20 Amendments of Maria HEUBUCH related to 2015/2317(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the fiscal space of developing countries is de facto constrained by the requirements of global investors and financial markets; whereas developing countries have been offering various tax incentives and exemptions to attract or retain investors, leading to harmful tax competition and a 'race to the bottom';
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses the need to develop governance processes to promote PCD at the global level;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to systematically consult human rights organisations at an early stage of and throughout the policy-making process and to put in place stronger safeguards and mechanisms to better balance stakeholders' representativeness and specifically avoid the dominance of the private sector in public consultations; recalls that public interests must always prevail over private interests;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Regrets the fact that although impact assessments represent a significant tool for achieving PCD, assessments of development impacts remain few in number; hopes that the Better Regulation Package and its guidelines will improve this situationcalls on the Commission systematically to take into account development and human rights in all impact assessments, which should include methodologies to improve the consultation processes and enhance the transparency and efficiency of monitoring mechanisms; hopes that the Better Regulation Package and its guidelines will improve this situation; to this end, calls on the Commission to guarantee that there is a specific in-house expertise on human rights, gender and development on the Regulatory Scrutiny Board;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Believes that more emphasis must be put on institutional coordination, whether between EU institutions or with Member States; calls on governments of Member States to embed PCD in a legally binding act and to define a Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD) action plan to operationalise it; considers that national parliaments should be further involved in the PCD agenda in their capacity to hold their government accountable and to scrutinise progress in this field;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Welcomes the EU Gender Action Plan 2016-2020; emphasises the utmost importance of the therein stipulated institutional culture shift in ensuring PCD, and encourages the monitoring and implementation of its objectives in all EU external action, including in EU-funded projects at country level;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Acknowledges that the EU is facing its biggest refugee crisis since World War II; stresses that strengthening the link between migration and development policies is essentialfar from clear-cut in order to address the root causes of this phenomenon; underlines that violent conflicts constitute the key root cause of mass migration, and that they need to be addressed first and foremost through security and diplomatic instruments; welcomes the adoption of the European Agenda on Migration, which develops a comprehensive response to the crisis (COM(2015)0240);
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Emphasises that it is important to understand the causes and consequences of international migration from a gender perspective, including the process of decision-making involved and the mechanisms leading to migration; recalls that women and girls, as refugees and migrants are particularly vulnerable when they find themselves in situations where their security cannot be ensured and where they may be subject to sexual violence or exploitation;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Recalls that trade agreements should be used as leverage to promote values like sustainable development, human rights, fair and ethical trade and the fight against corruption around the world;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Underlines that the EU and its Member States remain the most important Aid for Trade donor in the world (EUR 11.7 billion in 2013 - SWD(2015)0128); deems that Aid for Trade should help promote processing and diversification of production; assist regional integration and technology transfers; and help facilitate the establishment or development of domestic productive capacity and the reduction of income inequality; welcomes the Commission’'s aims to make trade agreements development-friendly, while recognising that Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a key source of financing for sustainable development, if mobilised efficiently;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Recalls that SDG target 17.15 acknowledges the need to respect each country's policy space for poverty eradication and sustainable development; reiterates the right of developing countries to regulate investment so as to ensure obligations and duties for all investors, including foreign, with the aim of protecting human rights, labour and environmental standards; to this end, calls on the EU and its Member States to initiate participatory reviews of their investment agreements to eliminate inconsistencies of these treaties with international human rights obligations, namely the UN Global Compact on human rights, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, ILO core labour standards, environmental standards, and the UN Convention Against Corruption;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recalls, however, that aid alone is not sufficient; believes that innovative and diversified sources of financing, such as a financial transaction tax, carbon tax, air ticket levy, rents from natural resources, etc. must be considered and that coherence should be strengthened between public, private, international and domestic financing; recognises the essential role of the private sector in this regard;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. SRecalls that domestic resource mobilisation through taxation is the most important source of revenue for financing sustainable development; emphasises that the EU can play an important role to build capacity in developing countries to curb illicit financial flows; supports an efficient, fairprogressive and transparent tax system in line with good governance principles; welcomes the package of tax transparency measures presented by the Commission on 18 March 2015; considers that international cooperation is vital for tackling illicit financial flows and tax evasion;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Stresses the EU's responsibility to promote and operationalise globally the principle of PCD in tax matters; to this effect, urges the EU to strive for the establishment of a new intergovernmental body under the auspices of the UN on international cooperation on tax matters, to enable developing countries to participate equally in the global reform of existing international tax rules;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls on the EU to make full use of the OECD Model Tax Convention which includes an optional provision for assistance in tax collection, which can be included in bilateral conventions where each country agrees to help in the collection of taxes levied by the other country;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. CRecalls that food is a basic human right; calls on the EU to evaluate systematically the impact of EU agricultural, trade and energy policies – such as biofuel policy – on food security in the developing world; urges the Commission to continue to concentrate on small- and medium-scale farming, to support crop diversification and to promote sustainable agro-forestry and agro-ecological practices in line with the conclusions of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), the recommendations of the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, and the SDGs; stresses that substantive issues of policy coherence and impact need to be addressed in the ongoing monitoring of the EU’'s Food Security Policy Framework (COM(2010)0127); calls on the EU to operationalise complaint mechanisms for all people affected by EU policies to claim their right to food;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Underlines that eradication of hunger also requires stopping speculation on food and combatting land grabbing; calls on the EU and its Member States to contribute to the prevention of land grabs by supporting developing countries in the national implementation of the UN Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Stresses the need to reconcile domestic policies with the global agenda to make PCD effective; to this effect, calls on the EU to design and implement binding climate, energy efficiency and renewable energy targets and measures in all relevant EU policies in line with the recent COP21 – Paris climate agreement which calls for a limit to the temperature increase of 1.5°C;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the EU to strengthen its capacities for crisis prevention and to reinforce the synergies between the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and development instruments, finding a balance between short-term responses to crises and longer-term development strategies; suggests that creating a new instrument dedicated to the development-security nexus might limit incoherencies and increase the efficiency of PCD; stresses that in order to achieve the 0.7 % of ODA/GNI target, this instrument should not be financed through existing developing instruments, but through new budgetary appropriations;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to continue improving links between humanitarian aid, development cooperation and resilience to disasters so as to enable a more flexible and effective response to growing needs;