33 Amendments of Alfred SANT related to 2017/2191(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular Articles 39, 42 and 101 to 109 as well as Article 174 thereof,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
Citation 11 a (new)
– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 4 February 2016 on the special situation of islands (2015/3014(RSP);
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Strongly supports the independence of the Commission in its mission of shaping and enforcing the EU competition rules for the benefit of EU consumersitizens, especially those in a weak consumer position;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes and further encourages the efforts of the Commission to maintain regular contact with the members of Parliament’s competent committee;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of directives linked to the completion of the single market, particularly in the energy and transport sector, and to enhance the enforcement of EU competition rules in order to avoid uneven application thereof in the Member Stateswhere applicable;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Notes that State aid can be a necessary tool to ensure the needed infrastructure and supply for both the energy and transport sectors, particularly in regards to the situation in Europe where a transition towards cleaner and more climate friendly energy supply and transportation systems is taking place;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Notes that State aid can be necessary to ensure the delivery of services of general economic interest (SGEI) including energy, transport and telecommunication; emphasises that state intervention is often the best policy tool to ensure services crucial for the support of isolated, remote or peripheral regions and islands in the Union;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Emphasises that the connectivity of peripheral island or regions is essential for sustaining and developing acceptable levels of economic and social initiative by maintaining vital business connections;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to reallocate adequate financial and human resources to its Directorate-General for Competition in order to cope with this DG’s increasing workload; notes that such an increase should go hand-in-hand with a strict separation of the DG’s organisational structures, between the departments that draw up guidelines and those that have the responsibility to apply those guidelines in specific cases avoiding a situation in which the Competition DG acts as the prosecutor, jury, judge and executioner;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to adopt guidelines to limitreduce the duration of antitrust investigations, in order to avoid uncertainty or excessive burden for businesses and shape a competitive landscape which is not detrimental to consumers;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Takes note that most of the decisions concerning antitrust issues and State aid are taken at national level, and believes that, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity, the Commission should guarantee the global consistency and independence of competition policy measures within the internal market, with the support of the European Competition Network (ECN);
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Believes that the Commission should verify that national competition authorities (NCAs) are sufficiently equipped in terms of financial and human resources to guarantee their independence, and provide the needed assistance where otherwise; requests that it should submit an annual report to Parliament regarding this key point;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Reiterates that all market players should respect the relevant international, EU, and national tax legislation and pay their fair share of tax accordingly; welcomes the Commission’s in-depth investigations into anti-competitive practices such as selective tax advantages and excess profit ruling systems; stresses that the reduction of tax fraud and tax avoidance is fundamental in order to consolidate sound public budgets;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Recalls that Commissioner Vestager stated during a structured dialogue with the economic and monetary affairs committee (ECON) on Tuesday 21 November that the Google case represented potentially 4,2 terabytes of data to analyse; believes that this case clearly highlights the importance of having sufficient resources and adequate equipment allocated to competition authorities;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Welcomes the opening of the dialogue between the Commission and China on state aid control and follows carefully China's adoption of a Fair Competition Review System designed to ensure State measures do not adversely affect market entry and exit and the free movement of goods; asks the Commission to keep the EP updated on the negotiations taking place between the two economic blocks;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Asks the Commission to include a chapter on competition in every Free Trade Agreement or Economic Partnership, and invites DG TRADE to liaise with DG COMP in this view, taking into account the specific economic conditions of the least developed economies;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 c (new)
Paragraph 17 c (new)
17c. Invites the EU chief negotiator for the Brexit, in cooperation with Commissioner Vestager, to start as soon as possible a fair an transparent discussion on the future of the EU-UK relation in terms of competition;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to ensure that Google implements this remedy effectively; believes that the greatest danger now would be if the Commission were to settle for a partially effective remedy, failing to truly restore the level playing field required for competition and innovation to thrive; notes that following the opportunity to test this remedy, competitors are claiming that the solution proposed by Google will prove insufficient to restore a level playing field in the sector;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes that,Requests the Commission to carry an in-depth analysis on how the Google proposal would work, as without full- blown structural separation between Google’s general and specialised search services, an auction-based approach canmight not deliver equal treatment, since in the context of an auction, Google’s proposed functional separation would simply transfer profit from one Google business unit to another;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Encourages the Commission to ensure that it has a full complement of in- house high-tech engineers and specialists in cutting-edge technologies available to resolve specific digital economy cases as contracting out in this area might lead to implicit conflicts of interests;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24b. Welcomes the "unannounced inspections concerning access to bank account information by competing services" announced by the Commission on 6 October 2017; invites the Commission to remain vigilant on this issue, especially when the Regulatory Technical Standards on strong customer authentication and secure communication will enter into force;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Asks the Commission to applclarify State aid rules strictly and uniformly tofor European and non- European airlines such as Aliwith a view to establia and Air Berlinsh a level playing field between their operations directed towards European and non-European markets; believes that restructuring aid is one of the mostcould in certain scenarios be distortive forms and; believes that the same competition rules should be applied to national and low-cost carriers while taking into account the situation of carriers whose operations have no significant impact on the market;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Asks the Commission to investigate the dominant status low-cost airlines often hold on different air routes in Europe and the pricing patterns for the said routes; notes that such a position is often obtained through aggressive predatory market behaviour which eliminates competition from the market and ends up burdening consumers with higher tariffs and costs;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Requests that the Commission carefully assesses all airline merger deals in accordance with the EU’s merger control procedure, including the impact of these deals on market competition and potential harm to consumers, most notably through higher prices and restrictions to direct access of destinations;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 c (new)
Paragraph 26 c (new)
26c. Stresses the importance of safeguarding the transparency of flight information, ensuring a level playing field in the market and ultimately protecting European consumers’ ability to make informed choices;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. SWelcomes the Commission’s simplification of rules for public investment in ports and airports, culture and the outermost regions; stresses that, in line with the current Commission Guidelines, all airports financed by the EU budget or the European Investment Bank should be based on a positive cost-benefit analysis to avoid the financing of ghost airports in Europeand medium to long term operational and economic viability to avoid the financing of ghost airports in Europe keeping in mind exceptional cases of insular and sparsely populated regions in the EU; calls on the Commission to come up with a public list of such potential ghost airports;
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to analyse the options to open up competition in the transport sector in order to complete the single market, in particular in those Member States where public port and airport networks are managed and monopolised by the central government or where such networks persistently generate public deficit where necessary, keeping as a priority the safeguarded connection of insular and peripheral regions;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Invites the Commission to look at the bilateral aviation agreement between Spain and Russia which obliges all flights going through Siberia to depart from or land at the Madrid hub airport, giving an unfair advantage to the Iberia national carriers where there is evidence that such agreements are distorting the single market;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Calls on the Commission to analyse how lack of competition in certain parts of the food supply chain could be affecting prices and the viability of many agricultural producers, especially small- scale farmers;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Paragraph 32 b (new)
32b. Urges the Commission to oppose without delay the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer; recalls that this acquisition would result in the creation of the world's largest integrated pesticides and seeds company, with leading portfolios in non- selective herbicides, seeds and traits, and digital agriculture; underlines that this very dangerous monopoly would strongly threaten EU agriculture and citizens;