19 Amendments of Jeroen LENAERS related to 2014/2222(INI)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic and social context in the EU continues to be bleak, with negative growth raaccording to the 2014 Autumn Economic forecast, the economic recovery that startesd in the eurozone for the past two years, and with growth now stalled at around 0 %; whereas forecasts have systemically been revised downwards by the Commission, as has been done for 2015 and 2016; whereas recovery is neither robust nor underpinnedsecond quarter of 2013 remains fragile and the economic momentum in many Member States is still weak; whereas the growth rate in the eurozone is expected to reach 0.8% for 2014 as a whole, while forecasts for 2015 and 2016 see a eurozone growth rate of 1.1% and 1.7% respectively;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the EU needs to make a decisive change in an economic policy that has allowed the Union to drift away from the EU 2020 targets, and that has increased the risks of secular stagnationincreased efforts by the EU and structural reforms in the Member States are crucial in order to achieve the EU 2020 targets; whereas the EU is worryingly losing weight in the world economy, while most other countries are showing solid signs of recovery; whereas in October 2014 the IMF estimated that the probability of a recession in the euro area had increased and would reach 35-40% at year’s end;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas high unemployment levels, excessive focus on wage depression to regain competitiveness, and a decline in spending on social protection in almost all Member States, have led to significant reductions in household gross disposable incomes, leaving millions of European families at risk of exclusion, and have increased inequalities alarmingly; whereas one in four Europeans are at risk of poverty; whereas underemployment and precariousness has peaked and, for 50 % of all job seekers, securing employment is not enough to lift them out of poverty;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to introduce a much-needed, expansionary economic policy to boost smartensure concrete recommendations to the Member States and for the EU as a whole, including those under economic adjustment programmes, so that they not only address fiscal consolidation but also structural reforms that lead to real, sustainable and inclusivesocially balanced growth, and to increatse in quality jobs, strengthened competitiveness and increasing convergence; stresses that low inflation is already increasing real interest rates as well as real public and private debt, which, together with high unemployment, depresses growth and increases poverty;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is concerned that the EU is caught in an investment trap whereby investments have fallen more than EUR 400 billion since they peaked in 2007investments in the EU have fallen significantly in recent years, and are now close to 20 % below the pre- crisis level; warns that the decline has been even greater in peripheral Member States where fiscal consolidation was more acute; welcomes the investment plan proposed by the President of the European Commission;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the fact that one of the three main pillars of the Commission’s strategy for 2015 is investment, and calls for its plan to be implemented without delay; considers it a step forwardtakes note of the fact that Member States’ contributions to such a plan are excluded from deficit targetsthe EFSI will not be counted when defining the fiscal adjustment under either the preventive or the corrective arm of the Pact;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. RegretsTakes note of the fact that the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) will be based on recycledexisting EU resources and will not raise public ‘fresh’ money, apart from an extra EUR 5 billion from the EIB; stresses the risks of an insufficient fund based on overly optimistic assumptions about the likelihood of attracting the bulk of the financing needed from private investors; calls on the Commission to consider using the EIB’s annual profits and undisbursed dividends to increase resources without endangering the bank’s AAA rating; calls on the Commission to explore ways of using the EU budget and other, new resources to ensure that it will not fail to deliver;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the extension of the pace of fiscal consolidation, and the introduction of new headline targets – focusing more on structural than on cyclical deficits – that will have a positive effect on employment and growth; notes, however, that the size of fiscal multipliers in the current context is nevertheless still very high and that this will inevitably have a negative impact on economic growth and job creation; calls on the Commission to explore the possibility of introducing escape clauses, or of delaying these targets, in order to avoid weakening demand further and destroying jobs;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the development of a European framework to assure that investments under the Juncker Plan, which are excluded from national deficit targets, have a significant impact in terms of stimulating economic growth and creating quality jobs;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the measures announced by the Commission to boost job creation in SMEs by unlocking alternatives to bank loans to SMEs, and to improve the regulatory framework in order to enhance long-term investment in SMEs; calls for these measures to be implemented without delay; calls on the Commission to consider financial cooperatives for funding SMEs (credit unions) as alternative funding instruments and to enable a better access for SMEs to EU- level and national public procurement and funding;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the fact that in the AGS 2015 the Commission calls on the Member States to protect or promote longer-term investments in education, research and innovation; notes, however, that Member States with already-constrained budgets do not have sufficient means to accomplish that goal; calls, therefore, on the Commission to exclude productive investments in education, research and development from the deficit targets established under EU rules;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recalls that decent wages are important not only for social cohesion, but also for maintaining a strong economy and a productive labour force; calls onfor the Commission to submit a proposal for a European framework for minimum wages with a view to reducing wage inequalities and limiting nominal imbalances in competitivenessestablishment in each Member State, either by law or through collective bargaining, of a minimum wage of which the level is set by the individual Member States and which corresponds to the socioeconomic situation of the respective Member State;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Welcomes the initiative regarding a European platform on undeclared work; reiterates its call on the Member States to ensure that people with precarious contracts, or who are self-employed, enjoy a core set of rights and adequate social protection; calls on the Commission to make dedicated efforts to address the additional problems caused by, involuntary part-time and temporary employment and by particular, bogus self-employment;
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to propose a European framework introducing minimum standards for the implementation of Youth Guarantees covering young people aged 25-30; calls on the Member States to use the available budget efficiently and to implement the Youth Guarantees without delay; calls for the available budget to be increased during the promised mid-term review of the MFF in accordance with ILO recommendationsMember States, in the framework of the Youth Guarantees, to use the available budget efficiently and to implement the Youth Guarantees without delay;
Amendment 369 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Considers it regrettable that the AGS 2015 does not mention European social stabilisers; recalls the importance of such stabilisers in addressing asymmetrical shocks, in avoiding excessive depletion of national welfare states and, thus, in strengthening the sustainability of the EMU; reiterates its call on the Commission to produce a Green Paper on automatic stabilisers in the eurozoneTakes note of the potential value of European automatic stabilisers for strengthening the sustainability of the EMU as a whole; stresses that such stabilisers should not lead to the creation of permanent transfers;
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the fact that the Joint Employment Report annexed to the AGS includes a scoreboard for employment and social policies; considers it regrettable, however, thatalls on the Commission to encourage these indicators are not sufficient and that they have not been made binding, which would allow them to be used more forcefully; asks the Commission to remedy this situationdentification and exchange of best practices, calls for a detailed overview of Member States' choices in different policy fields and the corresponding results;
Amendment 401 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. CallsWelcomes the appeal by the President onf the European Commission to submit a proposal for a European minimum income, as announced by its President during the investiture debate, with the aim of reducing poverty in EUon the EU Member States to introduce a minimum wage and basic guaranteed income, with the aim of reducing poverty in EU; stresses that it is up to the individual Member States to set the level of the minimum wage and this level also corresponds to the socioeconomic situation of the respective Member State;
Amendment 422 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Points out that emerging new forms of poverty – such as in-work poverty compounding difficulties such as e.g. paying mortgages, or high utility prices creating energy poverty – have resulted in an increase in the number of evictions, foreclosures and unemployed homeless peopleyouth; calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement integrated policies favouring social and affordable housing, effective prevention policies aimed at reducing the number of evictions, and policies tackling energy poverty;
Amendment 434 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Reminds the Commission that in order to ensure both the sustainability, safety and the adequacy of pensions, pension reforms need to be accompanied by policies that: limit access to early retirement schemes and other early exit pathways; develop employment opportunities for older workers; guarantee access to life-long learning; introduce tax benefit policies offering incentives to stay in work longer; and support active healthy ageing; stresses that pension reforms require national political and social cohesion, and should be negotiated with the social partners in order to be successful; stresses that pension reforms should take into full account Parliament's position on the Green and White Papers on pensions, in particular with regard to Parliament's recommendation of collective, solidarity- based supplementary occupational pension savings, preferably resulting from collective agreements and established at the national, sectoral or company level;