Activities of Philippe DE BACKER related to 2015/2233(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) (A8-0009/2016 - Viviane Reding)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on recommendations to the European Commission on the negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA)
Amendments (24)
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas trade is an important tool to stimulate growth and jobs without government investments;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the European Union's economy is highly dependent on trade and therefore has a vital interest in strengthening rules-based trade across the globe;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the EU's services sector is already the most open in the world, while many other important markets are still partly closed to European companies and do not offer opportunities for fair competition;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the globalisation, and increasing servicification and digitalisation both of our economies and of international trade urgently call for policy action to enhance international rules, to globally strengthen the EU's position;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas trade in services is an crucial engine for jobs and growth in the EU, which can be strengthened by an ambitious TiSA;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas citizens’' trust in EU’'s trade policy is a must, which can only be restomust be ensured by ensurattaining the highest level of transparency and engagement, by maintaining constant dialogue with civil society, and by setting clear guidelines in the negotiations;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i a (new)
ia. to aim for an ambitious TiSA which builds on the GATS and sets a new global standard, strengthening the rules-based international trading system, opening markets to European companies, benefitting European citizens and protecting and enforcing European values and standards;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iii
iii. to push for multilateralisation by crafting GATS-compatible provisions and by accepting new parties conditional on their acceptance of the agreed rules and level of ambitions; to incentivise wider participation in the talks by granting interested parties observer status; to note that both the highest barriers and the highest growth potential regarding trade in services are to be found in the BRICS and the MINT countries; to recognise the importance of those countries for the EU, as export destinations with a rising middle class, as sources of intermediate inputs and as key hubs in global value chains; to open the way for the participation of China;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iii a (new)
iiia. to reiterate its support for broadening the negotiations to include other countries, including BRIC countries, especially China; to continue to try to convince other negotiating partners of the value of broadening the process now, instead of presenting third countries with a fait accompli at the end;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point a – point vi
vi. to ensure synergies between bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral agreements currently being negotiated, as well as with single market developments, especially with regard to the digital single market;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point viii
Paragraph 1 – point a – point viii
viii. to publish a sustainability impact assessment and, once the negotiations are finalised, to update it accordingly, taking specific account of its impact on citizens and workers; to request Parliament’s research services to publish a comprehensive and informative study of the scope and potential impact of the TiSA negotiations;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i
i. to exclude public services and culturaudio- visual services from the scope of the negotiations, and to seek the further opening of foreign markets in telecommunications, transport and professional services;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii
iii. to excluderetain the ability to prevent the provision of new services from the EU’s commitmentnot classified in the relevant classification system by foreign service suppliers;
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v
Paragraph 1 – point b – point v
v. to undertake limited commitments in Mode 1 so aswhile being careful to avoid regulatory arbitrage and social dumping; to ensure that European rules are fully respected when a company provides a service from abroad to European consumers;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vii
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vii
vii. to take a cautious approach in Mode 4, while bearing in mind that the EU has an key offensive interest in Mode 4, the inward and outward movement of highly-skilled labour; to acknowledge that the labour clause maintains the legal obligation of foreign service providers to comply with EU and Member State social and labour legislation, as well as with collective agreements; to enter into ambitious commitments for those cases which underpin Mode 3 commitments;
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
x. to consider the introducetion of an unequivocal ‘'gold standard’' clause, which could be included in all trade agreements and would clarify that the public utilities clause applies to all modes of supply and to any services considered as public services by European, national or regional authorities;
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xi
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xi
xi. to ensure, in line with Article 167(4) TFEU and with the UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, that the parties preserve their right to adopt or maintain any measure with respect to the protection or promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity; to explicitly exclude audiovisual services, media and publishing from the scope of the agreement, irrespective of the technology or distribution platform used;
Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
i. to ensure cross-border data flows, which are a crucial driver of the services economy and an essential element of the global value chain of traditional manufacturing companies, in compliance with the universal right to privacy;
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i a (new)
ia. to acknowledge that a high level of trust is essential to develop a data-driven economy, which includes open data, anonymous data and non-personal data that are generated as a by-product by machines/sensors;
Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point c – point iv
iv. to ensure that national security clauses are grounded in appropriate necessity criteria; to firmly reject, therefore, any extension of the scope of the national security exemption enshrined in GATS Article XIVa , including elements of forced data localisation and backdoors in technologies that could be used to allow access to users personal data and which increase complexity and uncertainty for SMEs;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point v
Paragraph 1 – point c – point v
v. to recognise that digital innovation is a driver of economic growth and productivity in the entire economy; to recognise the need for data flows; to seek, therefore, a comprehensive prohibition of forced data localisation requirements;
Amendment 565 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point i – point i a (new)
ia. to ensure a high level of citizen and stakeholder engagement, including through organising meetings and events to explain what TiSA is and is not; to stress that Member States, who set out the negotiating directives, have a fundamental role to play in this regard;
Amendment 575 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point i – point iii
iii. to welcome the substantial push for transparency vis-à-vis the public since the 2014 European elections, including the publication of EU market access offers and the mandate granted by the Council; to further these efforts by providing fact sheets for each part of the agreement and by publishing factual round-by-round feedback reports on the Europa website; to publish more negotiating documents where possible;
Amendment 577 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i – point iii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point i – point iii a (new)
iiia. to convince negotiating partners to mirror the EU’s step to further transparency, to facilitate a more open process on all sides;