Activities of Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO related to 2018/2102(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Annual report on competition policy (debate) ES
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Annual Report on Competition Policy PDF (537 KB) DOC (92 KB)
Amendments (21)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 a (new)
Citation 10 a (new)
– having regard to the relevant report of the Economic and Social Committee,
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomNotes the Commission’s activities and efforts to ensure the effective application of competition rules in the Union; considers it necessary, however, to articulate more effective policies to ensure the wellbeing of the European public that go beyond the scope of competition policy;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Believes that competition policy should act as a catalyst to help promote energy transition across the EU, stimulate economic and social integration in Europe, encourage ecologically sustainable farming activities and limit the ability of large power companies to raise the price of energy supplies;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that even when products or services are supplied for free, consumers may still have to endure unjust behaviour, such as a degradation in quality or extortive practices; calls therefore, for the purposes of the cases under consideration, for the formulation of a 'theory of harm', which should transcend price-centric approaches and account for broader considerations such as the impact on citizens’ privacy; believes that a broader interpretation of competition policy might promote more ecologically sustainable economic and business practices and more cohesive and less unequal societies;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Welcomes the Commission’s initiative to provide a channel for complaints regarding agreements between businesses designed to control prices, prevent access for new competitors or facilitate other illegal practices detrimental to consumers’ interests; welcomes the satisfactory functioning of the new complaints channel initiated in 2017; believes, moreover, that it is extremely useful for the Commission to be able to report in Parliament on the results of the ‘Leniency Programme’;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes the action taken by the Commission to monitor the use of fiscal policy to gain an unfair competitive advantage within the EU; notes that, in this connection, the fine imposed on Apple may serve as an example; calls on EU Member States to abandon unfair competition practices based on unjustified tax incentives;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Considers it essential to adopt more detailed and precise provisions regarding the economic significance of data from users in the digital economy; notes that, as recognised by the industry itself, data are the raw material of the new economy; believes that dataflow should be considered a relevant factor in assessing the potentially monopolistic practices of an undertaking or association of undertakings;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Calls on the Commission to provide, in the shortest possible time, information regarding ongoing investigations into whether certain online sales practices are depriving consumers of freedom of choice across borders and preventing them from purchasing consumer electronics, video games and hotel stays at competitive prices;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Considers it important to ensure the proper functioning of Union collective redress mechanisms designed to secure adequate compensation for consumers affected by anti-competitive practices;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Calls on the Commission to use its powers to limit the impact of the asymmetric distribution of the tax burden between the traditional economy on the one hand and new digitally-based economic practices on the other; notes that this glaring inequality is severely disrupting the normal functioning of the economic system and will do so even more in future, while at the same time making it considerably harder for Member States to raise funds;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 f (new)
Paragraph 5 f (new)
5f. Considers it necessary to guarantee the right to cross-border portability to prevent existing limitations to this right becoming entrenched as legitimate market practices; considers it important also to remove abusive and unjustified restrictions imposed on geographical grounds that provide inconsistent levels of supposed protection for intellectual property rights;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 g (new)
Paragraph 5 g (new)
5g. Believes it important for competition policy to take into account the specificities of broadband deployment in rural areas in order to serve the greater good and reverse the trend towards increasing technological disparities between rural and urban areas regarding access;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the fact that barriers to entry in the digital economy are becoming increasingly insurmountable, as the more that unjust behaviour is perpetuated, the harder it gets to revert to anti-competitive effects; notes that the digital economy is, inter alia, governed by zero-sum rules with the winner taking all, which means that any attempt to perpetuate, condone or trivialise the impact of monopolistic practices or cartels will irrevocably affect the entire economic system; affirms, in this regard, that the Commission should therefore make effective use of interim measures, while ensuring due process and the right of defence of undertakings under investigation;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points to the discrepancies between the rules on state aid in the area of liquidation aid and the resolution regime under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD); points out that in two recent cases, in spite of the Single Resolution Board’s (SRB) conclusions that resolution could not be justified on the grounds of public interest, the Commission approved state aid on the basis that it would mitigate economic disturbance at a regional level, thereby demonstrating two distinct interpretations of public interest; urges the Commission, therefore, to reconsider its interpretation of the relevant state aid rules in a manner consistent with the BRRD and to revise its 2013 Banking Communication accordingly, including the area of liquidation aid; regrets, on the other hand, that aid to the banking sector since the beginning of the financial crisis has been insufficiently scrutinised and that current rules have not been effective in protecting taxpayers or in guaranteeing a level playing field in the banking sector;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Reiterates its request for the Commission to examine whether banking institutions have, since the onset of the crisis, benefited from implicit subsidies and state aid through the provision of liquidity support from central banks; recalls the commitment made by Commissioner Vestager at the structured dialogue with Parliament’s ECON committee in November 2017 to reflect on possible distortions of competition arising from the ECB’s Corporate Sector Purchase Programme and to report back with a qualitative answer; calls on the Commission to present, within six months, a study on this subject for discussion by the European Parliament; notes that such government aid for banks has significantly reduced public funding for universal services such as education and health; points out that it has, as a result, substantially undermined the related public and private economic sectors;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Regards it as essential for the Commission to monitor more closely the use of patents in agriculture; notes that abuse of this practice forces farmers to strive for production targets that limit their market choices, impoverishing crop biodiversity, distorting competition and limiting innovation; notes that the recommended measures will encourage the development of an agro-industrial model fostering transition towards organic and ecologically sustainable farming;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls on the Commission, in view of diminished farm incomes affecting small farmers in particular, to channel its efforts towards ensuring decent earnings for farmers, especially small and medium- sized farmers; believes it important to this end to take action against companies engaged in the marketing and distribution sectors of the agricultural production chain that distort the agricultural market to the detriment of farm incomes and consumer prices;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Believes that, for the sake of food security, the consolidation of local short- circuit economies, the provision of organic and sustainable production incentives and the payment of decent incomes to farmers, competition policy must go beyond considerations of price reduction; notes that closer attention to the role of intermediary companies in price inflation would be of great social benefit; notes that, in the pursuit of these objectives, professional organisations in the sector, as well as cooperative and other non-monopolistic partnership structures are playing an important role that must be encouraged; considers it important to earmark adequate funding for this purpose;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Regards as totally unjustified the unprecedented surge in energy prices in certain countries, which is placing a severe financial strain on families and increasing the number of people affected by energy poverty; notes that this is indicative of electricity pricing mechanisms that are unfavourable to consumers, giving rise to inadmissible social problems with regard to an essential public utility; notes, on the other hand, that threats inherent to climate change and unforeseen changes and fluctuations in energy demand are being brandished by supplier companies as an excuse for unjustified price increases; asks the Commission to examine electricity pricing structures as soon as possible, to protect the interests of consumers and to safeguard power supplies for the entire population; urges it also to exercise its legal prerogatives and penalise companies guilty of such practices;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Notes that competition policy can be very useful in facilitating the energy transition, not only by combating monopolistic pricing practices but also by encouraging and facilitating the incorporation of other individual and collective stakeholders in the power generation and marketing sector; in this connection, ‘prosumers’, together with local communities and municipal governments, may have a very important role to play; points out that steps must be taken to limit the actions of established companies seeking to place obstacles and difficulties in the path of new entrants and stakeholders in the power generation market;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses the importance of endowing competition authorities with sufficient resources to carry out their work; notes that the increased activity in terms of studies, surveillance, controls and sanctions requires appropriate resources; supports, in this connection, the proposed competition strand of the single market programme under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (MFF);