Activities of Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO related to 2017/2191(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Annual Report on Competition Policy PDF (504 KB) DOC (105 KB)
Amendments (19)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
– having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Report on Competition Policy 2016;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomNotes the Report on Competition Policy 2016 of 31 May 2017 (COM(2017)0285);
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Strongly supports the independence of the Commission in its mission ofesses that the Commission should ensure the democratic accountability of its actions when shaping and enforcing the EU competition rules for the benefit of EU consumers;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of directives linked to theNotes that tackling anti- completion of the single market, particularly in the energy and transport sector, and to enhance the enforcement of EU competition rules in order to avoid uneven application thereof in the Member Statestive practices such as social and tax dumping in the EU is a pre-requisite for a fair single market;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to adopt guidelines to limit the duration of antitrust investigations, in order to avoid uncertainty or excessive burden for businesses and shape a competitive landscape which is not detrimental to consumers, while ensuring that this does not jeopardize the ability of the Commission to scrutinize the cases under investigation; stresses in particular that the adoption of clear time frames should include appropriate safeguards in order to discourage the use of dilatory tactics by the undertakings under investigation;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that the Commission could be more efficient if it organised pre-trial meetings, separately or collectively, with the parties under investigation, the complainants and other interested third parties, including workers' representatives and public authorities, in order to agree on targeted timetables and key issues of the file to be investigated;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Takes note that most of the decisions concerning antitrust issues and State aid are taken at national level, and believes that the Commission should guarantee the global consistency and independence of competition policy measures within the internal market, with the support of the European Competition Network (ECN); notes that in revising the implementation of competition policy, due account should be taken of the importance of the public sector in providing and managing goods and services where there are externalities that the market cannot properly account for;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Believes that the Commission should verify that national competition authorities (NCAs) are sufficiently equipped in terms of financial and human resources to guarantee their independence, and that it should submit an annual report to Parliament regarding this key point; stresses that in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest, staff of NCAs should be forbidden to take up employment in the sectors or undertakings which it has investigated for a "cooling period" of at least two years;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Stresses the need to apply competition policy in a manner that is consistent with the European social acquis, including respect for the rights defined in the European Social Charter and the European Social Pillar and the relevant ILO Conventions;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Reiterates that all market players should pay their fair share of tax; welcomes the Commission’s in-depth investigations into anti-competitive practices such as selective tax advantages and excess profit ruling systems; stresses that the reduction of tax fraud and tax avoidance is fundamental in order to consolidate sound public budgetsn order to reduce inequality, but notes that this also requires decisive action against profit-shifting schemes and practices that do not allow effective taxation of wealth and production where they are really located;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Expresses its concern at the lack of action of competition authorities against the retroactive elimination of support schemes to renewable energy; underlines that this inaction has further distorted competition, since international investors have been able to obtain redress while local investors have not; calls on the Commission to investigate the distorting effects of existing capacity payments and nuclear moratorium payments in electricity markets;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Highlights the need to revise collective redress mechanisms in the EU, in order to ensure that consumers hurt by anticompetitive practices are appropriately compensated;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Underlines that the bailout of Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza was based on the assumption that these were systemic banks in their region, and calls on the Commission to develop this line of thinking in compliance with EU rules and the bail-in principle; regrets that aid to the banking sector since the beginning of the financial crisis has been insufficiently scrutinized and that current rules have not been effective in protecting tax-payers or in guaranteeing a level- playing field in the banking sector;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Believes that the financial crisis has increased concentration in the banking sector and calls on the Commission to carry out a region-by-region study at European level to examine this phenomenon and its effects on competition; highlights that the deepening of the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union is also a key factor in the concentration of financial activity in a few larger players and calls on the Commission to monitor these developments closely;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. EHighlights that the digital and platform economy is increasingly concentrated, and calls on the Commission to take swift action against anti-competitive practices in this field; encourages the Commission, in this regard, to ensure that it has a full complement of high-tech engineers and specialists in cutting-edge technologies available to resolve specific digital economy cases;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Highlights the importance of current investigations in the pharmaceutical sector, given the accumulating evidence of market distortions in this field, including quantity restrictions, manipulated prices and barriers to the availability of generic medicines;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Notes that the Commission should account for the externalities that justify an integrated management of public infrastructure, such as airports or ports; stresses that the forced liberalization of transport services and infrastructures has often led to chaotic results, lowering social conditions of employment and the quality of transport services available to the final consumer;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to open up competition in the transport sector in order to complete the single market, in particular in those Member States where public port and airport networks are managed and monopolised by the central government or where such networks persistently generate public deficitsensure the environmental and economic efficiency of the transport sector in full respect of the right of Member States to regulate transport according to general public policy goals; regrets that social dumping is particularly prevalent in the transport sector;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Calls on the Commission to analyse how lack of competition in certain parts of the food supply chain could be affecting prices and the viability of manycompetition policy should be adapted in order to ensure stable prices and decent incomes for agricultural producers, including the extension of existing derogations in the agricultural sector and the extension of competition tools to act against companies down the agricultural supply chain, such as distributors and supermarkets, that distort farming markets; expresses its concern at the increasing concentration of agricultural input producers, including the planned merger between Bayer and Monsanto;