Activities of Antolín SÁNCHEZ PRESEDO related to 2013/2075(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Annual report on EU competition policy (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Annual Report on EU Competition Policy PDF (255 KB) DOC (131 KB)
Amendments (36)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission report and its focus on the contribution of competition policy to fight barriering collusive agreements and abuses of dominant positions as well as to controlling monopolies and irregular State aid for the benefit of the single market;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Agrees that too many sectors are still largely divided by national borders and public and private sector artificial barriers, and that competition policy has a fundamental role to play against such fragmentation of the single marketin implementing fundamental freedoms and avoiding fragmentation of the single market, with a special focus on SMEs and creating value for end consumers sustainably;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the EU unitary patent as a step forward to complete the single market and calls on the Member States to participate in itto respond to the challenges of globalisation, calls for steps to be taken to ensure that all the Member States can participate in it; considers it necessary to reconcile intellectual property rights with the demands of competition, protecting the general interest and ensuring that patent holders do not abuse their rights to the detriment of the public; calls on the Commission to prosecute conduct aimed at unduly delaying the entry onto the market of generic medicines;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Points out that competition policy and the smooth functioning of the single market are essential to confronting the crisis, encouraging growth and sustainable employment under the Europe 2020 Strategy and helping to achieve the goals of the European Union;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that ithe European Parliament should have co-decision powers in competition policy; regrets that Articles 103 and 109 TFEU provide only for consultation of Parliament, points out that the competition policy is one of the fields in which the Commission is politically responsible towards the European Parliament, and that Parliament can exercise oversight over the framing of competition policy and democratic scrutiny over the use by the Commission of the powers conferred on it under primary law; takes a positive view, in particular, of the structured dialogue that the Commission pursues with the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses the need to instil a competition culture which promotes its own values and helps nurture a positive approach to compliance with a preventive and beneficial effect for the development of competition policy;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that imposing fines is a dissuasive, responsive and measured tool which plays an important tool forrole in competition policy and that quick action is needed for the success of investigations; believes that legal certainty is, the simplification of procedures and the possibility of early termination by means of suitable agreements to be crucial, and calls on the Commission to incorporate the rules on fines into a legislative instrument;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes the presentation of the Commission’s first legislative proposal on the filing of private actions for losses resulting from EU competition policy; considers this initiative to be a major step towards establishing a private-sector pillar under competition policy which is in keeping with the successful leniency programmes and preserves the key role of public prosecution in EU competition policy;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Points out that the cross-cutting facet of EU competition policy calls for complete consistency between that policy and Community policies in other fields, and that to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market, sector-specific regulations need to comply with the principles of competition policy;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Takes a positive view of the role played by judicial bodies in competition policy, and urges them to use their powers to obtain information and opinion from the Commission and to participate in Community training activities; recommends that the Commission cooperate closely with the judicial authorities, actively exercise its remit to make contributions to judicial bodies as an ‘amicus curiae’, which should be published in a timely manner on the Commission’s web site, and consider the possibility of taking legal action to avoid the EU being left without protection and to safeguard the interests it should protect;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Maintains that the EU should actively promote the substantive and procedural convergence of competition rules in the international sphere; considers international cooperation to be essential to ensuring consistency and interoperability in the implementation of competition policy by the various competent authorities, with this helping to increase the effectiveness of research and create a level playing field;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers that resources for the Commission’s Directorate General for Competition should be increased to enable a more proactive to be taken and made adequate to its increased workload and range of tasks;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Member States to ensure the independence of all national competition authorities (NCAs) and sector regulators from national governments, principally by providing formaking the nomination of non- political chairpersons and board members with no conflicts of interest – such as links to lobby groups – essential; calls on the Member States to ensure that the staff and resources of NCAs and sector regulators are sufficient and vary according to market need-derived needs and those of the effective performance of their duties;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Emphasises the need for cooperation between authorities to be stepped up within the European Competition Network and for its on-going plans and programmes and the conclusions of its meetings to be published on the Commission website.
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Calls on the Commission to regularly provide detailed country- and organisation-specific statistics on the State aid granted to the financial sector since the onset of the crisis, on consolidated losses and on developments in the repayments made, and to publish the results on the Commission website in order to ensure total transparency on the scale of public intervention since the beginning of the crisis and its impact on taxpayers;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that State aid control during the crisis should focus both on stabilising the banking system and on tackling unfair segmentation ofcreating the conditions for a viable, transparent and competitive banking system that provides financing to the credit conditions and discrimination of SMEal economy and, hence, on ending credit discrimination against SMEs and households in the single market;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that banks receiving State aid should not increase their exposure to public debt, especially if they are reducingmust ensure the credit flow to SMEs and households at the same timin a solvent state;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines that depositors with less thanup to EUR 100 000 euro in their bank accounts should be afforded the maximum protection and be excluded from any burden- sharing arrangement resulting from a bank restructuring or resolution;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Urges the Commission to make sure that banks, before they receive anying State aid, sell disinvest in otheir stakes in other companiescompanies in an orderly manner, thereby reducing the burden for the taxpayer;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that accounting methods should be harmonised before anyreliable assessment is made of the amount of State aid to be given to banks calls for a harmonisation of accounting methods, such that the accounting treatment of loans refinanced for the second time, for example, is the same regardless of the Member State concerned;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that external investors should be encouraged to participate as much as possible in asset management companies (AMCs) created under State aid programmes as a means of separating impaired assets, to ensure that there is no conflict of interests between domestic investorinvestors holding or transferring assets and the objectives of any given AMC;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission to open upapply competition policy in those Member States that have port and airport public networks, particularly if their management is monopolised by the central government orand to check that their funding complies with the rules on State aid, particularly if they persistently generate public deficits;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to adopt a legislative proposal for a European Regulator that would act whereo cooperate with national regulators do not exist or are inactiveand complement their work;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Stresses that the single market in the rail freight sector is affected by incorrect or incomplete transposition of EU law by Member States and by bottlenecks to cross- border mobility that harm competition and growth; cCalls on the Commission to verify whether technical or market barriers that differ from one Member States to another, such as track gauges,put in place by operators with special entitlements in the field of energy supply and, signalling systems, or any other specialist area concerning interoperability restrict access to infrastructure and can be considered infringements of competition rules;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Invites the Commission to provide a justified overview to ascertain which air carriers benefit from advantages over other service providhave in an anti-competitive manners through undue use of special conditions or alleged abuses of their dominant position in certain airports;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Encourages the Commission to investigate whether certain practices with regard toing the imposidesignation of specific hub airports – based on the terms of the over 1000 bilateral air services agreements signed by Member States with non-EU countries – are detrimental to fair competition between carriers and airports, and areobjectively justified and do not prejudice competition against European consumers’ interests;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Points to the need for compensatory measures aimed at preventing any possible rise in energy prices due to the new emissions trading scheme impacting on viability and triggering the relocation to third countries of energy-intensive industries (aluminium, copper, fertilisers, steel, paper, cotton, chemicals, ceramics, etc.), and calls on the Commission to enforce the rules on State aid in electricity markets and facilitate the conclusion of reasonable and non-discriminatory long-term agreements;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Heading 7
Heading 7
New technologies and Internet
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24a. Considers the contribution that competition policy has to make to the rolling-out of broadband services in the internal market to be of utmost importance in enabling a balance to be struck between public and private investment in order to meet the objectives of the Digital Agenda and ensure coverage in remote, rural and sparsely-populated areas of the EU;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 c (new)
Paragraph 24 c (new)
24c. Urges the Commission to redouble its efforts in the telecommunications markets to help end their fragmentation and prevent abuses of dominant positions by operators with power in those markets; calls on it to ensure that the services provided by operators, and in particular internet access, are transparent, comparable and free of any contractual obstacles to competition;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 d (new)
Paragraph 24 d (new)
24d. Stresses the overriding importance of ‘essential patents’ for innovation in the ICT sector and, in this respect, calls on the Commission to act swiftly to ensure that their holders grant fair, accessible and non-discriminatory licences to other operators to enable continued technical progress and the development of new products to the benefit of consumers; highlights the fact that competition policy should include tools to prevent the creation of artificial obstacles to interconnection, interoperability and the development of economies of scale in the markets;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Heading 7 c (new)
Heading 7 c (new)
The food chain
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Welcomes the creation of the Food Task Force within DG COMP with the aim of monitoring developments in competition in the food chain and its impact on consumers, as well as the launch of a study into the retail sector; considers that the establishing of a balanced system of relationships in the food sector must not be done to the detriment of competition policy or by way of a purely commercial approach which fails to reflect that policy’s basic principles;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 9 b (new)
Subheading 9 b (new)
Sports
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Urges the Commission to address in a structured manner the relationships between professional sports and competition policy; it should investigate – particularly in the case of football – whether or not the following are detrimental to competition in the world of sport and liable to threaten the sustainability of sport within the single market: termination clauses, wage differences, imbalances in the allocation of broadcasting rights for competitions, non-payment of social charges and the meeting of tax obligations, conflicts of interest and the failure of directors of sports bodies to establish clear rules to address these issues and preserve the identity of European sport;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Ccommissionpetition authorities of the Member States.