18 Amendments of Martin SCHIRDEWAN related to 2022/2060(INI)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas competition policy should aim to support the European Green Deal, high quality jobs and the fight against the cost of living crisis;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that EU competition policy protects market structures against should dissolve concentrations and accumulations of market power, just as it advances and promote workers' welfare, consumers' welfare and sustainability;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to safeguard the integrity of the internal market and is deeply concerned about the risk of increasing fragmentation within the internal market due to excessive use of subsidies in responfor an active approach to industrial policy by Member States and the Union underpinned by large-scale public investment to fight social and regional inequality, decarbonise industry and bolster autonomy in key economic se cto the US Inflation Reduction Act; understands the need for additional public investments; considersrs, while contributing globally to even and sustainable economic development; calls for a coordinated flexibilisation of State aid rules and the introduction of a dedicated permanent, if necessary debt-financed, European investment funds to be a better policy response European solidarity funds to counterbalance uneven industrial support and development across Member States; calls for the promotion of public ownership and public veto powers in strategically important economic sectors to protect public interests;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers rising energy and food prices to be the main drivers of the current hike in inflation; deplores some undertakings’ freeriding in the context of rising energy and food prices and reiterates that the Commission must make use of all the available tools under competition law to tackle market distortions and unfairthat energy and food price hikes are fuelled by commodity speculation and the misuse of market power to gain windfall profits aggravating the cost of living crisis; deplores the lack of suitable tools under competition law, or the failure to apply existing tools, to tackle market power and price manipulation in the energy and food markets; calls for consumer vulnerability to be taken into consideration when assessing the abusiveness of a dominant undertaking’s conduct;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for a permanent market investigation mechanism, which should be triggered automatically upon the fulfilment of certain conditions, such as a specific rise in prices, in order to prevent any future freeriding effectsunjustified or socially harmful price hikes; highlights that these should be met with appropriate interventions as, for example, windfall taxes, price controls or antitrust proceedings; calls for public reporting obligations on price formation for large companies in order to enhance market transparency and subject private price formation to public and parliamentary scrutiny, especially in sectors of significant general interest as energy, food, communication and housing;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Points out that the US Inflation Reduction Act includes the objective to support lower-income communities and workers; welcomes the attachment of social conditionalities to public support schemes under the US Inflation Reduction Act promoting, for example, good pay, apprenticeship places or unionised jobs; welcomes that the US Inflation Reduction Act is planned to be financed through fair taxation of the largest corporations and extraordinarily wealthy households; calls on Member States and the Union to apply social conditionalities and fair taxation in their own public support schemes;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the quantitative jurisdictional thresholds in the EC Merger Regulation to be reviewed and lowered; calls for the introduction of a rebuttable presumption that effective competition is significantly impeded by any concentration leading to a dominant position in a relevant market or any concentration involving a very large market operator or a gatekeeper; calls for matters of public interest, such as climate protection, general costs of living, sustainability and the rule of law, to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market; calls for the inclusion of review clauses in decisions approving a concentration with a view to introducing more stringent conditions;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Is strongly concerned about the authorisation of mergers and acquisitions by the Commission that substantially increase market concentration and power as shown in the case of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto in the agricultural and chemical sector or the merger between Orange and MasMovil in Spain's mobile market;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls for the introduction of an explicit legal base for the unbundling of undertakings as a structural remedy for antitrust violations; considersalls for unbundling to also be a structural remedy in situations where abuse of a dominant position on a relevant market cannot be ascertained, but conditions for competition would improve significantly if unbundling measures were applied;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that competition law remains relevant to digital markets despite the entry into force of the DMA; underlines that competition law should make use of the information provided to the Commission under Article 14 of the DMA; considers that violations of privacy rights can constitute abusive practices;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls for a swift implementation of the global tax agreement reached by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS in order to approach a level playing field for businesses worldwide; calls on Member States to go beyond the minimum tax rate of 15% proposed in pillar 2 and adopt higher minimum tax rates to avoid a race to the bottom with harmonisation of the tax rates at 15%; underlines that higher tax rates will help to reach a more ambitious multilateral agreement in the future; deplores that pillar 1 will only target a hundred companies worldwide and is still far from being implemented, even at EU-level;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the presentation by the Commission of draft guidelines for sustainability agreements; underlines the need for a broad understanding of consumer welfare, which should include not only price levels, but also sustainability considerations; considers thatalls for the extension of similar authorisations should be extended to agreements that improve animal welfare, prevent deforestation, or provide for livingdecent wages;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Stresses that public investment that creates public ownership and public control over strategic company decisions as closures, production reductions or relocations are to be prioritised over the use of subsidies;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Stresses that State aid should not amount to a transfer of public wealth to private shareholders; calls for a ban on the distribution of dividends to shareholders and bonuses to upper management in companies receiving State aid;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 c (new)
Paragraph 21 c (new)
21c. Stresses that the purpose of State aid is not to serve the private interests of companies but to support and guide sustainable industrial development in the public interest; calls on Member States and the Union to provide and allow for State aid only under the condition that consultation and veto rights are granted to workers and local authorities in strategic company decisions, especially regarding mergers and relocations; calls on Member States to attach social conditionalities to the provision of State aid with the objective of fostering good working conditions and pay, labour participation and collective bargaining rights and the maintenance and creation of new jobs and apprenticeships;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 d (new)
Paragraph 21 d (new)
21d. Calls on Member States to attach environmental conditionalities to the provision of State aid with the objective of promoting a zero-emissions and zero- waste economy as well as the conservation of biodiversity;
Amendment 283 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls for the ordinary legislative procedure to be fully extended to cover competition policy legislation;