10 Amendments of Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY related to 2012/2000(BUD)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Acknowledges the fiscal consolidation efforts undertaken by Member States with the aim of addressing the crisis; underlines the fact that the EU will never be able to respond properly to the crisis without common instruments, such as automatic sanctions and the Commission's right to take legal action in a deficit procedure, but also the common EU-funded programmes and the resources to make them work;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that the European Union’s budget is one of the most important instruments of solidarity between Member States and between generations, and that it provides a clear added value, given its extraordinary impact on the real economy and daily lives of European citizens; recalls that if the Union’s policies were to be financed solely by Member States, their costs would skyrocket and that, seen in this light and if used in a synergetic manner, the European budget intrinsically represents a clear common saving for the wellbeing of all;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that, in times of crisis more than ever, the collective efforts taken at EU level must be strengthened in order to ensure that our actions deliver results; underlines the fact that the annual budgetEuropean budget, including priorities in national budgets, as well as all other European instruments, needs to be aligned with the Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth and Jobs and that this is essential for the Strategy’s credibility and in order to preserve confidence in EU policies, especially amongst its citizens; stresses that, given its role as a catalyst for investment, lowering the level of the EU budget would have an adverse impact on the creation of growth and jobs of the Union;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Takes the view that the promotion of growth and jobs require specific actions and enhanced budgetary efforts to support competitiveness, innovation and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), since most of the EU economic potential lies in SMEs, which, according to latest studies, created 85 % of net new jobs in the EU between 2002 and 2010 and are the backbone of our economic growth; acknowledging therefore that efforts need to be made to reconsider the weighting of current headings and budget lines to support the promotion of growth efforts;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that such support would be instrumental in preventing SMEs from cutting down their investments, in particular on research and development, while at the same time promoting employment and ensuring that skills are conserved, thus helping to unleash SMEs’ innovation potential, which is essential to the EU’s prosperity and to the creation of a knowledge-based society; further stresses in this context the necessity to further simplify the application procedure for EU-funded programmes;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that well coordinated, coherent and timely implementation of political commitments and priorities shared at national and EU level requires national and European institutions to work together to prioritise public spending on growth areas, assess ex ante the effects of planned actions, increase synergies between them and ensure that they have a positive impact by removing obstacles and tapping into under-utilised potential; underlines its commitment toin this regard, underlines the importance of continuing to organise interparliamentary debates on the common budgetary orientations of the Member States and the Union in order to ensure that there is coordination between the national and EU budgets in the general framework of Parliament’s activities in the European Semester; for this purpose, undertakes to organise bi-annual interparliamentary meeting, taking place before the Spring Summit, the presentation by the Commission of its draft Budget, and the start of the national budgetary procedures in Member States, which would be fully dedicated to the European Semester, with a view to debating economic and budgetary policy coordination with national parliaments;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that under-budgeting should be avoided as a matter of sound financial management, and that appropriations need to be aligned to realistic estimates of absorption capacity; points out the fact that artificially lowering the level of appropriations as against the Commission’s realistic estimates may, conversely, prevent the final level of budgetary implementation to reach its full potential; is therefore determined to ensure the minimal use of amending budgets through responsible ex-ante budgeting;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Is therefore extremely worried about the situation of payments in 2012 and calls for a solution to be found as early as possible this year, so as not to postpone the problem once again, to 2013; takes the view, moreover, that such use of the upcoming year’s appropriations to fund current needs is bad financial management and infringes the principle of budget annuality; expresses serious concerns that this practise undermines the zero-debt- policy of the Union;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Welcomes the agreement reached on financing the additional costs of ITER in December 2011; urges the Commission to respect the joint conclusions in this agreement in their entirety and to make concrete proposals on the amount of EUR 360 million in the 2013 draft budget, making full use of the provisions laid down in the Financial Regulation and in the IIA of 17 May 2006 and excluding any further ITER-related revision of the MFF; reiterates its strong conviction that securing the amount of EUR 360 million in the 2013 budget should not impair the successful implementation of other EU policies during this last year of the programming periodespecially those that contribute to achieving the goals of the EU 2020 strategy (R&D, Innovation, entrepreneurship, employment, education) during this last year of the programming period and specifically requests that possible redeployments should not infringe upon these budgetary priorities;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Expects, in view of the upcoming accession of Croatia, that the revision of the MFF will be adopted swiftly, in line with Point 29 of the IIA (‘Adjustment of the financial framework to cater for enlargement’) and asks the Commission to present its proposal for the corresponding additional appropriations as soon as the Act of Accession has been ratified by all Member States; repeats that the enlargement to include Croatia should be accompanied by appropriate additional funding, if necessary;