12 Amendments of Joachim SCHUSTER related to 2020/2117(INI)
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that the post-COVID-19 recovery is a unique opportunity to set the agenda for sustainable growth; calls on the Commission, therefore, to presentspeed up its review of the 15-point action plan on TSD chapters without delayso it can be implemented in all ongoing negotiations without exception; expects the review to address the enforceability of TSD commitments as a matter of urgency, as it is not currently included; recalls, in this regard, the non- paper from the Netherlands and France on trade, social economic effects and sustainable development11 ; suggests that, as a minimum, recent advances in enforceability should be applied to EU trade policy, namely the ability to tackle any non-compliance by partners through unilateral sanctions, including the introduction of tariffs or quotas on certain products or the cross- suspension of other parts of an agreement; __________________ 11 Non-paper from the Netherlands and France on trade, social economic effects and sustainable development, accessed at ‘the Netherlands at International Organisations (permanentrepresentations.nl)’.
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Points out that high up-front costs, which will only repay themselves over time, and a lack of know-how and equipment are currently preventing developing countries from ‘going green’; demands that the Commission use all trade instruments and development cooperation policies at its disposal to increase financial support, technical assistance, technology transfers and digital penetration in order to empower developing countries and enable them to achieve sustainable resilience and to better implement due diligence across the supply chain;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises that transparency and dialogue are key to creating support for trade policy; insists that the role and responsibilities of civil society and domestic advisory groups must be clearly defined in the EU’s international agreements and that financial assistance must be accompanied by capacity-building measures to enable it to function effectively; while asking the Commission to cooperate more intensively with the European civil society represented in the EESC;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls for the EU to ensure trade works also for the economically disadvantaged; in this regard recalls that the specific actions to promote ‘fair and ethical trade schemes’ to which the Commission committed in the ‘Trade for All’ strategy have become even more relevant under the current circumstances given that Fair Trade bottom-up initiatives can ensure that trade benefits the economically disadvantaged actors in the supply chain; calls on the Commission to promote Fair Trade initiatives through EU programs involving young people and the private sector, in external action in general, in the implementation of chapters on trade and sustainable development, through EU delegations as well as by rewarding best practices and facilitating knowledge exchange amongst EU local, regional, national authorities, civil society, schools and universities, including through the extension of the ‘EU cities for fair and ethical trade award’ to schools and universities and the setting up of an annual Fair Trade week hosted in Brussels by the European Commission; demands the European Commission to report on the support of Fair Trade initiatives by the EU and the member states;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is convinced that the EU is too dependent on a limited number of suppliers for critical goods and services, especially for medical and pharmaceutical goods; insists that the EU should overcome these undesirable dependencies via a mix of policies to incentivise companies to stockpile, diversify sourcing strategies and promote nearshoring, - which could create new trading opportunities for partners in the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhoods - and reshoring where necessary;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Underlines that the loss in biodiversity increases the danger of spreading zoonoses and pandemics; stresses that although trade policy cannot replace environmental policy, it should not reinforce or incentivize production methods that are harmful to biodiversity in the EU and internationally; therefore, in the context of FTAs, calls for the linkage of the phasing in of tariff liberalisations with proven measures for the protection of biodiversity amongst which must be the implementation of the CBD and the CITES; underlines that in order to fulfil this expectation, capacity building measures and financial support for developing countries are vital elements;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Welcomes the proposal by several government leaders for an international treaty on the pandemic response and calls for this to include a strong trade pillar; underlines that the international trade framework must foster cooperation and put into place both structural and rapid response mechanisms to help governments overcome the challenges associated with health emergencies; maintains that progress needs to be made in the areas of transparency on available stocks, global supply networks, production capacities and product pricing of essential health products, the implementation and development of exemptions for public health security in the intellectual property rights framework, increasing the global mobility of essential services, protecting and fostering the resilience of SMEs, and developing an intersectional approach to tackle the negative impact of health crises on gender equality, income equality, and the position of minorities;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls to establish a new Committee on Trade and Health on the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in order to prepare guidelines on how governments can implement existing exemptions and flexibilities in international trade law to increase public health security, which mechanisms must be put in place to improve the global response to health emergencies and to lay the groundwork for a trade pillar for the negotiations on a future international treaty on the pandemic response;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines that the vaccines against COVID-19 and its variants are a global public good and that multilateral efforts should be focused on the equitable distribution of vaccines across the world, ramping up global production capacities and technology transfers, including in low and middle- income countries; strongly welcomes, in this regard, the Global C19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Manufacturing Summit held on 8 and 9 March 2021 and calls for the establishment of structural platforms to rapidly scale up vaccine production in more countries; calls for more international efforts to speed up the delivery of vaccines to COVAX;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Emphasises that international trade policy must play a proactive role in this endeavour by facilitating trade in raw materials, alleviating shortages of qualified and experienced personnel, solving supply chain problems and revisiting the global framework for intellectual property rights for future pandemics; insists, in this regard, on a constructive dialogue about a temporary waiver of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in order to ensure that countries do not face retaliation over COVID-19 related patent infringements during the pandemic; calls on the Commission to re-evaluate the TRIPS+ commitments in EU trade agreements in light of lessons learned, and to improve the work on increasing the effectiveness of IPR flexibilities such as, but not limited to, compulsory licensing in the context of bilateral negotiations and dialogue;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Points out that the COVID crisis has underlined the significance of a new partnership with the African continent; in this context underlines that the question on debt reductions and debt cancellations needs to be answered; underlines the necessity of extending debt-related initiatives to private creditors; highlights the need to create the policy space in African countries for the successful implementation of health related policy measures;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27b. Stresses that the EU needs to actively support the diversification of inner-African value chains;