35 Amendments of Evelyne GEBHARDT related to 2015/2354(INI)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
– having regard the study of 2016 entitled "Social Economy", commissioned by the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the single market has been, and remains, the cornerstone of EU integration and the engine of growth and jobs and Article 3(3) TEU obligates European legislators to find a balance between the market economy principle and the EU’s social integration;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the proper functioning of the Single Market is based on the constant adjustment and provision of an integrated response to the major economic and social challenges of the future, and on finding a balance between an open economy stimulating economic growth and quality job creation and an economic system delivering consumer protection as well as social and environmental safeguards to citizens;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas a strong social market - which turns the focus back to the people, directed towards the fight against unemployment, poverty, inequalities, social exclusion and wage dumping, promoting respect of fundamental social rights, fair mobility and improvement of living and working conditions in Europe - is an important factor to increase solidarity and cooperation among Member States;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Is of the opinion that the mid-term review of the EU’s 2020 Strategy should set ambitious targets to reach a green, knowledge-based social market economy and sustainable growth by 2020; stresses that the single market should be central in achieving the goal of a sustainable and highly competitive social market economy in the context of the EU 2020 Strategy’s long-term vision taking up the challenges of maintaining social justice and economic growth as well as focusing on benefits for citizens, consumer protection, and SMEs;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Reiterates that the perception of the single market as being solely tied to the economic aspects has exhausted its own potential and a new broader based strategy must be put into action, establishing a balance between economic rights and fundamental social rights, integrating consumers’ and citizens’ interests into the single market;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. SupportNotes the overall objectives of the Commission’s Single Market Strategy for goods and services, and welcomes its vision for how to unleash the full potential of the single market;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Supports the overall objectives of the Commission’s Single Market Strategy for goods and services, and welcomacknowledges its vision for how to unleash the full potential of the single market but recalls on the Commission to improve the social and environmental side of the single market based on the Lisbon Treaty’s obligations;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Believes in this respect that equal treatment principle for workers should be considered a pillar of an effective and socially sustainable single market and urges the Commission to take the necessary legislative and non-legislative actions in order to ensure that the this principle is fully respected in the single market;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines the urgent need to eliminate the remaining barriers from the single market, while preserving the maximum degree of consumer protection, in order to achieve tangible and quick results in terms of growth, innovation, job creation, consumer choice and new business models; is convinced that the objective of social progress and competitiveness must be taken into account in the further development of the single market as interdependent and complementary guiding principles;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the strategy’s focus on aspects aimed at helping businesses, in particular SMEs, micro- enterprises and start-ups, to scale up their activities, grow and stay in the single market, thus facilitating their innovation and job creation; considers that all initiatives for SMEs and start-ups should be treated as a priority, but reminds that these initiatives should not provide opportunities for dishonest businesses to circumvent existing rules, lower workers’ and consumer standards, increase the risk of corporate fraud, criminal activities and letterbox companies;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Disagrees with the Commission’s statement that its proposal on single member companies should be implemented immediately, which in its current form is not a suitable instrument to boost the single market;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Believes that it is necessary to adopt a common definition of ‘innovative’ start- ups and SMEs,, SMEs and social economy enterprises or objective criteria, that can be used as a point of reference for the adoption of related measures; reminds that social economy enterprises have revealed a huge innovative potential, coming up with creative solutions to major economic, social and environmental challenges: calls on the Commission to propose such a definition including social economy enterprises;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to actively involve all stakeholders, in particular social partners and consumers organisations to assess impacts of draft legislation and better regulation activities in the single market, run the proportionality and subsidiarity check (at ex-ante stage), and monitor implementation (ex-post stage); stresses, furthermore, that any exemptions for SMEs and micro entities must be assessed on a case-by-case basis for each proposal, while ensuring that exemptions do not lead to circumvention of social, labour or environmental legislation;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Regrets that the Commission did not emphasise enough the specific role of traditional manufacturing by Crafts and SMEs as an important contribution to both competitiveness and economic stability in Europe; encourages the Commission to exploit the full potential of digitalisation and innovation of the manufacturing industry in particular for micro and small manufacturers and start- ups, as well as for less industrialised regions to help reduce regional disparities and revitalise local economies; believes that stronger SMEs Crafts policy has to be put forward as one of the top priorities of all European Institutions and Member States over the next years;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Emphasises that the collaborative (or sharing) economy is growing fast reshaping old services and markets and changing the way that many services and assets are provided and consumed; underlines, furthermore, the strong link between these new business models and the performance of the single market; notes that the fast development of the sharing economy presents opportunities but also poses many challenges and legal uncertainties that might affect consumers, workers and traditional business providers and suppliers;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to come forward with proposals to prevent abuses in the employment area and bogus self- employment, to examine infringements of workers’ rights and social protection provisions in the sharing economy as well as to assess the impact of crowdworking and crowdsourcing; calls on the Commission to establish an European Forum, which organises regular exchanges with stakeholders, including social partners, who play a decisive role in the transition of the different employment sectors towards the digital economy, in order to promote an effective legal framework as well as quality employment and workers’ rights;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the Member States to ensure that employment rights, high quality working conditions, effective social welfare coverage and a real level playing field in the single market are guaranteed in the growth of the sharing economy, taking into account its potential for more flexible forms of employment, identifying new forms of employment, enhancing the rights and protection of genuine self- employed workers;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the Commission’s announced initiative on the European agenda for the collaborative economysharing economy including the guidance on how EU law applies to this new sector, and its intention to look at that economy in order to assess what needs to be done in order to taccompanykle the challenges it poses, to support its growth and its major contribution to the economic system; welcomes the Commission approach to examine the extent to which the provisions of the Services Directive, the e-Commerce Directive and the EU consumer protection acquis are applicable to the sharing economy and if there is need for further regulation, calls on the Commission to go beyond these provisions and examine the issue of social security and employment rights of workers, health and safety norms, taxation and licensing;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that, in the collaborativesharing economy, the samesimilar rules should apply to the samesimilar services, with a view to ensuringpreserve the solid framework of existing regulations, safeguard high quality of services, independent of how their access and provision is organised, ensure a level playing field, and consumer safetrights and safety and full adherence to employment and social rights by companies operating in the sharing economy while avoiding fragmentation that would hamper the development of new business models;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that, in the collaborative economy, the same rules should apply to the same services, with a view to ensuring a level playing field, social security for employees and consumer safety while avoiding fragmentation that would hamper the development of new business models;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Draws attention to the important role of EU technical standards for innovation and progress in the single market; calls on the Commission to support and reinforce European standards, including by exploiting tguarantee EU standards will be matched opportunities offered by the ongoing negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)r bettered in harmonisation exercises undertaken in any and all trade negotiations;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Draws attention to the important role of standards for innovation and progress in the single market; calls on the Commission to support and reinforce European standards, including by exploiting the opportunities offered by the ongoing negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP); makes it clear, however, that those standards should not involve areas of regulation that can be better regulated by the social partners or the national legislator; considers it imperative in this connection that social players and social partners should be more involved in the processes of standard setting in order to promote transparency and public acceptance;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Notes that the new 2014 public procurement regime is less cumbersome, includes more flexible rules to better serve other public sector policies as well as Member States or local specialities; points out that there are still significant inefficiencies in public procurement across Member States that limit cross- border expansion and growth in domestic markets;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Stresses that regulatory differences between Member States regarding differing labelling or quality requirements for the same products in different Member States create unnecessary obstacles to the activities of suppliers of goods and discriminate against different consumers; calls on the Commission to consider introducing a mandatory scheme for the provision of key information for furniture, established at EU levellabelling and quality scheme for products, established at EU level, for providing consumers with key information and ensuring equality in products’ quality in the different Member States; considers that such an initiative would be beneficial for consumers, industries and trade operators, ensuring transparency, adequate recognition of European products and harmonised rules for operators in the single market;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Emphasises, in respect of the single market in services, that there is a clear need to improve the cross-border provision of services; urges theUrges Member States to ensure proper and morthe effective application of the Services Directive, while avoiding the practice of gold-plating; welcomes; stresses that employment and social standards must be guaranteed in both the Cdommission proposal to improve notification under the Services Directive; agrees to extend the notification procedure provided for in Directive 2015/1535 to all the sectors not covered by that directiveestic and cross-border provision of services; underlines that any extension of the notification procedure provided for in Directive 2015/1535 must not be inappropriately applied to services of general economic interest;
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Emphasises, in respect of the single market in services, that there is a clear need to improve the cross-border provision of services; urges the Member States to ensure proper and more effective application of the Services Directive, while avoiding the practice of gold-plating; welcomes the Commission proposal to improve notification under the Services Directive; agrees to extend the notification procedure provided for in Directive 2015/1535 to all the sectors not covered by that directive;
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Acknowledges the Commission’s efforts to open up services’ markets within the parameters of the Services Directive and to improve notification under the Services Directive but considers, that the outcome of such exercise should enable a framework which allows employment and social standards in the service sector to be maintained and expanded as defined by Art. 3 of the EU Treaty; recognises that Member States are responsible for defining their social policy objectives and stresses that possible extension of the notification procedure provided for in Directive 2015/1535 to sectors not covered by that directive may not be misused to indirectly subject services, such as those in the general interest (public services) and that national, democratic law-making is fully respected;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. SupportConsiders the Commission proposal to introduce a services passport to helpdemonstrate that service providers demonstrate that they satisfy the requirements applicable to them in the Member State where they wish to provide their service on a temporary basis, but regrets that the Commission has not consulted with the sectors it has prioritised before suggesting this initiative in the Single Market Strategy; opposes the country of origin principle and the introduction of issues affecting workers including the notion that information required under the Posted Workers Directive should be covered by a services passport; considers that this initiative should be aimed at reducing unjustified administrative burden for service providers and simplifying the procedures applicable to cross-border service provision and that it should be limited to services regulated by Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market; stresses that the services passport shall not replace or diminish in any way the necessary controls and inspections by the host Member States and that competent authorities in the host country should be able to have specific access to key documents;
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. SupportNotes the Commission proposal to introduce a services passport to help service providers demonstrate that they satisfy the requirements applicable to them in the Member State where they wish to provide their service on a temporary basis; considers that this initiative should be aimed at reducing administrative burden for service providers and simplifying the procedures applicable to cross-border service provision; demands that a possible service passport has to takes its place among the series of horizontal tools aimed at supporting internal market legislation, such as the Internal Market Information System (IMI) or the points of single contact, which have been provided for by the Services Directive as a single administrative interface for dealing with all the necessary administrative procedures regarding cross-border services activities; stresses that the introduction of a service passport must not lead to a situation in which the case- law developed by the ECJ on overriding reasons of public interest which can legitimise rules restricting the cross- border movement of services is weakened or repealed;
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 e (new)
Paragraph 27 e (new)
27e. Disapproves that the Commission did not adopt any specific measures in the Single Market Strategy to address the needs of people and consumers with disability, elderly people and people living in rural and remote areas;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 g (new)
Paragraph 27 g (new)
27g. Regrets that the Commission’s Communication does not announce any proposal in relation to the social economy although it plays a key role in the EU’s social and economic development; urges the Commission to explore the potential of this emerging sector and without undue delay to improve its visibility and a regulatory environment for social enterprises;
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Highlights that the ADR Directive and ODR platform may benefit consumers and businesses in cross-border transactions; calls for further mechanisms for adequate consumer redress to be introduced, including a collective approach to redress where needed;
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 b (new)
Paragraph 28 b (new)
28b. Calls on the Commission to analyse the current legal uncertainties affecting consumers and if necessary to resolve them through clarification and supplements to the legal framework of consumers rights; reiterates its commitment to the principle of flexible harmonisation for any proposed EU legislation concerning consumers and that full harmonisation is only applied when it sets a very high level of consumer protection and provides clear benefits for consumers;
Amendment 367 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to submit, as a matter of priority, a legislative proposal topress ahead with proposals for solutions, including of a legislative nature, which may help address geo-blocking and other forms of unjustified discrimination by market operators; calls on the Commission to lay down effective criteria for assessing the unjustified character of geo-blocking;