Activities of Ellie CHOWNS related to 2019/2055(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2018, Section III - Commission and executive agencies
Amendments (4)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. RStresses that the Union’s ambition to forge a “partnership of equals” with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries implies full respect of the “ownership principle”, in line with the Union’s international commitments on aid effectiveness; reiterates its concerns as regards the use of development funds for non- development objectives and underlines that funding which does not fulfil official development assistance criteria must be sourced from other instruments than the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI); in particular, urges the Union and its Member States to refrain from imposing aid conditionalities regarding migration and trade reforms, which contravenes the development effectiveness principles; underlines the importance of ensuring human rights standards in all cooperation under the DCI and insists that in order to successfully combat poverty in the long-term, the Union must address the root causes of poverty and inequalities;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Regrets that, in spite of the Union’s commitment to sustainability and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Special Report No 7/2019 of the Court of Auditors shows that the Commission does not report on or monitor how the Union budget and policies contribute to sustainable development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); notes that the Commission has recently published a reflection paper outlining scenarios for a sustainable Europe; regrets, however, that this paper does not include a gap analysis of what more the Union needs to do in terms of budget, policy and legislation, nor does it present the contribution of Union spending programmes towards implementing the SDGs;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the use of budget support in general to assist developing countries in their reform efforts and in achieving the SDGs, urges, however, the Commission to more clearly assess and define the development outcomes to be achieved through budget support in each case and above all to enhance control mechanisms concerning recipient states' conduct in the fields of corruption, respect of human rights, rule of law and democracy. ; recalls that domestic resource mobilisation is the centre-piece for sustainable financing of development and one of the five key development challenges to be addressed by budget support; calls on the Commission to adopt a trade and investment policy consistent with this goal, which entails among others taking into account least developed countries concerns of economic partnership agreements regarding the erosion of revenues linked to the removal of custom duties and ensuring fair distribution of taxing rights while negotiating tax and investment treaties with developing countries, notably regarding redistribution of tax revenues from natural resources;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Urges the Union and its Member States to refrain from supporting practices which facilitate tax dodging by transnational corporations and individuals, in the pursuit of its objective to create a business-friendly environment for private investors in developing countries in the remit of the European Fund for Sustainable Development; in addition, stresses the risk of indebtedness linked to the increased Union recourse to blending, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean countries with limited revenues to service their debt; calls on the Union and its Member States to tackle effectively and consistently tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance practices and harmful tax competition, in line with the principle of Policy Coherence for Development;