Activities of Gunnar BECK related to 2020/2075(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the review of the macroeconomic legislative framework for a better impact on Europe’s real economy and improved transparency of decision-making and democratic accountability
Amendments (21)
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomesTakes note of the Commission communication of 3 March 2021 entitled ‘One year since the outbreak of COVID- 19: fiscal policy response’ and takes note ofwelcomes the proposed conditions for deactivating the general escape clause (GEC); highlightscalls on the Commission to speed up thate deactivation of the GEC should be conditional upon the health, social and economic situation across Member States in order to ensure that fiscal support is provided for as long as neededas vaccination progresses; highlights that sound budgetary policies themselves make Member States less vulnerable to foreign speculation and would therefore speed up, rather than slow down recovery;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for a continuedswift abolishment of the expansionary fiscal stance for as long as needed and for it to be shifted to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and a green, digital and inclusive transformation while ensuring fiscal sustainabilityand a return to normalizing interest rates and a gradual phase-out of the asset purchasing programmes of the ECB; calls on Member States to open up their economies, and use the extra tax revenue this generates to drastically cut sovereign debt levels;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. CRecalls on the Member States to embed the high-quality fiscal support in credible medium-term frameworks, bearing in mind that emergency measures are temporary, limited and targetedthat emergency measures are temporary, limited and targeted; observes that the PEPP does not meet these criteria; calls therefore on the ECB to gradually phase out its asset purchasing programmes; notes that an expansionary fiscal stance to serve the objectives of carbon-neutrality by 2050 does not meet these criteria either; calls on the Member States to monitor fiscal risks, namelyincluding contingent liabilities, as appropriate;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the policy response of governments aimed at avoiding a sharp increase in corporate insolvencies and unemployment; warns that an abrupt and uncoordinated withdrawal of support measures could lead to financial distrescalls on the Member States to open up the economies, as to allow undertakings again to generate income, pay their employees and their creditors;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses the importance of complementarity between sound monetary and prudent fiscal policies to deliver the required support post-COVID-19, which should be geared at opening up the economy and recapitalisation; considers that the low interest rate environment has detrimental implications for fiscal policy; warns against a premature tightening of monetary and fiscal policycalls on the ECB to normalise interest rates as soon as possible;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that structural factors are likely to keep rates low in the lWarns that the current low interest rates, favourable TLTRO III loans and favourable risk-weighting of government bonds exacerbate the doom- loop of the bank-sovereign nexus, and will force the euro area into perpetual stagflation; calls therefore ong term; considers that macroeconomic policies should address the factors undehe ECB to normalise interest rates as soon as possible, as to frontload the fall-out of over indebted banks as early ing secular stagnation time as possible, so that the real recovery of the European economy can start as soon as possible;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls for an appropriate fiscal and monetary policy mix that work together towards achieving the EU’s objectives; suggests national central banks to repatriate their foreign gold reserves and to stock up on precious metals;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that debt service costs are expected to remain low for the foreseeable future and primary deficits are likely to be offset by favourable interest-growth differentials; further considers that as long as the differentials are negative it is possible to sustain and progressively reduce high debt levelswarns that this situation creates favourable conditions for already heavily indebted Member States to take on even more debt;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recalls the importance of growth- enhancing policies and public investment aimed at increasing gprowth potential and achievductivity and fostering an equity culture ing the EU’s objectivesreal economy;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to relaunch the debate on the reform of the economic governance of the Union with a view to coming forward with a legislative proposal by the end of 2021; calls for a rethink of EU fiscal rules, also in view of the legacies of the pandemic, and supports the EFB’s conclusion that the fiscal framework has to be adaptednd to promote an equity culture across the EU as a substitute for public and private overreliance on debt-financing;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls for the renewed fiscal framework to promote sustainability and cyclical stabilisation and to improve the quality of public expenditure through sustainable investments and reforms; calls for well-defined, transparent, simple, flexible, universal and enforceable rules and corrective mechanisms embedded in a credible and democratic framework that take into account the specificities of Member States and promote upward economic and social convergenceallows Member States to develop in their own pace according to their own goals and along their own strategies;
Amendment 283 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Proposes, in line with the EFB, ‘ one general escape clause, triggered based on independent economic judgement’ to abandon the general escape clause in the context of the new fiscal framework;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Shares the EFB’s opinionDisagrees with the EFB that sustainable growth-enhancing public investments should be exempt from the expenditure rule, sin particular those investments that are aligned with the EU’s long-term objectives of the NGEUce this will open the door to greenwashing public expenditure in order to avoid the rules of the fiscal framework;
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Stresses that governments’ revenues aremoderation in expenditure is essential to guarantee the sustainability of public finances; calls on the Member States to take action to tackle government support to undertakings and organizations engaging in tax fraud, tax avoidance, and tax evasion, as well as money laundering, including trusts, foundations and other non-profit organizations;
Amendment 325 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Agrees with the opinion of the EFB and others21Does not believe that a deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) would be helped by a central fiscal capacity, which could help cushion idiosyncratic shocks, whether common or country-specific, in a timely manner; _________________ 21 International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.since it would both socialise the cost of bad governance in one Member State to the other Member States, as well as incentivise badly managed Member States to engage in even riskier fiscal policy, since the costs will be borne by other Member States;
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. WelcomDeplores the creation of the NGEU, which is illegally financed through debt issuance guaranteed by the EU budget; underlinesstresses that there is no credible evidence suggesting that EU-issuance debt22 will provide a new supply of European high- quality assets, which is a step towards a permanent EU safe asset; recalls that the AAA-rating of EU-issued debt is still to pass the test of time; _________________ 22 NGEU & SURE bonds.
Amendment 428 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
Amendment 440 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
Amendment 460 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Recalls its call for the ESM to be integrated into EU law under the Community methodthat the ESM is an international organization based on an intergovernmental treaty;