20 Amendments of Nils TORVALDS related to 2016/2323(BUD)
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1
Subheading 1
A budget for sustainable growth, jobs and security
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Underlines that the EU budget must support the fulfilment of the objectives of the Paris agreement and the EU's own long-term climate goals by meeting the 20% spending target for climate in 2014-2020 MFF; stresses, in this regard, that the contribution for 2018 should overshoot the overall target in order to offset the lower allocations from the first half of the current MFF and that the mechanism of climate change mainstreaming should be fully optimized;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Notes with concern that the EU's 2020 biodiversity targets will not be met without substantial additional efforts; stresses, therefore, the importance of mainstreaming biodiversity protection across the EU budget, with a particular focus on LIFE programme and Natura 2000 network, and reiterates its previous call for a tracking methodology that takes into account all biodiversity related spending and its efficiency;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Regrets that the implementation of the EU budget does not currently match with the EU's high-level commitment to gender equality; stresses that gender equality should be mainstreamed as a distinct policy objective in all titles of the EU budget;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that investments in research and innovation represent a pre- condition for achieving genuine competitiveness in the EU; regrets the fact that, a, and for having an innovative and competitive EU economy on a global level; regrets that Member States a result of an alarmingly low success rate of applications, fewer high- quality projects in the field of research and innovation are receiving EU funding cutting their funding for R&I activities and recognises that more applications are directed towards the EU as a result and notes that many interested parties, many of which are new comers or SME's, are being deterred from submitting time-consuming Horizon 2020 project proposals due to lower success rates; calls in this respect for an adequate level of appropriations to be ensured for Horizon 2020;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the important role and potential of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in reducing the investment gap in Europe, and recognises the positive results achieved so far; welcomes also the Commission proposal for extending the EFSI until 2020, which will serve to further improve its functioning, especially as regards the additionality principle and the geographical balance; with added focus on technological additionality; underlines that the selection of projects finances through EFSI should be based on quality and demand-driven; welcomes the Commission's intentions to reinforce the role of the European Investment Advisory Hub in terms of providing more targeted local technical assistance across the EU; has reservations on the proposal to again cut funds from Connecting Europe Facility;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers education to be a prerequisite for well-paid, stsustainable jobs; welcomes in this respect the role played by Erasmus+ in facilitating intra-European mobility of young students; calls, in this context, for the financing of this programme to continue to be increased in 2018;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that youth unemployment is one of the main concerns at European level and that it puts at risk an entire generation of young Europeans; stresses that, as part of the conciliation agreement for the 2017 EU budget, a EUR 500 million allocation will be granted to the Youth Employment Initiative through an amending budget in 2017; remains firmly committed to securing adequate funding to fight against youth unemployment and for the continuation of the Youth Employment Initiative until the end of the current MFF, while at the same time improving its functioning and implementation;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Acknowledges the importance of Erasmus+ programme as a key component in increasing fellowship among European youth; believes that especially in the times of rising nationalism and populism it is important to facilitate natural interaction between different European nations and cultures to increase European consciousness and identity;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Strongly supportConsiders regional policy as one of the main investment instruments of the EU budget that enables economic, social and territorial cohesion; underlines that this policy generates growth and jobs in all Member States; is concerned, however, about the unacceptablRegrets, however, that despite major redistribution of income the cohesion policy has created only limited economic cohesion in Europe and that it has not sufficiently encouraged structural reforms in cohesion countries, which puts in doubt the current cohesion policy architecture; notes furthermore with concern the Court of Auditors' Special Report No 24/2016 on the significant number of state aid errors in the use of the Cohesion Fund; is also concerned about the delays in implementation of operational programmes at EU level; calls on the Commission and the Member States to cooperate in order to ensure that the designation of managing and certifying authorities is concluded and implementation accelerates;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Is convinced that, under the current circumstances, where the ceiling in Heading 3 is too low, the EU budget has maximised its impact in dealing with the effects of the migratory and refugee crisis; points out, however, that a sustainable solution must be found to this issue, as it has been shown by the repeated mobilisation of special instruments, such as the flexibility instrument, that the EU budget was not initially designed to address crises of such magnitudehas proven to insufficient to provide for appropriate funding for the internal dimension of the current security as well as humanitarian and migratory challenges, as it has been shown by the repeated mobilisation of special instruments, such as the flexibility instrument; points out that a sustainable solution must be found in the future to this issue as a matter of utmost urgency and priority; recalls, however, that the necessity to mobilise supplementary means to face these challenges should not take precedence over other important Union policies, for example in the field of jobs and growth;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the role played by instruments such as the Internal Security Fund (ISF) and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) in addressing the effects of the migratory and refugee crisisecurity and humanitarian and migratory challenges, and calls for adequate budgeting in the coming years for these funds; welcomes also the role of EU agencies in the area of justice and home affairs, such as Europol and the, European Asylum Agency, European Border and Coast Guard, Eurojust and EU-LISA, and calls, in this context, for their mandate to be executed through adequate budgeting and staffing; is convinced that the EU needs to invest more in strengthening its borders, managing migration, enhancing cooperation between law enforcement national authorities and agencies, fighting terrorism and, radicalisation and ensuringserious and organized crime, ensuring the interoperability of information systems and guarantee sound return operations;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Reaffirms its conviction that in order to tackle the root causes of the migratory and refugee crisis, the EU needs to step up its role through investments in the countries of origin of the refugees and migrants; notes that investments in infrastructure, housing, education, medical services and support for SMEs with a particular focus on job creation are part of the solution to tackle the root causes of migration; welcomes therefore the External Investment Plan (EIP) as a coherent and coordinated framework to promote investments in Africa and the Neighbourhood countries; expects that the EIP will promote sustainable development without compromising human rights, climate change mitigation and good governance and that transparent management of the European Fund for Sustainable Development and its projects will be ensured;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Reaffirms its conviction that in order to tackle the root causes of the migratory and refugee crisicurrent humanitarian and migratory challenges, the EU needs to step up its role through investments in the countries of origin of the refugees and migrants; notes that investments in infrastructure, housing, education, medical services and support for SMEs are part of the solution to tackle the root causes of migration; welcomes therefore the External Investment Plan as a coherent and coordinated framework to promote investments in Africa and the Neighbourhood countries;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. MaintainsNotes that the Commission's decision to resort itself to satellite budgetary mechanisms, such as trust funds, has not always been a full success and that there is a risk that this kind of solutions undermine the transparent management of the budget and hamper budget control measures; Maintains, therefore, its previous position that ad hoc external financial instruments which emerged in recent years must be incorporated into the EU budget, with Parliament having full scrutiny over the implementation of these instruments;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Underlines that one of the conditions for preserving stability and prosperity in the EU is a stable EU Neighbourhood; calls on the Commission therefore to ensure that priority is given to investments in the EU Neighbourhood in order to support efforts to tackle the main issues that this area is facing: the migration and refugee crisicurrent humanitarian and migratory challenges in the Southern Neighbourhood and Russian aggression in the Eastern Neighbourhood; reiterates that supporting countries which are implementing association agreements with the EU is key to facilitating political and economic reforms;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Welcomes in principle the establishment of European Defence Fund, with research and capability windows, as a promising model of an EU project with genuine European added value as the union faces unprecedented security challenges both within and beyond its borders;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Underlines that predictability and long-term sustainability of the EU budget is a prerequisite for a strong and stable European Union; draws attention to the fact that the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU will provide an opportunity to address the long-standing issues which have prevented the EU budget from reaching its real potential, especially as regards the revenue side of the budget; reaffirms its position in favour of an in- depth reform of EU own resources, and welcomes in this respect the presentation of the final report of the High-Level Group on Own Resources (HLGOR); invites all involved parties to draw the appropriate conclusions from this report and analyse the feasibility of implementing the recommendations of the HLGOR that would help make the EU budget more stable and predictable; welcomes the conclusion of the HLGOR regarding the fact that the EU budget needs to focus on areas bringing the highest European added value and regarding the ‘juste retour’ approach, which should end, as it has been shown by the report that all Member States benefit from the EU budget, irrespective of their ‘net-balance’;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Encourages the Commission to continue developing and implementing the 'EU budget focused on results' strategy; underlines, in this regard, the importance of simplifying rules, streamlining the monitoring process and developing relevant performance indicators;