42 Amendments of Werner LANGEN related to 2012/2256(INI)
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the analysis of 20101 and 20112 statistics now clearly documents that the policy options taken caused a reversal of the mild recovery of 2010 resulting from the premature and massive tightening of fiscal policy, with contractionary effects across Member States that still persistgive evidence for a mild recovery and a decrease in interest rates in the bond market in the following years; whereas short run contractionary effects will be offset by sustainable growth and confidence on the markets due to the consolidation of fiscal policy;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas expansionary fiscal policies have caused significant and severe crowding out effects with strong negative effects on growth;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the Commission forecasts for 2012 have been successively revised downwards from 1.8 % in spring 2011 to - 0.4 % in autumn 2012 for 2012; whereas in its autumn forecasts the Commission predicts a GDP growth of a mere 0.1 % for 2013; whereas there are serious doubts as to the accuracy of these 2013 forecasts, since they are likely to be based on an underestimated fiscal multiplier, thereby underestimating the negative effect of current fiscal contraction on economic growth;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the simultaneousfiscal consolidation across most of the EU also increased the size of the fiscal multiplier in the eurozone as a whole, and its impacts were amplified by the high degree of openness of the European economies inside the internal marketis a prerequisite for restoring confidence and long term growth;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas eachsome Member State iss are suffering only the short term from the consequences of its own fiscal tightening and of the synchronised rapid consolidationa necessary fiscal stabilisation whereas there is strong evidence that rapid fiscal consolidation and structural reforms conducted by the other Member States will have positive spill-over effects and a reduction of cowding out in the long run;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas thisa fiscal tightening strategy forces down demand, wages and prices whileconsoldiation strategy is part of the necessary internal devaulation in some Member States driving up unemployment and sustainable growth in the future;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) studies document that gradual and smooth fiscal consolidation is preferable to a strategy of reducing public finance imbalances too rapidly and abruptly; whereas the instruments in place contribute to such a smoothening already;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP) scoreboard for 2011 illustrates the huge imbalances inside the European Union, especially in the eurozone; the 3-year average of Current Account Balance as % of GDP shows strong surpluses for only three countries (Luxembourg and the Netherlands at +7.5 and Germany at +5.9), with the majority of the other countries in negative positions;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas this shows that the gains from the internal market and common currency are spread very unevenly across the Member States, reducing the margin of manoeuvre of the weaker economies in response to crisisdue to the unsound domestic fiscal and economic policies these Member States in the past;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas austerity measures adopted by several Member States have reached an unprecedented dimension: the fiscal stance for Greece from 2010 to 2012 amounts to 18 points of GDP, for Portugal, Spain and Italy respectively 7.5, 6.5 and 4.8 points of GDP without any significant signs of long term improvement of the economic and fiscal situation and with huge social disruption, calling for a new assessmentcontinuation of the policies imposed;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas sovereign interest rates show unprecedented divergences within the euro area and remain at unsustainable levels for certain Member Statereflecting the risks attached to these bonds;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas the Commission has been unable to make a convincing case that the policy options imposed will deliver over time and that they will impact on society in a fair and acceptable waypolicy options imposed will deliver over time;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U
Recital U
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the recognition in the AGS 2013 that sustainable growth is necessary in order to exit the crisis, but doubts whether and underlines the positive signs of recovery seen by the Commission are accurate; warns of the risk of a continued contraction of economic activity over the coming year resulting from the aggregate negative effect of significant and simultaneous procyclical budget cuts across the euro areaa deviation from the path of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to study seriously the possibilityin- depth the time-inconsistency problem of spreading fiscal adjustment over a longer period, thereby providing additional temporary room for manoeuvre to re-ignite growth as soon as possible;. and the negative effects of such a policy which will prolonge the crisis and increase uncertainty for investors;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that the recent debate on the size of the fiscal multiplier, notably following the IMF analysis on this matter in its latest World Economic Outlook, has been unduly downplayed by the Commission, while a broad consensus has been emerging on this matter from recenta broad consensus has been emerging on the need for fiscal consolidation as prerequisite for long term growth from theoretical and empirical work in the existing economic literature; considers this matter to be of central importance to policy-making, as wcrong fiscal multipliers can lead to massive policy mistakwding out effects resulting from expansionary fiscal policies; calls on the Commission, therefore, rapidly to open its macroeconomic modelling and forecasting to serious and systematic scrutiny by independent institutes on a regular basisn lead to massive deterioration of investment decisions by the private sector;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission and the Council to eascontinue the path of consolidation for Member States with excessive deficits due to exceptional circumstances while ensuring that ‘annual budgetary targets [...] are consistent with a minimum annual improvement of at least 0.5 % of GDP as a benchmark, in its cyclically adjusted balance net of one-off and temporary measures, in order to ensure the correction of the excessive deficit within the deadline set in the recommendation’, as formulated in the preventive arm of the SGP;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission to start developing as a matter of urgency a plan which would ensure that elements of fiscal discipline are in parallel followed up with concrete proposals on solidarity among Member States and democratic legitimacy as part of the Interinstitutional Agreement on the European Semesterensure that elements of fiscal discipline effectively in force;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the Council to improve substantiallyfurther improve the quality, the national specificity and the adequacy of the country-specific recommendations, notably through a competent interpretation of the macroeconomic imbalances exercise;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission and the Council not to rdevise theate from recommended fiscal adjustment policies whenever economies move into recession, guaranteeing minimum levels of social welfare, safeguarding basic labour rights and avoiding a recessionary spiral; calls on the Commission and the Council to propose Union instruments for social protection and minimum social standardthe implementation of necessary labour market reforms and avoiding a recessionary spiral which could emerge from even higher fiscal deficits;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls also on the Commission to come forward with a holistic approach to tackling long term growth, which should include a genuine European industrial policy and the guarantee that Europe will use all its strength and influence in its external trade relations and the attractiveness for FDI; calls on the Commission to exploit to the full the sources of growth stemming from trade with third countries and establish reciprocity as well as fair trade; calls on the Commission to include strong social clauses in trade agreements on the basis of International Labour Organisation labour standards;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses that determined efforts by Member States to sustain public finances, at an appropriate pace, can only work if excessive macroeconomic imbalances are reduced symmetricallyby the countries with excessive deficits;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission and the Council to act quickthoroughly in order to give real substance and effectiveness to the Compact for Growth and Jobs as agreed at the European Council of June 28-29 2012;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission and the Council to engage urgently in thefinally clarify that a creation of appropriate mechanisms for the common management of sovereign debt in order to alleviate the debt burden on several Member Stwould be in breach of the existing treaties and to create the conditions for a future joint issuance setting a limit to the divergence of sovereign financing costswould aggravate the crisis by increasing moral hazard and thus uncertainty; calls thus on the Commission and Council to give up plans for a future joint issuance of debt;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 1
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 1
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – title
Annex - Part 1 – title
RECOMMENDATION 1 CONCERNING AN ALTERNATIVETHE EXISTING STRATEGY
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – introductory paragraph
Annex - Part 1 – introductory paragraph
The Commission and the Council should adopt a new six-fold alternative strategyconsider the following as set out below:
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 1
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 1
1. The fiscal consolidation should not be delayed and spread by any circumstances in due respect of current EU fiscal rules. Instead of nearly 130 billion euros of consolidation effort for the whole euro area, a more balanced fiscal consolidation of 0.5 point of GDP, in accordance with treaties, the SGP and even the fiscal compact , would give for 2013 alone a concrete margin for manoeuvre of more than 85 billion euros. By merelyBy merely delaying the path of consolidation, the average growth for the Eurozone may be delayinged and capping the path of consolidation, the average growth for the Eurozone between 2013 and 2017 may be improved by 0.7 point per yeardecreased due to the impossibility of fostering sustainable growth through expansive fiscal policy.
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 2
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 2
2. The speculation on the sovereign debt of Member states mustcan only be stopped. The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) must be b by reducing uncertainty and improving investor confidence throught as soon as possible into the community management structure with the ECB as a backstop clear commitment to fiscal consolidation and adequate policies;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 3
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 3
Amendment 291 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 4
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 4
4. Lending by the European Investment Bank must be significantly increased as well as other measures (notably the use of structural funds and project bonds)can only be increased under the binding constraint of maintaining its AAA-Rating, so as to genuinely advance the European Union growth agenda. The Compact for Growth and Jobs has to be urgentthoroughly transformed into concrete and effective investments.
Amendment 294 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 5
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 5
5. Legal initiatives and policy instruments have to be implemented so thatconvincingly so that trust and uncertainty will be restored and credit flow to the real economy is re- established. Companies, especially SMEs, need to have access to financing and the conditions for such financing should be similar inside the Internal Market, more so inside the eurozone.
Amendment 298 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 6
Annex - Part 1 – paragraph 6
6. A close coordination of economic policies must aim at reducing internal imbalances in the EU and in the Eurozone in particular. The adjustment must not only rely on deficit countries. Surplus countries must also take measures to boost their internal demand since there are positive spill-over effects of structural reforms across the European Union which should not be dampened. Successful policies in surplus countries cannot be held responsible for inefficient fiscal and receive recommendations from the Commission accordinglyonomic policies in other Member States in the past.