39 Amendments of Maria ARENA related to 2017/2192(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
- having regard to the European Commission´s study of 15 November 2016 on the Cumulative Economic Impact of future trade agreements on EU agriculture,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. having regard to the cumulative impact of the trade concessions already granted by the EU in the farming sector, both in the multilateral framework and in the bilateral framework, as well as those that could be soon be granted under other free-trade agreements currently under negotiation;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the tariff quotas which may be granted to Australia would apply, after Brexit, to a smaller EU market, something that would necessary have an economic impact, particularly in sectors for which the United Kingdom accounted for a significant share of consumption and/or imports;whereas from now on the EU will have to take careful account of Brexit when deciding what concessions it can offer;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. Whereas following the EU- Australia draft negotiating mandate, investment protection is not included;whereas an ad hoc investment protection mechanism is unnecessary between partners with highly developed judicial systems;whereas no investment protection system was included in the Australia-United States FTA, nor in the Australia-Japan FTA;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas the conclusion of the EU- Australia free trade agreement will deepen the trade and investment relationship and whereas it could not be contemplated if the agreement adversely affected the ability of the parties to introduce, maintain or enhance their social, environmental or labour standards;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
H b. whereas, the Belgian national government has on the 6 September 2017 requested the European Court of Justice to review if ICS is compatible with EU treaties;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)
Recital H c (new)
H c. whereas following the EU- Australia draft negotiating mandate investment-protection is not included;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H d (new)
Recital H d (new)
H d. whereas the European Parliament will be required to decide whether to give its consent to the potential EU-Australia- FTA;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H e (new)
Recital H e (new)
H e. whereas the European Court of Justice opinion on the EU-Singapore agreement of 16 May 2017 clarifies that, except for portfolio investment and investor-to-state-dispute stellment, the agreement is of EU exclusive competence, showing the need to strengthen the democratic accountability of EU trade policy by enhancing the role of the EP in negotiating trade agreements at all stages;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the full potential of the Union’s bilateral and regional cooperation strategies can only be realisbe improved by concluding a high-quality FTA, balanced and fair trade agreement with Australia in a spirit of reciprocity and mutual benefit while under no circumstances undermining the ambition to achieve progress multilaterally or the implementation of already concluded multilateral and bilateral agreements;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that the negotiation of a modern, ambitious, balanced, fair and comprehensive FTA is a pragmatic way of deepening the bilateral partnership and further reinforcing the existing, already mature bilateral trade and investment relationships, while keeping social and environmental concerns high on both partners´ agendas´;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Warns against the danger of a serious imbalance in the agricultural provisions of the agreement, to the detriment of the EU, and against the temptation to use agriculture as a bargaining chip to secure increased access to the Australian market for industrial products and services;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to conclude, as soon as possible, its assessments of the potential impact of such a trade deal, with a view to being able to evaluate thoroughly the possible gains and losses from the enhancement of the EU- Australia trade and investment relationships, for the benefit of citizens and businesses on both sides, including in the outermost regions and the overseas countries and territories, and paying special attention to environmental and social impacts, including the EU labour market and to take into account the impact Brexit might have on the increase of exportations from Australia to the EU;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Council to authorise the Commission to start negotiations for a trade an investment agreement and an investment protection agreement with Australia on the basis of the outcome of the scoping exercises, the conditions set out in this resolution, the impact assessment and with clear targets;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Welcomes the Commission's step to publish the proposed negotiating directive and considers this a positive precedent;urges the Council to follow suit and publish the negotiating directive as soon as it is adopted;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Council to clearly distinguish between an agreement on trade and the liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI),to make as soon as possible a proposal about the future architecture of trade agreements taking into account the ECJ opinion on the FTA-Singapore and if there would be in future a distinction between a trade and investment agreement which only containings issues under the Union´s exclusive EU competence, and a second agreement on investment protecwhich covers subjects whose competences are shared with Member States; stresses that such distinction would have implication,s including on FDI and non-direct investment, which would be subject to an Investment Court System the parliamentary ratification process and that it should not be perceived as a way to circumvent national democratic processes; calls for stronger EP involvement in all ongoing and future FTA negotiations at all stages of the process;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to conduct negotiations as transparently as possible and fully respecting best practice as established in oin full transparency, through constant dialogue with EP, social partners and civil society; calls on the Commission and the Council to request the consent of the Parliament on the negotiating mandate and calls on the Council to inform and involve national parliaments before the approval of ther negotiations; requests thatng mandate; calls on the Council to make the negotiating mandate public;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to conduct negotiations asin full transparently as possible and fully respecting best practice as established in ocy, through constant dialogue with EP, social partners and civil society and calls on the Council to inform and involve national parliaments before the approval of ther negotiations; requests thatng mandate; Calls on the Council to make the negotiating mandate public;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that an FTA must lead to genuine market openness, and trade facilitation on the groundimproved market access, creating decent jobs, gender equality for the benefit of citizens on both sides, sustainable development, upholding EU standards, safeguarding services of general interest, and respecting democratic procedures whilst boosting EU export opportunities;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Emphasises that an ambitious agreement must address, in a meaningful way, high quality sanitary and phyto- sanitary standards and other norms in agricultural and food products, without weakening EU´s high standards, robust and enforceable commitments on labour and environmental standards, the fight against tax avoidance and corruption, investment, trade in goods and services (drawing on recent European Parliament recommendations as regards reservations of policy space and sensitive sectors), e- commerce, public procurement, energy, state-owned enterprises, competition, regulatory issues such as sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, as well as technology research and especially, the need of micro-enterprises and SMEs;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Calls on the Council to recognise explicitly the other Party's obligations towards indigenous peoples in the negotiating directives and to allow for reservations for domestic preference schemes in this regard;the Agreement should reaffirm both Parties' commitment to ILO Convention 169 on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point a
Paragraph 14 – point a
a) Real market access opportunities for both sides to each other’s goods and services market through the elimination of regulatory barriers: nothing in the agreement, however, should prevent either side from regulating to achieve legitimate policy objectives; considering, in this respect, that no EU trade agreement has ever privatised public services, such as water, education, health and social services, nor decreased our high European health, food, consumer, environmental, labour and safety standards, nor constrained public funo address unnecessary barriers, while applying a positive list schedule to both market access and national treatment commitments; to consider that commitments should be taken building ofn the arts and culture, education, and health and social servicesGeneral Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS);
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point a a (new)
Paragraph 14 – point a a (new)
a a) to ensure and explicitly foresee that this agreement does not prevent the parties’ ability to define, regulate, provide and support services in the general interest, that it will by no means require governments to privatise any service nor preclude governments from expanding the range of services they supply to the public, and that it will not prevent governments from providing services in the general interest previously supplied by private service suppliers or from bringing back under public control services that governments have previously chosen to privatise;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point a b (new)
Paragraph 14 – point a b (new)
a b) to ensure that the right and the ability of the parties to adopt and apply their own laws and regulations in the public interest is enshrined throughout the entire text in order to achieve legitimate public policy objectives such as the protection and promotion of public health, social services, public education, safety, the environment, public morals, social or consumer protection, privacy and data protection, and the promotion and protection of cultural diversity;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point a c (new)
Paragraph 14 – point a c (new)
a c) in as far as the Agreement may include a domestic regulation chapter calls on the negotiatiors not to include any necessity tests;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point b
Paragraph 14 – point b
b) The reduction of unjustified non- tariff barriers and the strengthening and extension of regulatory cooperation dialogues with binding disciplines to improve respect for intbut to ensure that any cooperation on regulatory matters remains voluntary, respects the autonomy of regulatory authorities, must be purely based on enhanced information exchange and administrative cooperation with a view to identifying unnecessary barriers and administrative burdens; to recall that regulatory coopernational standards and regulatory harmonisation, in particular through the adoption and implementation of the standards set by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) must aim to benefit governance of the global economy by intensified convergence and cooperation on international standards for example through the adoption and implementation of the standards set by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) while guaranteeing the highest level of consumer (e.g. food safety), environmental (e.g. animal health and welfare, plant health), social and labour protection;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point c
Paragraph 14 – point c
c) Significant concessions on public procurement guaranteeing market access for European companies in strategic sectors and the same degree of openness as that of the EU’s public procurement markets; to consider that simplified procedures and transparency for bidders, including those from other countries, can also be effective tools to combat corruption and foster integrity in public administration while providing value for money to taxpayers, in terms of the quality of delivery, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability; to guarantee that ecological and social criteria, including gender equality criteria, are applied in awarding public procurement markecontracts;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point d
Paragraph 14 – point d
d) A separate chapter taking into account the needs and interests of micro- enterprises and SMEs with regard to market access facilitation issues in order to generate concrete business opportunities;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point d a (new)
Paragraph 14 – point d a (new)
d a) relating to the ECJ-opinion on the FTA-Singapore that trade and sustainable development is an EU-exclusive competence and that sustainable development forms an integral part of the common commercial policy of the EU a robust and ambitious sustainable development chapter with a sanction- based mechanism, covering, among other things, core labour standards, the four ILO priority governance conventions and multilateral environmental agreements, is an indispensable part of any potential trade agreement;considers that the agreement should also include the establishment of a joint civil society forum that monitors and comments on its implementation and how the parties respect their commitments and obligations on human rights, labour standards and environmental protection;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point d b (new)
Paragraph 14 – point d b (new)
d b) to include in the negotiating directives the requirement for the parties to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) via binding standards, including with regard to internationally recognised instruments, and the uptake of sectorial OECD guidelines and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point d c (new)
Paragraph 14 – point d c (new)
d c) to ensure that the parties include a specific chapter on trade and gender equality and women’s empowerment, foreseeing active measures aiming to enhance opportunities for women to benefit from the opportunities provided by the FTA;to provide for measures aimed at, inter alia, a better work-family life balance and access to social and health services;to pursue an enhanced participation of women enterprises (particularly micro-enterprises and SMEs) in public procurement;to support the internationalisation of women enterprises and the participation of women in Mode 4 opportunities;to ensure, inter alia, that the parties commit to collecting disaggregated data allowing for thorough ex ante and ex post analysis on the impact of the FTA on gender equality;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point e
Paragraph 14 – point e
e) Comprehensive provisions on investment taking into account recent policy developments, such as, for example, the CJEU opinion of 16 May 2017if investment protection is included in a separate agreement, the recourse to national and European competent courts should be exhausted first; if a public investment court system (ICS) is created it should have an appeal mechanism, strict rules on conflict of interest, a code of conduct enforceable by the President of the International Court of Justice and sanctions in case of non-compliance, address investors’ obligations, avoid regulatory chill, preserve the right to regulate to achieve legitimate public policy objectives, prevent frivolous litigation and guarantee all democratic procedural guarantees, such as the right to access to justice (with particular attention to micro-enterprises and SMEs), judicial independency, transparency and accountability and the possibility for other actors to use the system if their rights are infringed by investors;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point g
Paragraph 14 – point g
(g) A balanced outcome in the agriculture and fisheries chapters which gives due consideration to the interests of all European producers and consumers, for instance by introducing appropriate quotas in the most sensitive sectothat must pay due account to sensitive agricultural products for which greater market openness would be detrimental, and exclude from negotiations the most sensitive sectors, such as beef and sheepmeat and special sugars; considers that only then can it boost competitiveness and be beneficial to both consumers and producers;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point g a (new)
Paragraph 14 – point g a (new)
g a) the inclusion of a tax good governance clause and binding transparency standards that reaffirm the parties’ commitment to implement international standards in the fight against tax evasion, avoidance and elusion, in particular the relevant OECD recommendations on taxation (such as the initiative on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), and that includes obligations for country-by-country reporting, automatic exchanges of information and the establishment of public registers of beneficial ownership;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point g b (new)
Paragraph 14 – point g b (new)
g b) to increase cooperation in the fight against corruption and therefore include commitments to multilateral Anti- Corruption Conventions, such as the UNCAC and the OECD Anti-bribery Convention;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – point g d (new)
Paragraph 14 – point g d (new)
g d) to incorporate robust provisions on animal welfare issues such as housing, transport and slaughter and to promote continued cooperation and exchanges on animal welfare through the FTA;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Looks forward to the launch of negotiations with Australia and to following them closely and costresses that, following the ECJ opinion on the EU-Singapore FTA, the EP should see its role strengthened at all stages of EU FTA negotiations, from the adoption of the mandate to the final conclusion of the agreement, and calls for necessary arrangements to be made in the inteributing to their successful outcome;nstitutional agreement; in this regard, reminds the Commission of its obligationthe need not only to inform the Parliament immediately andbut to associate Parliament fully at all stages of the negotiations (both before and after the negotiating rounds); is committed to addressexaminge the legislative and regulatory issues that may arise in the context of the negotiations and the future agreement without prejudice to its prerogatives as a co-legislator; reiterates its fundamental responsibility to represent the citizens of the EU, and looks forward to facilitating inclusive and open discussions during the negotiating process;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Recalls that Parliament will be asked to give its consent to the future agreement, as stipulated by the TFEU, and that its positions should therefore be duly taken into account at all stages; Calls on the Commission and the Council to request the consent of the Parliament on the Agreement before its provisional application;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Recalls that the European Parliament will endeavour to monitor the implementation of the future agreement;