53 Amendments of Erik MARQUARDT related to 2020/2118(INI)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
- having regard to the UN Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage “Universal health coverage: moving together to build a healthier world” 2019,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 a (new)
Citation 18 a (new)
- having regard to the World Health Assembly’s resolution on Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities of 28 May 2019,
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 b (new)
Citation 18 b (new)
- having regard to the UNCTAD Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (2015),
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 c (new)
Citation 18 c (new)
- having regard to the UNCTAD Report “Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development. Transitioning to a New Normal (2020),
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. whereas, according to the UNCTAD special report of 2020 “Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on trade and development: transitioning to a new normal”, the disruption caused by Covid- 19 has had real and disproportionate consequences on vulnerable and disadvantaged low-income households, migrants, workers in the informal sector, and often women, notably in developing countries, where populations are not covered by social safety nets and yet are particularly affected by soaring unemployment;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-Aa. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has increased gender-based violence, child marriages and existing inequalities, in particular in terms of access to health services, including SRHR services, and has already reversed some of the progress made on gender equality over the last decades;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas development and humanitarian aid isare severely underfunded, which makes it difficult to adequately address the consequences of the COVID- 19 pandemic in developing countries, in particular in countries affected by pre- existing crises;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has massively impacted access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), in particular for women and young people due to the de-prioritization and disruption in the provision of SRHR services as well as mobility restrictions and changes in health-seeking behaviours; whereas an additional 49 million women have had an unmet need for modern contraceptives because of COVID-19;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated the existing debt problems of developing countries, further endangering their efforts at mobilizing sufficient resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas development finance is characterised by declining level of concessionality;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas for many developing countries, the economic effects of the pandemic include huge capital outflows, commodity price drops, falls in tourism income and remittances and escalating debt service costs; whereas most African countries lack the fiscal space to respond adequately to the crisis due to low domestic saving rates, low levels of domestic resource mobilisation, high illicit financial outflows, volatile commodity prices, high fiscal deficits and stagnating official development assistance; whereas, accordingly, additional efforts in terms of debt relief is urgently needed to avoid widespread defaults in developing countries and to facilitate investments in recovery and the SDGs;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas globally, two out of five people do not have access to basic handwashing at home[1]; and whereas the lack of access to water, which is essential to reduce the spread of COVID- 19, has made containing the disease in developing countries much more challenging; [1] Sources: UNCTAD report « The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development : Transitioning to a New Normal” (2020), p. 27.
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of the global supply chain, notably in food and health, and the need to build regional value chains and boost regional integration;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
Dc. whereas local markets and short supply chains are crucial to ensure the continuity of accessible, safe, affordable, nutritious and healthy food for all;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas official development assistance continues to represent a critical source of external finance for some developing countries, particularly those unable to attract large foreign direct investment inflows or lacking large diaspora communities; in particular, whereas Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States are extremely reliant on official development assistance and, to a lesser extent, on remittances, to finance their capital accumulation;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas developing countries are particularly vulnerable to public revenue leakages arising from tax-motivated illicit financial flows; whereas recent estimates of those revenue losses in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean account for 2.3% of their GDPs; whereas, moreover, tax-motivated illicit financial flows affect revenue raising capacity most strongly in low-income and lower middle-income countries, due to the higher proportion of corporate tax in their total revenues[1]; [1] Sources: UNCTAD report « The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development : Transitioning to a New Normal” (2020), p. 56.
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas UNCTAD estimates a 20% fall in remittances in 2020 compared with 2019[1], which indicates that remittances will not provide a cushion against the downturn in international financial flows to developing countries; [1] Sources: UNCTAD report « The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development : Transitioning to a New Normal” (2020), p. 57.
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the EU’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrates its ambition to lead and show solidarity with all partner countries; points out, however, that current funds are essentially reallocated from other budget lines and that the challenge of aid front-loading has to be tackled; calls, therefore, for substantial new funds to be mobilised to assist developing countries worldwide in fighting the direct and indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic; urges donors to rapidly scale up official development assistance to achieve levels already committed in the past but never delivered; stresses that making safe vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics available globally in a fast and affordable manner must be one of the first steps;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that the momentum gained from the common Team Europe approach in terms of joint analysis, joint programming and joint implementation must translate into a new standard for cooperation in the fields of humanitarian aid and development policy, both in law and in practice; highlights the importance of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) to ensure funding for human development, including the health sector, and calls on EU Delegations and Member States' embassies to prioritise human development and health in their joint programming;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. EUnderlines that the disruptions triggered by COVID-19 have shone a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system; in particular, highlights that countries that are both dependent on food imports and tourism revenues are expected to be among the most severely affected with regard to food security; emphasises the need to support i.e. the actions of the FAO and the WFP, as well as actions of local and international NGOs, aimed at mitigating hunger and loss of livelihood and building up resilient food systems, such as those to set up a global data facility for the provision of swift information on humanitarian needs, to provide food production assistance and access to food, to organise cash transfers and in-kind food distribution, to stabilise food systems, and to ensure the functioning of local food markets, value chains and systems while focusing on smallholder farmers by implementing sanitary measures in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for food systems transformation, notably the crucial need to develop local agriculture for local consumption; calls on the EU to promote sustainability across all aspects of food supply chains, from production to consumption, in line with the Farm to Fork strategy;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Recalls agro-ecology’s unique capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability, which has been recognised by landmark reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the World Bank and FAO- led International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development(IAASTD); against this backdrop, reiterates that agroecology and family farming can be positioned as a systemic solution to prevent and build resilience to future shocks; urges the EU to boost investment in agro-ecology and agro-forestry, and to gradually shift away from trade-oriented agricultural policies to local and regional markets, in line with the Green Deal and its international commitments on climate change and biodiversity;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Highlights that the “One Health” approach, which combines animal, human, and environmental health, is particularly relevant to tackle threats like COVID-19, and is critical for preventing another devastating pandemic; stresses that sustainable food systems are a core element of the One Health approach, notably since healthier diets, a key outcome of sustainable food systems, would support stronger immune systems, and thereby reduce the impact of crises like Covid-19; but notes with concern that most agricultural development funding in Sub-Saharan Africa still supports Green Revolution approaches, where the use of public finances to unlock private investment opportunities (e.g. PPPs, blended finance models) mostly target export commodity production and agropoles, and is increasingly conducive to food system industrialisation, while smallholders, and particularly women, struggle in the meantime to access credit;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Urges the European Union to renew its financial and political commitments to end malnutrition in all its forms at the 2021 Nutrition for Growth summit as its current financial commitment ended at the end of 2020;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Stresses that the COVID-19 crisis has amplified profound fault lines in the functioning of global value chains (GVCs) and exposed the fragility of a model characterized by high interdependencies between leading firms and suppliers located across several continents; in light of this, stresses the need to support endogenous development, based on domestic production (rather than an export-led growth model); and considers that economic diversification is key for developing countries to move towards a more sustainable and resilient economic model;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines that global extreme poverty is expected to rise dramatically in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years, with the COVID-19 pandemic compounding the forces of conflict and climate change and having a particularly hard impact on informal and migrant workers (who represent one quarter of the global workforce), the tourism sector and Latin American and Caribbean economies, Caribbean and African economies; notes with concern that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) indicates that globally about 50% of countries have had no social protection responses to the crisis[1]; highlights, against the backdrop of this extreme crisis, the importance of universal social protection, labour programmes and social dialogue; asks the Commission to work out strategies with partner countries for the economic recovery and job creation and for improving social security systems; [1] Sources: UNCTAD report « The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development : Transitioning to a New Normal” (2020), p. 27.
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5
Subheading 5
Refugees and forcibly displaced people
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Emphasises that refugees and forcibly displaced people are among the most vulnerable people in the world and, due to the massive and complex emergency they were already facing before Covid-19, they are disproportionately affected by the impact of the pandemic crises;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Commission to address the specific needs of refugees, migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) upholding the guiding principle of public health networks of leaving no-one behind and refraining from blockingcontributing to facilitating access to front-line humanitarian workers from havingto ensure direct contact with the migrants, IDPs and refugees they serve; recalls with concern that refugees, migrants and IDPs are among the most vulnerable populations facing this health crisis, as they are often confronted with precarious living conditions and may face more difficult access to basic health services than local populations; stresses the absolute need for equal access to COVID-19 treatment, and other health services and safety net programmes for all affected people, regardless of nationality, migrant/refugee/IDP status, origin, sex, gender identity or any other characteristic in order to avoid them being disproportionately affected by the pandemic and to avoid their further stigmatisation;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. CUnderlines that development aid should primary be dedicated to deliver - “horizontal” - universal health care system coverage through a holistic and rights-based approach, which entails i.a. to fully address the multidimensional nature of health (with close links to gender, food security and nutrition, water and sanitation, education and poverty), along the line of “One Health” approach; in particular, calls for the revision of proposed or existing strategies and partnerships with the aim of further strengthening health systems in partner countries, in particular as regards preparedness for pandemics and the organisation and management of health systems, including the provision of universal healthcare (including mental health), health monitoring and information, training of medical staff, diagnostic capacity and medicine supply;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Recalls that traditional medicine is culturally entrenched, accessible, and affordable, and serves as a primary source of healthcare for more than 80% of the population across the African continent; stresses the need to harness the potential contribution of traditional and complementary medicines to provide traditional medical therapies that are affordable and safe for public health, including to face important sanitary crises such as COVID-19; encourages African governments to give formal recognition to traditional medicine to create an enabling environment for its practice in its health systems;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Stresses that a more equitable distribution of vaccines around the globe is essential to combat effectively the spread of the COVID-19 and its mutation; recalls equally that COVID-19 medical tools should be affordable, safe, effective, easily administered and universally available for everyone and everywhere to be considered a “global public goods”;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Reaffirms that the Human Right to Health takes precedence over the rules of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); recalls the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the flexibility provisions in the TRIPS Agreement to protect public health and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all; urges the EU to support third countries, in particular LDCs, in the effective implementation of flexibilities for the protection of public health provided for in the TRIPS agreements, such as compulsory licencing and parallel imports, in order to remedy abusive use of intellectual property protections that lead to monopolistic positions of patent holders; in addition, calls on the EU and its Member States to support the call for a waiver by India, South Africa, Kenya and Eswatini on the implementation of some provisions of the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, namely covering copyright, industrial designs and undisclosed information, for combating the COVID-19 pandemic, with a view to facilitating an effective technology transfer for COVID-19 related vaccines, therapeutics or diagnostic tests and ensure global access to these products;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Highlights the especially severe consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantine measures and the collateral damage that has been suffered by women, girls and children, in particular the rise in gender-based violence and limited access to health services, including SRHR services, but also the exposure of women to COVID-19 due to their disproportionately high representation in the global health workforce and the informal working sector which is prominent in developing countries; highlights that, also within the EU, in particular women from diaspora communities tackle negative effects on their own livelihood and context-sensitive investments via remittances towards developing countries; calls for action to counterbalance the disproportionate care burden borne by women and any potential roll-backs in safety, health, emancipation, economic independence and empowerment, and education, through specific programmes such as the spotlight initiative and by re- focusing European support; calls on stepping up efforts to better prevent and address domestic violence through relevant services such as the provision of lifesaving medical treatment, social and psychological support, access to sexual and reproductive health services and legal representation for the victims; calls for meaningful participation of women in the decisions that impact their health and working lives; underlines the need to include the gender perspective in the EU’s COVID-19 response, to advocate for inclusive decision-making bodies and collect sex- and age-disaggregated data for gender analysis;
Amendment 237 #
6a. Reminds that the economic and social effects of the pandemic are proving to disproportionately affect women and risk reversing decades of progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment; to address this challenge and ensure a sustained recovery, urges the EU and its Member States to upgrade its external support to i.e. enhancing the voice and participation of women in decision-making processes; improving education and training for women; removing discrimination in access to credit and enacting laws against gender- based violence;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is concerned that, since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, many governments have used the emergency to justify placing restrictions on democratic processes and the civil space and to oppress minorities; in particular, condemns censorship, arrests and intimidation of journalists, opposition figures, healthcare workers and other individuals for criticizing governments including their crisis management; more broadly, draws attention to the growing negative impact of COVID-19 on all human rights, democracy and the rule of law and calls, therefore, for the strengthening of aid, political dialogue and support for institution-building in all these fields, with particular attention to human rights defenders and civil society activists;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Underlines that the consequences of a combined health pandemic and a global recession will seriously undermine the capability of developing countries to achieve the SDGs, notably by least developed countries (LDCs); reminds the UN’s call for a $2,5 trillion coronavirus crisis package for developing countries which face unprecedented economic damage from the COVID-19 crisis; calls for a far-reaching policy response based on the core Agenda 2030 principle of ‘leaving no one behind’;
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Notes with concern that public indebtedness in the global south was already at unprecedented levels before COVID-19, which resulted in an increasing portion of public budget being used to service external debts, thereby affecting the capacity of governments to adequately fund and deliver basic public services; is alarmed that the current crisis has exacerbated these pre-existing debt vulnerabilities, notably in a context where financial support for developing countries to tackle the pandemic is being provided principally in the form of new loans; reminds that developing countries have relatively greater health and social protection expenditure requirements due to their weaker health systems and response mechanisms; consequently, they require greater external liquidity support in foreign currencies to pay for vital imports, while also servicing their outstanding debt obligations; accordingly, stresses the need to raise IMF Special Drawing Rights to provide liquidity to developing countries;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes, as a first step, the temporary suspension of debt service payments for the poorest countries announced by the G20 and joins the call on private creditors to follow suit; underlines that the magnitude of the economic and social crisis in the developing world requires more profound and far-reaching measures and encourages the Commission to support international efforts in this regard; considers that interest saved thanks to this suspension should instead be invested in the health sector, which is often severely underfunded in developing countries; ; believes, however, that the G 20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) falls short of the effort needed to respond to the magnitude of the economic and social crisis in a context where multilateral and commercial debt are excluded from debt service suspension for all countries, while many middle- income countries at risk are entirely excluded from the initiative; stresses the need to secure the participation of all creditors, including the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, as well as private creditors, in the DSSI and any further debt relief offers; and encourages the Commission to support international efforts in this regard; considers that interest saved thanks to this suspension should instead be invested in the health sector, which is often severely underfunded in developing countries; in addition, calls for an urgent upscaling of ODA as part of a more comprehensive systemic multilateral response, considering that short-term measures will not suffice to avoid defaults and to facilitate investments in recovery and the SDGs; more broadly, calls for the creation of a multilateral debt workout mechanism, under UN auspices, to address both the impact of the crisis and the financing requirements of the Agenda 2030; believes that steps should also be taken towards agreement on binding rules on responsible sovereign lending and borrowing in order to support improved debt crisis prevention;
Amendment 259 #
14. Points out that the budgets of many developing countries were already out of balance before the crisis and that too little funding was allocated to crisis prevention, health systems and social protection; calls on the Commission to take new initiatives to tackle the problems of illicit financial flows, tax evasion and tax fraud in order to improve the tax bases of developing countr (notably tax-motivated illicit financial flows originating from cross- border operations by multinational enterprises), tax evasion and tax fraud in order to improve the tax bases of developing countries; to this end, urges the EU to ensure that its trade, double taxation and investment agreements are consistent with the objective of domestic resource mobilisation of ACP countries and translate into tangible and sustainable development outcomes, in line with the principle of Policy Coherence for Development, as enshrined in Article 208 of the Lisbon Treaty; more broadly, calls for the setting-up of a global tax body at the UN level to help coordinating tax policies; calls, furthermore, for budget support to be directed towards universal basic services, notably access to basic health, water and sanitation services, and resilience;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Notes with concern that over the past few years, the level of concessionality of ODA has gradually decreased for developing countries in general and for LDCs in particular, although concessionality is of particular importance for LDCs to prevent an unsustainable debt burdens; stresses the need for donors to prioritize grant-based financing, especially to LDCs;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Notes that the Commission still foresees a prominent role for blending mechanisms in EU development policy, at the expense of other aid modalities; stresses that while blended finance has grown rapidly, there is little evidence of its development impact, as most blended finance currently goes to middle-income countries, with only a small portion going to LDCs; recalls equally that blending raises concerns in terms of debt sustainability; accordingly, calls on the EU and its Member States to adopt a cautious approach to blended finance and ensure that all finance mobilised through blending meets development effectiveness principles;
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Highlights that reduced inflows of remittances in developing countries will worsen the living conditions of households that rely on this source of income to finance the consumption of goods and services such as food, health care and education; therefore, urges the EU and the donor community to take decisive action to fulfil their promise to contribute to reducing the cost of remittance fees to close to zero, and at minimum to the 3%, as called for in SDG 10;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Underlines the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented numbers of pupils missing out on months of schooling, constituting a major set-back to efforts in the education sector especially with regard to girls’ and women’s education; urges governments to use school closures only as a measure of last resort in the fight against the pandemic; presses for education to be kept as a spending priority in EU development policy and for due consideration to be given to the social function of schools; urges governments, in this context, to prioritise support for the most marginalised children and their families; stresses that the most at-risk children, especially those with disabilities and living in conflict- affected areas, are those hardest hit by this pandemic; underlines that the pandemic leads to a heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse, as well as to dramatic consequences on children’s health and protection; recommends that EU countries share their approaches to keeping up teaching even in times of crisis and asks the EU and its Member States to exploit the potential of remote and digital learning in their international support programmes;
Amendment 294 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Stresses that global recovery can only occur if immediate responses are planned with perspectives towards mid to long-term solutions that include preventive measures and better prepare communities for future crises;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Reminds that resilience is ultimately about both general preparedness and the ability to adapt to new circumstances; recalls, in this context, that communities that lead their own solutions tailored to their particular context are more engaged throughout recovery, ultimately rebuilding stronger; stresses that overcoming this crisis in solidarity with our partners will strengthen and render more resilient the relations between the EU and developing countries;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Emphasises the crucial role of humanitarian NGOs in supporting communities to sustain themselves both during and beyond the pandemic in order to prevent an increasing erosion of livelihoods, to protect social cohesion, and to mitigate the worst consequences of the crises;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Points out that pandemics are often of zoonotic origin; underlines, therefore, the need to support education programmes regarding the dangers of hunting and trading in wild animals as well as the stricter protection of ecosystems and habitats and to address challenges posed by industrial farming;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Recalls that developing countries are historically vulnerable to external shocks owing to narrow export bases and less diversified economies; therefore, stresses that one of the main challenges for developing countries is to climb up the global value chain through economic diversification and to shift from an a export-oriented production model towards development based on domestic and regional markets; to this end, emphasises the crucial role of regional economic cooperation, industrial domestic policy and investment promotion to increase national or regional autonomy in the production of essential goods and services; against this background, finds it essential to harness financing and business practises, with a view to promote the integration of sustainability standards along the entire investment chain; reiterates that corporate human rights and environmental mandatory due diligence is a necessary condition in order to prevent and mitigate future crises and ensure sustainable value chains;
Amendment 317 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Stresses the need to safeguard sufficient regulatory space in international investment agreements to protect public health and to minimize the risk of investor-State dispute settlement proceedings, with regard to claims related to government measures targeting the health-related, economic and social dimensions of the pandemic and its effects;
Amendment 318 #
18c. Underlines that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for medical goods and personal protective equipment, which led to a surge of export- restricting measures taken up by global suppliers of medical and other essential goods; points out that small and lower- income countries, with their high dependence on open trade, had to bear the brunt of export restrictions on essential goods and some abusive business practices; against this background, insists that the EU refrains from adopting a trade policy that prohibits, as a general rule, ACP countries from levying export taxes on raw material insofar as it is WTO-compatible, notably for industrial development and environmental protection purposes;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines that implementation of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus has to be a priority in the programming of the NDICI in fragile countries; calls on the Commission’s DG ECHO and DG DEVCO to implement complementary programmes suited to local contexts and local opportunities, whenever possible, in order to mutually reinforce the different aspects of the nexus taking full consideration of each actors mandate and obligations, including humanitarian principles and International Humanitarian Law;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Underlines the need to work alongside local communities and local civil societies in the definition and implementation of the response; emphasises the role of the European Solidarity Corps in supporting CSOs on the ground to provide assistance to people in need;