31 Amendments of Tokia SAÏFI related to 2014/2228(INI)
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13 a (new)
Citation 13 a (new)
- having regard to the recommendations of 6 January 2015 of the European Ombudsman on increased transparency in TTIP
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Notes nevertheless that the sensitive fields of defence and security must not be included in the negotiations related to the liberalisation of public procurements, especially since it risks to create unequal competition conditions for the European defence industry and would go against the objectives set by the Head of States and Governments during the 2013 Defence Council to promote the establishment of a European security and defence market and of a European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB); insists on the fact that such sensitive fields have never been included in the past in similar negotiations;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the wellbeing of ordinary citizens, workers and consumers has to be the benchmark for a trade agreement; whereas TTIP should be a model for a good trade agreement responding to these requirements in order to provide a basis for future negotiations with our partner countries;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas President Juncker has clearly declared that he wishes the commercial agreement with the United States to be reasonable and balanced, and whereas he reiterated in his Political Guidelines that – while the EU and the US can go a significant step further in recognising each other’s product standards and working towards transatlantic standards – the EU will not sacrifice its safety, health, social and data protection standards or our cultural diversity, recalling that the safety of the food we eat and the protection of Europeans’ personal data are non- negotiable;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas President Juncker has also clearly stated in his Political Guidelines that he will not accept that the jurisdiction of courts in the Member States is limited by special regimes for investor disputes; whereas now that the results of the public consultation on investment protection and ISDS in the TTIP are available, a reflection process – taking account of critical and constructive contributions – is needed within and between the three European institutions, and also with the representatives of civil society and companies, on the best way to achieve investment protection and, equal treatment of investors and the right to regulate States;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i
Paragraph 1 – point a – point i
(i) to ensure that TTIP negotiations lead to a deep, comprehensive, ambitious, balanced and high-standard trade and investment agreement in a spirit of reciprocity and mutual benefit that would promote sustainable growth, support the creation of high-quality jobs for European workers, directly benefit European consumers, increase international competitiveness, and open up new opportunities for EU companies, in particular SMEs; the content of the agreement is more important than the speed of the negotiations;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point a – point ii
(ii) to emphasise that while the TTIP negotiations consist of negotiations on three main areas – ambitiously improving reciprocal market access (for goods, services, investment and public procurement at all levels of government), reducing NTBs and enhancing the compatibility of regulatory regimes, and developing common rules to address shared global trade challenges and opportunities – all these areas are equally important to be included in a comprehensive package; TTIP should be ambitious and binding on all levels of government on both sides of the Atlantic, the agreement should lead to lasting genuine market openness on a reciprocal basis and trade facilitation on the ground, and should pay particular attention to structural means of achieving greater transatlantic cooperation while upholding regulatory standards and the level of consumer protection and preventing social and environmental dumping;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point a – point iv a (new)
(iva) considers that the notion of reciprocity must guide the European negotiators, in order to uphold, calmly but firmly, the offensive interests of the European Union in the actions to combat inequalities in respect of access to public and private markets and of treatment, in order that both parties are playing the globalisation game by the same rules;
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i
Paragraph 1 – point b – point i
(i) to ensure that the market access offers in the different areas are equally ambitious and reflect both parties’ expectations, as market access for industrial goods, agricultural products, services and public procurement is equally important in all cases and a balance is needed between the different proposals for these areas; to ensure also that the sensitive nature of certain products and sectors, particularly agricultural products, is taken into account; to examine and analyse whether it would be appropriate to exclude from the negotiations products judged to be sensitive, for which there is excessive divergence in standards and the conditions for fair competition cannot be ensured.
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point b – point ii
(ii) to aim at the elimination of all duty tariffs, while respecting sensitive products on both sides; to agree in particular that appropriate transitional periods and tariff quotas should be negotiated and implemented for agricultural products;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point b – point iii
(iii) to keep in mind that there are important offensive interests for the EUas the EU is the world’s greatest trading power, it has an interest in taking the offensive throughout the negotiations and in particular in the services sector, for instance in the areas of engineering, telecommunications and transport services;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point b – point vi
(vi) to ensure an adequate carve-out of sensitive services such as public services and public utilities (including water, health systems, social security systems and education) and services of general interest as defined in protocol 26 of the TFEU, allowing national and local authorities enough room for manoeuvre to legislate in the public interest; a joint declaration reflecting negotiators’ clear commitment to exclude these sectors from the negotiations would be very helpful in this regard;
Amendment 473 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
(x) to keep in mind that the agreement should respect, protect and not risk prejudicing the Union’s cultural and linguistic diversity, including in the audiovisual and cultural services sector, which is explicitly excluded from the negotiation by the mandate given to the Commission, and that existing and future provisions and policies in support of the cultural sector, in particular in the digital world, are kept out of the scope of the negotiations; ensure that the rights of Member States and the Union to maintain and develop their cultural and audiovisual policies are guaranteed;
Amendment 476 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
Paragraph 1 – point b – point x
(x) to keep in mind, as is clearly set out in the negotiating mandate, that the agreement should not risk prejudicing the Union’s cultural and linguistic diversity, including in the audiovisual and cultural services sector, and that existing and future provisions and policies in support of the cultural sector, in particular in the digital world, are kept out of the scope of the negotiationsuch as the digitisation of European cultural heritage in the digital world, or the system for fixing book prices in publishing are kept out of the scope of the negotiation; adds that these provisions should be the subject of articles in the legal body of the agreement and should not be mentioned only in the preamble or in an annex;
Amendment 490 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xi
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xi
(xi) to ensure that account is taken of the discrepancies in the openness of public procurement markets on both sides of the Atlantic andshould be eliminated in order to achieve access to public procurement markets based on reciprocity, given in particular the huge interest on the part of European companies in obtaining access to public contracts in the US both at federal and federated state level, for example for construction services, road and rail traffic infrastructure and goods and services while respecting sustainability criteria for procurement on both sides, inter alia the new EU procurement and concession package entering into force in 2016
Amendment 518 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xiii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xiii a (new)
(xiiia) to ensure a carve-out for the sensitive areas of defence and security from negotiations on access to public contracts, given the risk of creating conditions of unequal competition for the European defence industry, which would run counter to the objectives set by heads of State and Government at the 2013 ‘Defence’ Council
Amendment 526 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xiv
Paragraph 1 – point b – point xiv
(xiv) to ensure that the negotiations on rules of origin aim at reconciling the EU and US approaches; given the conclusion of the negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between EU and Canada and the potential upgrade of the EU-Mexico free trade agreement, the possibility and scope of cumulation will need to be considered, so as to minimise them;
Amendment 551 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
Paragraph 1 – point c – point i
(i) to ensure that the regulatory cooperation chapter promotes an effective, pro- competitive economic environment through the facilitation of trade and investment while developing and securing the highest levels of protection of human and animal health and safety, consumer, labour and environmental legislation, the highest sanitary and phytosanitary standards and of the cultural diversity that exists within the EU; negotiators on both sides need to identify and to be very clear about which regulatory measures and standards are fundamental and cannot be compromised, which ones can be the subject of a common approach, which are the areas where mutual recognition based on a common high standard and a strong system of market surveillance is desirable and which are those where simply an improved exchange of information is possible, based on the experience of one and a half years of ongoing talks;
Amendment 571 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
(ii) to base negotiations on SPS and TBT measures on the key principles of the multilateral SPS and TBT agreements and to protect European sanitary and phytosanitary standards and procedures; to aim in the first place at increasing transparency and openness, strengthening dialogue between regulators and strengthening cooperation in international standards-setting bodies; to recognise, in negotiations on SPS and TBT measures, the right of both parties to manage risk in accordance with the level either deems appropriate in order to protect human, animal or plant life or health; to respect and uphold the sensitivities and fundamental values of either side, such as the EU’s precautionary principle;
Amendment 612 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c – point v
Paragraph 1 – point c – point v
(v) to fully respect the established regulatory systems on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the European Parliament’s role within the EU’s decision- making process and its democratic scrutiny over EU regulatory processes when creating the framework for future cooperation while at the same time being vigilant about a balanced involvement of stakeholders within the consultations included in the development of a regulatory proposal; proposes as such that the updates made to correct certain aspects concerning the limits of the partnership be placed, if necessary, under democratic and parliamentary scrutiny;
Amendment 650 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point d – point iv
(iv) to ensure that labour and environmental standards are made enforceable, by building on the goodall experience of the EU-Korea free trade agreement and good and effective practices in the US’s free trade agreementjudged to be good by the European institutions, Member States and national legislationparliaments;
Amendment 721 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xi
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xi
(xi) to ensure that TTIP includes a specific chapter on SME’s and aims at creating new opportunities in the US for European SMEs, for instance by eliminating double certification requirements, by establishing a web-based information system about the different regulations, by introducing ‘fast- track’ procedures at the border or by eliminating specific tariff peaks that continue to exist; it should establish mechanisms for both sides to work together to facilitate SMEs’ participation in transatlantic trade, through the implementation of technical assistance, for instance through, a common SME ‘one-stop shop’;
Amendment 764 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xiv
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xiv
(xiv) to ensure that foreign investors are protected and treated in a non- discriminatory fashion and have a fair opportunity to seek and achieve redress of grievances, which can be achieved without the inclus; ensure that a disputes resolution mechanism is established in order to ensure that the conditions of an ISDS mechanism; such a mechanism is not necessary in TTIP given the EU’s and the US’ developed legal systems; a state-to- state dispute settlement system and the uthe agreement on investment are respected, but only on the condition that the mechanism guarantees the right of states to regulate, fulfils requirements for transparency, includes clear and precise definitions of legal concepts such as ‘indirect expropriation’ and ‘fair and equitable treatment’, an appeals mechanism, respect for rules on ethics and prevention of conflicts of interest, prevents abusive recourse to the courts, is accessible to SMEs and does not affect rights of recourse tof national courts are the most appropriate tools to address investment disputes; to ensure that the establishment of the dispute resolution mechanism forms part of medium-term thinking on the establishment of an international organisation responsible for such questions in relation to investment;
Amendment 783 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xiv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xiv a (new)
(xiva) calls for the establishment of an early warning system with regular consultation with chambers of commerce and business in order to resolve any potential disputes in the first instance by prevention and mediation;
Amendment 805 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xv a (new)
(xva) to ensure that European Geographical Indications, which offer a guarantee of origin, traceability and European know-how, are protected and will not be open to challenge; to ensure that fraudulent and misleading use of European Geographical Indications is prohibited;
Amendment 819 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xvi b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d – point xvi b (new)
(xvib) to ensure that European and North American companies comply with their fiscal duties when exercising their rights under the Treaty, in particular by realigning the rules on taxation of economic substance and by ensuring transparency of capital movements and sharing of financial information in line with the OECD’s Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, as presented to the G20 Finance meeting on 21 September 2014;
Amendment 846 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iii
(iii) to promote an even closer engagement with the Member States with the aim of forging their active involvement in better communicating the scope and the possible benefits of the agreement for European citizens and in order to ensure a broad, fact-based public debate on TTIP in Europe with the aim of exploring the genuine concerns surrounding the agreement; ;suggests that Member States should draw on the support available from European networks such as Europe Direct to organise events and targeted public consultation meetings.
Amendment 861 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point e – point iv a (new)
(iva) suggests that members of the European and national parliaments should participate in future rounds of negotiation as non-speaking observers, so that they can better report back, particularly on negotiating methods, without creating a risk to the continuing discussion;
Amendment 870 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
(fa) to further develop the dialogue between the representative assemblies of the two parties by means of more regular contact between the members of the European Parliament and the US Congress, particularly in order to face up to the interests and concerns of citizens on both sides of the Atlantic;
Amendment 872 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
(fa) asks that every effort should be made by the European Union, both during the negotiations and in relation to the implementation and monitoring of TTIP to make this type of agreement a model of reciprocity and respect for the agreed rules;
Amendment 874 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point f b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f b (new)
(fb) to increase the involvement of national parliaments in monitoring the negotiations, recognising that under Article 207 of the TFEU, their approval is required for the ratification of mixed agreements;