Activities of Jytte GUTELAND related to 2014/2150(INI)
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (18)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomNotes the Commission’s commitment to a simple, clear and predictable regulatory framework expressed in the REFIT programme; calls on the Commission not to lower its level of ambition with regard to key public policy objectives including environmental protection, food safety and consumer rights, safety at work, gender equality and labour rights;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. WelcomNotes the first edition of the annual REFIT scoreboard that allows for the assessment of progress made in all policy areas and of each initiative identified by the Commission, including actions taken by the European Parliament and the Council;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Agrees in principle with the aim of cutting red tape and removing unnecessary regulatory burdens; expresses, however, its concern about potential deregulation, in particular in the fields of and underlines that the REFIT programme should not be used to undermine the environment, food safety and, health and consumer rights, under the guise of ‘cutting red tape’; underlines in this regard that the quality of legislation is the appropriate benchmark for evaluation, as opposed to the number of legislative acts; reminds of Member States’ regulatory independence in cases where EU law only provides for minimum standards;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomNotes the decision of Commission President Juncker to entrust the First Vice- President of the Commission with the portfolio of better regulation, which underlines the high political importance of this topic; stresses however that cutting red tape must not lead to deregulation, in particular as regards legislation on employment and social affairs, health and safety at work, environmental and consumer protection;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that when evaluations and fitness checks of environmental, food safety and health legislation are carried out, environmental and health considerations must be given the same weight as economic considerations; points out that long-term benefits of regulatory action are often more difficult to quantify in monetary terms (for example, reducing health impairments or maintaining eco- systems), whereas the emphasis on quantification introduces a structural bias in favour of more easily quantifiable aspects such as costs to economic operators as compared to social and environmental benefits;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that the Commission should focus more on the quality of legislation rather than on the number of legislative acand on better enforcement of existing legislation and not on the number of legislative acts ; opposes the introduction of a net target for reducing regulatory costs, as this ignores the aim pursued by regulation and its corresponding benefits;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes with astonishment the Commission’s announcement that it intends to withdraw the proposal on the revision of waste legislation and to modify the proposal on the reduction of national emissions; deplores the Commission’s announcement to withdraw its proposal on a reviewed energy taxation directive;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. considers that the legitimacy of the REFIT programme hinges on separating those issues which pertain to regulatory fitness and efficiency, from the political aim of the regulation and the inherent trade-offs between stakeholders, which is the responsibility of the lawmakers; underlines, with regard to the REFIT actions foreseen in the Commission Work Programme of 2015 Annex 3 in the fields of Climate Action and Energy, Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Health and Food Safety, and Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, the importance of limiting the scope of those actions to simplification and that public policy objectives should not be undermined.
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. UStresses the importance of social dialogue and the respect of the autonomy of the social partners; underlines that the social partners may, in accordance with Article 155 TFEU, conclude agreements that can be implemented uniformly; calls onlead to EU legislation at the joint request of the signatory parties; expects the Commission to respect the autonomy of the parties and their negotiated agreements, and to take their concerns seriously, and stresses that the REFITBetter Regulation agenda should not be a pretext for disregarding agreements reached between the social partners;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Considers it inappropriate to introduce blanket exemptions from legislation for SMEs; takes the view that proposals which permit the option of lighter regimes and exemptions should be assessed on a case-by-case basis;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to regularly to revise the impact assessment guidelines in order to improve this process; believes that the Commission should assess the economic, social and environmental consequences, and better evaluate the impact of its policy on the fundamental rights of citizens in order to fully grasp its effects, keeping in mind that the cost-benefit analysis is only one of many criteria; underlines that when carrying out impact assessments, fundamental and social rights must be given more weight;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Takes note of the conversion of the Commission’s Impact Assessment Board (IAB) into a ‘Regulatory Scrutiny Board’ and expects that the inclusion of independent experts will have an advantageous effect on the impact assessment process within the Commission; stresses that this board must be transparent and must not lead to a democratic deficit through transferring decision making powers from the EU's legislative authority to civil servants; insists that this board should play a consultative role only by giving opinions which are not binding; insists that impact assessments should be based on estimating what the additional costs would be for the Member States if there were no solution at European level;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the Commission's clear commitment to further improving the SME test, particularly in view ofNotes the extremely large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the cornerstone of economic activity and employment; supports consideration of adapted agreements and more flexible SME impact assessment rules, provided that it can be shown that they do not undermine the effectiveness of legal provisions and that exemptions or more flexible provisions do not encourage fragmentation of the internal market or hamper access to it, employment and social conditions of workers or consumer and environment protection;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls ononsiders that the Commission not to abandon itsshould have ambitious targets of reducing the administrative burden onfor SMEs and thereby helping to establish a basis for, provided that such a reduction lead to the creation of quality jobs and urges that measures be taken to ensure that objectives concerning the public interest, including user-friendly, ecological, social, health and safety and gender-equality standards are not compromised; stresses that reducing the administrative burden must not lead to an increase in precarious employment contracts, and that workers in SME's and micro enterprises must enjoy the same treatment and high standard of protection as workers in larger companies; underlines the need to not only assess financial factors and short-term effects but also the long-term value of legislation, such as the reduction of adverse health effects or the preservation of ecosystems, or the growth benefits of the inclusion of women in the labour market and high health and safety standards at work;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. NotUnderlines that evaluation of new rules regarding their impact on SMEs must be in no way be detrimental to the rights of their employees;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes that evaluation of new rules regarding their impact on SMEs must be in no way detrimental to the rights of their employeeworker's rights;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Welcomes the fact that the Commission is making ex-post analysis an integral part of better regulation; stresses that, in the interests of legal certainty for citizens and businesses, such analyses should be carried out within a sufficient time-frame, preferably several years after the deadline for transposition into national law; stresses however that the use of sunset clauses in EU legislation should not be pursued, as it leads to legislative discontinuity and legal uncertainty;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Acknowledges that, in most cases, it is the prerogative of the Member States to decide whether to adopt higher social and environmental standards at national level than those agreed upon at EU level, and welcomes any decision to do so; calls, however, on the competent national authorities to be aware of the possible consequence of the so-called practice of ‘gold plating', by which unnecessary bureaucratic burdens are added to EU legislation, since this may lead to a misconception of the legislative activity of the EU, which in turn might foster EU scepticism; recommenany reference to gold-plating is therefore misleading and should not hinder Member States to adopt higher protection standards, for the sake of transparency and user-friendliness, that any additional innovations introduced at national level be clearly identified as suchworkers, consumers and the environment;