18 Amendments of Sahra WAGENKNECHT related to 2008/2334(INI)
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the European Union does not only face a financial crisis but a severe economic crisis, caused by the over- accumulation of capital which has led to overcapacities in more and more industries; whereas the regulation of financial markets alone is not sufficient to overcome the crisis,
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas in order to prevent the socialisation of speculative losses, the European Union and the Member States have to make sure that those who have benefited from financial speculation in recent years now also pay for the losses; whereas a redistribution of wealth is necessary to reduce social inequality and tackle the roots of the crisis,
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. agrees with the Commission that an immediate budgetary stimulus package of EUR 200 000 000 000, representing 1,5 % of GDP, is necessary to counter the downward trend in the economy; insists, however, that this expenditure package should be mobilised at EU level and must be complemented by similar public investment programmes of the Member States, worth 1 % of their respective GDP with priority given to investments that also strengthen the long-term potential of the economy, for instance energy saving technologies, social housing, education, health and social services, the creation of a public employment sector and sustainable modes of mobility;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. strongly criticises the Commission for linking its Recovery Plan to deepening neo-liberal ‘structural reforms’ and to strict compliance with the revised Stability and Growth Pact; insists that liberalisation policies must be stopped and overcome and that instead of promoting more flexibility in labour markets, the European Union needs to take the concept of ‘good work’ as its central reference point;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. recommends the massive and rapid deployment of labour market policies aimed at getting money to those who need it most; asks the Member States to invest an additional 1 % of GDP in order to strengthen unemployment benefit systems, provide training and lifelong learning and to set up social economy employment programmes;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. emphasises that proposals to cut labour taxes and social security contributions are not efficient tools to raise demand in the economy in a rapid and sustainable way; stresses that the EU now needs to accept real wage growth and also embarks on a redistribution aimed at increasing the wage share in Gross National Income; calls on the Member States to establish a lower limit in wage developments of no less than 3 % in order to take prevent a deflationary wage spiral; calls on the Commission and the Member States to agree on EU-wide targets on minimum income schemes (60 % of the national median equalised income) and on minimum wages (60 % of the national or sector-specific average wage) in order to combat poverty and social exclusion; points out that higher real wages will help to stabilise internal demand and thus contribute to countering the downturn;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. calls for the establishment of a European Sovereign Investment Fund and for the issue of European bonds through the European Investment Bank (EIB); stresses that central and eastern European Member States are not to be left at the mercy of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and that the EU should provide its own emergency lending and do so in a sufficient way without blindly following the IMF conditionalities;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. strongly advises against the risk that the solutions implemented become a sum of national policies, with potential conflicts and costs, undermining the single market, the economic and monetary union and weakening the European Union's role as a global actor; points out that the EU must coherently tackle joint rescue operations concerning cross-border multinational banking groups and abandon the current ‘beggar-thy- neighbour’ policies; considers that rescue measures for particular industries should be shaped by a joint EU approach to prevent a race between the Member States for the highest subsidy;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. calls on the Commission to give clear guidance on the interpretation of the flexibility clause of the revised Stability and Growth Pact, namely when addressing short-term investment decisions which are compatible with medium-term budgetary targets and conducive to sustainable growth and long- term Lisbon goalsinsists that the revised Stability and Growth Pact must be revoked in order to give Member states sufficient leeway for a truly expansionary fiscal policy to counter the downturn;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. underlines that a stricter regulation of financial markets is needed to prevent systemic risks caused by new and risky financial products, stresses that those products must either be prohibited or their trading severely restricted and monitored; stresses that strict limits on leveraging for all financial institutions must, furthermore, be introduced as a matter of urgency;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. points out that the recapitalisation approach by buying up preferred banking stock must be steered towards a sustainable nationalisation of banks’ assets, with a view to the full socialisation of the banking sector and the constitution of a publicly owned financial pole that steers credit towards socially and environmentally useful investments; considers that decision making on the banking sector’s credit policies must come under democratic public control, with democratic participation by employees and consumers;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. insists that rescue packages to financial institutions must be made conditional on their retreat from tax havens and offshore financial centres;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. calls on the Commission and the Member States to close down tax havens, tackle the problems created by offshore financial centres and introduce taxes on currency transactions (Tobin Tax) and on stock exchange transactions;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. proposes the establishment of a public EU Credit Rating Agency in order to overcome conflicts of interest which impair the credit rating process;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. reaffirms that more transparency and better risk-management provide most of the solutions to further crisis-prevention and that the regulatory reform must be all- encompassing, applying to all actors and transactions in the financial markets; underlines that regulatory initiatives must cover executive remuneration, transparency, leverage, capital requirements and securitisation; reminds the Commission of its obligation to respond to Parliament's requests on the regulation of hedge funds and private equity;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. stresses that guarantee schemes and loans to private companies must be based on strict conditions such as job guarantees; underlines that public loans should be provided only in return for stock in the companies concerned, enabling the state to have a say in company decision-making and receiving benefits from future rewards;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. considers that the present crisis must not preclude the European Union's responsibilities as regards promoting international development and combating world poverty; warns that the risk of a fallback to protectionist policies must be avoided; underlines that the worldwide recovery effort could be greatly enhanced by the timely conclusin developing countries could be enhanced by increasing official development assistance (ODA) by the European Union tof the Doha Round of trade negotitarget of 0,7 % of GNI set by the United Nations;