Sittings · Document

Draft report (2024/2079(INI)) 2025-02-03

Competition policy – annual report 2024

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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Amendment 1

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to Article 11 TFEU, which mandates the integration of the environmental protection in all EU policies in view of promoting sustainable development,

Or. en

Amendment 2

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the Commission Communication No 62/2023 of February 2023 ‘A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age’,

Or. en

Amendment 3

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the 2050 climate neutrality objective of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999,

Or. en

Amendment 4

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the Commission Communication No 98/2020 of March 2020 ‘A new Circular Economy Action Plan For a cleaner and more competitive Europe’,

Or. en

Amendment 5

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to Article 3 of Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 which provides that environmentally harmful subsidies, in particular fossil fuel subsidies, shall be phased out without delay,

Or. en

Amendment 6

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the Commission Communication No 21/2020 of January 2020 ‘Sustainable Europe Investment Plan - European Green Deal Investment Plan’,

Or. en

Amendment 7

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Citation 1 d (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to key recommendations 4 and 5 in the Assessment report 2024 of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change,

Or. en

Amendment 8

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Citation 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 22 September 2022 in Case C-611/22 P (Illumina v Commission)2 , of 10 September in Case C-465/20 P (European Commission v Ireland and Apple Sales International)3 and of 10 September 2024 in Case C-48/22 P (Google and Alphabet v Commission)4 ,

– having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 22 September 2022 in Case C-611/22 P (Illumina v Commission)2, of 10 September in Case C-465/20 P (European Commission v Ireland and Apple Sales International)3, and of 10 September 2024 in Case C-48/22 P (Google and Alphabet v Commission)4, and Case COMP/M.6166 (Deutsche Börse/ NYSE Euronext) 4a,

_________________

2 Appeal brought on 22 September 2022 by Illumina, Inc. against the judgment of the General Court delivered on 13 July 2022 in Case 62021TJ0227, Illumina v Commission, OJ C 432, 14.11.2022, p. 13..

3 Judgment of the General Court of 10 September 2024, European Commission v Ireland and Apple Sales International, 62020CJ0465, ECLI:EU:C:2024:724.

4 Judgment of the Court of Justice of 10 September 2024, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. v European Commission, 62022CJ0048, ECLI:EU:C:2024:726.

4a Commission decision of 1 February 2012, addressed to Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext, M.6166.

Or. en

Amendment 9

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Citation 9 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the European Parliament Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies study entitled ‘The role of commodity traders in shaping agricultural markets’, published November 2024,

Or. en

Amendment 10

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Citation 9 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

– having regard to the European Commission ‘Competition merger brief ’ , Issue 4, November 2024,

Or. en

Amendment 11

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Recital A

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context, marked by the lack of companies of sufficient scale within the EU1a, requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

_________________

1a The future of European competitiveness Part B | In-depth analysis and recommendations,Chapter 4- Revamping competition. p-298

Or. en

Amendment 12

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Recital A

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

A. whereas the current geopolitical context, together with certain decisions taken at EU level that have negatively affected the euro area economy, requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

Or. es

Amendment 13

Lídia Pereira, Regina Doherty

Motion for a resolution

Recital A

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

A. whereas the challenging geopolitical context, marked by uncertainty and unpredictability, requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness and concrete strategies to boost economic growth;

Or. en

Amendment 14

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Recital A

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context, lacking economic growth and low productivity requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

Or. en

Amendment 15

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Recital A

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

A. whereas a challenging geopolitical context requires a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

A. whereas a challenging economic and geopolitical context and the climate crisis require a renewed approach to European competitiveness;

Or. en

Amendment 16

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Recital A a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Aa. whereas fair and open competition is essential to the proper functioning of the internal market, for the furtherance of economic growth, innovation, job creation and consumer protection;

Or. it

Amendment 17

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Recital A a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

A a. whereas the worsening challenges of climate change and increasing biodiversity risks require a profound turnaround in industrial policies and the way how competitiveness can be created;

Or. en

Amendment 18

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Recital B

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy;

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy; whereas these objectives are achieved by strengthening the free market, which ensures effective competition by removing entry barriers, fostering innovation and enabling efficient allocation of resources based on supply and demand signals; whereas, additionally, the competition policy framework should protect the level playing field among the market's economic operators, combating dominant position abuses, monopolies and anti-competitive practices that might distort the functioning of the internal market;

Or. es

Amendment 19

Pierre Pimpie, Enikő Győri

Motion for a resolution

Recital B

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy;

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework, in non-sovereign areas, leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy, allowing industrial sectors to thrive in the long term;

Or. fr

Amendment 20

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Recital B

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy;

B. whereas there is an urgent need for an industrial shock in Europe in order to catch up with non-EU competitors;

Or. fr

Amendment 21

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Recital B

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy;

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher wages, higher quality goods and services, improved innovation and a fairer and more resilient economy;

Or. en

Amendment 22

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Recital B

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, faster innovation and a more resilient economy;

B. whereas the proper enforcement of the EU competition policy framework leads to lower prices, higher quality, greater choice for consumers, faster innovation and a more resilient economy;

Or. en

Amendment 23

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Recital B a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B a. whereas the lack of EU integration in the financial, energy, and electronic communications sectors is a primary reason for Europe's declining competitiveness2a; whereas the proper integration of the EU Single Market in these areas would make the competition relevant market much larger; whereas a larger relevant market gives more room for companies to scale-up to compete globally while at the same reinforce competition within the Single Market for the benefit of consumers;

_________________

2a Much More Than a Market: A vision for Europe's future. Enrico Letta. p- 8.

Or. en

Amendment 24

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Recital B a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B a. whereas the commitment of the new US Administration to a renewed push for fossil energy extraction and “energy abundance” underscores the urgency and haste of EU’s green energy transition, as emphasised by Mario Draghi, for European companies to be able to compete with American counterparts;

Or. en

Amendment 25

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Recital B a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B a. whereas the report by Mario Draghi underlines that the EU has a broad and diversified industrial innovation base, with a strong comparative advantage in green technologies, but that sustained efforts are needed in order to retain that advantage;

Or. en

Amendment 26

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Recital B a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B a. whereas competition policy could contribute to bolstering the resilience of the internal market, as well as achieving the goals of the European Green Deal, the Digital Compass and the Competitiveness Compass;

Or. en

Amendment 27

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Recital B a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B a. whereas the European Commission and national competition authorities need to act in an impartial and objective way in order to preserve the credibility of the EU's competition policy;

Or. en

Amendment 28

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Recital B a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B a. whereas greening of the competition policy is the main driver for European prosperity and long-term competitiveness;

Or. en

Amendment 29

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Recital B b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B b. whereas international exchange and cooperation are essential to achieving a global and competitive level playing field and tackling the challenges of the twin digital and green transitions in a coordinated manner;

Or. en

Amendment 30

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Recital B b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B b. whereas the political independence of national competition authorities is of utmost importance to ensure the impartiality and credibility of competition policy;

Or. en

Amendment 31

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Recital B b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

B b. whereas long term EU competitiveness and resilience requires the integration of climate and environmental considerations in the EU competition policy framework;

Or. en

Amendment 32

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Subheading 1 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Considers that competition policy plays a crucial role in developing business and growing companies, especially SMEs, within the single market; recalls, furthermore, that the full development of companies is dependent on successfully removing entry barriers, combating anti-competitive practices, such as monopolies and cartels, and ensuring a level playing field for all economic operators; emphasises that an effective competition policy should prevent excessive regulation and disproportionate administrative burdens, while fostering innovation and allowing companies to take full advantage of the benefits and opportunities that the free market provides;

Or. es

Amendment 33

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers; emphasises that consumer protection should be achieved by creating a market that encourages the entry of new competitors, innovation and economic efficiency, while preventing abusive practices that restrict the offer, artificially increase prices and impair product quality; highlights that competition policy should take action against anti-competitive practices and prevent disproportionate regulations or interventions that might distort the free functioning of the market or discourage company growth and innovation;

Or. es

Amendment 34

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers; by assuring that markets remain competitive and efficient, dynamic and innovative, delivering high quality products and services at fair prices and reasonable profit margins;

Or. en

Amendment 35

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers, encouraging efficiency and innovation, and reducing prices;

Or. en

Amendment 36

Pierre Pimpie, Aleksandar Nikolic, Enikő Győri

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, while stressing the need not to hinder the activity of large players able to compete with powers outside the EU;

Or. fr

Amendment 37

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers and a level playing field within the internal market3a;

_________________

3a Much More Than a Market: A vision for Europe's future. Enrico Letta. p- 8.

Or. en

Amendment 38

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition policy shields against excessive levels of concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in benefitting consumers through lower prices and wider choice;

Or. en

Amendment 39

Regina Doherty, Lídia Pereira, Dirk Gotink, Michalis Hadjipantela

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition policy should promote innovation, dynamism, and growth and prevent concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

Or. en

Amendment 40

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1. Considers that EU competition shields against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

1. Considers that EU competition seeks to shield against concentrations and accumulations of market power, and reaffirms the role of competition policy in protecting consumers;

Or. en

Amendment 41

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1 a. Warns that the political influence exerted on governments and elections by US Big Tech companies and their CEOs demonstrates the dangers that excessive corporate power poses to democracies; calls for an anti-monopoly policy to reverse the current trend of increasing market concentration, monopolisation and oligopolisation and to defend democracy and citizens from the consequences of excessive corporate power;

Or. en

Amendment 42

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1a. Stresses the importance of a robust and consistent competition policy that fosters fair competition, prevents anti-competitive practices and ensures that the internal market runs efficiently, in the interests of businesses and consumers;

Or. it

Amendment 43

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 1 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

1a. Considers that disproportionate use of State aid can distort the functioning of the single market and the development of the EU economy;

Or. es

Amendment 44

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. de

Amendment 45

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should focus on its primary objective set up in the Treaties; notes with deep concern the European Court of Audits findings4a that there is a risk that even temporary exemptions to the State aid Framework may have a longer-term impact on internal market competition and ‘there is also a risk that member states may use the crisis and transition framework or other future frameworks to attract investments from member states that do not provide aid; calls on the Commission to completely phase out the crisis and transition framework, given that it has neither adequately assessed its necessity nor evaluated the risk of internal market distortion resulting from the increasingly varied approaches of Member States in granting state aid through it, thereby undermining the level playing field and the effectiveness of competition policy, which are essential to ensuring the best products at the most competitive prices for all Europeans;

_________________

4a Special report 21/2024: State aid in times of crisis – Swift reaction but shortcomings in the Commission’s monitoring and inconsistencies in the framework to support the EU’s industrial policy objectives, p.46-50

Or. en

Amendment 46

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the environment, digitalisation, defence and agriculture; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal by allowing EU Member States to grant State aid for accelerating the roll-out of renewable energy, deploying industrial decarbonisation, and ensuring sufficient manufacturing capacity for clean tech “made in Europe ;

Or. en

Amendment 47

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the environment and digitalisation; emphasises that the development of a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal must ensure that it does not hinder innovation, lead to higher prices, or reduce competition in the European market;

Or. en

Amendment 48

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, including in the fields of sustainability, energy, defence and digitalisation; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal; reiterates that state aid should only target highly necessary corrections in the economy and should not distort fair and effective competition;

Or. en

Amendment 49

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the environment and digitalisation; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal so as to mobilise the necessary public support for the energy transition to decarbonise European industry and ensure its competitiveness;

Or. en

Amendment 50

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should remain neutral and independent, focusing exclusively on ensuring free, dynamic markets that foster innovation, efficiency and a level playing field; considers that any State aid framework should prevent distortion of competition, prioritise the free market and ensure there is no preferential treatment for certain sectors or companies to the detriment of others;

Or. es

Amendment 51

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the environment and digitalisation;

Or. fr

Amendment 52

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the environment and digitalisation;

Or. it

Amendment 53

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to and substantially benefit all of the EU’s policies, with effective and ambitious environmental and digital policies at the core of a successful competition policy; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal;

Or. en

Amendment 54

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy is a key instrument for all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the environment and digitalisation;

Or. en

Amendment 55

Lídia Pereira, Regina Doherty

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of the green and digital transition and the renewed approach to the EU Competitiveness Policy; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal;

Or. en

Amendment 56

Pierre Pimpie, Aleksandar Nikolic, Enikő Győri

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. fr

Amendment 57

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should be coherent with the EU’s wider policy choices; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal;

Or. en

Amendment 58

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2. Reiterates that competition policy should contribute to all of the EU’s policies, notably in the fields of industry and digitalisation; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal;

Or. fr

Amendment 59

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 2 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

2 a. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to a new State aid framework to accompany the Clean Industrial Deal; stresses the need for it to help delivering on the European Green Deal, ensuring that decarbonisation and competitiveness go hand in hand without supporting fossil fuels;

Or. en

Amendment 60

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. de

Amendment 61

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness but also from its ability to set common social and environmental standards; highlights that internal and external competitiveness should be the main driver that sustains the strength of the single market, promoting a competitive environment that encourages innovation, reduction of barriers and efficient allocation of resources; reaffirms that common social and environmental standards are important to ensure harmful practices, but those standards should be proportionate, not excessively restrictive and designed so that they do not compromise the competitiveness of the single market; emphasises, similarly, the need to ensure those standards allow sufficient flexibility for States to be able to adapt them according to the context, without imposing unnecessary burdens on companies;

Or. es

Amendment 62

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness but also from its ability to set common social and environmental standards which do not negatively affect the competitiveness of European companies, in particular micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; stresses, in this regard, the increasing administrative burden on businesses; calls for a simplification that goes beyond the elimination of administrative duplication to also offer the possibility to remove regulatory requirements affecting competitiveness;

Or. fr

Amendment 63

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness but also from its ability to set common standards; highlights the need for the Commission to balance Green Deal priorities with the application of fundamental competition principles, ensuring that both objectives are advanced effectively without undermining the integrity of the EU single market;

Or. en

Amendment 64

Pierre Pimpie, Enikő Győri, Auke Zijlstra

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness and from its ability to promote cross-border business activity, in particular of SMEs, by simplifying standards;

Or. fr

Amendment 65

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness but also from its openness and ability to set high competition standards in newly created markets following global technological developments;

Or. en

Amendment 66

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives from its internal and external competitiveness;

Or. fr

Amendment 67

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness, but also from its ability to set competition rules that allow for a high level of common social and environmental standards;

Or. en

Amendment 68

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness but also from its ability to set social standards and deliver on territorial cohesion;

Or. it

Amendment 69

Fernand Kartheiser

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 70

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3. Emphasises that the global strength and importance of the EU single market derives not only from its internal and external competitiveness but also from its ability to set common standards;

Or. en

Amendment 71

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 a. Taking note of the widespread negative impact of growing market concentration; supports an efficient and vigorous application of competition rules and the introduction of a cross-Commission mandate to tackle the harmful concentration of economic power and control in the EU, including in capital markets; notes that this should include greater coordination and coherence of competition, trade, industrial, data protection, digital, labour, consumer protection and tax policies and effective enforcement of the related tools;

Or. en

Amendment 72

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 a. Supports the principle that the use of public money should entail public ownership and control; calls for priority to be given to public investment that enables public ownership and control over strategic company decisions such as closures, production cuts and relocations, rather than the use of subsidies as State aid;

Or. en

Amendment 73

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 a. Underlines that one of the EU’s largest vulnerabilities is its dependency on imported raw materials and energy; thus a more ambitious circular economy policy as well as the reuse and uptake of existing materials, especially critical raw materials, are essential cornerstones for European competitiveness;

Or. en

Amendment 74

Billy Kelleher, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 a. Stresses that the competitiveness and growth of the internal market cannot be considered in a vacuum as it depends greatly on the competitiveness of the EU vis-a-vis its global competitors; urges policy makers to take due account of international regulatory and market developments;

Or. en

Amendment 75

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3a. Calls on the Commission, with a view to protecting the single market from damaging practices, to strengthen competition enforcement tools to ensure that companies abide by competition rules and that violations are sanctioned properly;

Or. it

Amendment 76

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 a. Underlines the key role of the European Competition Network (ECN) as a forum to foster collaboration and cooperation among European competition authorities; calls on the Commission to strive for continued constructive dialogue and cooperation at international level;

Or. en

Amendment 77

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3a. Highlights that the political independence of national competition authorities should be ensured so that they function according to the principle of impartiality and with the sole aim of ensuring the proper functioning of the markets;

Or. es

Amendment 78

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3a. Believes that to prevent unfair competition inside and outside the EU, unfair circumvention practices and the migration of corporate headquarters to 'European tax havens' must be tackled;

Or. it

Amendment 79

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 b. Points out that in a globalised world, international cooperation is crucial to ensure effective competition enforcement; stresses that dedicated cooperation agreements with third countries in the area of competition policy can meaningfully contribute to the effectiveness of competition policy; calls on the Commission to develop the influence of competition policy in the world, in particular by stepping up cooperation with third countries via second generation cooperation agreements that allow for a more effective exchange of information between competition authorities;

Or. en

Amendment 80

Billy Kelleher, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3 b. Welcomes the Commission's commitment to simplifying the EU acquis and cutting red-tape and welcomes the establishment of the internal Project Groups to deliver on the political priorities; believes that this could have a significant contribution to boosting the EU's competitiveness; stresses, however, that we must proceed with simplification in a manner that does not cut our climate change ambitions or undermine our international commitments;

Or. en

Amendment 81

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 3 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

3b. Reiterates that if it is to have a competition policy that ensures that companies can compete on a level playing field, Europe must be protected from unfair trade practices by third countries;

Or. it

Amendment 82

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Supports the Commission’s commitment to investing in sustainable competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s emphasis on innovation, investments, market integration, decarbonisation and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s focus on integration, autonomy and solidarity; encourages policies that promote innovation and sustainable and inclusive growth; rejects the promotion of competitiveness in terms of cost competitiveness, as this has in the past led to the implementation of socially damaging reforms that undermine workers' bargaining power and wage demands;

Or. en

Amendment 83

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Notes that Europe is an increasingly small actor on the global scale and Member States alone cannot thrive, therefore concerted EU level effort is more important than ever; Supports the Commission’s commitment to investing in sustainable competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s emphasis on innovation, investments, market integration, decarbonisation and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s focus on integration, autonomy and solidarity; encourages policies that promote innovation and sustainable and inclusive growth;

Or. en

Amendment 84

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Calls on the Commission to invest in competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s emphasis on innovation, investments, decarbonisation and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s focus on integration, autonomy and solidarity; encourages policies that promote innovation and sustainable and inclusive growth;

Or. fr

Amendment 85

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 86

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Supports the Commission’s commitment to investing in competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s emphasis on innovation, investments, market integration and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s focus on integration, autonomy and solidarity; encourages policies that promote innovation and sustainable and inclusive growth;

Or. it

Amendment 87

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Supports the Commission’s commitment to boosting the EU's competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s diagnosis regarding innovation, investments, market integration, decarbonisation and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s diagnosis regarding market integration; encourages policies that promote innovation and economic growth in the EU;

Or. es

Amendment 88

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 89

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. fr

Amendment 90

Fernand Kartheiser

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Supports the Commission’s commitment to investing in competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s emphasis on innovation, investments, market integration, decarbonisation and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s focus on integration, autonomy and solidarity; encourages policies that promote innovation and sustainable and inclusive growth;

Or. en

Amendment 91

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4. Supports the Commission’s commitment to investing in sustainable competitiveness; welcomes Mario Draghi’s emphasis on innovation, investments, market integration and resilience, and Enrico Letta’s focus on integration, autonomy and solidarity; encourages policies that promote innovation and sustainable and inclusive growth;

Or. fr

Amendment 92

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 4 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

4 a. Underlines that streamlining legislation and reducing administrative burden are essential steps in supporting competitiveness;

Or. en

Amendment 93

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, and cautions against allowing market integration through mergers;

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness and decarbonisation; notes that this must not result in market dominance nor market concentration which facilitates abuses of dominance and unfair practices thereof, and cautions against allowing market integration through mergers; underlines further that industrial policy must also advance the public interest by tying public funding to social and environmental conditionalities that ensure worker protection, workers’ rights, sustainability and economic resilience; notes that these should include clawback provisions and strict limitations on share buybacks and dividend payments;

Or. en

Amendment 94

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof; notes that that boost should not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, while stressing that intervention in the event of abuses should be limited to obvious anti-competitive practices such as monopolies and cartels; cautions against allowing market integration through mergers, while stressing that these should be assessed on the basis of their actual impact on competition and consumer welfare and not be viewed in an overall negative light, provided they do no harm to general market competitiveness or consumer interests;

Or. es

Amendment 95

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this can not be done at the expense of European consumers through a relaxation of market dominance or abuse standards in EU competition policy; reiterates that the highest competition standards and the necessary scale up of European firms can be both be reinforced thorough an effective deepening of the single market making it the relevant market for all sectors;

Or. en

Amendment 96

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for coordinated and targeted industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, price distortion or economic inefficiencies; cautions against uncoordinated and solely national industrial policy; stresses the need to act against unfair and unequal competition from third countries;

Or. en

Amendment 97

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for national industrial policies and synergies between Member States to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in abuse of market dominance, and cautions against allowing market integration through mergers;

Or. fr

Amendment 98

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness while safeguarding internal competition and small players within the single market; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, and cautions against allowing market integration through mergers;

Or. en

Amendment 99

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof;

Or. en

Amendment 100

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof;

Or. en

Amendment 101

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for a new sustainable industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, and cautions against allowing market integration through mergers;

Or. en

Amendment 102

Jonás Fernández

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for a truly European industrial policy to boost competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, and cautions against allowing market integration through mergers;

Or. en

Amendment 103

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in the abuse of a dominant market position; there points to the need of effective merger control procedures;

Or. en

Amendment 104

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5. Underlines the need for industrial policy to boost European competitiveness; notes that this must not result in market dominance or abuse thereof, and calls for market integration through mergers to be watched closely;

Or. it

Amendment 105

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5 a. Underlines the importance of the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) for financing large transnational projects and achieving the EU’s strategic priorities, but deplores the process and time required as being too burdensome for SMEs; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that any notification is completed within six months at the latest;

Or. en

Amendment 106

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5a. Stresses the importance of cutting energy costs with a view to protecting the EU's competitiveness, encouraging the use of alternative sources such as state-of-the-art nuclear energy;

Or. it

Amendment 107

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 5 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

5b. Stresses the importance of a policy designed to make the EU more energy efficient, with a view to boosting competitiveness and reducing the continent's excessive dependence on third countries, favouring state aid within reasonable limits in strategic sectors such as thermal insulation, renewable energy sources and the optimisation of industrial processes;

Or. it

Amendment 108

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 109

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 110

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6. Takes note of the Commission’s report asserting that market concentration, markups and profits have increased over the past 25 years, while industry dynamism has decreased, despite the active enforcement of competition law; emphasises that the increase in market concentration, markups and profits does not necessarily indicate market dysfunction, recalling that these may reflect improvements in efficiency, innovation and economies of scale achieved by companies; considers that the decrease in industry dynamism could be more related to excessive regulatory intervention restricting companies' ability to adapt and compete in a global market; calls on the Commission to review the regulatory framework in order to promote a flexible and competitive environment that lets companies innovate and grow without unnecessary restrictions and burdens; recalls that the enforcement of competition law should focus on ensuring open, competitive markets free from anti-competitive practices, without any unnecessary intervention in the natural market dynamics;

Or. es

Amendment 111

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6. Takes note of the Commission’s report asserting that market concentration, markups and profits have increased over the past 25 years, while industry dynamism has decreased; takes also note that mergers and acquisitions by leading firms have likely contributed to the observed rise in mark-ups and concentration; notes further that weak levels of competition have had significant negative impacts on consumers, purchasing power, and on the competitiveness of EU firms and overall economic growth;

Or. en

Amendment 112

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6. Takes note of the Commission’s report asserting that market concentration, markups and profits have increased over the past 25 years, while industry dynamism has significantly decreased, despite the active enforcement of competition law;

Or. fr

Amendment 113

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6. Is deeply concerned about the Commission’s report asserting that market concentration, markups and profits have increased over the past 25 years, while industry dynamism has decreased, despite the active enforcement of competition law;

Or. en

Amendment 114

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6 a. Supports that competition policy has a key role to play in addressing and mitigating the disruptions that lead to the cost of living crisis across the EU; underlines in this context that as a response to more frequent supply shocks deriving from geopolitical tensions and the climate and environmental crises, firms coordinate price hikes in order to protect and even increase profit margins propagating these shocks; considers that while the impact of monetary policy might be more limited when dealing with such supply driven disruptions, targeted and coordinated antitrust enforcement might be more effective;

Or. en

Amendment 115

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6a. Stresses the importance of providing better protection for small and medium-sized companies and, in general, for all companies that are willing to increase their venture capital;

Or. it

Amendment 116

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6 b. Calls in this respect on the European Commission to assess how antitrust rules apply on price increases in the context of bottlenecks and develop a framework for enforcement in case of unfair pricing; recalls Commissioner Ribera's commitment to the issuance of guidelines on assessing and addressing exploitative abuses by dominant undertakings to make enforcement of Article 102 TFEU more effective;

Or. en

Amendment 117

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6b. Calls, with a view to ensuring that a uniform and coherent approach is applied throughout the EU, for improved transparency and cooperation between national authorities and the Commission in the application of competition rules;

Or. it

Amendment 118

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 6 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

6c. Stresses the need for an accurate analysis of State aid, in particular for companies in strategic sectors such as energy, technology and innovation; stresses the importance of ensuring that State aid is effective in farming, logistics and transport;

Or. it

Amendment 119

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 120

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; considers that use of State aid for industrial purposes distorts the market by favouring certain sectors or companies to the detriment of others, which may lead to inefficiencies and discourage innovation and competition; notes the divergence in State aid in the EU, which creates an uneven playing field, which distorts the market; calls on the Commission to monitor these effects and correct them; advises the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy competition that only increases market distortions, often favouring companies that are inefficient, and instead propose measures that encourage the competitiveness of the single market; concludes that temporary State aid frameworks have failed to prevent further fragmentation and underlines that this demonstrates a need for less State intervention in the market; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring, in order to enhance State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors, as well as reduce company dependence on State aid and promote competition in the single market;

Or. es

Amendment 121

Regina Doherty, Lídia Pereira, Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; notes the divergent fiscal capacities of Member States and warns that fragmented State aid creates an uneven playing field; calls on the Commission to monitor these effects; stresses that the dilution of EU State aid rules that has occurred in recent years created huge imbalances in the single market, particularly in the area of financial State aid; highlights that financial subsidies are an expensive and often inefficient way to support big market players mainly at the expense of true competition and innovation; recalls that financial subsidies only benefit those Member States that have the resources to spend large amounts of money; calls on the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy competition; concludes that temporary State aid frameworks have failed to prevent further fragmentation; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring and enhanced State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors;

Or. en

Amendment 122

Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Notes with concern that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; recalls that such aid, as permitted under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU, must not adversely affect trading conditions or the common interest; notes the divergent fiscal capacities of Member States and warns that fragmented State aid creates an uneven playing field; calls on the Commission to monitor these effects; calls on the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy competition; concludes that temporary State aid frameworks have failed to prevent further fragmentation; calls for aid to be extended through the EU budget, rather than in potentially uncoordinated national state aid; notes with concern that only two Member States accounted for 77%5aof State aid notified under the temporary crisis framework; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring and enhanced State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors;

_________________

5a State aid in the wake of the pandemic, war and foreign subsidies - Author: Marcin Cesluk-Grajewski Members' Research Service PE 747.106 – April 2023

Or. en

Amendment 123

Enikő Győri, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 124

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; notes the divergent fiscal capacities of Member States; calls on the Commission and Member States to use all means to support European industries; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring and enhanced State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors;

Or. fr

Amendment 125

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 126

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; notes the divergent fiscal capacities of Member States and warns that fragmented State aid creates an uneven playing field within the single market; calls on the Commission to ensure the integrity of the single market; calls on the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy competition; concludes that temporary State aid frameworks have failed to prevent further fragmentation; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring and enhanced State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors;

Or. en

Amendment 127

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; recalls that several cases of State aid in the recent past have been obvious failures and refers by way of example to the Northvolt case in Dithmarschen; notes the divergent fiscal capacities of Member States and warns that fragmented State aid creates an uneven playing field; calls on the Commission to monitor these effects; calls on the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy competition; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring and enhanced State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors;

Or. de

Amendment 128

Jonás Fernández

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 129

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; notes the divergent fiscal capacities of Member States and warns that an uneven approach to granting of State aid may create an uneven playing field across the single market; calls on the Commission to monitor these effects; calls on the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy race;

Or. en

Amendment 130

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7. Points out that State aid is increasingly used to support industrial policy objectives; notes the divergent fiscal abilities of Member States and warns that fragmented State aid creates an uneven playing field; calls on the Commission to monitor these effects; calls on the Commission and Member States not to engage in a subsidy competition; concludes that temporary State aid frameworks have failed to prevent further fragmentation; calls for stricter State aid notification monitoring and enhanced State aid reporting and transparency in line with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors;

Or. en

Amendment 131

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 a. Stresses that competition policy should not be an obstacle to the implementation of an active industrial strategy; calls on Member States and the Union to pursue an active industrial policy underpinned by strong public investment to fight social and regional inequality, decarbonise industry and bolster autonomy in key economic sectors, while contributing globally to even and sustainable economic development; calls for a coordinated flexibilisation of State aid rules and the introduction of a dedicated permanent European solidarity funds to counterbalance uneven industrial support and development across Member States;

Or. en

Amendment 132

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 a. Points out that State aid policy continues to support fossil fuels; reiterates the 8th Environmental Action Plan to phase out environmentally harmful subsidies, in particular fossil fuel subsidies; takes note of key recommendations 4 and 5 in the Assessment report 2024 of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change report, in particular the recommendation that EU rules affecting state aid for companies should become more consistent with EU climate goals; calls for increased ambition to exclude direct and indirect financial assistance to fossil fuels from eligibility for support under State aid policy;

Or. en

Amendment 133

Evelyn Regner, Irene Tinagli, Lara Wolters

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 a. Highlights that the current State aid framework often restricts public intervention in the housing market, limiting Member States´ ability to directly fund social and affordable housing projects; stresses that the State aid regime must be adapted to reflect the public good provided by affordable housing and enable more targeted investments in social and affordable housing, such changes would empower Member States to better address local and regional housing shortages and facilitate long-term affordability;

Or. en

Amendment 134

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7a. Stresses the importance of State aid as a tool to close the economic gap between more developed EU regions and island areas, inland areas, outermost regions and economically depressed areas and all areas of the EU at a disadvantage owing to natural factors; calls for more flexibility and fewer constraints on State aid for the EU's island and more vulnerable regions;

Or. it

Amendment 135

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 a. Welcomes the protection of the level-playing field on European markets and European companies and their workers by anti-dumping measures that correct for distortive foreign State aid; cautions import duties should be raised by no more than the subsidies and to prevent retaliation and so-called tariff wars;

Or. en

Amendment 136

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 b. Considers that long term EU competitiveness and resilience requires the integration of climate and environmental considerations in the EU competition policy framework; underlines the need for environmental mainstreaming in State aid policy through inclusion of climate and environmental conditionalities in State aid policy; supports that such conditions should systematically include the meaningful implementation of the "Do No Significant Harm" principle to safeguard against potential negative climate and environmental effects of any aid;

Or. en

Amendment 137

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 b. Considers that any State aid granted should be consistent with EU policy objectives such as the Green Deal and the Pillar of Social Rights; calls for companies that engage in tax avoidance using third-country tax havens to be excluded from public procurement procedures and barred from receiving State aid, as these companies are competing under unfair conditions with companies established in non-tax havens; calls on the Commission to investigate the lack of harmonisation of clawback mechanisms in Member States;

Or. en

Amendment 138

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7b. Calls for periodic revision of EU competition policies to ensure that they can meet the challenges of the global market, new technology and consumer needs, and with a view to making measures more effective;

Or. it

Amendment 139

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7 c. Underlines the importance of the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) for financing projects within the Union with a cross-border dimension; stresses that IPCEIs should have genuine European added value, which means that they should have a positive impact on more than one Member State;

Or. en

Amendment 140

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 7 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

7c. Calls for coordination between national competition authorities to be stepped up with a view to their streamlining and to ensure that competition rules are applied in a uniform manner throughout the EU;

Or. it

Amendment 141

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 142

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 143

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that an additional sum of around EUR 800 billion per year may be needed; considers that competitiveness should not depend on more public investment, but rather on a competitive and regulatory environment that fosters market efficiency and lets companies freely innovate and compete; emphasises that the private sector is the main driver of investment and economic growth and that an expansion of public investment may lead to inefficiencies and discourage competition; acknowledges that public investment can play a complementary role, but stresses that State intervention should be limited and not replace private investment; considers that achieving the capital markets union is of vital importance to obtain the necessary private investments; advocates a policy that focuses on reducing regulatory barriers, promoting market liberalisation and letting the private sector take on a more proactive role in investment;

Or. es

Amendment 144

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi's assessment that an urgent increase in productivity and financial capacity is needed to protect our EU competitiveness; acknowledges the urgent need for reforms alongside the effective implementation of the three pillars of the Draghi report: (i) closing the innovation gap with the US and China; (ii) a common plan for decarbonisation and competitiveness to accelerate the transition and reduce energy costs; and (iii) enhancing security and reducing dependencies. Progress on these pillars will also depend on cross-cutting and interlinked factors for competitiveness and inclusive growth - deepening the single market, simplification, developing skills and quality jobs, financing investment and improving coordination;

Or. en

Amendment 145

Billy Kelleher, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of considerable public and private investment in this context; considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity to be vital; regards the Commission's highly anticipated strategy for a Savings and Investments Union, as well as the retail investment strategy, to be crucial for encouraging and mobilising private investment and urges the colegislators to remain ambitious and to make swift progress on these initiatives;

Or. en

Amendment 146

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of public and private investment in this context; emphasizes that unlocking private investment at the necessary scale will require a significant reduction in the private cost of capital, which fiscal incentives and improved capital market efficiency can help achieve6a;considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity to be vital;

_________________

6a The future of European competitiveness Part B | In-depth analysis and recommendations,Chapter 3-Sustaining Investment. p-283.

Or. en

Amendment 147

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of public investment in this context; considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity to be vital; takes the view that the Commission and the Member States must specify how that extraordinary financial need can be covered and what contribution will be required from individual Member States;

Or. it

Amendment 148

Lídia Pereira

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of sustainable public investment in this context; considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity to be vital; underlines the importance of private investment to boost competitiveness and considers that is urgent to launch the Savings and Investments Union, completing the Capital Markets Union;

Or. en

Amendment 149

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of public and private investment in this context; stresses that additional public and private investment will be needed to address the fragmentation of the internal market, support the EU’s industrial strategy, reduce our critical dependencies and ensure our open strategic autonomy;

Or. en

Amendment 150

Anouk Van Brug, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of both public and private investment in this context; stresses that the completion of the Capital Markets Union is key to unlocking the potential of private capital in this regard;

Or. en

Amendment 151

Enikő Győri, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 152

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of public investment in this context; considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity to be vital for completing the twin green and digital transitions;

Or. en

Amendment 153

Pierre Pimpie, Aleksandar Nikolic, Enikő Győri

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of a necessary synergy between public and private investments in this context; considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity to be vital;

Or. fr

Amendment 154

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; acknowledges the importance of public investment in this context; considers the introduction of a permanent EU investment capacity, under the control of the Member States, to be vital;

Or. fr

Amendment 155

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8. Takes note of Mario Draghi’s estimate that, in order to protect our EU competitiveness, an additional EUR 800 billion per year is needed; points out that these investments should primarily be privately financed and must be backed up by public investment, particularly in infrastructure and education;

Or. de

Amendment 156

Regina Doherty, Lídia Pereira, Dirk Gotink, Michalis Hadjipantela

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8 a. Stresses that competitiveness is not a challenge that will be solved by new money alone; stresses that the EU cannot spend its way out of relative decline; calls on the Commission and all Member States to take action and implement legal and administrative reforms that enhance competitiveness, promote innovation and dynamism, streamline bureaucracy, reduce costs and regulatory burdens for innovators, simplify reporting requirements, create an investment-friendly climate in Europe, increase trading opportunities with third countries, tackle goldplating, and improve supervisory cooperation between Member States; rejects any move towards increased EU protectionism;

Or. en

Amendment 157

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8 a. Notes that the international environment needs to be carefully analysed when deciding on the definition of the relevant market in competition and merger control cases; deplores that, in the past, the Commission has sometimes taken a too narrow perspective of the relevant market thus depriving European companies of the opportunity to effectively compete in a globalised arena;

Or. en

Amendment 158

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8a. Calls on the Commission, with a view to furthering the interconnection of the European single market, to complete the cross-border sections of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T);

Or. it

Amendment 159

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 8 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

8 a. Observes changes in business practices, highlighting a decline in cartel cases alongside a shift toward new forms of harmful conduct like tacit collusion and algorithmic collusion, and emphasizes the need to align enforcement priorities with this evolving landscape;

Or. en

Amendment 160

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Subheading 3 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Calls on the Commission to complete and apply the European unitary patent system and the case-law of the Unified Patent Court;

Or. it

Amendment 161

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Subheading 3 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Stresses the importance of EU legislation with regard to the recognition of geographical indications for artisanal and industrial products;

Or. it

Amendment 162

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. it

Amendment 163

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 164

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for a ‘new competition tool’ as a flexible market investigation tool designed to address structural competition problems by lowering entry barriers for competitors, with the aim of increasing competitiveness, incentivising innovation and protecting vulnerable consumers; further highlights that, in today’s data-driven economy, interoperability, data portability, and fair access to key data resources are essential to address strong network effects and exclusive control over data, enabling broader participation across market levels7a;

_________________

7a The future of European competitiveness Part B | In-depth analysis and recommendations,Chapter 3-Sustaining Investment. p-283.

Or. en

Amendment 165

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for a ‘new competition tool’ as a flexible market investigation tool designed to address competition problems that are not the result of anti-competitive agreements or abuse of dominance and to impose market-wide forward- looking structural or behavioural remedies, including by lowering entry barriers for competitors and divestitures, with the aim of increasing competitiveness, incentivising innovation and protecting vulnerable consumers; considers that this tool should apply to all sectors;

Or. en

Amendment 166

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for a ‘new competition tool’ as a flexible market investigation tool designed to address structural competition problems by lowering entry barriers for competitors, with the aim of increasing competitiveness, incentivising innovation and protecting vulnerable consumers; invites the European Commission to analyse how Mario Draghi's ‘new competition tool’ fits with the existing framework for sector inquiries;

Or. en

Amendment 167

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 168

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9a. Takes the view that the characteristics and operational modalities of this investigative tool must be furthered by setting clear activation criteria and giving it the capacity to suggest possible measures to prevent anti-competitive practices;

Or. it

Amendment 169

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9a. Calls on the Commission to introduce tariffs for third countries that do not meet European quality, environment or worker protection standards;

Or. it

Amendment 170

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9b. Points out that in some Member States, to address the structural problems that some markets face, including in the absence of specific practices that breach anti-trust rules, national legislators have introduced, through the amendment of existing national competition laws, a new investigative tool, granting national competition authorities the power to adopt structural and behavioural measures, when at the conclusion of market investigations the existence of significant and long-lasting distortions of the proper functioning of the markets under investigation is established;

Or. it

Amendment 171

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 9 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

9b. Calls on the Commission to complete the reform of the European Customs Code with a view to harmonising checks among Member States, stepping up anti-counterfeiting and anti-fraud activities;

Or. it

Amendment 172

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 173

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 174

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 175

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10. Recalls that under the Treaty, the Commission is empowered to address exploitative abuses;

Or. de

Amendment 176

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10. Recalls that under the Treaty, the Commission is empowered to address exploitative abuses; maintains that prioritising exploitative abuses of consumers could help to directly address price hikes caused by profit-driven inflation or greedflation; regrets that exploitative cases have seldom been pursued by the Commission and asks for the relevant guidelines to be updated with due regard to consumer vulnerability; condemns the abuse of market power by corporations implicit in greedflation leading to higher levels of inflation and exacerbating the cost of living crisis; calls on Member States and the Commission to introduce permanent and general windfall taxes and to reform competition law in order to enable competition authorities to investigate and intervene systematically at sectoral level with unfair price hikes;

Or. en

Amendment 177

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. es

Amendment 178

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 179

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10. Recalls that under the Treaty, the Commission is empowered to address exploitative abuses; maintains that prioritising exploitative abuses of consumers, especially by entities enjoying a situation of a dominant position, could help to directly address price hikes caused by profit-driven inflation or greedflation; regrets that exploitative cases have seldom been pursued by the Commission and asks for the relevant guidelines to be updated with due regard to consumer vulnerability;

Or. en

Amendment 180

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. it

Amendment 181

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10. Recalls that under the Treaty, the Commission is empowered to address exploitative abuses; calls on the Commission to closely monitor, along with the national competition authorities, the consequences of anticompetitive conduct and its role in inflation developments ; regrets that exploitative cases have seldom been pursued by the Commission and asks for the relevant guidelines to be updated with due regard to consumer vulnerability;

Or. en

Amendment 182

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10 a. Notes the preliminary findings of the investigation AT.40670 Google - Adtech and Data-related practices and welcomes the identification of mandatory divestments as the proportionate and effective means of addressing the inherent conflict of interest at the core of Google's Adtech business;

Or. en

Amendment 183

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10 b. Underlines that the Digital Markets Acts and the Digital Services Act are essential steps towards a harmonised, fair and competitive digital single market; asks the Commission to ensurethat the they are fully enforced and that sufficient Commission staff and resources are assigned for this task;

Or. en

Amendment 184

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 10 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

10 c. Acknowledges that issuers, investors, and pension savers are harmed because of the exploitation of market power and lack of competition in the capital markets infrastructure which reduces the overall efficiency and increases the costs thereof;

Or. en

Amendment 185

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11. Acknowledges the existence of a legal base for structural remedies against the abuse of market dominance; regrets the reluctance of the Commission to address market dominance through structural remedies; reiterates its invitation to make better use of structural remedies and end the primacy given to behavioural remedies;

deleted

Or. es

Amendment 186

Pierre Pimpie, Enikő Győri, Auke Zijlstra

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. fr

Amendment 187

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11. Acknowledges the existence of a legal base for structural remedies against the abuse of market dominance; regrets the reluctance of – and calls for more decisiveness from – the Commission when it comes to addressing market dominance through structural remedies; reiterates its invitation to make better use of structural remedies and end the primacy given to behavioural remedies; calls on the Commission to apply structural remedies in cases of that kind, as opposed to short-term behavioural remedies, ensuring that competition rules are more effective;

Or. it

Amendment 188

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11. Acknowledges the existence of a legal base for structural remedies against the abuse of market dominance;

Or. de

Amendment 189

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11. Acknowledges the existence of a legal base for structural remedies against the abuse of market dominance; welcomes recent developments where the Commission has, under certain conditions, considered structural remedies to address repeated anti-competitive practices, and encourages further efforts to strengthen their application when necessary;

Or. en

Amendment 190

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11. Acknowledges the existence of a legal base for structural remedies against the abuse of market dominance; stresses that structural remedies should only be used as a last resort and only if behavioural remedies have proven ineffective;

Or. en

Amendment 191

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11. Acknowledges the existence of a legal base for behavioural remedies against the abuse of market dominance; regrets the reluctance of the Commission to address market dominance through behavioural remedies that differ from one Member State to the next; reiterates its invitation to make better use of structural remedies and end the primacy given to behavioural remedies;

Or. it

Amendment 192

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11 a. Underlines the key role of the European Competition Network (ECN); calls on the Commission to strive for continued constructive dialogue and cooperation at international level; underlines the need to increase collaboration between antitrust and other sectoral regulators, such as those dealing with data privacy, to both supervise corporate data misuse and prevent companies from using consumer data to gain an unfair competitive advantage;

Or. en

Amendment 193

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11 a. Calls on the Commission to make better use of the instrument of interim measures to stop any practice which would seriously harm competition, particularly in relation to dynamic and rapidly developing markets such as digital markets;

Or. en

Amendment 194

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 11 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

11 b. Calls on the Commission to make greater use of additional evidential tools such as behavioural insights and financial analytics, as well as greater use of data, computer, and AI scientists as well as behavioural economists in competition law enforcement;

Or. en

Amendment 195

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12. Welcomes the priority given to housing by the new Commission; calls on the Commission to assess how EU competition principles affect the supply of services of general economic interest (SGEI); calls for an SGEI revision that expands the exemption for affordable housing to middle-income households; calls on the Commission to assess the position of social services of general interest;

deleted

Or. es

Amendment 196

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12. Welcomes the priority given to housing by the new Commission, but in this context draws attention to the principle of subsidiarity and points out that the competence of the Member States, regions, cities and municipalities must be respected;

Or. de

Amendment 197

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12. Welcomes the priority given to housing by the new Commission; calls on the Commission to assess how EU competition principles affect the supply of housing;

Or. en

Amendment 198

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12. Welcomes the priority given to housing by the new Commission; calls on the Commission to assess how EU competition principles affect the supply of services of general economic interest (SGEI);

Or. en

Amendment 199

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12. Welcomes the priority given to housing by the new Commission; calls on the Commission to assess how EU competition principles affect the supply of services of general economic interest (SGEI); calls on the Commission to assess the position of social services of general interest;

Or. en

Amendment 200

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12. Welcomes the priority given to housing by the new Commission; calls on the Commission to assess how EU competition principles affect the supply of services of general economic interest (SGEI); calls on the Commission to assess the position of social services of general interest and the possible SGEI revision for affordable housing;

Or. en

Amendment 201

Regina Doherty, Lídia Pereira, Dirk Gotink, Michalis Hadjipantela

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 a. Welcomes the priority given by the European Commission to reduce the burden on businesses of legally mandated reporting requirements by 25% and 35% for SMEs; calls for this priority to be implemented across all sectors; calls for all new Commission proposals to be assessed on the basis of whether or not they improve EU competitiveness, including with robust impact assessments;

Or. en

Amendment 202

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 a. Recalls that allowing State aid in the context of services of general economic interest (SGEIs) remains essential for the survival of several communities across Europe, especially in the context of state support dedicated to the connectivity and other basic provisions of services for communities residing in isolated, remote or peripheral regions of the Union;

Or. en

Amendment 203

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 a. Welcomes the upcoming review on the public procurement directive; calls on the Commission to modernise the public procurement rules to help foster green and digital industry; calls on the Commission to take into account the sustainability and sovereignty criteria for public procurement rules in order to foster the production of goods ‘made in Europe’;

Or. en

Amendment 204

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12a. Calls for respect for the primacy of the economic interests of the Member States and the Union over normative considerations when they conflict in such a way that the latter seriously jeopardise the former, as can be seen in the context of the crisis that our automotive industry is experiencing;

Or. fr

Amendment 205

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 a. Calls on the Commission to issue clear public guidelines for how companies can cooperate and participate in joint procurement without running afoul of competition rules, especially concerning cooperation on environmental and sustainability objectives;

Or. en

Amendment 206

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 a. Stresses that State aid should not amount to a transfer of public wealth to private shareholders; calls for a ban on the distribution of dividends to shareholders and bonuses to upper management in companies receiving State aid;

Or. en

Amendment 207

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 b. Stresses that the purpose of State aid is not to serve the private interests of companies but to support and guide sustainable industrial development in the public interest; calls on Member States to attach social conditionalities to the provision of State aid with the objective of fostering good working conditions and pay, labour participation and collective bargaining rights and the maintenance and creation of new jobs and apprenticeships;

Or. en

Amendment 208

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 b. Takes note of the recent Court of Justice of the European Union ruling on finding that Estonia has failed to transpose the ECN+ Directive into national legislation; urges Estonia to transpose the ECN+ Directive fully; calls on all Member States to ensure a proper implementation of this Directive;

Or. en

Amendment 209

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 c. Calls on Member States to attach environmental conditionalities to the provision of State aid with the objective of promoting a zero-emissions and zero-waste economy as well as the conservation of biodiversity;

Or. en

Amendment 210

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 12 d (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

12 d. Regrets the Commission's in-depth investigations into State aid rules in the cases of the public rail freight operators Fret SNCF and DB Cargo; regrets that the investigations put pressure on the operators to implement restructuration plans, which imply reducing activities and costs in order to comply with market logic whereas freight transport should be a public service; laments that the restructuring has led to the loss of hundreds of jobs in Germany and France; calls on the Commission to consult the trade unions and to guarantee workers' rights in such cases; reminds the Commission of the objectives set by the Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility Strategy under the European Green Deal, which aims to double rail freight transport and reduce overall transport emissions by 90% by 2050; stresses that competition policy should not hinder progress in the green transition, for which rail freight transport is key; calls for a reform of competition rules on these grounds;

Or. en

Amendment 211

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 13

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

13. Notes with concern the General Court’s interpretation of Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation in Case C-611/22 P (Illumina v Commission), rescinding the Commission’s approach of accepting referrals of non-notifiable deals; acknowledges that the EC Merger Regulation leaves the Commission ill-equipped to address killer acquisitions; strongly believes that the impact of merger decisions on the single market warrants the addition of a single market legal base in the EC Merger Regulation, so as to fully involve co-legislators, in a manner similar to that of the Digital Markets Act; encourages the Commission to prompt Member States that have or can claim the relevant jurisdiction to review potential killer acquisitions in the light of their national merger control laws, and to continue to refer those deals in accordance with Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation;

deleted

Or. es

Amendment 212

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 13

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 213

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 13

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

13. Notes the General Court’s interpretation of Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation in Case C-611/22 P (Illumina v Commission), rescinding the Commission’s approach of accepting referrals of non-notifiable deals; highlights that the Commission should always adhere to judicial interpretations in the competition case rulings to avoid further undermining of the effectiveness, predictability and legal certainty that must be guaranteed to the parties to a concentration for the proper functioning of the EU internal market8a; encourages the Commission to prompt Member States that have or can claim the relevant jurisdiction to review potential killer acquisitions in the light of their national merger control laws;

_________________

8a CASE C-611/22 , para 206

Or. en

Amendment 214

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 13

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

13. Notes with concern the General Court’s interpretation of Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation in Case C-611/22 P (Illumina v Commission), rescinding the Commission’s approach of accepting referrals of non-notifiable deals; acknowledges that the EC Merger Regulation does not provide the Commission with sufficient tools to deal with killer acquisitions; strongly believes that the impact of merger decisions on the internal market justifies the inclusion of an internal market legal base in the EC Merger Regulation; calls on the Commission to require Member States that have or can claim the relevant competence to examine potential killer acquisitions in the light of their national merger control laws, and to continue to refer such deals in accordance with Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation;

Or. en

Amendment 215

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 13

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

13. Notes with concern the Court of Justice interpretation of Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation in Case C-611/22 P (Illumina v Commission), rescinding the Commission’s approach of accepting referrals of non-notifiable deals; acknowledges that the EC Merger Regulation leaves the Commission ill-equipped to address killer acquisitions; strongly believes that the impact of merger decisions on the single market warrants the addition of a single market legal base in the EC Merger Regulation, so as to fully involve co-legislators, in a manner similar to that of the Digital Markets Act; encourages the Commission to prompt Member States that have or can claim the relevant jurisdiction to review potential killer acquisitions in the light of their national merger control laws, and to continue to refer those deals in accordance with Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation;

Or. en

Amendment 216

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 13 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

13 a. Notes that despite high-profile investigations, competition policy enforcement and, in particular, merger reviews have been less impactful; notes with concern that since the introduction of the 2004 Merger Regulation, only 0.7% of notified mergers were either blocked by the Commission or withdrawn following an investigation whilst acquisitions by large firms have likely contributed to the increase in market concentration and mark-ups;

Or. en

Amendment 217

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; furthermore calls for matters of public interest, such as climate protection, sustainability and the impact on workers, to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’ with innovation as a key driver of economic growth and considering that corporate concentration, under proper scrutiny, may positively contribute to innovation and competitiveness by combining resources and skills to offer better products and services; furthermore calls for market efficiency to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market; insists that examining concentrations on the internal market should not be based on considerations falling outside economic performance and effective competition, and affirms that State interventions should be minimal and limited to cases where there is a clear risk that concentration might impede effective competition or lead to an abuse of market power that harms consumers;

Or. es

Amendment 218

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’;

Or. de

Amendment 219

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Notes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; furthermore calls for matters of public interest, such as climate protection, sustainability and the impact on workers, media pluralism and privacy, to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market and the existence of anticompetitive practices under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU;

Or. en

Amendment 220

Fernand Kartheiser

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; furthermore calls for matters of public interest, such as climate protection, sustainability, the impact on workers, competitiveness of our markets and autonomy of our industries especially the energy sector to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;

Or. en

Amendment 221

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; furthermore calls for matters of public interest, when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;

Or. en

Amendment 222

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’ in cases a merger increases the ability and incentive to innovate; invites the European Commission to analyse and further develop this concept;

Or. en

Amendment 223

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; furthermore calls for matters of public interest, such as climate protection, sustainability, guarantee of service provision, and the impact on workers, to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;

Or. en

Amendment 224

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence; furthermore calls for disruption risks to the EU economy to be taken into account in DG Competition assessments9a;

_________________

9a The future of European competitiveness Part B | In-depth analysis and recommendations,Chapter 4-Revamping Competition. p-300.

Or. en

Amendment 225

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; calls, therefore, for the ability to be a source of innovation to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;

Or. fr

Amendment 226

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Welcomes Mario Draghi’s proposal for an ‘innovation defence’; furthermore calls for matters of public interest, such as the impact on workers or European strategic independence, to be taken into account when examining the impact of a concentration on the internal market;

Or. fr

Amendment 227

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14 a. Calls the Commission to adopt a forward-looking approach to consolidation in the EU as also proposed by the Draghi and Letta reports, taking into account the strategic importance and pro-competitive impact of scale and favourable investment conditions in certain sectors in driving innovation and long-term competition;

Or. en

Amendment 228

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14 a. Takes note of the proposal for ‘ex post’ merger remedies put forward by the Draghi report; welcomes the consideration of structural remedies while noting that ex post merger control is not a perfect substitute for ex ante merger control, as (partial) reversals of firm integration can present practical difficulties;

Or. en

Amendment 229

Jonás Fernández

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14 a. Asks the Commission to identify the national barriers that may prevent it from considering the European market as the relevant one in mergers analysis; calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal to remove these impediments;

Or. en

Amendment 230

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15. Calls for merger assessment frameworks to be updated to reflect the realities of the digital economy, where market power can be manifested in ways beyond traditional market share; supports the development of advanced methodologies for analysing data-driven dominance and network effects, emphasising the critical role of consumer choice in selecting digital services and devices; encourages the Commission to enhance mechanisms enabling interoperability across services and devices, fostering innovation and competition in the digital ecosystem;

Or. en

Amendment 231

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15. Calls for merger assessment frameworks to be updated to reflect the realities of the digital economy, where market power can be manifested in ways beyond traditional market share; supports the development of new methodologies to analyse data-driven dominance and network effects; supports the Commission in taking more account of the potential harm to competition when assessing mergers where expansion into adjacent markets would have the effect of further strengthening market dominance in the acquiring company’s core market;

Or. en

Amendment 232

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 233

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15. Calls for merger assessment frameworks to be updated to reflect the realities of the digital economy, where market power can be manifested in ways beyond traditional market share in clearly delineated markets; supports the development of new methodologies to analyse data-driven and infrastructural dominance and network effects;

Or. en

Amendment 234

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15. Proposes that merger assessment frameworks be updated to reflect the realities of the digital economy, where market power can be manifested in ways beyond traditional market share; supports the development of new methodologies to analyse data-driven dominance and network effects;

Or. es

Amendment 235

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15 a. Highlights the EU’s future connectivity needs in terms of infrastructure and investments; calls on the Commission to revise mergers guidelines to adopt a more comprehensive assessment of efficiencies in merger control and cooperation; notes that the assessment of horizontal cooperation should also recognize the importance of collaboration in markets dominated by gatekeepers;

Or. en

Amendment 236

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15 a. Calls for the quantitative jurisdictional thresholds in the EU Merger Regulation to be reviewed periodically to reflect new market developments; notes in particular that the turnover thresholds in the Merger regulation alone might not be suitable to detect all cases that should be reviewed by competition authorities;

Or. en

Amendment 237

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 15 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

15 a. Calls for EU merger control to capture practices used by dominant firms to avoid formal investigations, such as the growing use of “partnerships” in the AI sector; where necessary this should involve updating the EC Merger Regulation and related notices and guidelines;

Or. en

Amendment 238

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 16

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies continue to benefit from their anticompetitive practices;

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies continue to benefit from their anticompetitive practices; calls on the Commission introduce a time limit for antitrust cases in order to ensure the effectiveness of EU rules; calls on the Commission to adopt further interim measures to stop any practice which would seriously harm competition, particularly in relation to dynamic and rapidly developing markets such as digital markets;

Or. en

Amendment 239

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 16

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies continue to benefit from their anticompetitive practices;

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies may face prolonged uncertainties that curb their ability to compete and innovate; recalls that excessively long investigations may cause unnecessary costs and discourage investment and dynamism;

Or. es

Amendment 240

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 16

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies continue to benefit from their anticompetitive practices;

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies continue to benefit from their anticompetitive practices and to exercise its powers in full, for instance by resorting more frequently to interim measures;

Or. en

Amendment 241

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 16

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

16. Calls on the Commission to address excessively long antitrust investigations during which companies continue to benefit from their anticompetitive practices;

16. Calls on the Commission to speed up antitrust procedures, set appropriate time limits for the procedures and ensure an effective follow-through of decisions taken;

Or. en

Amendment 242

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 16 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

16 a. Calls on the Commission to make swift use of available trade instruments to prevent unfair competition in the internal market, i.e. through tools such as the ’International Procurement Instrument’ and the ’Foreign Subsidies Regulation’, and maintain a level playing field with foreign companies backed by substantial state subsidies; adds that social and environmental dumping should also be addressed by competition rules;

Or. en

Amendment 243

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 16 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

16 a. Calls for mandatory consultation and participation rights for workers in merger and acquisition decisions;

Or. en

Amendment 244

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Subheading 5 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Calls for more attention to be paid to the digital sector, ensuring that major online platforms and tech giants do not abuse their dominant position; stresses the importance of applying specific rules to prevent the distortion of competition in that area, fostering use by the EU and individual Member States of specific forms of taxation, among other measures;

Or. it

Amendment 245

Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Notes the recent case confirming the Commission’s assertion that the historic Irish tax deal with Apple, in place from 2003 to 2014, was not in line with EU State aid law; acknowledges that the legal framework in Ireland has since changed and the tax arrangement no longer applies; notes also the recent ruling of the CJEU that Google's practices regarding its price comparison service were not in line with EU competition law;

Or. en

Amendment 246

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Points to the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice; recalls that while it is necessary to correct practices that harm the free market, the Commission's focus should be ensuring that the markets remain open, while always respecting the principle of subsidiarity in tax policy; recalls that States should maintain their autonomy to enforce tax policies that promote economic growth, investment and competitiveness in their respective economies;

Or. es

Amendment 247

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark court rulings confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple constitutes illegal State aid and that and that Google abused its dominant position in contravention of the Treaties; encourages the Commission to continue the clamp down on State aid abuses involving selective tax breaks to companies;

Or. en

Amendment 248

Sirpa Pietikäinen

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice; asks the Commission to clarify the existing legislation so that competition-distorting tax benefits are considered illegal;

Or. en

Amendment 249

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice due to granting illegal State aid;

Or. en

Amendment 250

Regina Doherty, Lídia Pereira, Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Notes the two recent CJEU cases concerning, respectively, tax paid by Apple under previous taxation rules dating from before 2007 that are now unlawful, and activities by Google deemed to be anticompetitive;

Or. en

Amendment 251

Fernand Kartheiser

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish tax deal with Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

17. Welcomes the two recent landmark cases confirming the Commission’s assertion that the Irish deal for State Aid provided to Apple and Google constitutes anticompetitive practice;

Or. en

Amendment 252

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 17 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

17 a. Deeply regrets the US presidential Executive Order which asserts that the OECD global tax agreement has “no force or effect within the United States", in effect pulling the US out of negotiations; stresses the importance of multilateralism to ensure that multinationals pay their fair share of taxation where value is created; highlights that Pillar II of the OECD global tax agreement puts a floor in harmful tax competition, thereby halting the race to the bottom in corporate taxation which has eroded tax revenue, undermined fairness and increased global inequality; takes the view that the EU should fully stand by the Pillar II Directive to prevent a return to unfettered tax competition at the cost of public revenue;

Or. en

Amendment 253

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the worrying market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness, data protection, society and democracy; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power, vertical concentration and market leveraging in digital markets;

18. Points to the market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services and online advertising; acknowledges that such concentrations should not be automatically interpreted as anti-competitive practices, and they may rather reflect the efficiency and ability to innovate of the companies that dominate the sectors; underlines the actual and potential negative impact they may have on European competitiveness, data protection, society and democracy; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power, vertical concentration and market leveraging in digital markets;

Or. es

Amendment 254

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the worrying market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness, data protection, society and democracy; encourages the Commission to build on its efforts in addressing issues specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power, vertical concentration, and market leveraging in digital markets, as demonstrated by the progress made under the DMA. Additionally, calls for opening new investigations in the cloud sector to further ensure fair competition and innovation;

Or. en

Amendment 255

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 256

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the worrying market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness, data protection, society and democracy; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power in hardware and cloud computation layers, vertical concentration, structural influence over the ecosystem of interdependent complements by large incumbents, and prevalent cross-market leveraging in digital markets;

Or. en

Amendment 257

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the worrying market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services, chips and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness, the resilience of supply chains, data protection, society and democracy; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power, vertical concentration, algorithmic manipulation of the digital public sphere, and market leveraging in digital markets;

Or. en

Amendment 258

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the worrying market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness, data protection, society and democracy ensuing from the abuse of the dominant position held by certain market players; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power, vertical concentration and market leveraging in digital markets;

Or. en

Amendment 259

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. en

Amendment 260

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. it

Amendment 261

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market taking into account future innovation potential in its assessments, despite its uncertainty;

Or. en

Amendment 262

Dirk Gotink

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18. Emphasises the worrying market concentrations in various digital markets, such as social media, search engines, artificial intelligence, cloud services, e-commerce and online advertising; underlines the actual and potential negative impact on European competitiveness, data protection, society and democracy; urges the Commission to address issues that are specific to the tech market, including infrastructural power, vertical concentration and market leveraging in digital markets;

Or. en

Amendment 263

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Or. fr

Amendment 264

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 a. Notes that large digital players use their market power, power over consumers, financial resources and data concentration in one market to leverage into another; stresses small players cannot compete with aforementioned factors, which makes European citizens even more dependent on the same small number of non-EU companies and endangers strategic autonomy; calls for increased scrutiny of the leveraging of dominant positions in digital sectors into other sectors and the EU’s strategic autonomy, through revision of the merger guidelines to ensure market leveraging can be scrutinised more effectively;

Or. en

Amendment 265

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 a. Is concerned about the degree of market concentration in the cloud computing sector and about anti-competitive practices related to complex and non-transparent licensing terms or forced bundling, which make it increasingly difficult for customers to switch cloud providers, highlighting the need for a diverse range of providers to foster competition; calls on competition authorities to pay particular attention to these practices likely to harm competition and limit customers’ choices;

Or. en

Amendment 266

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 b. Underlines the crucial role of interoperability for the contestability of markets by lowering switching costs in digital markets and increasing consumer welfare by consumer choice, including the choice for more privacy friendly, sustainable or social alternatives; urges the Commission to progress swiftly on the implementation of the existing interoperability obligations for messaging services under the Digital Markets Act, the existing interoperability obligations for cloud providers under the Data Act and to start work on the review for May 2026; urges the Commission to extend interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act to online social networking services; urges the Commission to review whether the interoperability and data portability obligations for cloud providers are in practice effective and accessible enough to enable easy switching to foster fair competition in cloud markets and opportunities for European SME's; stresses the need for the Commission to include gatekeepers in the AI value chain in the scope of the Digital Markets Act;

Or. en

Amendment 267

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 b. Is also concerned about the rapid development of AI services, which has the potential to result in market concentration; highlights that the Digital Market Act contains several provisions that have to be used to prevent gatekeepers from restricting emerging AI developers such as fair ranking, transparency in advertising, or access to data; calls on the Commission to closely monitor AI services within the Digital Market Act; considers additional designations as core platform services, and act swiftly to address the risk of consumers being forced into using pre-determined AI services on their mobile devices, ensuring that AI systems remain user-selectable and transparent, thereby safeguarding competition and consumer choice;

Or. en

Amendment 268

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 c. Encourages the Commission to use all tools at its disposal to tackle so-called ‘killer acquisitions’ by dominant players, which may affect the contestability and fairness of the digital single market and have a detrimental effect on consumer choice; notes the importance of data, data analytics tools as one of the deterring factors for digital market concentrations and acquisitions in the digital sector; calls for a mandatory opinion of the European Data Protection Board in case of concentrations involving one or more operators in digital sectors on the relevance of datasets for the intended concentration, the personal data the target acquisition processes and the potential impact on the rights to privacy and data protection the intended concentration has; calls on the Commission to tackle non-consensual cross-service data sharing that undermines consumer’s rights to data protection, reinforces data power concentrations and reduces consumers' control over their data; emphasises that lack of GDPR enforcement in Ireland benefits a small number of large digital platforms benefits their competitiveness by tolerating privacy breaches for data collection and thus increasing data concentration;

Or. en

Amendment 269

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 c. Underlines the key role of the European Competition Network (ECN); calls on the Commission to prioritise sustained constructive dialogue and cooperation at international level; underlines the necessity to increase collaboration between antitrust and other sectoral regulators, such as those overseeing data privacy, to effectively supervise corporate data misuse and prevent companies from leveraging consumer data to gain an unfair competitive advantage; welcomes the significant role of national competition authorities (NCAs) in enforcing the Digital Market Act rules and the national legislative initiatives that are being put in place to tackle anti-competitive behaviour of large online platforms in digital sectors; In this regard, stresses the importance of coordinated and homogeneous action that does not undermine the application of the Digital Market Act on the one hand and national competition rules in the digital sectors on the other hand, as outlined in Article 1(6) of the Digital Market Act;

Or. en

Amendment 270

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 d (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 d. Emphasizes the characteristics of digital markets, such as the aggregation and use of data, multi-sided markets, direct and indirect network effects, multihoming, non-monetary switching costs other than pricing, such as the network users have built up, learning costs and users’ platform specific reputation or ratings; Underlines that the power over consumers digital players have driven by the role of data and the role of direct and indirect network effects; welcomes the review of the market definition notice to better assess digital markets and urges the Commission to take into account non-monetary factors, such as the aforementioned factors, in defining digital markets and positions of power on such markets, such as switching costs other than pricing into account when assessing market power;

Or. en

Amendment 271

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 e (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 e. Emphasises that the effects of power concentration in digital markets go beyond hampering competition with other undertakings, but include effects such as power over consumers, potential impact on fundamental rights, privacy and data protection and potential impact on media freedom, society and democracy;

Or. en

Amendment 272

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 f (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 f. Notes the vertically integrated ecosystems of the AI sector, acquired by controlling hardware, data, AI models and distribution; recalls the 2024 Commission call for input and study of the market dynamics in the AI sector, as well as acknowledgement by the Commission that the Union ‘cannot repeat the same mistakes as those with social media and the digital economy’; calls on the Commission to take an ecosystemic approach towards this sector, inter alia by developing and applying new theories of harm to address the further entrenchment of the incumbents in the sector;

Or. en

Amendment 273

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 18 g (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

18 g. Expresses concern regarding growing use of dynamic pricing mechanisms across the Union, in particular for companies with a dominant position; holds that dynamic pricing in markets with inelastic demand poses risks to market fairness, consumer protection, and market integrity; calls upon the Commission to explore regulatory measures against highly adaptive and opaque pricing methods for products with inelastic demand that may lead to excessive and discriminatory pricing;

Or. en

Amendment 274

Fernand Kartheiser

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls for the vigorous enforcement of all competition rules, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the Digital Markets Act, to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition; calls on the Commission to ensure further implementation and enforcement the existing laws as well as a strict evaluation of their effectiveness before the introduction of new legislation;

Or. en

Amendment 275

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls for the vigorous enforcement of all competition rules, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the Digital Markets Act, to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition; calls on the Commission to ban any merger or acquisition for companies that are currently defined as gatekeepers according to Article 3 of the Digital Markets Act;

Or. en

Amendment 276

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls for the vigorous enforcement of all competition rules, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the Digital Markets Act, to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition; countering distortion of competition mechanisms by major online platforms;

Or. it

Amendment 277

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls for the vigorous enforcement of all competition rules, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the Digital Markets Act, to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition and stresses that the Commission should have adequate staff for enforcement;

Or. en

Amendment 278

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls for the vigorous enforcement of all competition rules to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition;

Or. es

Amendment 279

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls for the enforcement of all competition rules to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition;

Or. en

Amendment 280

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19. Calls on the Commission for the vigorous and effective enforcement of all competition rules, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the Digital Markets Act, to address gatekeeper practices and foster contestable markets and fair competition;

Or. en

Amendment 281

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 a. Emphasizes the risk of gatekeepers leveraging their privileged access to AI’s essential inputs such as data, computing infrastructure, cloud and impose unfair conditions or deploy anticompetitive practices to their competitors in order to capture the AI market; stresses the need to careful assess cooperation agreements and mergers between gatekeepers being also AI providers and start-ups to prevent any risk of monopoly in the rapid evolving sector of AI technologies; calls on the Commission to explore the possibility of adding generative AI as a new core platform service under the Digital Market Act;

Or. en

Amendment 282

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 a. Emphasises the importance that Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) are approved on the basis of their likely contribution towards economic spill-over within the EU, the creation of high-quality jobs, as well as the positive impact towards the green and digital transition in the Union;

Or. en

Amendment 283

Francesco Ventola, Denis Nesci, Giovanni Crosetto

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19a. Calls for action to be taken on international taxation, applying the global minimum tax and approving the first pillar of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, or measures inspired by it;

Or. it

Amendment 284

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 a. Calls for the urgent extension of the Digital Market Act to anti-competitive practices in the AI and cloud sectors, including by updating the legislation where necessary;

Or. en

Amendment 285

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 b. Welcomes the commitment of the Commission to properly enforce the Digital Market Aact and notes the six non-compliance procedures launched against some designated gatekeepers; is deeply concerned about potential delays in critical investigations deeply and the capacity of the Commission to respect their "best effort" obligations and to make a decision on the non-compliance procedures in 12 months ; calls on the Commission to conclude those investigations as soon as possible and to issue fines where appropriate;

Or. en

Amendment 286

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 c. Welcomes the first final decision under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation taken in September 2024; stresses the importance of this new tool and the need to launch investigations in due time as 2 in-depth investigations launched under Foreign Subsidies Regulation led to economic operators suspected of unfair foreign subsidies to drop out from public tender and public procurement themselves; calls on the Commission to ensure the adequate and sufficient resources to enforce this Regulation;

Or. en

Amendment 287

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 d (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 d. Welcomes the first two specification proceedings pursuant article 8(2) of the Digital Market Act to assist one designated gatekeeper 1a in complying with its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act and which formalise the regulatory dialogue to ensure effective compliance with Digital Market Act obligations; emphasizes that fostering greater interoperability, including between gatekeepers' services, would provide significant advantages to European businesses and consumers; calls on the Commission to take swift and decisive action to implement and enforce necessary corrective measures;

_________________

1a https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/commission-starts-first-proceedings-specify-apples-interoperability-obligations-under-digital-2024-09-19_en

Or. en

Amendment 288

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 19 e (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

19 e. Welcomes the adoption of the Data Act that allow customers to switch between various cloud data-processing service providers but highlights that additional rules and remedies are also needed to restore fair and equal competition in the European cloud market; regrets that no cloud services provider has been designated as gatekeeper under the Digital Market Act; encourages national competition authorities to investigate anti-competitive practices in the cloud market, including complex licensing terms, forced bundling, and commercial incentives that create long-term dependencies on single cloud vendors; calls on the Commission to propose measures to restrict such practices where they harm competition and limit customer choice; emphasises the need to address discriminatory software licensing practices that create artificial price disadvantages for competing cloud providers;

Or. en

Amendment 289

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 20

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

20. Notes with concern the fragmentation in numerous consumer markets, including financial services, telecoms and household energy, and calls for faster and greater market integration where there are benefits for consumers;

20. Notes with concern the fragmentation in numerous consumer markets and underlines the importance of faster and greater market integration provided that that integration results in clear benefits for consumers; recalls that market integration should not be driven by State interventions that distort the principle of free competition, but rather it should be encouraged within a framework that promotes effective competition, innovation and equal access to services;

Or. es

Amendment 290

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 20

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

20. Notes with concern the fragmentation in numerous consumer markets, including financial services, telecoms and household energy, and calls for both faster and greater market integration where there are benefits for consumers and greater recognition of the consumer benefits that can be generated through in-market consolidation that drives investment and innovation;

Or. en

Amendment 291

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 20

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

20. Notes with concern the fragmentation in numerous non-sovereign consumer markets, and calls for faster and greater market integration where there are benefits for Member States and consumers;

Or. fr

Amendment 292

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 20 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

20 a. Is alarmed by the high concentration in the retail, agricultural and automotive sectors in overseas territories whereby excessive prices set by dominant undertakings on essential products and services amplify inequalities, precariousness and territorial disparities; urgently calls on the European Commission to launch an investigation on potential abuses of dominant position under TFEU 102;

Or. en

Amendment 293

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Fernando Navarrete Rojas

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

deleted

Or. es

Amendment 294

Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

deleted

Or. de

Amendment 295

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 296

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 297

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers; is deeply concerned about the continued high concentration in the Public Interest Entities (PIE) audit market since the 2014 reform, with four firms holding over 86% of EU revenues for PIE audits, limiting choice and risking supervisory capture; highlights that rising audit demands, such as under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Digital Services Act/Digital Market Act, amplify these risks beyond financial markets to consumers and citizens; emphasises the need for a reliable Corporate Reporting framework and a competitive audit ecosystem to support informed investment decisions and prevent malpractice; calls on the Commission to propose legislation, based on thorough impact assessment, to diversify the PIE audit market and enhance audit quality for a resilient single market;

Or. en

Amendment 298

Billy Kelleher, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, which impacts upon the customers' value for money, and the sector's sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers; calls for renewed efforts to complete the banking union and for the Commission to consider measures to improve the single market for insurance which, in turn, will improve the competitiveness of the domestic markets in each Member State;

Or. en

Amendment 299

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers in numerous fields including ESG and credit rating activities, handling of payments, handling of derivative contracts, service providers for cyber security and auditing;

Or. en

Amendment 300

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers, leading to the dilution of company competitiveness to the benefit of third countries;

Or. it

Amendment 301

Fernando Navarrete Rojas, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Notes with concern the high degree of market concentration in the European financial sector, as well as its sustained over-reliance on non-EU service providers;

21. Notes with concern the over-reliance of the European financial sector on a limited number of non-EU service providers;

Or. en

Amendment 302

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Emphasises the future connectivity needs of the EU in terms of infrastructure and investment; calls on the Commission to consider a revision of the current competition practice for the telecommunication market, which has prevented mergers of mobile operators from four to three, in order to facilitate the creation of a fully integrated single market for telecommunication services; notes that market consolidation may be the only way to avoid the piecemeal sale of infrastructure to foreign, non-EU companies; points out that the growth of this sector in Europe has been very low over the last decade and that fragmentation is the main reason for this; welcomes in this respect the new proposal for a Digital Networks Act, which aims to tackle market fragmentation, attract investment, secure telecommunications infrastructures and promote innovation without additional costs for consumers and without jeopardising fair competition on the market between all players;

Or. en

Amendment 303

Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Notes with concern the emerging of an un-level playing field as a consequence of Regulation (EU) 575/2013 and Directive 2013/36/EU as updated by Regulation (EU) 2024/1623, in particular with regard to the prudential treatment of cross-sectoral participation ownerships under sectoral rules (so called “Danish compromise”); welcomes the measure adopted through Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2025/2, providing that the Commission is required to present, by December 31st, 2027, a Report on the functioning on the mentioned mechanism under a competition point of view; calls for an extension of its scope to non-conglomerate financial subjects; stresses out the importance and urgency of afore mentioned Report and recommends the Commission for an anticipation of its presentation’s deadline;

Or. en

Amendment 304

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Remains deeply concerned about the far-reaching concentration in the agricultural and food supply chain; reiterates its call for the Commission to urgently conduct a thorough analysis of the extent and effect of buying alliances, thereby devoting special attention to guaranteeing fair competition and greater transparency in supermarket and hypermarket chains’ commercial practices, particularly where such practices affect brand value and product choice or limit innovation or price comparability; Calls on the Commission to continue to deepen its knowledge of these alliances and their effects, not only on prices but also on the ability of farmers and agri-food manufacturers to supply healthy, safe and sustainable products to European consumers;

Or. en

Amendment 305

Martin Schirdewan

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Is deeply concerned about the food price crisis and the high levels of market concentration and financial ownership in food supply chains potentially disincentivising competition and facilitating unfair price hikes; calls for a thorough sectoral investigation of market power and financial ownership in EU food chains and the implementation of structural remedies including preventions of further mergers and acquisitions; calls for a revision of EU competition law to align its enforcement with the objective that corporate conduct has to respect the fundamental right of consumers to affordable food;

Or. en

Amendment 306

Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre Pimpie

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21a. Calls, in view of their strategic nature, for national defence industries to be preserved and for a common market for the defence industry, as set out in the Enrico Letta report, to be understood only as a market promoting the placement of orders between Member States and European manufacturers, cooperation between manufacturers where it is in the interest of national defence and more generally European strategic independence in defence matters;

Or. fr

Amendment 307

Niels Fuglsang, Lara Wolters, Adnan Dibrani

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Calls on the Commission to propose legislation mandating the structural separation of accounting firms from financial, tax, and other advisory services to prevent conflicts of interest. Regrets that one of the Big Four accounting firms failed to follow through with its announced plan to separate audit and advisory activities1a, highlighting the need for regulatory intervention in this area;

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1a https://www.theaccountant-online.com/news/ey-calls-off-audit-advisory-split/?cf-view

Or. en

Amendment 308

Adnan Dibrani, Eero Heinäluoma, Niels Fuglsang

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Notes with concern the EU banks high net profits during the inflationary period, potentially at the expense of consumers and small businesses; and urges the Commission to thoroughly investigate this matter and, should any irregularities or malfunctions be identified, to deploy all available instruments to ensure fair competition in the European bank sector;

Or. en

Amendment 309

Evelyn Regner, Irene Tinagli, Lara Wolters

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Notes with concern the rise of housing speculation, driving up prices and limiting affordability; stresses that this harms EU competitiveness by reducing mobility, increasing inequality, and straining social stability; calls for stricter regulations to curb speculation, ensuring a fair housing market that supports economic growth and social inclusion;

Or. en

Amendment 310

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Regrets that the three largest credit rating agencies still hold a market share of over 90%; calls for the creation of a European public credit rating agency as an impartial and trusted alternative to existing agencies; furthermore regrets concentration and conflict of interest problems in the audit market;

Or. en

Amendment 311

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21a. Stresses the need to ensure that Member States' internal markets are competitive, including through protective measures and direct State aid for small and medium-sized enterprises whose activities concern products that are unique owing to specific environmental, climate and local features;

Or. it

Amendment 312

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Calls on the Commission to not prolong the transitional period for operating aid to all regional airports in the context of the revision of the Guidelines on State aid to airports and airlines;

Or. en

Amendment 313

Thomas Bajada

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 a. Stresses its concern regarding the high market concentration in the European agricultural and food supply chain to the detriment of consumers, small-scale farmers and the biodiversity;

Or. en

Amendment 314

Andreas Schwab

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 b. Notes the Statement of Objections issued by the European Commission on 25th June 2024 in the framework of the antitrust investigation into possible anti-competitive practices by Microsoft regarding Teams, in which the Commission expressed its preliminary view that Microsoft by tying its communication and collaboration product Teams to its productivity applications included in suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365; calls on the Commission to continue its efforts to conclude this antitrust investigation carefully in order to ensure a level playing field for all market actors, addressing the concerns of consumers, as well as interoperability and pricing issues;

Or. en

Amendment 315

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 b. Notes with particular concern the dominant position of two International Card Schemes in the EU payments market and their practices to reinforce and extend their dominance over the EU digital payments market, potentially further increasing barriers to entry and hampering long-term innovation 1b as well as leading to higher costs for EU businesses and ultimately consumers; calls on the Commission to take decisive actions, emphasizing the need to review of the Interchange Fee Regulation to tackle the significant rise of card scheme fees charged by international card schemes and ensure a fair, competitive, and transparent market environment;

_________________

1b See European Court of Auditors special report on Digital Payments in the EU: https://www.eca.europa.eu/ECAPublications/SR-2025-01/SR-2025-01_EN.pdf

Or. en

Amendment 316

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 b. Points out that the audit market is one of the most concentrated markets in the Union, where the Big Four firms have a market share of over 90%; recalls that the high degree of market concentration in the audit market is a long acknowledged threat to financial market stability; calls upon the Commission to present a legislative proposal on audit market reform which strengthens the supervision regime, addresses loopholes and Member State exceptions and introduces rules to avoid conflicts of interests; urges the Commission to take measures to avoid closeness between public institutions and audit firms, including in its own operations;

Or. en

Amendment 317

Adnan Dibrani, Eero Heinäluoma, Niels Fuglsang

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 b. Notes with concern indications of risk of inflationary dynamics and uncompetitive behaviours in food sectors contributing to the sharp increase in food prices in recent years at the detriment of European consumers; and calls for urgent activation of available competition tools to investigate these markets without delay; while also assessing the need to implement a ‘new competition tool’ to address structural competition issues;

Or. en

Amendment 318

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21 c (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21 c. Notes with concern the market concentration in agri-commodity trading where four companies account for up to 90% of the global grain trade and 60% of the global trade in cereal, oilseeds and protein crops; recalls the November 2024 Commission Competition Merger Brief which speaks of an ‘hourglass shaped market’ in which a few companies ‘generate profits by buying agricultural products and reselling them, as such or in a processed format, at a higher price’; regrets that the Commission nonetheless conditionally approved the Bunge-Vittera merger (M.11204) despite competition concerns; asks the Commission to address excessive power accumulation in the hands of a few large players in this market to strengthen the bargaining position of farmers and consumers alike;

Or. en

Amendment 319

Enikő Győri

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

deleted

Or. en

Amendment 320

Lara Wolters, Jonás Fernández, Claire Fita, Niels Fuglsang, Thomas Bajada, Eero Heinäluoma, Evelyn Regner

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22. Stresses that Parliament should be sufficiently involved in shaping competition policy and cautions for the over-reliance on soft-law instruments such as guidance and temporary frameworks in which the Parliament’s involvement is limited; calls on the Commission to enter into negotiation for an interinstitutional agreement on competition policy to formalise its enforcement priorities to the Parliament; calls on the European Council to adopt a decision under Article 48(7)(2) TEU allowing for the adoption of legislative acts in the area of competition policy in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure;

Or. en

Amendment 321

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22. Stresses that Parliament should be sufficiently involved in shaping competition policy; calls on the Commission to enter into negotiation for an interinstitutional agreement on competition policy; stresses that Parliament should be more involved in the activity of working parties and expert groups in the ICN and OECD as an observer but also in the High-Level Expert Group on the Digital Market Act;

Or. en

Amendment 322

Martin Schirdewan, Manon Aubry

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22. Stresses that Parliament should shape competition policy; calls on the Commission to enter into negotiation for an interinstitutional agreement on competition policy; calls for the ordinary legislative procedure to be fully extended to cover competition policy legislation;

Or. en

Amendment 323

Pierre Pimpie, Aleksandar Nikolic

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22. Stresses that Parliament should be more involved in shaping competition policy; calls on the Commission to enter into negotiation for an interinstitutional agreement on competition policy;

Or. fr

Amendment 324

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Gilles Boyer, Engin Eroglu, Billy Kelleher

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22 a. Calls on the responsible Executive Vice-President, also Commissioner in charge of competition policy to stay in close contact with Parliament’s competent Committee and its working group on competition issues;

Or. en

Amendment 325

Markus Ferber

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22 a. calls on the responsible member of the European Commission in charge of competition policy to stay in close contact with the European Parliament's competent Committee and its working group on competition issues;

Or. en

Amendment 326

Marco Falcone, Fulvio Martusciello

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 22 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

22a. Stresses the need for effective inter-institutional cooperation on competition policy, in which the roles and responsibilities of Parliament, the Commission and the Council are clear;

Or. it