Activities of Nicola DANTI related to 2019/2131(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on competition policy – annual report 2019
Amendments (24)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to ensure that EU competition policy promotes fair competition and reciprocal trading conditions at EU and global level with the further aim of strengthening our own industry in the EU; calls, therefore, for unfair trading practices to be addressed effectively by making full use of the available instruments, developing new, effective tools and tackling the distortive effects of foreign state ownership and subsidies in the internal market, in particular where EU funding is involved; welcomes, against this backdrop, the new Commission’s intention to strengthen the foreign direct investment screening mechanism, and calls for discussions on the EU’s international procurement instrument to be resumed;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Points out the need to reduce persisting asymmetries in international public procurement markets and calls on the Commission to show ambition in opening foreign markets to EU companies, especially SMEs; welcomes the renewed discussions on the EU's international procurement instrument (IPI) and asks for its adoption by 2020 in order to guarantee reciprocity where trade partners restrict their access to their procurement market;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls, moreover, on the Commission either to further enhance global cooperation on competition matters or to ensure fair conditions for competition via bilateral trade agreements and in international foruman international level playing field, agree on common standards and procedures via bilateral trade agreements and in international forums, such as OECD, UNCTAD, WTO, World Bank; asks the Commission to be active in strenghtening the International Competition Network (ICN) and highlights the importance of an effective cooperation with national competition authorities from third countries in order to increase the effectiveness of specific investigations; fully supports the Commission’s efforts in the context of the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) reform to update the multilateral rules on subsidies or sectoral initiatives to adequately address subsidies at international level, in particular on industrial subsidies, state owned enterprises and forced technology transfers, in order to redress non market- oriented policies and practices of third countries;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. CWelcomes the presence of specific competition chapters in recently concluded bilateral trade and investment agreements and calls on the Commission to continue negotiating ambitious, enforceable competition and State aid provisions in all future trade agreements as part of a holistic and ambitious EU trade policy;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to ensure that competition rules are compatible with the moderna fast changing global economy and best serve European consumers by fully taking into account the impact of the digitalisation of the economy on how global markets operate; welcomes, in this context, the ongoing plurilateral WTO e-commerce negotiations toacknowledges that online platforms are key enablers of digital trade but highlights, in particular, that the emergence of digital economy has led to excessive market and power concentration; stresses the need to focus on key issues such as access to and portability of data, role and presence of platforms in the markets, technological neutrality; welcomes, in this context, the ongoing plurilateral WTO e-commerce negotiations and calls for a comprehensive and ambitious set of rules to address digital trade barriers, ensure that companies can compete worldwide on a level playing field based on global trading rules.and to enhance consumer's trust in online environment;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Welcomes the growing debate on the relation between EU competition rules, industrial policy and international trade; asks the Commission to examine whether is appropriate to modernise or to update the interpretation of targeted competition rules, without hampering competition on relevant European markets, in order to better take into account the distorsive effects created by state-backed or subsidised companies, which could create long-term market conditions detrimental to European consumers and to the competitiveness of EU businesses;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Calls on the Commission to properly analyse and study the public procurement markets of the third countries with which it has -or is negotiating - a Free Trade Agreement, in order to negotiate the best access conditions for European companies
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Stresses that the effective implementation of the sustainable development provisions of trade agreements is important for ensuring a race to the top of environmental and social standards, protecting EU businesses from unfair competition, where such standards are not met by our trading partners; in this perspective, welcomes the introduction of environmental and social criteria in the reform of anti-subsidy and anti-dumping measures;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Calls on the Commission that the Directorates-General involved - DG Trade and DG Competence - act in coordination to ensure that the competition rules and their implementation guarantee fair competition to European companies in third markets, and vice versa.
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6 c. Highlights the importance of incorporating a gender based perspective both at multilateral and bilateral level, including gender chapters in trade agreements and designing gender sensitive measures (i.e. include in ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment the gender impact of the EU trade policy and agreements) to boost competition and promote inclusive economic growth.
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Draws the Commission’s attention to companies benefitting from favourable treatment in their home market entering European markets, thus distorting competition in those various markets; Calls on the Commission to increase scrutiny of investments by entrants from countries granting advantages not available to European operators to combat unfair practices;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Calls the Commission to strictly safeguard fair competition, level playing field and equal treatment by the dominant platforms operating and making huge profits in the EU 500 million consumers digital single market;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to adopt a more favourable approach to industrialbusiness cooperation in order to foster the emergence of European leaders that are globally competitive; notes however that clear rules are needed in this regard so that this does not come at the expense of EU citizens’ financial or consumer interests, so that start-ups, newcomers and innovation have a level playing field to enter the market and that this does not trigger any dominant or market abuse position;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls forWelcomes the Commission launch of a review of the definition of the relevant market in the Commission’s merger and antitrust enforcement (Market Definition Notice), so as to move towards a longer- term vision encompassing the global dimension, digital markets and potential future competition; highlights the need for particular attention to be given to zero price markets and multi-sided markets;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Asks the Commission to assess how more demanding regimes of data access, including data interoperability, can be imposed in particular where data access opens up secondary markets for complementary services or when data is confined to dominant firms;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9 b. Stresses that concentration in digital markets for example for social media in favour of a few non-European companies has contributed to the dissemination of misinformation, online manipulation and the undermining of social cohesion and trust in democratic institutions;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12 b. Notes that European citizens have now realised that there is no such thing as “free services” offered by platforms; European consumers pay a high price for these online services with their personal data1a; underlines that some recent scandals have shown how personal data is being collected, used, sold to third parties and misused by platforms; _________________ 1ahttps://edps.europa.eu/press- publications/press-news/blog/sharing- caring-depends_en
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses that, while intermediation platforms play a major role in access to consumers for online services, some abuse their privileged position by acting as gatekeepers; calls on the Commission to conclude its preliminary investigation into Spotify’s complaint about Apple’s anticompetitive practices and to launch a formal procedure as soon as possible; moreover notes that the behaviour of powerful digital platforms is jeopardising competition law in that they often act as bottlenecks for third-party services and favour their own services, preventing consumers from benefiting from unfettered competition and innovation; notes furthermore that the Commission has received a series of complaints that big digital platforms prevent their direct competitors from offering consumers their best deals and from directly communicating with their customers, and make it difficult for consumers to use rival services; expects the Commission to act urgently to stop these discriminatory practices;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Notes that some dominant platforms have become gatekeepers of the Internet1a; addressing and solving urgently the abuses that certain dominant digital platforms exercise over smaller direct competitors is essential for the future of the European digital single market and most importantly in the interest of European consumers; platforms self-preferencing their own services over others or discriminating direct competitors such as competing Apps should be carefully assessed by competition authorities; _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ newsroom/image/document/2016- 7/uclouvain_et_universit_saint_louis_140 44.pdf
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15 b. Welcomes the initiative of Commissioner Vestager to review the market definition concept; recalls that digitisation has indeed created new challenges; stresses that it can be difficult for consumers to switch from one ecosystem to another despite a specific ecosystem is not dominant apparently, however the ecosystems can leave consumers locked in, interoperability reduced and therefore consumer choices limited1a; _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/competition/publicati ons/reports/kd0419345enn.pdf
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 c (new)
Paragraph 15 c (new)
15 c. Calls on the Commission to take a particularly careful look at closed ecosystems, where the same providers control different layers of the market, such as operating systems, intermediation services and vertical services, as also underlined in the report “Competition policy for the digital era”1a; _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/competition/publicati ons/reports/kd0419345enn.pdf
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Calls on the Commission to inquire about this new checking account service that will be provided to consumers by some of the world’s biggest tech companies in forthcoming years; in particular their entry into this new digital financial market and the huge amount of data they will gather from their consumers and the potential use of it;
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Stresses that in order to achieve a more coherent EU economic policy; fair tax policy should be implemented at the European level in particular with regard to digital businesses; recalls the principle that companies should be taxed where their profits are generated should be applied; supports the commitment of the Commission President to propose an EU solution for a fair taxation in a digitalised and globalised economy, should an international deal not be reached by the end of 2020, on the condition that this EU solution is not limited to digital businesses; understands that such solution would strengthen the Single Market through the establishment of a minimum level of tax that would prevent unilateral measures;
Amendment 300 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22 b. Calls on the Commission to bring forward a proposal requiring competition, data protection and consumer authorities to cooperate proactively with each other, including in enforcement cases raising questions of compliance with more than one area of law; in particular, the competition authorities should carefully assess antitrust and merger cases where there may be negative impact on both the interests of consumers and the democratic rights of citizens;