Activities of Bas BELDER related to 2016/2100(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the annual report on EU competition policy
Amendments (14)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular Articles 39, 42 and 101 to 109 thereof,
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Recalls that the Agricultural Markets Task Force has been established with a view to improving the position of farmers in the food chain and calls on the Commission to follow its anticipated concrete recommendations for improvement including those relating to legal possibilities for organising farmers' collective actions;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Calls on the Commission to further clarify the scope of both the derogations under the CAP as well as individual exemptions from competition rules under Article 101(3) TFEU and to clarify in particular that agreements relating to sustainability measures beyond statutory requirements contribute to improving the production or promoting progress while benefiting consumers;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the possibility of so-called 'crisis cartel' agreements under Article 222 of the CMO regulation is opened without delay in periods of severe imbalance in markets; and to consider further streamlining of the provisions in the Article to improve the efficiency of the measure;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5 a (new)
Subheading 5 a (new)
Agriculture and the Agri-food sector
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Emphasizes that Article 42 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) accords a special status to the agricultural sector with regard to the application of competition law;
Amendment 342 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Recalls that the most recent reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) sought to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain through a series of derogations and exemptions from the provisions of Article 101 TFEU;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Believes that the current crisis situation in farming worsens the already weak position of farmers in the food supply chain and calls for fresh initiatives to ensure that competition policy takes better account of the specific nature of agriculture;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Finds it regrettable that, despite the publication of guidelines on the application of the specific rules set out in Articles 169, 170 and 171 of the Single CMO regulation1b , the scope of the current derogations remains unclear, difficult to implement and unevenly applied by national competition authorities; __________________ 1bRegulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007.
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls on the Commission to broaden its approach in terms of criteria for determining whether an agricultural undertaking, or a number of such undertakings linked by a horizontal agreement, is deemed to be in a 'dominant position', taking into consideration the degree of concentration and the constraints resulting from bargaining power from upstream and downstream sectors;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 f (new)
Paragraph 20 f (new)
20f. Considers that the collective activities of producer organisations and their associations, such as production planning and sales negotiation, are necessary for achieving the aims of the CAP and that they should benefit from a presumption of compatibility with Articles 39 and 101 TFEU;
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 g (new)
Paragraph 20 g (new)
20g. Believes that full and satisfactory implementation of the 'Milk Package'1a is essential in order to strengthen the dairy sector and asks the Commission to propose that the 'Milk Package' should continue to apply beyond mid-2020 and to examine whether its rules could be extended to other sectors of agriculture; __________________ 1aRegulation (EU) No261/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards contractual relations in the milk and milk products sector.
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 h (new)
Paragraph 20 h (new)
20h. Calls on the Commission and the national competition authorities to address the concerns raised by the cumulative impact – particularly at the upper end of the food supply chain – of, on the one hand, national-level concentration in the retail sector and, on the other, the development of European- level alliances of major distributors;
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 i (new)
Paragraph 20 i (new)
20i. Takes note of the conclusions of the study "Economic impact of modern retail on choice and innovation in the EU food sector" of the Directorate General Competition, including the existence of a negative relationship that may exists between innovation and penetration of products under private labels on the food market; calls on the Commission to submit to Parliament the extent of the on- going discussions to determine whether this negative relationship does reduce innovation and variety of products available to consumers and what would be their long-term consequences for the supply chain and on the situation of farmers;