesive reform package addressing the weaknesses of\n the financial system. It also calls for the following:
Parliament calls on the Commission to\n carry out an investigation into a future system of Eurobonds, with a view to\n determining the conditions under which such a system would be beneficial to\n all participating Member States and to the eurozone as a whole; points out\n that Eurobonds would offer a viable alternative to the US dollar bond market,\n and that they could foster integration of the European sovereign debt market,\n lower borrowing costs, increase liquidity, budgetary discipline and\n compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), promote coordinated\n structural reforms, and make capital markets more stable, which will foster\n the idea of the euro as a global ‘safe haven’. It recalls that the common\n issuance of Eurobonds requires a further move towards a common economic and\n fiscal policy. Members stress, therefore, that when Eurobonds are to be\n issued, their issuance should be limited to a debt ratio of 60% of GDP under\n joint and several liability as senior sovereign debt, and should be linked to\n incentives to reduce sovereign debt to that level. The overarching aim of\n Eurobonds should be to reduce sovereign debt and to avoid moral\n hazard and prevent speculation against the euro. Parliament notes that\n access to such Eurobonds would require agreement on, and implementation of,\n measurable programmes of debt reduction.
Lastly, it notes that there is political\n agreement on revising Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the\n European Union (TFEU) in order to transform the temporary EFSF system into a\n permanent ESM by 2013. It calls for the ESM to be converted into a European\n Debt Agency at a later stage and for Parliament to be given a consistent role\n in this modification of the Treaty.
Global imbalances and governance: Members recall that both some developed and emerging economies,\n such as the US and China, contribute to global imbalances; welcomes active\n participation and further integration of China into the global economic\n governance system. They call for new financial assistance arrangements to be\n introduced, as follows:
(1) A reformed IMF could act as a global lender of last resort and could\n counteract the need of individual countries to accumulate currency reserves\n if its ability to deliver short-term liquidity and stronger financial safety\n nets were strengthened. The EU must speak with one voice, and have a single\n representative on the IMF board in the mid-term.
(2) MDGs: the\n current crisis has highlighted the need to create incentives for financial\n markets to promote long-term investment and sustainable development:
(3)The EU must identify political\n priorities and agree on funding for closer Euro-Mediterranean cooperation following the upheavals and accompanying developments in the\n South Mediterranean partner countries; it is necessary in this context for\n European project bonds to be extended to Euro-Mediterranean projects in the\n fields of education, sustainable transport and energy, and the digital agenda\n thereby creating added value for both sides of the Mediterranean;
A new monetary system: Members request that the international monetary system (IMS)\n be reformed in such a way as to ensure systematic and comprehensive\n macroeconomic cooperation with sustainable and balanced global growth. The\n IMS should address inter alia:
Increasing competitiveness and\n implementing the Europe 2020 strategy:\n Parliament states that new investments should promote a knowledge-based\n economy, research and development, innovation, job creation and\n infrastructure and energy projects. It makes a series of observations and\n recommendations on energy and transport policies, migration, research and\n innovation, taxation and employment.
On the Europe 2020 strategy, Members\n call for full account to be taken of the Europe 2020 strategy objectives and\n the need to overcome all EU internal imbalances when defining the content of\n the European semester. Fiscal consolidation must be accompanied by medium-\n and long-term targets such as those identified by the Europe 2020 strategy,\n especially with regard to job creation, social inclusion, investment in\n infrastructure, resource efficiency, ecological transformation of the economy\n and a knowledge-based economy, so as to increase competitiveness and social\n and territorial cohesion. Parliament calls for a strict financial audit of\n all Member States, to be initiated by the Commission in close cooperation with\n Eurostat, in order to determine their actual financial status, thereby\n enabling fact-based decisions to be taken with regard to the Europe 2020\n strategy and regional and cohesion projects; calls for scrutiny of all\n funding programmes in the EU and of national and regional subsidies. It\n recommends intensification of the projects and programmes, the success of\n which is vital, and in turn the eradication of ineffectual subsidies and\n economic development schemes.
Members call for greater\n compatibility and complementarity between national budgets and the EU budget.\n They take the view that the next multiannual financial framework must focus\n on the key priority areas of the Europe 2020 strategy and should ensure\n adequate financing of the flagship initiatives in the fields in which the EU\n has shared competence with Member States, which can provide strong European\n added value. Furthermore, the Europe 2020 strategy will only be credible if\n it is backed up by adequate financial resources, and the report makes\n a series of recommendations including a more prominent role for the European\n Investment Bank (EIB) in enhancing the catalytic role and leverage function\n of structural funds.
On education, Parliament\n proposes the establishment of an EU internship programme analogous to the\n Erasmus programme, with the full involvement of the private sector. It also ;\n strongly supports the introduction of measures to increase the quality of\n higher education in Europe, inter alia, by further reducing barriers to\n student mobility, improving the links between academia and business and\n fostering a more entrepreneurial mindset in society. Members propose the\n introduction of a European innovation scholarship and believe that such a\n scholarship would address youth in vocational educational programmes. They\n support the call by the European University Association (EUA) for public\n investment in higher education to be increased to 3% of GDP.
Re-thinking the EU beyond European\n economic governance: Parliament the report\n emphasises that the EU is at a crossroads: either Member States decide to\n join forces in deepening integration or the EU could drift apart, due to\n stagnation at the decision-making level and divergences at the economic\n level. It calls for a deeper democratic political Union in which the\n EU institutions are given a stronger role in both the design and the\n implementation of common policies, and emphasises the importance of\n strengthening the democratic legitimacy and control of the Union. It stresses\n that tackling the public debt crisis and increasing the EU's competitiveness,\n convergence and solidarity require a shift of competences and spending\n towards the Union, whereby the burden on national budgets would be\n considerably eased, and stresses the need to create significant synergies between\n national budgets and the EU budget, allowing for optimal use and allocation\n of existing fiscal resources on all levels, while respecting the principle of\n subsidiarity to support strong regions and states.
Members conclude that, in order to\n achieve political union and economic integration commensurate with monetary\n union, in line with the priorities agreed by the European Council, the EU\n needs a budget of sufficient size to accommodate the euro in a sustainable\n way, providing the currency with a relevant budget space on the level of\n political organisation at which it is issued; In this connection Recalls that\n reports preceding the realisation of monetary union – notably the McDougall\n report, which analysed the conditions necessary for the implementation of the\n Werner plan – affirmed that the volume of such a budget would have to be\n between 2.5% and 10% of Union GNI. Members take the view that deepening\n European economic integration is necessary in order to ensure the stability\n of the eurozone and of the Union as a whole, and that this will require\n further developments regarding the external representation of the eurozone,\n qualified majority voting on a corporate tax base, measures to combat tax\n evasion and tax avoidance, possible mutual issuance of sovereign debt and\n Eurobonds to stimulate fiscal discipline, the EU's borrowing capacity, a\n better balance between economic and social policies, own resources for the EU\n budget and the roles of national parliaments and the European Parliament.
\nThe Special Committee on the Financial,\n Economic and Social Crisis adopted the own-initiative report by Pervenche\n BERES (S&D, FR) on the financial, economic and social crisis:\n recommendations concerning the measures and initiatives to be taken.
European sovereign debt\n and Eurobonds: following the downgrading of\n the sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal by credit rating agencies,\n Members point out that there has been a shift in portfolios reflecting\n speculative and risk-averse behaviour by investors and that, as a consequence\n of this, market funding at sustainable rates has become inaccessible to\n Greece and Ireland, resulting in the provision of financial assistance under\n EU-IMF programmes. They call for the following:
The Special Committee underlines that all\n Member States have systemic importance. It calls for a comprehensive,\n socially inclusive and cohesive reform package addressing the weaknesses\n of the financial system. It also calls for the following:
Members go on to ask the Commission to\n carry out an investigation into a future system of Eurobonds, with a\n view to determining the conditions under which such a system would be\n beneficial to all participating Member States and to the eurozone as a whole.\n They point out that Eurobonds would offer a viable alternative to the US\n dollar bond market, and that they could foster integration of the European\n sovereign debt market, lower borrowing costs, increase liquidity, budgetary\n discipline and compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), promote\n coordinated structural reforms, and make capital markets more stable, which\n will foster the idea of the euro as a global ‘safe haven’. It is recalled\n that the common issuance of Eurobonds requires a further move towards a\n common economic and fiscal policy. Members stress, therefore, that when\n Eurobonds are to be issued, their issuance should be limited to a debt ratio\n of 60% of GDP under joint and several liability as senior sovereign debt, and\n should be linked to incentives to reduce sovereign debt to that level. The\n overarching aim of Eurobonds should be to reduce sovereign debt and to\n avoid moral hazard and prevent speculation against the euro. The report\n notes that access to such Eurobonds would require agreement on, and\n implementation of, measurable programmes of debt reduction.
Lastly, it notes that there is political\n agreement on revising Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the\n European Union (TFEU) in order to transform the temporary EFSF system into a\n permanent ESM by 2013. It calls for the ESM to be converted into an European\n Debt Agency at a later stage and for Parliament to be given a consistent role\n in this modification of the Treaty.
Global imbalances and governance: Members call for China to become an active participant in the\n global economic governance system, and urge the USA, as well as major world\n actors, to ensure that currency management becomes a multilateral endeavour\n involving all major world currencies. They call for new financial assistance\n arrangements to be introduced, as follows:
(1) A reformed IMF could act as a global lender of last resort and could counteract\n the need of individual countries to accumulate currency reserves if its\n ability to deliver short-term liquidity and stronger financial safety nets\n were strengthened;
(2) MDGs:\n the current crisis has highlighted the need to create incentives for\n financial markets to promote long-term investment and sustainable\n development:
(3)The EU must identify political\n priorities and agree on funding for closer Euro-Mediterranean cooperation following the upheavals and accompanying developments in the\n South Mediterranean partner countries; it is necessary in this context for\n European project bonds to be extended to Euro-Mediterranean projects in the\n fields of education, sustainable transport and energy, thereby creating added\n value for both sides of the Mediterranean;
A new monetary system: Members request that the international monetary system (IMS) be\n reformed in such a way as to ensure systematic and comprehensive\n macroeconomic cooperation with sustainable and balanced global growth. The\n IMS should address inter alia:
Increasing competitiveness and\n implementing the Europe 2020 strategy: the\n report states that new investments should promote a knowledge-based economy,\n research and development, innovation, job creation and infrastructure and\n energy projects. It makes a series of observations and recommendations on\n energy and transport policies, migration, research and innovation, taxation\n and employment. On the Europe 2020 strategy, Members call for\n full and consistent account to be taken of the Europe 2020 strategy\n objectives and the need to overcome all EU internal imbalances when defining\n the content of the European semester. Fiscal consolidation must be\n accompanied by medium- and long-term targets such as those identified by the\n Europe 2020 strategy, especially with regard to job creation, social\n inclusion, investment in infrastructure, resource efficiency, ecological\n transformation of the economy and a knowledge-based economy, so as to\n increase competitiveness and social and territorial cohesion.
Members call for greater compatibility\n and complementarity between national budgets and the EU budget. They take\n the view that the next multiannual financial framework must focus on the key\n priority areas of the Europe 2020 strategy and should ensure adequate\n financing of the flagship initiatives in the fields in which the EU has\n shared competence with Member States, which can provide strong European added\n value. Furthermore, the Europe 2020 strategy will only be credible if it is\n backed up by adequate financial resources, and the report makes a\n series of recommendations including a more prominent role for the European\n Investment Bank (EIB) in enhancing the catalytic role and leverage function\n of structural funds.
On education, the report proposes\n the establishment of an EU internship programme analogous to the Erasmus\n programme, with the full involvement of the private sector. It also ;\n strongly supports the introduction of measures to increase the quality of\n higher education in Europe, inter alia, by further reducing barriers to\n student mobility, improving the links between academia and business and\n fostering a more entrepreneurial mindset in society. Members propose the introduction\n of a European innovation scholarship and believe that such a scholarship\n would address youth in vocational educational programmes. They support the\n call by the European University Association (EUA) for public investment in\n higher education to be increased to 3% of GDP.
Re-thinking the EU beyond European\n economic governance: the report emphasises that\n the EU is at a crossroads: either Member States decide to join forces in\n deepening integration or the EU could drift apart, due to stagnation at the\n decision-making level and divergences at the economic level. The report calls\n for a deeper democratic political Union in which the EU institutions are\n given a stronger role in both the design and the implementation of common\n policies, and emphasises the importance of strengthening the democratic\n legitimacy and control of the Union.
Members conclude that, in order to deepen\n democratic political union and economic integration commensurate with\n monetary union, all relevant expenditure from the EU budget must be effectively\n streamlined with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of the EU as a\n whole and of the less competitive regions, so as to maximise Europe’s\n economic strength in the interest of its citizens, while preserving or\n regaining a fair social balance. Therefore, that the EU budget needs to be\n raised to a level between 5% and 10% of the Union’s GDP. The Special\n committee asks that, in parallel to the increase in the EU budget on the\n basis of own resources – to finance policies and measures in the fields of\n foreign and security policy, the energy and transport sectors, development\n cooperation and R&D – the national budgets should be reduced to ensure\n tax neutrality for citizens.
\nThe European Parliament adopted by 434\n votes to 128 with 33 abstentions a resolution on the financial, economic and\n social crisis: recommendations concerning the measures and initiatives to be\n taken.
European sovereign debt\n and Eurobonds: following the downgrading of\n the sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal by credit rating agencies,\n there has been a spill-over effect across the eurozone countries and a shift\n in portfolios reflecting speculative and risk-averse behaviour by investors\n and that, as a consequence of this, market funding at sustainable rates has\n become inaccessible to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, resulting in the\n provision of financial assistance under EU-IMF programmes. Members call for\n the following:
Parliament underlines that all Member\n States have systemic importance. It calls for a comprehensive, socially\n inclusive and cohesive reform package addressing the weaknesses of\n the financial system. It also calls for the following:
Parliament calls on the Commission to\n carry out an investigation into a future system of Eurobonds, with a view to\n determining the conditions under which such a system would be beneficial to\n all participating Member States and to the eurozone as a whole; points out\n that Eurobonds would offer a viable alternative to the US dollar bond market,\n and that they could foster integration of the European sovereign debt market,\n lower borrowing costs, increase liquidity, budgetary discipline and\n compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), promote coordinated\n structural reforms, and make capital markets more stable, which will foster\n the idea of the euro as a global ‘safe haven’. It recalls that the common\n issuance of Eurobonds requires a further move towards a common economic and\n fiscal policy. Members stress, therefore, that when Eurobonds are to be\n issued, their issuance should be limited to a debt ratio of 60% of GDP under\n joint and several liability as senior sovereign debt, and should be linked to\n incentives to reduce sovereign debt to that level. The overarching aim of\n Eurobonds should be to reduce sovereign debt and to avoid moral\n hazard and prevent speculation against the euro. Parliament notes that\n access to such Eurobonds would require agreement on, and implementation of,\n measurable programmes of debt reduction.
Lastly, it notes that there is political\n agreement on revising Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the\n European Union (TFEU) in order to transform the temporary EFSF system into a\n permanent ESM by 2013. It calls for the ESM to be converted into a European\n Debt Agency at a later stage and for Parliament to be given a consistent role\n in this modification of the Treaty.
Global imbalances and governance: Members recall that both some developed and emerging economies,\n such as the US and China, contribute to global imbalances; welcomes active\n participation and further integration of China into the global economic\n governance system. They call for new financial assistance arrangements to be\n introduced, as follows:
(1) A reformed IMF could act as a global lender of last resort and could\n counteract the need of individual countries to accumulate currency reserves\n if its ability to deliver short-term liquidity and stronger financial safety\n nets were strengthened. The EU must speak with one voice, and have a single\n representative on the IMF board in the mid-term.
(2) MDGs: the\n current crisis has highlighted the need to create incentives for financial\n markets to promote long-term investment and sustainable development:
(3)The EU must identify political\n priorities and agree on funding for closer Euro-Mediterranean cooperation following the upheavals and accompanying developments in the\n South Mediterranean partner countries; it is necessary in this context for\n European project bonds to be extended to Euro-Mediterranean projects in the\n fields of education, sustainable transport and energy, and the digital agenda\n thereby creating added value for both sides of the Mediterranean;
A new monetary system: Members request that the international monetary system (IMS)\n be reformed in such a way as to ensure systematic and comprehensive\n macroeconomic cooperation with sustainable and balanced global growth. The\n IMS should address inter alia:
Increasing competitiveness and\n implementing the Europe 2020 strategy:\n Parliament states that new investments should promote a knowledge-based\n economy, research and development, innovation, job creation and\n infrastructure and energy projects. It makes a series of observations and\n recommendations on energy and transport policies, migration, research and\n innovation, taxation and employment.
On the Europe 2020 strategy, Members\n call for full account to be taken of the Europe 2020 strategy objectives and\n the need to overcome all EU internal imbalances when defining the content of\n the European semester. Fiscal consolidation must be accompanied by medium-\n and long-term targets such as those identified by the Europe 2020 strategy,\n especially with regard to job creation, social inclusion, investment in\n infrastructure, resource efficiency, ecological transformation of the economy\n and a knowledge-based economy, so as to increase competitiveness and social\n and territorial cohesion. Parliament calls for a strict financial audit of\n all Member States, to be initiated by the Commission in close cooperation with\n Eurostat, in order to determine their actual financial status, thereby\n enabling fact-based decisions to be taken with regard to the Europe 2020\n strategy and regional and cohesion projects; calls for scrutiny of all\n funding programmes in the EU and of national and regional subsidies. It\n recommends intensification of the projects and programmes, the success of\n which is vital, and in turn the eradication of ineffectual subsidies and\n economic development schemes.
Members call for greater\n compatibility and complementarity between national budgets and the EU budget.\n They take the view that the next multiannual financial framework must focus\n on the key priority areas of the Europe 2020 strategy and should ensure\n adequate financing of the flagship initiatives in the fields in which the EU\n has shared competence with Member States, which can provide strong European\n added value. Furthermore, the Europe 2020 strategy will only be credible if\n it is backed up by adequate financial resources, and the report makes\n a series of recommendations including a more prominent role for the European\n Investment Bank (EIB) in enhancing the catalytic role and leverage function\n of structural funds.
On education, Parliament\n proposes the establishment of an EU internship programme analogous to the\n Erasmus programme, with the full involvement of the private sector. It also ;\n strongly supports the introduction of measures to increase the quality of\n higher education in Europe, inter alia, by further reducing barriers to\n student mobility, improving the links between academia and business and\n fostering a more entrepreneurial mindset in society. Members propose the\n introduction of a European innovation scholarship and believe that such a\n scholarship would address youth in vocational educational programmes. They\n support the call by the European University Association (EUA) for public\n investment in higher education to be increased to 3% of GDP.
Re-thinking the EU beyond European\n economic governance: Parliament the report\n emphasises that the EU is at a crossroads: either Member States decide to\n join forces in deepening integration or the EU could drift apart, due to\n stagnation at the decision-making level and divergences at the economic\n level. It calls for a deeper democratic political Union in which the\n EU institutions are given a stronger role in both the design and the\n implementation of common policies, and emphasises the importance of\n strengthening the democratic legitimacy and control of the Union. It stresses\n that tackling the public debt crisis and increasing the EU's competitiveness,\n convergence and solidarity require a shift of competences and spending\n towards the Union, whereby the burden on national budgets would be\n considerably eased, and stresses the need to create significant synergies between\n national budgets and the EU budget, allowing for optimal use and allocation\n of existing fiscal resources on all levels, while respecting the principle of\n subsidiarity to support strong regions and states.
Members conclude that, in order to\n achieve political union and economic integration commensurate with monetary\n union, in line with the priorities agreed by the European Council, the EU\n needs a budget of sufficient size to accommodate the euro in a sustainable\n way, providing the currency with a relevant budget space on the level of\n political organisation at which it is issued; In this connection Recalls that\n reports preceding the realisation of monetary union – notably the McDougall\n report, which analysed the conditions necessary for the implementation of the\n Werner plan – affirmed that the volume of such a budget would have to be\n between 2.5% and 10% of Union GNI. Members take the view that deepening\n European economic integration is necessary in order to ensure the stability\n of the eurozone and of the Union as a whole, and that this will require\n further developments regarding the external representation of the eurozone,\n qualified majority voting on a corporate tax base, measures to combat tax\n evasion and tax avoidance, possible mutual issuance of sovereign debt and\n Eurobonds to stimulate fiscal discipline, the EU's borrowing capacity, a\n better balance between economic and social policies, own resources for the EU\n budget and the roles of national parliaments and the European Parliament.
\n