Activities of Claude GRUFFAT related to 2022/2060(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Competition policy - annual report 2022 (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on competition policy – annual report 2022
Amendments (32)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council which sets the target of economy-wide climate neutrality by 2050 and establishes a binding Union reduction commitment of GHG emissions of at least 55 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030,
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 b (new)
Citation 5 b (new)
— having regard to the Commission revised Guidelines on State aid to promote risk finance investments published on 6 December 2021,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas full coherence between the Union’s policy goals in the framework of the Green Deal, the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals on the one hand and competition rules on the other is necessary;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas European dependencies on third countries and global powers in areas such as energy, medicines, technology or raw materials create vulnerabilities and may reduce the European Union´s ability to act;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic, the current energy crisis and the Russian aggression against Ukraine have tested the resilience of economies worldwide and exacerbated the relevance of resilience as a critical feature of competitiveness beyond a mere understanding of competitiveness in terms of price and cost;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that EU competition policy protects market structures against concentrations and accumulations of market power, just as it advances consumer welfareand general welfare and helps pursuing the twin transition;
Amendment 40 #
1a. Considers that the treaty-based competition rules must be interpreted in the light of the wider European values underpinning the Union’s social market economy, notably environmental and social protection, equality considerations, consumer protection and public health, as mandated by Article 7 TFEU; takes the view, therefore, that activities which cause negative social and environmental externalities create market distortions that need to be addressed by means of competition law while, conversely, activities which bring social or environmental benefits should be explicitly taken into account when assessing treaty-based competition provisions;
Amendment 52 #
2. Reiterates that competition policy cannot be pursued in isolation, as an end in itself, without reference to the legal, economic, political, environmental and social context;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Highlights that small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the European economy, representing 99.8% of all businesses and non-financial enterprises in the EU; notes that the strong contribution to job creation and value added make SMEs crucial to ensuring economic growth and social integration in the EU; regrets that despite their growth opportunities, SMEs may face difficulties in obtaining access to finance; welcomes in this regard of the revised Guidelines on State aid to promote risk finance investments, which clarify and simplify the rules under which Member States can support SMEs' access to finance;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that the US Inflation Reduction Act uses local content requirements as a condition for allocating additional tax credits; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the effect of these clauses on supply chains and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic; is of the opinion that trade rules should allow for local content requirements when beneficial to the green industrial transition, and to combat climate change;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Warns against a harmful, untargeted subsidy race in the European Union benefitting solely large companies and their shareholders; warns most in particularly against an accelerated aggressive tax competition through tax credits; observes that the recently brokered G20/OECD Global Tax Deal introduces an advantageous treatment for refundable tax credits, which are in effect direct subsidies via the tax system; calls on the EU to develop rules defining harmful tax credits; emphasises that tax credits should not serve the sole purpose of lowering the tax burden of large companies at the expense of public coffers and undermining the global minimum tax;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Underlines the unprecedented amounts of aid approved under the Covid and Temporary Crisis Framework; stresses that both frameworks do not preclude solvency support of failing undertakings leading to an extensive bail- out of the entire corporate sector through the use of public resources; regrets that such support has not been accompanied by conditions at EU level, that would ensure taxpayer’s participation in the upside, including issuance of preferred shares with warrants, dividend restrictions, bans of shares buybacks nor requirements that would promote the environmental viability of companies such as energy efficiency, renewable energy usage and virgin material reduction targets; calls for the introduction of such binding conditions in the upcoming revision of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework that would in case of breach lead to aid recovery;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Stresses that 80% of the State aid commitments under the Temporary Crisis Framework stem from two Member States; warns of the different fiscal capacity of Member States to provide aid and of the very real risk of unfair competition and consequent fragmentation of the single market; agrees with the letter sent by the Commissioner for Competition to EU Ministers that prioritises the safeguarding of the level playing field through joint EU expenditure; supports any further flexibility under EU State aid rules shall only be implemented in conjunction with new EU joint financing to even out the different abilities of support and to ensure every Member State is investing in the green transition;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Takes note of the proposed modification of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework for State aid in order to allow Member States to support further renewable energy technologies; recalls the imperative to ensure that any State aid support is aligned with the European 2030 climate and energy targets and comply with the energy efficiency first principle; stresses that any increased flexibility on State aid rules to support sustainable activities should be accompanied by a tightening of these rules to prevent State aid going to environmentally harmful activities;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 f (new)
Paragraph 5 f (new)
5f. Considers that the aim of current revision of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework is not to support failing entities but shape and ultimately create new competitive businesses, where the state acts as a risk taker in generating innovation-led green industries; supports, however, that any such public participation in associated corporate risks, should entail a more active public involvement in the accrued returns; urges, therefore, any State aid support in the context of an EU response to the US Inflation Reduction Act to be accompanied by a broad range of measures that should ensure the socialisation of rewards, including profit sharing mechanisms, requirements on re- investments, knowledge sharing obligations when it comes IP rights as well as price capping schemes;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 g (new)
Paragraph 5 g (new)
5g. Takes note of the suggestion to offer tax breaks to companies in the proposed modification of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework for State aid; emphasises that tax incentives should not blindly mirror schemes under the US Inflation Reduction Act, but aim at attracting real investments, meaning supporting the expansion or creation of new capacity rather than the subsidisation of existing production; notes with concern that a significant amount of government funding is already channelled through ineffective tax expenditure in the form of exemptions, deductions, credits, deferrals and reduced tax rates; urges Member States to carefully design tax incentives so that the benefits to society outweigh the costs for public coffers; calls on Member States to perform annual, detailed and public cost-benefit analyses of each tax provision;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers rising energy and food prices, leading to excessive corporate profits, 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 unfair 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 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Is deeply alarmed by the far- reaching concentration of the food supply chain, whereby four companies, all with close financial ties, own and sell up to 60% of the global seed market and 75% of global pesticides, to the detriment of consumers, farmers, the environment and biodiversity alike; points out that such an oligopoly will make farmers even more technologically and economically dependent on a few globally integrated one-stop-shop platforms, produce limited seed diversity, re-direct trends in innovation away from the adoption of a production model which is respectful of the environment and biodiversity and ultimately, as a result of reduced competition, generate less innovation;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Considers that the jurisdictional thresholds setting the starting point for an EU merger review, which are based on the turnovers of the target and acquiring entities, are not appropriate for the digital economy, in which value is often, for advertising purposes, represented by the number of visitors to a website; suggests that these thresholds be revised and adapted to the number of consumers impacted by mergers and the value of the related transactions;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Calls on the European Commission, when assessing whether mergers lead to a significant impediment of effective competition (SIEC) to refrain from employing a narrowly designed substantive test that merely focuses on the effects of a merger on prices, output and innovation; supports instead that the Commission should consider the full social costs of such transactions, taking into account the broader impact of these mergers on environmental protection, as it is obliged to do by virtue of Article 11 TFEU, and the international obligations on biodiversity to which EU Member States and the EU should abide to;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Points out that even when products or services are supplied for free, consumers may still have to endure unjust behaviour, such as a degradation in quality or extortive practices; calls therefore for the formulation of a 'theory of harm', which should transcend price- centric approaches and account for broader considerations such as the impact on citizens’ privacy;
Amendment 230 #
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 that similar authorisations should be extended to agreements that improve animal welfare, prevent deforestation, or provide for living wages; underlines in this respect that EU competition rules should encourage horizontal coordination in order to improve the environmental and social sustainability of supply chains; points out that the efficiencies generated by such agreements in a relevant market must be sufficient to outweigh any anti- competitive effects they produce in either the same or an unrelated geographical market;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Strongly supports that the eligible sustainability objectives under the guidelines for sustainability agreements should extend those of the CMO Regulation and decisively incorporate social sustainability considerations such as the payment of living wages or living incomes;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Stresses that EU competition rules shall contribute to the Union’s objective as defined in Article 3 TEU; considers that competition rules have a key role in ensuring full employment, social progress and the protection of the environment and biodiversity; stresses that the ‘fair price’ of products is not the lowest price possible for the consumer, but a price that allows for the fair remuneration of all parties along the supply chain, while not resulting in negative externalities;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Underlines that in the aftermath of the financial crisis (2008 -2009), aid of more than one trillion EUR was granted to the banking sector in the form of credit guarantees and capital injections accounting together with other measures (including impaired asset schemes and liquidity measures) for nearly 12% of the EU GDP; is concerned by the conclusion of the ECA that in the years after the financial crisis, the EU banking sector remained an important beneficiary of State aid, despite the EU’s proclaimed intentions to prevent bank bailouts (in the period from 2010 to 2018 EUR 716 billion and EUR 1,763 trillion aid was approved by the Commission in the form of capital and liquidity aid instruments respectively);
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Points to the discrepancies and arbitrage opportunities between the rules on State aid and the resolution regime under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD); urges the Commission, to reconsider its interpretation of the relevant State aid rules in a manner consistent with the BRRD and to revise its long overdue 2013 Banking Communication, including the area of liquidation aid;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Reiterates its request for the Commission to examine whether banking institutions have, since the onset of the crisis, benefited from implicit subsidies and State aid through the provision of liquidity support from central banks; recalls the commitment made by Commissioner Vestager to reflect on possible distortions of competition arising from the ECB’s Corporate Sector Purchase Programme and to report back with a qualitative answer;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Deplores the distortive effects of aggressive tax planning on fair competition; calls for companies that use third-country tax havens to be excludbanned from receiving State aid;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Reiterates that taxation is sometimes used to grant indirect State aid, creating an uneven playing field in the internal market; calls on the Commission to review its tax State aid rules to assess whether tax advantages, such as tax exemptions or tax credits, do distort competition; calls on the Commission to look into the possibility to fine countries found in breach of EU State aid rules; encourages the Commission to pursue its investigations into Member States’ tax ruling practices;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Regrets that some multinationals still adopt aggressive and harmful tax practices, recalls that tax advantages targeted at large companies may stifle innovation and jeopardise the contestability of markets, especially for SMEs;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 c (new)
Paragraph 21 c (new)
21c. Calls for the reinforcement of a conducive framework by phasing out tax exemptions and subsidies for fossil fuels no later than 2025, by preventing investment in new infrastructure incompatible with the Paris agreement and in particular investment in any new fossil fuel infrastructure, and by tightening regulatory framework on GHG emissions via regulatory standards, bans and market mechanisms towards climate- neutrality by 2040 at the latest; calls on the Council to finally agree on the needed revision of the Energy Taxation Directive; highlights Member States’ subsidies for fossil fuels amount to over EUR 55 billion per year;