41 Amendments of Helmut SCHOLZ related to 2010/2203(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas many of the existing bilateral agreements of Member States originate in an either colonial or Cold War or pre- crisis political context and whereas past mistakes should not be repeated by the EU when structuring the new generation investment agreements or chapters on investment in trade agreements,
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas options should be foreseen for partner countries wishing to transform their set of bilateral agreements with EU Member States into a single one with the EU, while providing for an opportunity to review and renegotiate,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the EU now faces the task to reconcile European Investment Policy with the comprehensive goals of the Union in order to ensure policy coherence, in particular with regard to abolishing poverty and increasing employment, promoting environmental protection and defending human rights, and the fulfilment of the EU's commitment to the ILO decent work agenda, by which means the EU could contribute to the ecological and social reconstruction of the economy,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas the protection of investors, and by extension the use of investment law and arbitration, is a means to the end of advancing the public welfare and must not be treated as an end in itself,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas it is generally acknowledged that inward investment improves host countries‘ competitiveness but outward investment may exacerbate adjustment costs for low-skilled workercan have negative or positive effects on a host country's social, environmental and economic development depending on the regulatory environment and the investment's social and environmental features and that outward investment may exacerbate adjustment costs for low-skilled workers, whereas it is the responsibility of any government to encourage the beneficial impacts of investments while preventing any harmful effects,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas managerial control gained by investment has in a number of cases led to the elimination of the competitor, or to drastic reductions of the work force or to social or environmental dumping, while the investment as such was still being counted positively in statistics on foreign direct investment; whereas such investments do not deserve protection,
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas in order to be worth being protected, investments should contribute to the creation of decent work, induce means to the host country's economy rather than extract profits, be favourable for the implementation of the millennium targets and contribute to fostering high standards in social and environmental protection,
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the emergence of new countries with strong investment capacity as local or global powers has changed the classic view whereby the only investors were from developed countries; whereas this development would expose the EU and its Member States to a rapidly growing extend to investor-to-state arbitration cases provided that the EU allows for investor-state dispute settlement in its future agreements with countries such as China, India, Russia, Canada or the MERCOSUR,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas states have a fundamental right to regulate on behalf of the public welfare and whereas this right must not be subordinated to the interests of investors,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas it remains questionable to what extend the Commission may negotiate investment agreements with a content that limits legislators' policy space on either EU or Member State level and that might lead to unclear liabilities following arbitration procedures,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the award of damages as a remedy of first resort in investment arbitration poses a serious threat to democratic choice and the capacity of governments to act in the public interest by way of innovative policy-making in response to changing social, economic, and environmental conditions,
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G c (new)
Recital G c (new)
Gc. whereas the use of vague language in agreements, which is vulnerable to far reaching and questionable interpretations, increases the risk for a broad range of regulatory measures that pursue a clear and legitimate public purpose, to be attacked by investors claiming indirect expropriation,
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas awards issued by international arbitrators against states have in numerous cases incorporated overly expansive interpretations of language in investment treaties; whereas these interpretations have generally prioritised the protection of the property and economic interests of transnational corporations over the right to regulate of states and the right to self-determination of peoples; whereas this constitutes a major disturbance of the balance between investor protection and protection of public interests,
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Hb. whereas unfavourable rulings in an arbitration case have let to a decision of the Ecuadorian parliament to exit the country's BITs with certain EU Member States; whereas other countries like Brazil have never ratified bilateral investment agreements at all while still remaining very attractive for foreign direct investment,
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)
Recital H c (new)
Hc. whereas in the established law systems of EU Member States it is up to highly sophisticated courts and judges and not to any sort of panel to determine priorities in case of conflicting rights, values and constitutional tasks,
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas notably text proposals in the context of the negotiations with Canada and India have already caused concerns among civil society organisations, in particular with regard to the effects for Indian generics production and for SMEs on both sides,
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes this new EU competence and calls on the Commission and the Member States to seize this opportunity to build with Parliament, and in close cooperation with the European public an integrated and coherent investment policy which promotes and regulates high- quality investments and makes a positive contribution to economic, social and environmental progress; striving for sustainable development;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. WelcomNotes the Commission'’s Communication ‘Towards a comprehensive European international investment policy’ but stresses that, while extensively focusing on investor protection, it should better address; criticises this Communication for being heavily biased towards mainly investor protection and market access enforcement; deplores that it comes short of developing a new investment policy that meets the social and environmental challenges of the 21st Century and fails to meet the EU's obligation to exercise policy coherence for development, to which end it should have prioritised the need to protect the public capacity to regulate;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to bear in mind the lessons learnt on multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral level, in particular regarding the failure of OECD negotiations on an international investment agree Multilateral Agreement on Investment;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that the same high level of protection and treatment should not be granted to all kinds of investments and that, for example, portfolio investment and intellectual property rights shouldall be excluded from the scope of future international investment agreements signed by the EU;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that finance corporations shall not be given the opportunity to place their purely financial transactions, investments and speculations in host countries under the protection of an investment agreement;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Proposes to define the cornerstones of investment agreements and the respective chapters in trade agreements in two regulations defining the points of departure and limits of scope for negotiations with developing countries and with G20 states,
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that investor protection must remain the first priorityment agreements shall not give priority to investor protection over advancing public welfare; emphasises instead that investment agreements need to be aiming at sustainable development and at the proper regulation of businvestment agreements practices of transnational investors;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Stresses the investor protection rights shall only be granted to investors whose operations obey to high standards in human rights, decent work, taxation and other accountability standards and CSR best practise;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Encourages states to review their investment treaties with a view to renegotiating them with the EU in light of concerns expressed in this report;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that the need to identify best practices, to which the Council's conclusions also poi and a new paradigm for an international investment policy for sustainable development, is a more sensible and more effective option, enabling the development of a consistmore coherent European investment policypolicy performance;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 1
Paragraph 11 – indent 1
– precise wording and clear limits regarding issues of non-discrimination (national treatment and most favoured nation) in agreements with developed partners, mentioning that foreign and national investors must operate under ‘similar conditions’; more flexibility regarding MFN clauses in agreements with developing partners with a view to not obstructing regional integration processes,
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 1 a (new)
Paragraph 11 – indent 1 a (new)
- strengthening of governments' rights and scope to regulate the economy including investments in the public interest,
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 2
Paragraph 11 – indent 2
– fair and equitable treatment, defined oin the basis of thea way that limits its interpretation to level of treatment established by international customary law,
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – indent 3
Paragraph 11 – indent 3
– protection against expropriation, giving a without adequate compensation, based on a mutual understanding of the definition for a clear and fair balance between public and private interests, including a provision for a renegotiation of the terms of an investment contract, and excluding the notion of so-called indirect expropriation by regulatory measures;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Acknowledges that beyond traditional investment policy standards driven by an investor protection approach, an urgent need has now developed for new binding standards regarding investor responsibility and accountability which should be placed at the core of future EU investment agreements;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Recommends that instead of trying to refer to investment agreements to impose a contractor's interests, investment contracts between a state and a private investor should provide a mechanism for managed renegotiation by both investor and state, based on a fair and balanced process in which adequate support and resourcing is available to both parties, so as to accommodate significant changes in the circumstances of the underlying agreement;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Points out that from the start, investment contracts should be concluded and implemented in accordance with the principles of public accountability and openness and should preserve the state's right to regulate in good faith and for a legitimate purpose;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission to include in all future agreements specific clauses laying down the right of the EU and its Member States and the other party to the agreement to regulate, inter alia, in the areas of protection of the environment, public health, workers‘’ and consumers’ rights, industrial policy and cultural diversity;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Stresses that the EU'’s future policy must promote investment which is sustainable, respects the environment (particularly in the area of extractive industries) and encourages good quality working conditions in the enterprises targeted by the investment; asks the Commission to include, in all future agreements, a reference to the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; binding provisions on investor behaviour, based on international standards such as the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles on Multinational Companies and Social Policy;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Rejects investor-to-state dispute settlement procedures; considers state-to- state dispute settlement mechanisms as the only viable option to be included into EU investment agreements;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Advocates that, under the dispute settlement procedure, the substantive meetings with the parties, special groups and the appeal body, given the judicial nature of the proceedings, should be held in public as is usual for court hearings, and that the documents concerned, in particular the communications from the parties or experts, should be publicly available, except in rare and justified case;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22c. Insists that investors shall be obliged to exploit first any administrative and legal paths in the host country before addressing mechanisms of international arbitration;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Requests that the Commission and the Member States take up their responsibility as major international players to work towards the necessaryfundamental reforms of the ICSID and UNCITRAL rules;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Emphasises that content of investment agreements or chapters on investment in trade agreements may not interfere with legislative policy space on EU or Member State level, or must otherwise be subject to the ordinary legislative procedure;