Activities of Gabriele PREUSS related to 2017/2273(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on monitoring the application of EU law 2016
Amendments (25)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the right to petition the European Parliament is a cornerstone of European citizenship, as enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, ranking second in importance to citizens according to recent surveys; underlines the importance of petitions as a means for citizens to express their concerns about instances of misapplication or violation of EU law and on potential lacunae, while at the same time highlighting these deficiencies to the Commission in recognition of its role as guardian of the Treaties; calls on the Commission to improve in this respect its handling of petitions addressed by providing timely and in-depth answers ;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the right to petition the European Parliament is a cornerstone of European citizenship, as enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, ranking second in importance to citizens according to recent surveys; underlines the importance of petitions as a means for citizens to feel involved in the activities of the Union and to express their concerns about instances of misapplication or violation of EU law and on potential lacunae, while at the same time highlighting these deficiencies to the Commission in recognition of its role as guardian of the Treaties;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Notes the increase in EU infringement procedures for 2016 which show that the timely and correct implementation of EU legislation remains a challenge;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes that petitioners very frequently refer to violations of EU law, in the year 2016 many petitions were registered in the fields of internal market, justice, fundamental rights and environment;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Reiterates its call on the Commission to involve petitioners in the EU pilot procedures initiated in relation to their petitions, inter alia to facilitate dialogue between the petitioner and the national authorities concerned;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Notes that many petitions received in 2016 relate to precarious work, such as the use of zero hour contracts; Calls on the Commission to check the compatibility of these contracts with EU employment legislation, including the part time workers directive;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Reiterates its call on the Commission to include in its annual report the rate of implementation also of EU regulations in same way as for directives;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls that the European Union is founded on the rule of law and that the implementation and the enforcement of the EU law are at the heart of this principle and therefore calls on the EU institutions and Member States to take all necessary actions to ensure a correct and timely transposition of directives and a full respect of EU law ; invites the Commission to propose a 0% deficit in transposition as a new desirable target for the Internal Market Scoreboard ;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the increased transparency of, and the provision of more statistical information in, the Commission report for 2016, as compared to previous reports; regrets the fact, however, that it provides no precise information on the number of petitions that have led to the initiation of EU Pilot or infringement procedures and asks the Commission to provide specific information about this; notes with regret that Parliament is not involved in these procedures; reiterates its call on the Commission to share with Parliament information on all EU Pilots opened and infringement procedures initiated in order to improvmote transparency, and reduce the time frame for dispute settlement through the Committee on Petitions, build citizens’ trust in the EU project and, ultimately, enhance the legitimacy of the EU Pilot procedure; acknowledges the Court of Justice’s ruling on cases C-39/05 P and C- 52/05 P of May 2017, according to which documents within the EU Pilot procedure should not be disclosed publicly if there is a risk that such disclosure would affect the nature of the infringement procedure, alter its progress or undermine the objectives of that procedure;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Regrets there is no publicly available information about how the 3783 complaints submitted to the Commission in 2016 were treated and calls for a more transparent implementation of the enforcement policy;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. WelcomNotes the fall in the number of new EU Pilot files opened in 2016 (790 compared with 881 in 2014); notes, however, that the resolution rate fell slightly compared with 2015 (from 75 % to 72 %); notes the new approach of the Commission defined in its Communication1a to use EU Pilot only when it is seen as useful in a given case; asks in this respect the Commission to report on its priority-setting regarding its enforcement policy announced in the same Communication where it states that it will focus its enforcement action where it can make a real difference, and on policy priorities pursuing cases which reveal systemic weakness in a Member States legal system ; _________________ 1a Communication from the Commission "EU law : Better results through better application" (2017/C 18/02)
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Asks the Commission to report on its priority-setting regarding its enforcement policy announced in the Communication ‘EU Law: Better results through better application’ where it states that it will focus its enforcement action where it can make a real difference, and on policy priorities pursuing cases which reveal systemic weakness in a Member State’s legal system;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes the increasing number of complaints addressed to the Commission (3 783) and the launch of 986 new infringements in 2016 as well as the 1 657 open infringement procedures ; regrets that the report does not provide information about the length of the infringement procedures between the different stages, Member States and policy fields ; assumes, based on the information made available on the Commissions dedicated website that the infringement procedures are too lengthy although many of them are closed before being referred to the CJEU ; invites therefore the Commission to translate into concrete actions its constant declarations as regard EU law enforcement as being its utmost priorities ; in this regards reminds the commitment of the Juncker Commission to achieve a better application of EU law ; deplores the current worrying trends in Member States transposition performances , the growing number of situations where EU law is incorrectly or not applied and expresses its greatest concern as regards the respect of the CJEU's rulings ;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Commission to implement an equally balanced policy where the accompaniment of Member States is reinforced in order to ease the implementation and the respect of EU law as well as a more severe infringement policy is conducted when these obligations of the Treaties are not respected ;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4d. Notes the unsatisfying level of application of EU law among Member States as illustrated by the high number of complaints sent to the Commission and the important flow of petitions addressed to the European Parliament; welcomes the intention of the Commission as expressed in its communication of December 2016 to increase its use of preventive tools such as package meetings, implementation guidelines, experts groups, specialised networks including the SOLVIT network and to support capacity building in Member States to enforce EU law; calls on the Commission to use such tools in full respect of the principle of good and effective administration as provided by Art. 298 TFEU and Art. 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU; invites the Commission to use the provisions of Art. 197 TFEU for implementing this renewed enforcement policy in full partnership with Member States and the European institutions;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4e. Notes that 95 infringement cases are still open whereas the CJEU has ruled on the failure to comply of the Member States and only 3 of these cases have led the Commission to seize the Court on the basis of Art. 260; considers that it is of the utmost importance to ensure full and timely execution of Courts decisions and when necessary to make full use of the provisions of Art. 279 TFEU to prevent any undermining of EU law and Court's authority ; calls on the Commission to tackle this situation and to report regularly on the progress made to the European Parliament ;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
4f. Calls on the Commission to increase the transparency of its enforcement policy in full application of effective and good administration principle ; invites the Commission to systematically communicate its decisions as regards the infringement procedures and its different steps taken by the College of Commissioners and to publish the agenda and the main outcomes of package meetings ;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Notes the persistent and worsening situation of overdue transposition of directives with 847 new infringement cases open in 2016 for late transposition, which represents an annual increase of more than 60% and led to 868 open late transposition cases at the end of 2016; strongly regrets the insignificant number of cases referred by the Commission to the Court on the basis of Art. 260.3 whereas it is commonly agreed that financial penalties have decisive impacts on the promptness of Member States to comply with EU law ; requests for the sake of the EU a full and rigorous application of the procedure laid down by Art. 260.3 for non-communication cases respecting the core intention of the European constituent powers to ensure a timely and effective redress mechanism; invites the Commission to make full use of available monitoring and preventive tools such as Commission Transposition and Implementation Plans (TIPs), conformity checking studies, explanatory documents and correlation tables ; invites the Commission and the Council to fully implement the 2016 interinstitutional agreement on better law making1a and the 2011 Joint Political Declaration1b; _________________ 1a OJ L 123 of 12.5.2016 1b OJ 2011/C 369/02
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Notes the unsatisfying level of application of EU law among Member States as illustrated by the high number of complaints sent to the Commission and the important flow of petitions addressed to the European Parliament; welcomes the intention of the Commission as expressed in its communication of December 2016 to increase its use of preventive tools such as package meetings, implementation guidelines, experts groups, specialised networks including the SOLVIT network and to support capacity building in Member States to enforce EU law ;call on the Commission to use the provisions of Art. 197 TFEU for implementing this renewed enforcement policy in full partnership with Member States and the European institutions ; calls on the Commission to improve its handling of petitions addressed by providing timely and in- depth answers ;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Notes that 95 infringement cases are still open whereas the CJEU has ruled on the failure to comply of the Member States and only 3 of these cases have led the Commission to seize the Court on the basis of Art. 260; considers that it is of the utmost importance to ensure full and timely execution of Courts decisions and when necessary to make full use of the provisions of Art. 279 TFEU to prevent any undermining of EU law and Court's authority ; calls on the Commission to tackle this situation and to report on the progress made to the European Parliament regularly ;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that, according to Standard Eurobarometer 86, free movement of EU citizens, who can live, work, study and do business anywhere in the EU, is the most positive result of the EU, and a majority of EU citizens favours a common EU policy in areas such as defence, migration and terrorism; recalls that, in order for such policies to be successful, it is paramount that they are implemented in a timely and uniform manner in all Member States; notes with concern that certain Member States are disregarding their obligations with regard to asylum and migration, in particular where relocation of asylum seekers and immigrants is concerned; underlines that the lack of solidarity between some Member states with regard to asylum and migration should be addressed so that all Member States meet their obligations;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the proactive work of the Commission on the application of union law under the Better Regulation Package, and the support offered to Member States through implementation plans for new directives; points out, however, that Member States should live up to their responsibility to enforce the rules they have jointly adopted and avoid the practice of gold plating when implementing EU law to avoid citizens’ confusion on the distinction between EU and national law and citizens’ impression that the EU over legislates.
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls on the Commission to increase the transparency of its enforcement policy in full application of effective and good administration principle ; invites the Commission to systematically communicate its decisions as regard the infringement procedures and its different steps taken by the College of Commissioners and to publish the agenda and the main outcomes of package meetings ; reiterate its call on the Commission to involve petitioners in the EU pilot procedures initiated in relation to their petitions, inter alia to facilitate dialogue between the petitioner and the national authorities concerned ;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the implementation of measures adopted in the area of asylum and migration, so as to ensure that they comply with the principles enshrined in the CFREU, and to launch the necessary infringement proceedings where relevant ; underlines that the lack of solidarity between some Member states with regard to asylum and migration should be addressed so that all Member States meet their obligations ;
Amendment 89 #
16a. Calls on the Commission to check the compatibility of the zero hour contracts with EU employment legislation, including the part time workers directive as many petitions have been received in 2016 relate to precarious work ;