42 Amendments of Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS related to 2014/2145(INI)
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas, according to the Commission’s autumn forecast, investment in the euro area decreased by 3.4 % in 2012, by 2.4 % in 2013 and by 17 % since the pre-crisis period, with the expected rebound rate in 2014 (0.6 %) and that anticipated for 2015 (1.7 %) being very weak; whereas a lack of investment can be just as detrimental to future generations as excessive public debt;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the euro area continues to be characterised by high and persistent current account imbalances, with surpluses reaching 10.4% of GDP in the Netherlands and 7.5% of GDP in Germany in 2013;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas inflation in the euro area has been consistently below the ECB inflation target for 2013 and 2014, dipping below 0 in December 2014;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas a European investment plan is being put in place to raiseguarantee almost EUR 31500 billion in newprivate investments with public funds over the next three years;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the current economic situation calls for urgent, comprehensive and decisive measures to face the threat of deflation or very low invery low inflation and the threat of deflation, low growth and high unemployment;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the current economic situation calls for urgent, comprehensive and decisive measures to face the threat of deflation or very low inflation, low growth and high unemployment as well as persistent current account imbalances and rising inequality;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights the fact that the current economic governance framework does not allow for a proper debate on the economic perspective of the euro area or on an aggregate fiscal stance and does not address the different economic and fiscal situations on an equal footing;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses that public investment is crucial to correct structural imbalances within the European economy and ensure the transition towards a socially and environmentally sustainable economy;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Believes that high surpluses in the core of the Eurozone, most notably in Germany, are just as alarming as high deficits in the Eurozone periphery and therefore insists that macroeconomic imbalances must be considered of joint responsibility;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Finds that changes in economic governance have not fostered European solidarity, but instead resulted in great tensions and divisions between income groups and between surplus and deficit countries.
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Believes that internal devaluation such as wage restraint is just as harmful to the collective of the euro zone as excessive debt;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that major policy initiatives which included policy recommendations were based on economic forecasts that had not anticipated the low growth and inflation experienced and have not fully taken into account the underestimation of the size of the fiscal multiplier, the importance of spillover effects across countries in a period of synchronised consolidation and the deflationary impact of cumulative structural reforms, leading to the failure of those initiatives;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that the current situation calls for closer and inclusive economic coordination (to increased aggregate demand, improve fiscal sustainability and allow for fair and sustainable structural reforms and related investments) and for swift reactions so as to correct the most obvious fault lines in the economic governance framework;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Warns that the accumulation of procedures makes the economic governance framework complex and not transparent enough, which is detrimental to the ownership and acceptance by parliaments, social partners and citizens of guidelines, recommendations and reforms stemming from this framework;economic governance framework undermines the relevance of democratic choices made at the national and local level which is in contradiction with the primacy of local parliaments, social partners and citizens.
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Believes that the economic governance framework has not been able to alleviate the negative social impacts of the crisis and has in some cases prolonged the crisis for ordinary people;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 314 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines all the existing provisions under the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) which have been put in place to ensure an anti counter-cyclical policy; finds it regrettable that these provisions were not put to full use in previous years, in the context of low inflation, low growth and high unemployment, even more so in the case of the countries under adjustment programmes;
Amendment 330 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. WelcomNotes the fact that in its interpretative communication on flexibility, the Commission acknowledges that the way in which the current fiscal rules are interpreted is crucial in bridging the investment gap in the EU and implementing growth-enhancing structural reforms;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Considers however that persisting poor economic performance should lead to a serious debate on those fiscal rules and their capacity to serve economic performance, job creation and fiscal sustainability;
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Insists that the economic governance framework - in particularly the SGP - must not prevent Member States from adopting the necessary counter-cyclical actions aimed at stimulating internal demand, countering high unemployment, social exclusion and low growth;
Amendment 343 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Supports all the incentives to finance the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), mainly by making national contributions to the fund fiscally neutral as regards the SGP; calls for further clarification regardnew investments. Believes that all investment should be regarded as fiscally neutral as regards the SGP. Believes, however, that the primacy of private investors ing the concrete European Fund for Streatment of these contributions in accordance with the new paradigm set out in the communication;egic Investments (EFSI) implies an unequal distribution of risks which puts additional costs on taxpayers
Amendment 372 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that the communication righdoes not sufficiently broadens the scope of the investment clause, and does not allowing for sufficient flexibility in the preventive arm of the SGP to accommodate investment programmes by the Member States, in particular as regards expenditure on projects under structural and cohesion policy, including the Youth Employment Initiative, trans- European networks and the Connecting Europe Facility, and co-financing under the EFSI; believes that this approach must be urgently reassessed to be symmetrically applied to; believes that this approach must be urgently reassessed, both in terms of broadening the scope to all investment programmes and of a similar treatment in the corrective arm of the SGP;.
Amendment 383 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Believes that structural reforms should be designed by national parliaments and governments, with full knowledge of each country's specific challenges and respect for the choices of its elected officials, and should have a positive socioeconomic return and contribute to increased administrative capacity;
Amendment 415 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Deplores, however, the fact that the communication does not touch upon the nature of ‘'unusual events’' falling outside the control of a Member State which could allow it to temporarily depart from the adjustment path towards achieving its MTO, leaving an unacceptable margin for discretion for european institutions and paving the way for the different treatment of similar situations;
Amendment 435 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that morethere is no room for flexibility and soft laws exists under the SGP and in the European Semester; invites the Commission to build on this flexibility and to propose rule changes where neededUnderlines that economic performance in the Euro area as a whole, and in the peripheral economies in particular, strongly requires a new and flexible approach; invites the Commission to propose rule changes that allow for flexible ways of reaching economic, social and environmental sustainability;
Amendment 453 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Invites the Commission and the Council to better articulate the fiscal and macroeconomic frameworks, notably in the corrective arm of the SGP, to allow for earlier debate among stakeholders, taking into account the need to increase convergence between euro area Member States and the role of national parliaments and social partner and social partners and deliberation by national parliaments regarding the design and implementation of structural reforms;
Amendment 470 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Insists that the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) and euro area recommendation must be better designed and put to better use to allow for a global economic debate, notably as regards convergence in the euro areathe structural flaws and inequalities in the euro area and the rise in unemployment and social exclusion; proposes that the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) should be established on the basis of striking a better balance between the AGS and the macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP), and suggests that the euro area recommendation should be madenon- compulsory following a proper debate with the European Parliament, with incentives being offered so as to encourage the implementation thereof; requests that the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) recommendation be joined together with the CSRand preceded by a proper debate in National and European Parliaments;
Amendment 488 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Asks the Commission to verify whetherConsiders that the current 1/20 rule on debt reduction is sustainable and whether it needs to be reconsidernot viable for many of the member states and should be revoked;
Amendment 511 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Asks the Commission's to make the three-pillar strategy (investment, fiscal rules and structural reforms), presented in the AGS 2015, more concrete under the euro area recommendation and in the CSRs and to strengthen its approach by building a fourth pillar on taxation, with a particular focus on european-wide tax evasion, avoidance and arbitrage;
Amendment 541 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Believes that the MIP must be used in a much more balanced manner between deficit and surplus countries, also to address countries with significant room for action; calls on the Commission to specifically pursue decisively cases of current account imbalances in order to prevent increased economic divergence within the euro area;
Amendment 569 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Asks the Commission to take into account all relevant factors, including real growth and, inflation and unemployment, when evaluating the economic and fiscal situations of Member States under the EDP;
Amendment 598 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission, when evaluating the fiscal position of Members States, to include a better balance betweenassessment of the impact of the agreed fiscal measures and the fiscal figures based on estimated potential growth for GDP, output gaps and structural deficits that may introduce unexpected radical change at a later stage;on GDP growth, drawing from the experience of consistently optimistic forecasts for adjustment countries and the debate on the fiscal multiplier.
Amendment 614 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Believes there is a strong need for less complexity, better ownership, more transparency and democracy in economic governance; believes that looking forward towards deeper integration cannot be achieved by adding a new layer of rules to the already existing ones or by imposing economic policies on elected national governments or parliaments;
Amendment 624 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Acknowledges, based on the current situation, that the economic governance framework must be corrected and completed in both the medium and long term to allow for the EU and the euro area to meet the challenges of growth, economic convergence, long- lasting investment, job creation and reliance;
Amendment 662 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Calls for a new legal framework and a policy shift for future assistance programmes in order to ensure that all decisions are taken under the responsibility of the Commission with full and real involvement of European and National Parliament;
Amendment 687 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Requests that a reassessment of the Eurogroup’s decision-making process be conducted so as to provide for appropriate democratic accountability; believes that in the long term the Commissioner for Economic Affairs should assume the role of President of the Eurogroup;
Amendment 697 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Recalls that a ‘the realisation of a 'genuine Economic and Monetary Union’' (EMU) cannot simply be limited to a system of rules but also requires an increased euro area fiscal capawould require political and democratic support of a transfer union which is nowhere to be found in the EU. As it stands, the EMU will continue to exacerbate the macroeconomic imbalances within the Eurozone, leading to excessive surpluses and corresponding excessive deficity;s
Amendment 711 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
Amendment 751 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 – indent 1
Paragraph 37 – indent 1
– a ‘taxation union’commitment to European-wide measures against tax fraud and evasion and corporate tax dumping,
Amendment 766 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 – indent 2
Paragraph 37 – indent 2
– a social dimension, including a minimum wage mechanism and a minimum unemployment benefit scheme for the euro area and in-depth reforms to favour mobilityreduce income inequalities,
Amendment 796 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 – indent 4
Paragraph 37 – indent 4
– a euro area fiscal capacity notably to finance counter cyclical actions, structural reforms or part of debt reduction;