Activities of Helmut SCHOLZ related to 2020/2077(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on New Circular Economy Action Plan
Amendments (9)
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that trade policy is an essential tool for implementing the circular economy and the EU’s sustainabilityand United Nations' sustainable development agenda globally by 2030; underlines that increased recycling can reduce the EU’s reliance on imports of raw materials, and points to the need to decouple economic growth from resource use in order to ensure the long- term sustainability of global value chains, and reminds of the need for waste reduction;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission for a strict implementation into EU law of the Basel Convention controlling transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, including the 2019 amendments to the convention with regard to transboundary movements of plastic waste; Regrets the lack of international and European standards on waste quality as this hinders a viable trade policy that is conducive to the circular economy; calls on the Commission to present harmonised standards on waste quality, and to include these along with a legal definition of recyclable waste, and to include these in future FTAs;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. urges the Commission to present effective measures to end the practice of exporting plastic waste from the EU as a means of dealing with insufficient recycling capacities in the EU; Notes that according to the European Environment Agency, import restrictions in China and other states have reduced the export from 300.000 tons per annum to 190.000 tons, but shifted exports of EU plastic waste to other destinations, including Thailand and Turkey, often with weak environmental legislation and lack of controls, where waste tends to be burned, or stored in open pits; calls on the Member States to severely punish entrepreneurs who attempt to make a profit from illegally trading plastic waste to developing countries;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that in the transition to a circular economy particular attention must be given to key supply chains where the EU’s environmental footprint is significant; deplores the fact that electronic waste from the European Union is often sorted by hand by human beings in developing countries, in conditions ruining their health; stresses that we cannot build our European circular economy at the expense of the health of workers in other parts of the world; calls for measures to eliminate hazardous forms of recycling in the supply chains of the circular economy; suggests to address this issue, inter alia, in the upcoming European directive on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Stresses the need to integrate the aspect of resilience into the circular economy action plan, and to address with our trading partners issues of increasing resilience in production chains, a resilient labour market, and to increase resilience in our environment; calls for an approach to public procurement in our trade policy, which provides for preference for durable, repairable and recycled or recyclable materials in public tenders, and that accommodates decentralisation strategies for their contribution to resilience;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to identify and abolish barriers that prevent or restrict market access for circular products from outside the EU and to investigate the possibilities and benefits of reducing tariffs on certain products in order to encourage the development of the circular economy; in this regard, encourages the Commission to return to the negotiation table to conclude the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA), and to add the circular economy dimension to the scope of the negotiations;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to ensure that FTAs reflect the objectives of the circular economy by including strong, binding and enforceable sustainable development chapters; suggests that the circular economy should be addressed in a cross-cutting manner in all relevant FTA chapters; calls on the Commission to engage with our partners in existing FTAs in a dialogue on whether the agreements are supportive of the transition to a circular economy and, if need is established, on adapting the agreements;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the Commission to engage with the EU’s trading partners to further support the objectives of the circular economy; stresses that particular attention must be given to how less developed partner countries can benefit from the circular economy; calls for an assessment of the impact of increased intra-EU recycling rates on countries strongly relying on waste imports.supports accompanying measures to help our partners to speed up waste reduction and the transition to a circular economy;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. suggests that the Commission engages in the respective multilateral organisations for agreeing on an international label, which is easy to understand for consumers and indicates, whether a product can be recycled;