Activities of Alessia Maria MOSCA related to 2015/2233(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) (A8-0009/2016 - Viviane Reding) IT
Negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) (debate) IT
Amendments (45)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point a
Paragraph 1 – point a
(a) to make financial services one of the EU’s priorities in the TiSA negotiations, as the EU’s own market for those services is already comparatively open; to ensure that, in the area of financial services, no new commitments will be taken on that would jeopardise EU financial regulation, and that EU regulators retain the ability to authorise or deny any new financial product and to achieve an agreement that brings value to consumers in the form of a broader choice of financial services and enhanced consumer protection, thanks to a more globally-harmonised approach to trade in financial services that allows a level- playing field and prevent the transmission of systemic risks; to ensure that, in the area of financial services, no new commitments will be taken on that would jeopardise EU financial regulation by forcing the EU to turn back on its enhanced regulatory framework of the financial sector, and that EU regulators retain the ability to authorise or deny any new financial product after a thorough assessment of the risks that the introduction of such products or services would generate in the Union;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point a a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point a a (new)
(aa) while stressing the need to increase worldwide access to financial services, to pursue in TiSA a policy line allowing, save for limited and duly justified market access reservations, the cross-border supply of financial services in the EU by entities established in third countries, on the basis of clear rules and procedures for the authorisation of the said entities to provide such services in the EU and only after the recognition by the EU of the said entities’ country of origin as having an enforceable regulatory and supervisory framework equivalent to the EU’s, in order to ensure that no financial risk be imported in the Union and that a level- playing field between entities, irrespective of their jurisdiction of establishment, be achieved;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point b
Paragraph 1 – point b
(b) to ensure that TiSA results in limiting market access reservations to duly justified exceptions and in a commitment by all parties to a standstill on national treatment, but no ratchet clause, on national treatment, which should help to achieve a better level- playing field, and thereby to defend the position that market openness will not prevent the introduction of new measures for prudential reasons, covering consumers as well, or the modification of existing domestic disciplines;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the TiSA negotiations arshould be aimed at achieving better international regulation, not lower domestic regulation;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point c
Paragraph 1 – point c
(c) to put stronger pressure on other negotiating parties to accept China’s request to join the negotiations, and to continue offering this path to other BRICS countries; to stress that TiSA is obviously not meant to alter or substitute the works of international organisations and fora that adopt recommendations and set standards for the financial sector across the globe;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
(ca) to encourage new parties to join the TiSA negotiations, even if the talks already include countries such as the EU, USA and Japan that are responsible for the bulk of word trade in financial services; to pursue, in order to deliver very substantial results for the EU, in- depth commitments (in particular on market access) from countries that currently have no bilateral trade deals with the EU, such as the Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or very limited commitment at the multilateral level, for example Chile and Turkey, or very limited bilateral commitments on financial services, such as Mexico;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas any trade agreement must provide more rights, contribute to sustainable development and lower prices to European consumers and level the playing field for European companies;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point d
Paragraph 1 – point d
(d) to ensure that the TiSA in no way hinders the negotiating agenda of the WTO, but, rather, fosters a valuable discussion on establishing ‘gold standards’ for tackling trade obstacles and developing regulatory best practices for financial services, and also prepares the ground for its possible adoption at multilateral level, by building on rules already existing at the multilateral level;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas any trade agreement must be a market opener for our companies abroad and a safety net for our citizens at home, while being an instrument for promoting corporate social responsibility globally;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point e
Paragraph 1 – point e
(e) to urge the negotiating parties to establish a binding high-level framework for the domestic regulation of financial services baseduilding on the WTO’s GATS Annex on Financial Services, which already covers all TiSA parties as WTO members, as well as deeper commitments based on the sui generis Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services, which is not mandatory for WTO members and therefore only cover a very limited set of TiSA parties; to set as an absolutely necessary pre-condition for the chapter on financial services of TiSA to include the prudential carve-out laid down in Article 2(a) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services, which preserves the sovereign right of parties to adopt measures for prudential reasons, to the extent that the said measures do not aim at escaping other commitments; to take action in order for the key elements of the said Understanding, such as the specific provisions on data transfer and non- discriminatory access to clearing systems to be taken over in TiSA;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point f
Paragraph 1 – point f
(f) to lay down, in the regulatory chapter on financial services and inter alia, strong transversal rules on regulatory transparency and solutions for ensuring respect of national treatment for cross- border suppliers too., which is key for the capacity and the confidence of financial services providers to establish themselves abroad or to provide services to third-country customers, and solutions for ensuring respect of national treatment for cross- border suppliers too, building on the Article 3 of the GATS Annex on Financial Services; to that end, to take immediate action in order to bring closer the different ways in which countries currently recognise the equivalence of regulatory and supervisory regimes of other jurisdictions, which is causing currently fragmentation of global financial services markets, by achieving a common understanding that an equivalence decision should be the result of a transparent assessment on whether each jurisdiction’s rules achieve the same objectives and that, though such a decision should follow early and frequent bilateral dialogues, it can be unilateral when mutual recognition is not possible;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
(fa) to take action for that chapter in particular to contribute to the objective of level-playing field in a fair international competition in the sector of financial services, while ensuring that, in conformity with the principle of proportionality of the actions of the EU, as enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the Commission does not agree in TiSA to requirements on domestic regulation that would go further than necessary to obtain this result;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point f b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f b (new)
(fb) to ensure that binding the provision of a financial service in a country to the location of the underlying assets, or of the infrastructure necessary for the provision of that service, in that country remains an option in the regulatory toolbox only when motivated by national security reasons or oversight of systemically important systems;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point f c (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f c (new)
(fc) to follow a reasonable approach with regard to the cross-border flows of financial data, by banning measures that prevent transfers of information or the processing of financial information into or out of the country’s territory and allowing the country to protect personal data, personal privacy and the confidentiality of individual records and accounts, also in line with the Article 2(b) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services; to ensure therefore that any agreement on TiSA be in full conformity with the revised EU Data Protection Regulation;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point f d (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f d (new)
(fd) to acknowledge and emphasise the continued importance of the services of general interest and to call for their exclusion from the agreement; to ensure that their management is therefore not affected by the TiSA, in line with the mandate given to the Commission by the Member States.
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas trade in services ismust be an engine for jobs and growth in the EU;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point f e (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f e (new)
(fe) to ensure that TiSA in no way facilitates or opens loopholes for tax fraud, tax evasion, aggressive tax planning, or money-laundering in the area of financial services; but rather incites its members/the contracting parties to abide by the OECD Common Reporting Standards (CRS) for the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) for tax purposes, the OECD recommendations against Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing and the Commission Recommendation regarding Measures intended to encourage third countries to apply minimum standards of good governance in tax matters, of 6/12/2012, C(2012) 8805 final.
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas numerousunnecessary barriers to trade in services, which if translated into equivalent tariffs amount to 15 % for Canada, 16 % for Japan, 25 % for South Korea, 44 % for Turkey and 68 % for China, continue to prevent European companies from reaping the full benefits of their competitiveness; whereas the EU, where the tariff equivalent of services restrictions is only 6 %, is substantially more open than most of its partners;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas non-tariff barriers, which on average represent more than 50 % of the cost of cross-border services, disproportionately affect small and medium-sized enterprises, which often lack the human and financial resources necessary to overcome those obstacles; whereas the elimination of unnecessary barriers would facilitate their internationalisation as long as these barriers can be removed without jeopardizing the public policy objectives underpinning them;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas citizens’ trust in EU’s trade policy is a must, whichhas been seriously undermined in recent years, and can only be restored by ensuring the highest level of transparency, by maintaining constant dialogue with social partners and civil society, and by setting clear guidelines in the negotiations;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i a (new)
ia. to reflect on the recent withdrawal of Uruguay from the TiSA negotiations; to ensure that special attention is paid to developing countries in this regard, and that TISA includes the provisions contained in GATS article IV;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point a – point ii
ii. to reiterate its support for a comprehensive and balanced agreement, which should unleash the untapped potential of a more integrated global services market, while preventing social and economic dumping and fully guaranteeing compliance with the EU acquis; to shape globalisation and to create international standards, while fully preserving the right to regulate; to secure increased market access for European services suppliers in key sectors of interest, while accommodating specific carve-outs for sensitive sectors including all public services;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iii
iii. to push forguarantee multilateralisation by crafting GATS-compatible provisionsrejecting any provision that would be incompatible with the GATS and by accepting new parties conditional on their acceptance of the agreed rules and level of ambitions; to incentivise wider participation in the talks by granting interested parties observer status; to note that both the highest barriers and the highest growth potential regarding trade in services are to be found in the BRICS and the MINT countries; to recognise the importance of those countries for the EU, as export destinations with a rising middle class, as sources of intermediate inputs and as key hubs in global value chains; to open the way for the participation of China;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iv
iv. to carry outacknowledge that, as the negotiations are carried out on a preferential basis and to limit, the benefits of the agreement will be limited to TiSA parties until it is multilateralised; to take into account that unanimous approval is required from WTO members in order to multilateralise a plurilateral agreement;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point viii
Paragraph 1 – point a – point viii
viii. to publish a sustainability impact assessment and, once the negotiations are finalised, to update it accordingly, taking specific account of its impact on citizens and workersrecall that the EU's negotiating mandate was proposed by the Commission and adopted by the Council without any impact assessment; to publish without any further delay the sustainability impact assessment while negotiations are on- going and as a precondition for the European Parliament approval; to involve social partners and civil society fully in finalising the sustainability impact assessment; to update it accordingly once the negotiations are finalised, taking specific account of its impact on citizens and workers; to include in this study a detailed assessment of the effect on the economy and labour conditions of the GATS since its entry into force, including a breakdown by mode of supply; to request Parliament’s research services to publish a comprehensive and informative study of the scope and potential impact of the TiSA negotiations, particularly on consumers and workers;
Amendment 291 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ix
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ix
ix. to exclude, in line with Articles 14 and 106 of the TFEU as well as protocol 26 to the TFEU, current and future Services of General Interest as well as Services of General Economic Interest from EU commitments the scope of the agreement through a carve-out located in its core text (including but not limited to water, waste management, health, social services, social security systems and education);, as the only means to ensure that European, national and local authorities retain the full right to introduce, adopt, maintain or repeal any measures with regard to the commissioning, organisation, funding and provision of public services; to apply this exclusion, irrespective of how the public services are provided and funded; to acknowledge that social security systems are excluded from the negotiations;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
x. to introduce an unequivocal ‘gold standard’ clause, which could be included in all trade agreements and would clarifyensure that the public utilities clause applies to all modes of supply and to, any services considered as public services by European, national or regional authorities in any sector and irrespective of the service's monopoly status;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
ii. to acknowledge that data protection is not a trade barrier, but a fundamental right, enshrined in Article 39 TEU and Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; to acknowledgensure that GATS Article XIV, which fully exempts the existing and future EU legal framework for the protection of personal data from these negotiations, will be replicated in the TiSA core text; in addition, to insert a legally binding horizontal clause in TiSA to guarantee full respect of these fundamental rights, taking due account of recent developments in the digital economy and in full compliance with the European Court of Justice's ruling with respect to the Safe Harbour Agreement;
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point vii
Paragraph 1 – point c – point vii
vii. to address persistent regulatory asymmetries regarding the telecommunications sector, by preventing parties from imposing foreign equity caps, by laying down pro-competitive wholesale access rules for incumbent operators’ networks, by providing clear and non- discriminatory rules for licensing and securing genuine access to last mile infrastructures in export markets for EU telecom providers, by guaranteeing the independence of regulators, and by supporting an extensive definition of telecommunications services covering all types of network;
Amendment 383 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point viii
Paragraph 1 – point c – point viii
viii. to strongly support provisions on international mobile roaming; to increase publicly available information regarding retail rates in the short run; to make the case for maximum caps in the long run; to push for online consumer protection, in particular vis-à-vis unsolicited commercial electronic messages; to include provisions directly aimed at lowering the cost of international calls and messages and to provide for effective means of redress for consumers;
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point i
Paragraph 1 – point d – point i
i. to ensure that nothing will prevent the EU and its Member States from maintaining, improving and applying their labour and social regulations, as well as their legislation on entry and temporary stay; and that international labour standards, as defined in the International Labour Organisation's fundamental conventions, as well as collective agreements, are respected; to guarantee that these labour rights are made fully enforceable through a monitoring process that has the full involvement of trade unions; to guarantee Member States' sovereign right to take or refuse to take commitments under Mode 4;
Amendment 400 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point ii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point ii a (new)
iia. to guarantee that Directive 96/71/EC on the posting of workers, together with other national and EU labour and social legislation as well as collective agreements, should be applicable to contractual service suppliers and business sellers accessing the EU, today and in the future, through the Mode 4 provisions in GATS;
Amendment 426 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point i
Paragraph 1 – point e – point i
i. to aim at reinforcing financial stability, ensuring adequate protection for consumers, including their data privacy, and guaranteeing fair competition between financial services providers;
Amendment 436 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point e – point ii
ii. to step upcommit parties to TiSA to the implementation and application of international standards for the regulation and supervision of the financial sector, such as those endorsed by the G20, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Financial Stability Board, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors; to bind TiSA parties not signatory to the WTO Understanding on Financial Services to equivalent rules;
Amendment 445 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv
iv. to ensure that this agreement does not limit the EU’s ability to ban certain financial products in line with its regulatory framework or to adopt any measure it deems necessary to regulate financial markets;
Amendment 461 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point f – point i
Paragraph 1 – point f – point i
i. to ensure a high level of ambibalanced regulation inof the transport sector, which is critical to the sustainable development of global value chains; to increase the speed, reliability, security and interoperability of transport services, to the benefit of business customers and individual users and workers;
Amendment 487 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g – point i
Paragraph 1 – point g – point i
i. to fully preasservet that European, national and local authorities’ have the right to regulate to adopt policies in the public interest and that this should not be subject to additional necessity tests beyond those foreseen in GATS article VI; provisions on domestic regulations should not be more restrictive than the general proportionality obligation enshrined in the EU Treaties;
Amendment 496 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point g – point ii
ii. to promote good governance and foster good practices in administrative and lregisulativeory processes, by encouraging the wide take-up of measures that strengthen the independence of decision-makers, and increase the transparency of decisions, and reduce red tape; to stress that consumerand democratic accountability of decisions; to stress that consumer, health and environmental protection and safety and labour rights must be at the centre of regulatory endeavours;
Amendment 518 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g – point v
Paragraph 1 – point g – point v
v. to request and publish a legal opinion prior to Parliament’s vote on the final agreement, with a view to thoroughly assessing the two Annexes on domestic regulation and transparency in light of EU law, EU principles and international jurisprudence, and to assess whether the legal obligations set in these chapters are already respected in the EU, and whether necessity tests limit public authorities' right to regulate;
Amendment 534 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g – point x a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point g – point x a (new)
xa. to reject the inclusion of a Most Favoured Nation Clause (MFN) in TiSA;
Amendment 535 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g – point x b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point g – point x b (new)
xb. to secure full transparency as to the conditions prevailing in TiSA participants' markets in particular with respect to regulation applicable at sub- federal level;
Amendment 546 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point h – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point h – point ii
ii. to endeavour to include a regulatory chapter on government procurement with a view to maximising the participation of European companies in foreign tenders and to safeguard the ability of public authorities in the EU to discriminate on the basis of environmental and social criteria; to deplore the lack of transparency regarding non-European calls for tenders and to denounce the lack of reciprocity in this area, as illustrated by the preferential treatment granted to domestic companies in several countries; to encourage the ratification and implementation of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and its 2011 revision; to call upon the Member States to reinvigorate discussions on the proposed international public procurement instrument;
Amendment 560 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i – point i
Paragraph 1 – point i – point i
i. to ensure the highest level of transparency, dialogue and accountability, and to emulate the document disclosure policy of the WTO, whereby all negotiating documents are made available to the public;
Amendment 567 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point i – point ii
ii. to ensure that the members of Parliament’s Committee on International Trade receive all the negotiating documents related to TiSA as well as Commission internal assessments including briefing documents, minutes and summaries of negotiating rounds;
Amendment 580 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point i – point iv
iv. to welcome theensure serious and continuous engagement of the EU institutions with social partners and a wide range of stakeholders throughout the negotiation process;