Activities of Eleonora FORENZA related to 2014/2228(INI)
Plenary speeches (3)
Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (A8-0175/2015 - Bernd Lange) IT
Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (A8-0175/2015 - Bernd Lange) (vote) IT
Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (debate) IT
Amendments (52)
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas TTIP is above all about regulation10, about reducing or eliminating non–tariff barriers11, and as such aboutis intrinsically linked to the level of protection of human health and the environment; __________________ 10 See speech by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström of 11 December 2014 .http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/ 2014/ december/tradoc_152942.pdf 11 See 2014 Report on Technical Barriers to Trade by the US Trade Representative, p. 45.
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas EU environmental policy seeks to ensure a high level of protection and also covers EU legislation on food and human, animal and plant health.
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the US Trade Representative consistently denounces EU standards in these areas as trade barriers even though such standards constitute the basis of EU food safety principles;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas all regulations of business operations, trade conditions and setting of product- and production-standards showed must remain in the hands of democratically controlled bodies and processes
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. Whereas the 'precautionary principle' is a fundamental part of risk management in the EU, while US authorities do not officially endorse this concept as a basis for policy making.
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
C c. Whereas substantial differences exist also in the approach to food safety along the food chain. In the EU, food safety is guaranteed through the integrated "farm- to-fork" approach while the US system, on the other hand, mostly verifies the safety of the end product and therefore is more prone to resorting to pathogen reduction treatments.
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
C d. Whereas the aim of Sustainable development provisions in TTIP should be to ensure that trade and environmental policies are mutually supportive, to promote the optimal use of resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development as well as to strengthen environmental cooperation and collaboration.
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
C e. Whereas it is estimated that pharmaceutical costs represent 1.5% of European GDP, therefore any increase in intellectual property protection arising from the TTIP might have a negative impact on healthcare costs
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
C f. Whereas European consumers are informed of the presence of GMOs in foodstuff thanks to mandatory labelling while in the US, the FDA recognises GMOs as "substantially equivalent" to their non-GMO counterparts.
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Recital C g (new)
Recital C g (new)
C g. Whereas several industry sectors representatives have called for the removal trough the regulatory convergence mechanisms of the EU zero tolerance policy for unauthorised GMOs in food and feed.
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Recital C h (new)
Recital C h (new)
C h. Whereas early consultations mechanisms between the EU and the US, including potentially further impact assessment with extended stakeholder consultations earlier in the legislative process, may lead to delays in or even abandonment of regulations, especially in the fields of environment and consumers protection.
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas the European Commission's public consultation on the inclusion of ISDS in TTIP received almost 150,000 responses and reflected widespread opposition to ISDS in TTIP or in general
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers it misleading on the part of the Commission to try to appease public concerns about the TTIP by stating that existing standards will not be lowered, as this disregards the fact that many standards have yet to be set in the implementation of existing (framework) legislation (e.g. REACH) or by the adoption of new laws (e.g. cloning); therefore calls the Commission to secure that the level of EU social and labour standards, consumer and public health protection, care for the environment including regeneration of our natural resources, animal welfare, food safety standards and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, access to information and labelling, culture and medicine, financial market regulation as well as data protection, net neutrality and other digital rights continue to be respected, not "harmonised" down to the lowest common denominator.
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is concerned that the TTIP negotiations have already affected Commission proposals and actions relating, for example, to food safety and climate protection (e.g. pathogen meat treatments; implementation of the fuel quality directive); and that TTIP may results in a deregulation of standards safeguarding and serving the public interest.
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas each year in the United States of America, foodborne diseases caused an estimated 9 million people get sick, 55,000 hospitalization, and 1,000 die by known pathogens, such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157), Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and Campylobacter2, Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157), Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and Campylobacter3 while in Europe registered only 55.453 alimentary caused illnesses, 5118 hospitalizations and 41 casualties.
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. Whereas the US trade representatives repeatedly denounces EU standards in the areas of environmental, food safety and consumer's information, and the existence of the precautionary principle as well as the lack of normalization of the trading situation of biotech commodities between EU and US;
Amendment 144 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is very concerned that tThe objective of regulatory convergence, including in particular the creation of a Regulatory Cooperation Council, willshould be prevented from leading to the lowering of future EU standards in key areas for the protection of human health, food safety and the environment in light of the significant differences as compared with the US;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Calls the Commission to remove regulatory cooperation from the TTIP negotiations as it represent a threat to lower standards in the long and short term, on both sides of the Atlantic, at the EU and member state levels. The Commission proposals on the regulatory cooperation chapter in the TTIP negotiations constrain democratic decision-making by strengthening the influence of private business interest groups over public interest regulation. Furthermore it would give enormous power to unelected officials to halt and weaken regulations and standards even before democratically elected bodies, such as parliaments, would have a say over them, thus undermining the democratic system.
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Considers as highly problematic the Commission call for more "compatibility" between laws on both sides of the Atlantic and a "pro-competitive regulatory environment". Furthermore it is concerned that the Commission proposal also reflects industry's demand to create a Regulatory Cooperation Body to facilitate an early information system of consultations and influence over the development of new laws.
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the secret character of negotiations as they have been conducted in the past has led to deficiencies in terms of democratic control of the negotiation process; whereas the TTIP negotiations have shown the need to substantially revise the negotiation procedures laid down by ART 207 and 218 of the TFEU
Amendment 171 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Agrees with Commissioner Malmström that all areas where the EU and the US have very different rules or approaches should be excluded from the negotiations12 ; __________________ 12See speech by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström of 11 December 2014.
Amendment 173 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls on the Commission to protect the right of each party to establish its own levels of domestic environmental protection and environmental development priorities, and to adopt or modify them accordingly with its environmental laws and policies,
Amendment 177 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Calls the Commission to negotiate provisions that would support the achievement of the goal to reduce Europe's dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050; transition away from conventionally-fuelled cars in cities; reduce carbon emissions from aviation and shipping; and facilitate transport modal shift.
Amendment 180 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Calls the Commission to support in the negotiations the fullest right for each party to assess legislation in its own method. Furthermore calls the commission to defend the EU aquis concerning the precautionary principle that enables rapid response in the face of a possible danger to human, animal or plant health, or to protect the environment.
Amendment 211 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 2
Paragraph 5 – indent 2
– affect the EU’s integrated approach to food safety, including EU legislation on GMOs and novel foods,
Amendment 222 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 a (new)
- the placing on EU markets of foodstuffs containing cloned animal meat or products derived from the progeny of cloned animals;
Amendment 224 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 a (new)
- maintains the organisational autonomy in the area of water supply and sanitation: public services such as water services should remain firmly outside of the scope of the TTIP agreement.
Amendment 227 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 b (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 b (new)
- limit the consumer’s right to correct information, e.g. revoking rules relating to the traceability of ingredients or labelling;
Amendment 229 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 b (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 b (new)
- impair EU developments – in particular under the new EU Clinical Trial Regulation and at the European Medicines Agency - to move towards proactive public access to medicines safety and efficacy data;
Amendment 230 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 c (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 c (new)
- limit the circulation of and access to generic medicines under national health programmes, to the advantage of large pharmaceutical companies;
Amendment 232 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 c (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 c (new)
- limit directly or indirectly the national competence of Member States to tailor their pricing and reimbursement policies to ensure sustainable access to affordable medicines.
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas early consultations mechanisms between the EU and the US, including potentially further impact assessment with extended stakeholder consultations earlier in the legislative process, may lead to delays in or even abandonment of regulations, especially in the fields of environment and consumers protection. Whereas it has still to be further assessed the gender impact of the TTIP, especially in terms of access to labour market, welfare and healthcare;
Amendment 235 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 e (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 e (new)
- authorise animal testing of cosmetics, as currently provided for under US rules;
Amendment 237 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 f (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 f (new)
- weaken the principle of the protection of the diversity and territoriality of products, to the detriment of the PDO and PGI labels which guarantee the quality and recognisability of EU products;
Amendment 241 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls the commission to firmly protect the EU's "farm to fork" approach to food hygiene whereby good hygienic practices (GHP) must be in place all along the production chain to guarantee that food sold to the final consumer is safe. Furthermore the negotiations should not pave the way to delegate food control tasks to private operators. It should also stand firm on the contention that a food system based on third-party safety audits cannot be deemed equivalent to a system based on public independent inspections.
Amendment 245 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Calls the Commission to strengthen the food traceability provision in TTIP: this commitment should also include animal identification systems as animals for food are transported on a global scale.
Amendment 247 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Calls the Commission to avoid that the TBT Chapter in TTIP restricts EU and its Member States options to adopt measures with the aim of reducing consumption of certain products such as tobacco, foods high in fat, salt and sugar and harmful use of alcohol:
Amendment 249 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Calls the commission to make sure that TTIP do not lower the GMOs standards at EU and member states level: in this regards the GMO labelling system should be considered a non-negotiable instrument to ensure consumer's right to choose. Furthermore it urges EU negotiators to preserve the right of the European legislators to introduce further regulations on OGMs products including those derived from animals (meat and dairy) fed with GMOs..
Amendment 250 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5 e. Call on the Commission to stand for the recognition and protection of all PDOs and PGOs, refusing the "common food names" approach in TTIP negotiations and partial lists of protection as accepted in CETA.
Amendment 251 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 f (new)
Paragraph 5 f (new)
5 f. Calls the Commission to ensure that TTIP provisions will continue to allow the EU to ban the use of veterinary drugs for growth promotion and of the import and sale of foods from animals that have been undergoing such treatments.
Amendment 270 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Underlines the importance of removing the ISDS clause for civil society as evidenced by the vast majority of respondents to the Commission's consultation expressing opposition to the mechanism as a threat to democracy and public policy
Amendment 274 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Stresses that the Commission should not dismiss widespread public opposition to the ISDS mechanism
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii – point a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii – point a (new)
(a) to keep in mind that the balance in services is constantly in favour of the EU, and that the option to consider services as an offensive interest with the US will necessarily oblige the EU to grant important concessions in term of opening public services and common goods sectors to open competition, with the very damaging consequences for the well- being of European citizens;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii – point b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii – point b (new)
(b) to recognize that universal access to common goods such as water, education, healthcare is a key component of the European citizenship that needs to be further preserved from any further privatization and liberalizations;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii – point c (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii – point c (new)
(c) to further consider the impact of TTIP on the small and medium size family farm that will face increased competition due also to the intensive agricultural models developed in the US and their lower animal welfare, health social and environmental standards. Furthermore special protection needs to be granted to small meat and dairy producers that will be strongly hit by the increased and distorted competition with US;
Amendment 438 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vii b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vii b (new)
(viib) to take immediate action to prevent fiscal competition, namely through the dumping in the taxation of profits and financial gains and maintenance of offshores and other fiscally privileged zones;
Amendment 512 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xii – point a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xii – point a (new)
(a) to ensure that access to public procurement is limited and regulated when it is used to foster sustainable local production and consumption or fair trade products market access.
Amendment 557 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
(i) tTo ensure that theconsider regulatory cooperation chapter promotes an effective, pro-competitive economic environment through the facilitation of trade and investment while developing and securing high levels of protection of health and safety, consumer, labour and environmental legislation and of the cultural diversity that exists within the EU; negotiators on both sides need to identify and to be very clear about which regulatory measures and standards are fundamental and cannot be compromised, which onas a threat that risks to weaken the prerogatives and accountability of the democratic elected bodies especially on crucial aspects such as security standards, labour policies can be the subject of a common approach, which are the areas where mutual recognition based on a common high standard and a strong system of market surveillance is desirable and which are those where simply an improved exchange of information is possible, based on the experience of one and a half years of ongoing talks;d consumers defence as well as a serious limitation to public debate. Highlights also the risks that trough such mechanism, regulation in the public interest could be stopped before they are even discussed by an elected body.
Amendment 615 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point v
Paragraph 1 – point c – point v
(v) to fully respect the established regulatory systems on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the European Parliament’'s role within the EU’'s decision-making process and its democratic scrutiny over EU regulatory processes when creating the framework for future cooperation while at the same time being vigilant about a balanced involvement of stakeholders withithat any privileged access to decision makers nor preferential consultative role is given theo consultrporations included in the developmentand stakeholders interests within the framework of a regulatory proposal;cooperation
Amendment 629 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point i a (new)
(ia) to secure that the level of EU social and labour standards, consumer and public health protection, care for the environment including regeneration of our natural resources, animal welfare, food safety standards and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, access to information and labelling, culture and medicine, financial market regulation as well as data protection, net neutrality and other digital rights continue to be respected, not "harmonised" down to the lowest common denominator.
Amendment 655 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv a (new)
(iva) to support in the negotiations the fullest right for each party to assess legislation in its own method. Furthermore calls the commission to defend the EU aquis concerning the precautionary principle that enables rapid response in the face of a possible danger to human, animal or plant health, or to protect the environment.
Amendment 802 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xv
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xv
(xv) to ensure that TTIP includes an ambitious Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) chapter that includes strong protection of precisely and clearly defined areas of IPR, including enhanced protection and recognition of European Geographical Indications (GIs) , making sure that standards on the IGs will not be lowered , and reflectsing a fair and efficient level of protection such as laid out in the EU’'s and the US’'s free trade agreement provisions in this area, while continuing to confirm the existing flexibilities in the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), notably in the area of public health research and development in public interest and creativity;;