23 Amendments of Ernest URTASUN related to 2018/2033(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
– having regard to the Commission communication of 6 December 2017 entitled 'Further steps towards completing Europe's Economic and Monetary Union: a roadmap' (COM(2017) 821)
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, according to the Commission’s forecasts, the GDP growth rate for the euro area was 2.4 % in 2017 and will dip slightly to 2.3 % in 2018 and to 2 % in 2019; whereas economic growth is still fragile and is expected to slow down in the face of many challenges such as higher oil prices; whereas the economic recovery is uneven across the EU; whereas further policy action will nonetheless be required to address unresolved legacies of the global economic crisis; whereas some Member States record high current account surpluses and European macro-economic imbalances are still large;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas in 2017 the youth unemployment rate in the euro area was 18.8 %, and was particularly high in Greece (43.6 %), Spain (38.7 %) and Italy (34.8 %); whereas in the same year long- term unemployment rate was 4.4% in the euro area and particularly high in Greece (15.6%), Spain (7.7%) and Italy (6.5%);
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas, according to Eurostat, inequality of income distribution in the euro area has increased since the beginning of the financial crisis;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that sustainable growth- orientated fiscal policies are needed at the European level, alongside an appropriate monetary policy, in order to strengthen the European economy;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. SupportsPoints out that the current flexibility in the implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact as proposed by the Commission in 2015; has not provided for a sufficient and appropriate counter- cyclical framework; consequently considers that much more flexibility is required to boost investment and growth in the EU; calls, therefore, for a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact and the introduction of an aggregate euro area fiscal stance;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Regrets the change of position of the Commission with regard to the fiscal stance in the euro area as the 2017 communication only calls for a neutral fiscal stance when the 2016 one urged for a positive fiscal stance, which was a welcome approach;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Takes the view that the development of new budgetary tools aimed at stabilisation and convergence in the euro area would be extremely important for the economic governance of the Eurozone in order to avoid, as far as possible, the re- emergence of events already experienced during the years of the financial crisis; points out that any kind of macroeconomic conditionality must be avoided in the development of those tools; calls for greater transparency and democratic accountability for all the new budgetary tools;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls the Commission’s commitment to integrate the implementation of the SDGs within the European Semester; regrets the fact that this dimension is missing from the 2018 country-specific recommendations; underlines that the environmental and social goals and commitments (including the Pillar of Social Rights) must be on an equal footing and have the same importance as EU economic goals; calls for binding social and environmental targets for Member States in the European Semester and the establishment of EU minimal social standards;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recalls the importance of efficient regulation of the banking and financial sectors to forestall any new crises; recalls the need for risk-reduction measures in the financial sector to go hand in hand with risk-sharing measures such as EDIS;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Points out that the future of the euro area is currently at stake if the ambitious reforms needed for the Economic and Monetary Union are not fulfilled; calls for a democratisation of the economic governance institutions and processes with full scrutiny and enlarged powers to the European Parliament; calls for a budget for the euro area which should be around €100 billion; calls for a reform to enable the ECB to act as the lender of last resort for Member States in exceptional circumstances;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls that the fight against aggressive tax planning strategiestax evasion and tax avoidance is essential to ensure the fair treatment of taxpayers, safeguard public finances, preserve social cohesion and fight inequalities;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the Commission recommendation to review the tax systems of a number of Member States which arfact that the Commission introduced an evaluation of aggressive tax measures in the country reports; regrets that these evaluations show how the tax systems of Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Luxemburg, Malta and the Netherlands can be exploited by some multinationals engaged in aggressive tax planning; regrets the lack of specific recommendations (only recitals) in the country reports of these Member States; notes with concern that money laundering was highlighted as a problem in Hungary, Latvia and Malta, but only the latter got a specific recommendation on the further enforcement of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive; insists on the need to implement an ambitious pCBCR (public country-by- country reporting) and CCCTB (common consolidated corporate tax base) reforms for adoption at the latest in 2019;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recalls the need to implement the recommendations of the TAXE and TAX2 special committees and the Panama Papers committee of inquiry;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Encourages stronger coordination and harmonisation of taxationEU and national tax policies with the objective of reducing the differences among Member States over a ten-yearshort-term period, thus making any possible company relocation unattractive; warns in this regard about the risks presented by the Company Law Package including the possible abuses by large companies of the draft merger and acquisition proposals recently presented by the Commission;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the Council recommendation and the Commission’s efforts to encourage Members States with large current account surpluses to promote faster wage growth, strengthen investment and thus foster economic expansion; highlights the fact that real wage growth has, in recent times, lagged behind productivity growth, while improvements have occurred in the labour market; stresses, against this background, that there could be room for wage increases in certain sectors and areas to ensure good standards of living, taking into account the need to tackle inequalities and boost growth; highlights that the wage setting mechanisms should also able to promoting quality job creation, real income increases and preserving the purchasing power of the low wages, also to fight the issue of working poor; calls on the Commission and Member States to promote decent wages and preserve collective bargaining; regrets that the application of some of the country specific recommendations is undermining the collective bargaining in some Member States;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Commission to promote voluntary labour mobility as a contribution to tackle the unemployment problem in the crisis-ridden countries, including measures like for example improved recognition of professional qualifications and of contributions to social security systems as well as its benefits;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Recalls the need for stronger surveillance of the employment and social situation in Europe and appropriate and constant follow-up at every step of the European Semester in order to boost quality job creation and thus achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; Calls on the Commission and Member States to reorient the EU budget and cohesion policies so as to fully exploit its potential to reduce inequality and to finance a real sustainable economy that allows us to live well within the earth's biophysical boundaries, creating decent and green jobs and aiding those most deprived out of poverty;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Stresses that support for the transition towards a low-carbon and circular economy will create new jobs in services and in the development of new and more sustainable products and markets; stresses that investments to foster such a transition should be significantly increased at both national and EU levels; regrets that the Commission fails to address in the country specific recommendations the consistency of the Member States' energy policies with the commitments of Paris climate agreement;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Calls for further stabilization of the euro area by increasing its capacity to absorb large-scale economic shocks and respective consequences for the labour market through the introduction of a European Unemployment Insurance Scheme, combining a self-insurance mechanism for national unemployment insurance systems with a European re- insurance as a solidarity mechanism for extreme shocks; calls on the Commission to develop a roadmap towards the establishment of these automatic stabilisers for the EU to be better equipped against asymmetric shocks;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 c (new)
Paragraph 19 c (new)
19c. Regrets that there is no focus in the country specific recommendations to ensure decent living standards in the public pensions schemes in Member States;
Amendment 325 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Recalls that investments in areas such as infrastructures, education, training, health, research, digital innovation and the circular economy can increase both productivity and employment while attention needs to be paid to creating quality employment and safe working conditions; welcomes the recognition by the Commission of the need for Member States to invest in affordable, accessible and quality services, such as childcare, education and training, healthcare and housing;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)