28 Amendments of Bas EICKHOUT related to 2011/2274(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the economic, financial and banking crisis has not abated and has demonstrated that public finances iweaknessues negatively affect socio- economic development and political stability;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the recent reforms of the economic and budgetary governance framework of the European Union cannot alone solve the crisis; whereas a comprehensive action is required for addressing excessive macro financial imbalances in a symmetric manner and increase the level of overall socio- economic convergence and solidarity within the Economic and Monetary Union;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas significant steps have been taken in EU countries to consolidate public finances; whereas the current severe economic downturn is a matter of concern as it threatens the substantial efforts made by Member States regarding their budgetary consolidation strategies;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the Member States are not all in the same situation, sorequiring therefore the implementation of sustainable growth- friendly differentiated strategies should be pursued, in line with the country-specific recommendations adopted by the Council and reflecting country-specific fiscal and macro-financial risks;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the latest Country Specific Recommendations put an unbalanced weight on the need to reduce wages, social security expenditure and reform public pension frameworks whereas specific recommendations relating to other domains such as taxes on capital gains, consumption, real estate and polluting activities are largely underweighted;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas, in particular, Member States benefiting from financial assistance programmes and those under close market scrutiny should strictly meet agreed budgetary targetimplement credible long- term budgetary consolidation strategies; whereas negative spill-over effects across the EMU need to be urgently addressed so as to rebalance and calibrate efforts required by all Member States to overcome the crisis;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the projected improvement of the fiscal positions of EU Member States; deplores the foreseen protraction of the cyclical slow-down underway; points out that the current severe economic downturn is a matter of concern as it threatens the substantial efforts made by Member States regarding their budgetary consolidation;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that credible long-term strategies for budgetary consolidation remains a necessity, given the strong pressure from financial markets;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that the long-term sustainability of public and private finances is a condition for growth and for maintaining appropriate levels of public expenditure, including investments; stresses that a high level of debt generates adverse effects onincreased difficulties for financing fundamental tasks so as health care, pensions, employment and equity among generations;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Encourages the Member States to strictly follow the recommendations adopted by the Council in line with the rules set by the ‘'six-pack’' on economic governance' in order to implement fiscal consolidation in a credible and timely manner, timely and differentiated manner; taking into account country specific circumstances;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Encourages the Commission to give both negative and positive feedback to Member States through their country-specific recommendations, and to underline noteworthy efforts and best practices; underlines that Commission recommendations addressed to several Member States have little added value to the respective Stability/Convergence programmes and National Reform Programmes; points out that Commission recommendations need to add elements regarding the implementation of committed measures as well as on the assessment of progress made towards agreed objectives and targets instead of simply recalling national priorities;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. EncourageAsks the Commission to continue in its efforts to supplement its traditional sustainability analysis with alternative methodologies; invites the Commission to publish regularly indicators reflecting this sustainability analysis in the future releases of the ‘'Public Finances in EMU’' reports; welcomes the recent researches from the IMF and the Commission, including a dedicated section in the latest Commission's public finance report pointing out the systematic underestimation of fiscal multiplier effects;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Considers that budgetary consolidation can be implemented effectively, and can bring long-lasting positive effects, provided that the measures backing it are built on credible and long term counter- cyclical strategies are sufficiently explained and debated and that they respect equity among citizens and do not undermine social protection;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Deems that the current recessionary spiral in the Euro area demands more resolute action from the Commission in order to fully and proactively use the flexibilities embedded in EU fiscal rules allowing for a differentiated path of budgetary consolidation and taking into account country specific circumstances and necessary investments in future- oriented areas as laid out in the EU2020 strategy;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Considers that Member States benefiting from financial assistance programmes which fail to meet budgetary targets because of the current severe economic downturn should be offered more time to consolidate their public finances in exchange for additional commitments to conduct reforms to the benefit of fiscal sustainability in the longer run;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Invites the Member States to put in place structural growth-oriented reforms in line with the EU 2020 Strategy, having regard to social protection and social inclusion; recalls its demands on the need for improvements in the labour market policies in particular, reducing labour taxation shifting taxation away from labour in particular regarding low income categories of workers, to environmentally harmful activities and optimising training schemes; invites the national governments to put in place innovation policies in order to improve productivity and align it with wage developments; invites the Member States to create a more efficient business environment with easier credit access to help industries recoverenhance competitiveness; lastly, invites reform of the public administration sector to eliminate the red tape;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recalls that the key element in the relationship between growth and consolidation is the composition of consolidation; stresses, in that regard, that consolidations basedthe appropriate mix onf expenditure rather than on revenue tend to be more lasting and more growth-supporting in the medium-run, andand revenue side measures is context dependent and should be thoroughly assessed so as to ensure that their possible negative impact in the short run can be mitigated, in particular provided that the consolidation measures taken are credible, lasting and avoid a reduction in public investment;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Encourages the Member States to focus consolidation efforts on the expenditure sidecontext dependent appropriate mix of expenditure and revenue side measures while at the same time safeguarding EU 2020 related and sustainable growth-enhancing items such as R&D and education; considers that particular attention should also be paid to maintaining or reinforcing the coverage and effectiveness of employment services and active labour market policies such as training schemes, including o European Job Youth Guarantee for unemployed people;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Encourages the Commission to assess the consolidated fiscal stance in the euro area as a whole combining the budgetary measures decided at the national level and its projected impact through spill-over effects in each euro area Member State;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Invites the Commission to publish its methodology underpinning the assessment of the structural balances of the Member States, as well as the changes introduced in this methodology since 2008 and the impact of those changes in the assessment of the structural balances of the Member States;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Considers that the national contributions to the EU Budget should be replaced by own resources so as to help Member States in their consolidation strategy and avoid returning political stalemates over national contributions to the EU budget;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 d (new)
Paragraph 10 d (new)
10d. Underlines that the consolidation strategy should also target the revenue side of the budgets of the Member States; in particular, consolidation measures on the revenue side should be focused on decreasing tax expenditures that create unproductive niches or inefficient rent- seeking behaviours, on decreasing environmentally harmful subsidies, as well as on the creation of environmental taxes targeting the source of negative externalities, can bring double dividends in so far as they improve the budgetary situation and help fulfilling the objectives set in the EU2020 strategy;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Supports the pursuit of the reform and modernisation of pension systems, while respecting the role of social partners, in order to and the specificity of national contexts, while ensureing the financial sustainability and adequacy of pensions;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Encourages the Member States to implement consolidation procedures on the revenue side to avoid outright tax hikes, and to focusing on improving tax compliance and equity among citizens and its management; considers that, if this is not sufficient, a broadening of the tax base should be considered, also in view of the reduction of economic distortions;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Is concerned by the risk that the set- up of the relationship between central and sub-national governments can harm the implementation of fiscal consolidation, particularly when decentralisation is financed predominantly through transfers from the central government and not matched by sub-national responsibility on the revenue side;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the major reforms of the economic and budgetary governance framework adopted recently; considers that, while those reforms cannot suddenly solve the crisis, they should aim at enhanceing the credibility of the fiscal adjustment, reducing its negative short- term impact on growth;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Expresses its concern about the fact that Member States under a financial assistance programme did not receive country-specific recommendations regarding progress towards the EU2020 objectives; calls on the Commission to assess the impact of the economic adjustment programme on progress towards the EU2020 headline targets and propose modifications to it to bring the adjustment programme in line with the EU2020 objectives;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Reiterates its call in the framework of the forthcoming European Semester for an encompassing sustainable and counter-cyclical EU growth initiative aiming at promoting long term investments and complementing the required structural reforms for the transformation of the European economy and a green job rich recovery; points out that transversal and ambitious reforms need to be carried on with that purpose on domains such as EU energy, transportation and environmental law;