27 Amendments of Luke Ming FLANAGAN related to 2016/2100(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular Articles 39, 42 and 101 to 109 thereof,
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. Whereas article 102 of the TFEU indicates clearly, that directly or indirectly imposing unfair trading practices on other sectors of the food chain constitutes a breach of this regulation;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the most recent reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) sought to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain through a series of derogations and exemptions from the provisions of Article 101 TFEU, not withstanding this, the reform failed to address the anti competitive elements of the Common Agricultural Policy inherent in itself where farmers receive vastly differing levels of payments based on historic criteria which are no longer justified;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises that competition policy must attach the same importance to defending the interests of agricultural producers as it does to defending consumers’ interests, ensuring that the conditions for competition are fair so asbelieves that "own brand" labelling leads to less competition in the market place and in the long term acts as a disincentive to fostering investment, employment and innovation in agricultural markets;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that the current crisis situation in farming calls for fresh initiatives to ensure that competition policy takes better account of the specific nature of agriculturea better understanding of agricultural markets, acknowledging that the overarching EU policy of "cheap food" coupled with direct income supports resulting in below cost production where farmers are not remunerated from the market place creates a situation unlike other sectors of the economy, which must be taken into consideration by competition policy;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas Article 102 of the TFEU indicates clearly, that directly or indirectly imposing unfair trading practices on other sectors of the food chain constitutes a breach of this regulation;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Finds it regrettable that the scope of the current derogations is unclear and that national competition authoriare not maximized by the Member States in order to strength the position of the primary producer, further regrets that the Commission is unwilling to take regulatory action to combat the clearly identified and recognized unfair trading practices do not apply them in a uniform wayin the food chain, calls on the Commission to now act on the parliaments call for binding regulatory action in this area;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to broaden its approach in terms of criteria for determining whether an agricultural undertaking, or a number of such undertakings linked by a horizontal agreement, is deemed to be in a ‘dominant position’, taking into consideration the degree of concentbelieves that market share at input, processing and retail level must be capped to allow competition to develop, is also of the opinion that the final beneficial ownership of companies operationg in the sectors downstream must be scrutinized to ensure that there is adequate genuine competition;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for simplification of the rules on farmers’ organising collectively, so as to strengthen their negotiating capacity while safeguarding the principles set out in Article 39 TFEUbelieves that farmers and Member States must fully engage with, and exploit the potential of producer groups so as to strengthen their negotiating capacity while safeguarding the principles set out in Article 39 TFEU; is of the opinion that producer groups must focus on quality and regional specialties to differentiate themselves from their opposition and not to engage in a "race to the bottom" by focusing on cost alone;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that full and satisfactory implementation of the ‘Milk Package’ is essential in order to strengthen the dairy sector; asks the Commission to propose that the ‘Milk Package’ should continue to apply beyond mid-2020, and to examine whether its rules could be extended to other sectors of agriculturelso believes that dairy producers should be encouraged and incentivized to act in a more commercial manner to market movements by creating linkages with the Milk Market Observatory which would enable them the react to price fluctuations by reducing output to match demand;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Believes that the cumulative effect of trade deals such as TTIP, CETA and Mercosur will further undermine the position of the EU primary producer and will encourage additional uncompetitive practices by providing the retail sector with the tool of cheaper imports.
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Whereas the most recent reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) sought to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain through a series of derogations and exemptions from the provisions of Article 101 TFEU, notwithstanding this, the reform failed to address the anti-competitive elements of the Common Agricultural Policy inherent in itself where farmers receive vastly differing levels of payments based on historic criteria which are no longer justified;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5 a (new)
Subheading 5 a (new)
Agriculture and the Agri-food sector
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Emphasizes that Article 42 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) accords a special status to the agricultural sector with regard to the application of competition law;
Amendment 340 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Believes that the current crisis situation in farming calls a better understanding of agricultural markets, acknowledging that the overarching EU policy of "cheap food" coupled with direct income supports resulting in below cost production where farmers are not remunerated from the market place creates a situation unlike other sectors of the economy, which must be taken into consideration by competition policy;
Amendment 342 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Recalls that the most recent reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) sought to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain through a series of derogations and exemptions from the provisions of Article 101 TFEU;
Amendment 344 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Finds it regrettable that the scope of the current derogations are not maximized by the Member States in order to strength the position of the primary producer, further regrets that the Commission is unwilling to take regulatory action to combat the clearly identified and recognized unfair trading practices in the food chain, calls on the Commission to now act on the parliaments call for binding regulatory action in this area;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Believes that the current crisis situation in farming worsens the already weak position of farmers in the food supply chain and calls for fresh initiatives to ensure that competition policy takes better account of the specific nature of agriculture;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Finds it regrettable that, despite the publication of guidelines on the application of the specific rules set out in Articles 169, 170 and 171 of the Single CMO regulation1b , the scope of the current derogations remains unclear, difficult to implement and unevenly applied by national competition authorities; __________________ 1bRegulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007.
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Believes that market share at input, processing and retail level must be capped to allow competition to develop, is also of the opinion that the final beneficial ownership of companies operating in the sector must be scrutinized to ensure that there is adequate genuine competition;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls on the Commission to broaden its approach in terms of criteria for determining whether an agricultural undertaking, or a number of such undertakings linked by a horizontal agreement, is deemed to be in a 'dominant position', taking into consideration the degree of concentration and the constraints resulting from bargaining power from upstream and downstream sectors;
Amendment 351 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 f (new)
Paragraph 20 f (new)
20f. Believes that the cumulative effect of trade deals such as TTIP, CETA and Mercosur will further undermine the position of the EU primary producer and will encourage additional uncompetitive practices by providing the retail sector with the tool of cheaper imports;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 f (new)
Paragraph 20 f (new)
20f. Considers that the collective activities of producer organisations and their associations, such as production planning and sales negotiation, are necessary for achieving the aims of the CAP and that they should benefit from a presumption of compatibility with Articles 39 and 101 TFEU;
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 g (new)
Paragraph 20 g (new)
20g. Believes that full and satisfactory implementation of the 'Milk Package'1a is essential in order to strengthen the dairy sector and asks the Commission to propose that the 'Milk Package' should continue to apply beyond mid-2020 and to examine whether its rules could be extended to other sectors of agriculture; __________________ 1aRegulation (EU) No261/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards contractual relations in the milk and milk products sector.
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 h (new)
Paragraph 20 h (new)
20h. Calls on the Commission and the national competition authorities to address the concerns raised by the cumulative impact – particularly at the upper end of the food supply chain – of, on the one hand, national-level concentration in the retail sector and, on the other, the development of European- level alliances of major distributors;
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 i (new)
Paragraph 20 i (new)
20i. Takes note of the conclusions of the study "Economic impact of modern retail on choice and innovation in the EU food sector" of the Directorate General Competition, including the existence of a negative relationship that may exists between innovation and penetration of products under private labels on the food market; calls on the Commission to submit to Parliament the extent of the on- going discussions to determine whether this negative relationship does reduce innovation and variety of products available to consumers and what would be their long-term consequences for the supply chain and on the situation of farmers;