Strasbourg, 14.12.2011

MEPs reject extension of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement and call for a better deal

Parliament voted on Wednesday to reject a proposed extension of the controversial EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. It called on the Commission to negotiate a new, more environmentally and economically beneficial deal, which should take account of the interests of the Sahrawi population. The current protocol, which has applied provisionally since 28 February 2011, will cease to apply immediately.

MEPs voted in favour of a report drafted by Carl Haglund (ALDE, FI) which called on Parliament not to extend the current arrangements, mainly for economic, ecological and legal reasons. In so doing, they rejected a Fisheries Committee proposal to extend the contested protocol, by 296 votes to 326, with 58 abstentions.

"This should not be seen as a hostile move towards our partners; it should rather be seen as us taking ourselves seriously on a very important issue," said Mr Haglund in the debate before the vote. Mr Haglund stressed that he is in favour of a future agreement with Morocco, but it must be a better one. "There is no doubt that we all want a good agreement", he added.

Mr Haglund argued that the one-year extension of the current protocol was unacceptable under the terms proposed by the European Commission because of  its low cost-benefit ratio for the EU, the excessive exploitation of demersal stocks, the very limited contribution of EU funds to the development of local fisheries policy and the lack of proof that EU money benefits the local population of Western Sahara.

New protocol to be more sustainable

In a separate resolution, MEPs stressed that a new protocol must be economically, ecologically and socially sustainable and mutually beneficial.

In the future, the allocation of fishing opportunities should be based on scientific advice and EU vessels should be allowed to fish only surplus stocks. Financial support for the development of local fisheries must be used properly and more efficiently while monitoring of where the money goes must be improved.

MEPs also called on the Commission to ensure that a new protocol fully respects international law and benefits all affected local populations, including the Sahrawi people.

The resolution was approved with 544 votes in favour, 123 against and 33 abstentions.

What's next?

The rejected protocol, which has applied provisionally since 28 February 2011, will cease to apply immediately. Parliament expects the Commission to advance negotiations on a new protocol so as to avoid any provisional application in the future.

 

Brussels, 1.12.2011

ALDE welcomes a 2012 budget that combines rigour and growth

ALDE welcomes the positive outcome of the 2012 budgetary procedure which confirms the initial analysis that the EU budget should both comply with the rigor that affects all national budgets, and participate in investment needed for future growth, including R & D, education and training.

Anne Jensen (Venstre, Denmark), ALDE Coordinator for the Budget Committee, said: "It is important that the level of payments reflects the EU's objectives. It is therefore encouraging that the Member States are committed to correct the current budget if the level used for payment appropriations should be too low. Without prejudging the needs, I simply note that at the end of 2010, the amount of current commitments had already reached 194 billion euros. "

Carl Haglund (Svenska Folkpartiet, Finland), ALDE shadow rapporteur for the 2012 general budget, continued: "For Liberals and Democrats in Europe, the main goal was to save the 2020 Strategy threatened by cuts done by the Council. Our priorities for research, competitiveness, innovation and lifelong learning, are sufficiently addressed. We also welcome the increase foreseen for Frontex and the mobilization of the flexibility instrument to finance the Arab spring ".

Alexander Alvaro (FDP, Germany), ALDE shadow rapporteur for the budget of other institutions, concluded: "If everyone is tightening its belt in Europe, the European institutions must do the same. This is especially true in the European Parliament where we have identified significant savings on operating costs. Despite the new tasks resulting from the Lisbon Treaty, and thanks to internal redeployment and restructuring, we can both work in good conditions while saving 74 million in travel costs, translation and interpretation, energy consumption and members' expenses."

 

Brussels, 30.11.2011

EU Commission right to shift R&D focus to boost competitiveness and cut red tape

European Liberals and Democrats welcome the Commission's focus on improving Europe's competitiveness and support for SMEs pursuing innovation. The main thrust of the European Commission's proposals today for a new Framework Programme (FP8) for research and innovation, dubbed 'Horizon 2020' aim to strengthen European scientific excellence in emerging technologies, maximise growth potential of European businesses and support activities across society including health, energy, transport and food security.

Jens Rohde (Venstre, Denmark), ALDE coordinator in the EP research and industry committee supports the new emphasis:

"In times of budget cuts, we should not forget about our future growth needs. Investing in R&D is money well spent. But it is equally important that we genuinely simplify the rules and focus much more on the commercialisation of research results. If we are to truly improve European competitiveness we must eliminate the research to retail gap. "

Carl Haglund (SFP, Finland), EP standing rapporteur on the budgetary aspects of R&D policy said:

"Horizon 2020 will bring together all relevant EU research, development and innovation funding under one single framework and equip it with a significant budget of €80bn over 7 years starting from 2014. This makes sense and will bring more focus and coherence to the EU's efforts in this area. With national budgets being cut back, the EU efforts in RDI are more important than ever."

"Horizontal simplification and greater flexibility should be the hallmarks of the new Framework Programme, making it easier to apply for funding as well as to monitor the way it is used."

 

16.11.2011

Economic governance: Council and Commission must stick to the '6 pack' deal

Today the President of the European Parliament officially signed the six legislative acts on economic governance ('6 pack') adopted by the Parliament on September 28th and agreed by the Council.

"It is important to emphasize that all parties must stick to the '6 pack' deal, which requires that the independence of the Commission should be secured in order for the monitoring to be carried out properly. At the same time I am glad that the Commission last week clearly indicated that this new legislation will be used to push member states to address their economic problems before it is too late" said Carl Haglund (Svenska Folkpartiet, Finland) one of the EP rapporteurs. He was referring to the declaration made by the Commission as an integral part of the '6 pack' where it committed to ensuring that macroeconomic surveillance covers countries with current account deficits and surpluses with appropriate differentiation as regards the urgency of policy responses and the type of corrective actions required.

Sylvie Goulard (Modem, France) another of the EP rapporteurs and ALDE coordinator on the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee commented: "A control of all the large macroeconomic imbalances, covering both the deficit and surplus countries, is of extreme importance for having an overall picture of the EU economic situation and we trust the Commission will advocate the appropriate corrective actions".

Moreover on the 'comply or explain principle' as now included in the preventive and the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, Mrs Goulard concluded: "This principle must be guaranteed since it was inspired by transparency and democracy. Values that, even in the present economic context, both Council and Commission cannot ignore. Therefore, according to the '6 pack' deal, the Council must explain itself in public to the EP when it does not follow a Commission recommendation.   The spirit of the agreement has to be respected without any reopening at this stage. The most important thing is that the procedure enters into force as soon as possible, in a pragmatic way".

16.9.2011

Quantum leap for European Economic governance

Statement by the Rapporteurs of the economic governance six pack

The rapporteurs on the Economic governance legislative package («6 pack ») met informally on Wednesday evening with representatives of the Polish Presidency, in the presence of representatives of the Commission.

At this meeting, detailed wording was tabled on the few outstanding differences between the EP and the Council.

This will now form a proposal for approval to be put to members of the Council and of the EP. The proposal emerges from constructive work both between the EP's political groups and between the EP and the different Council Presidencies which have worked on the matter;
it is a common achievement ; it has to be considered as "a package".

The vote in the plenary is scheduled in principle for the September II session.

*
The EP increased the ambition and scope of the package, which is now accepted by Council :
- more discipline for sustainable public finances ;
- less bargaining between Member States, with a stronger role for the Commission
- a broad surveillance of macro-economic imbalances ;
- more transparency in the EP ; new « economic dialogue »  in the EP; no more deals behind closed doors ;
- better ownership by national governments and Parliaments ;
- the "European semester" is codified  and the European growth and jobs strategy is better linked to fiscal surveillance.
*

The last three stumbling blocks which were overcome were:

-  inclusion of the reversed voting system (reversed simple majority) in the preventive arm of the SGP; furthermore  the Council commits in the legislation, to follow as a rule, the recommendations of the Commission; if not, an explanation will be made in public, and is  part of the „economic dialogue“ in the EP;
- the scope of the surveillance of the macroeconomic imbalances : all the Member States will be subjet to surveillance (both current account surplus and deficit countries).
- the ECON committee of the EP may also invite representatives of Member States for an exchange of views (« economic dialogue »).

 

8.7.2011

ALDE: Multiannual Financial Framework: ALDE welcomes the convening of an Inter-Parliamentary Conference

Guy VERHOFSTADT confirmed today during a Strasbourg plenary debate the Liberals and Democrats' support for the European Commission proposals on the Post-2013 Multiannual Financial Framework. The ALDE President particularly welcomed the proposal on own resources, which was one of the requests that the group had formulated in 2009 to support the nomination of José Manuel Barroso. "We are grateful that he has kept his promise," said Verhofstadt

"These proposals are clearly a good basis for discussion. Firstly, because we are returning to the spirit of the Treaty of Rome. Secondly, because the Commission supports the proposal of the Parliament to convene an inter-parliamentary conference to ensure that national MPs and MEPs, along with government representatives, work together to develop a joint project for the EU budget" he said welcoming the Council's Polish Presidency that announced its intention to launch the conference this autumn.

"What is needed now is action, because we are just getting started" said Guy Verhofstadt. "We still have to convince public opinion that the arguments by some to oppose these proposals are misleading. For example, to claim that with the own resources system, citizens will pay more, is completely false. On the contrary it means the advancement of the democratic process since not one more cent will be asked of taxpayers and in return these same citizens will gain increased control over the EU. "

For his part, Carl Haglund (Svenska folkpartiet, Finland), ALDE coordinator for the special committee on policy challenges and budgetary resources for a sustainable European Union after 2013 (SURE), said: "This proposal is a good start for the negotiations. We still however need to seek reallocations within the budget in order to be credible if and when we increase the budget."

Anne Jensen (Venstre, Denmark), ALDE Coordinator on the Budget Committee concluded: "The Commission's proposals are consistent with a more sustainable economy weaker in fossil fuels. I welcome the fact that substantial resources will be made available to finance investments in infrastructure, education, training, research, innovation. "

 

16.6.2011

ALDE: Economic Governance: The ball is now in Council's court

"The Parliament has passed the final baton to the Council to deliver a comprehensive economic governance package." said ALDE Leader Guy Verhofstadt, following last night's final trialogue between the EU institutions to agree on an economic governance package. "Parliament's negotiating team have made progress on the content: for example the Council has accepted that sanctions must be applied in cases of statistical fraud. Nevertheless agreement is not yet in place. The Council should make one last effort and accept genuine automatic sanctions, subject to reversed qualified majority, for those countries that do not comply with the Stability and Growth Pact." he concluded.

Referring to last night achievements, ALDE coordinator for the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and Parliament's rapporteur on effective enforcement of budgetary surveillance in the euro area, Sylvie Goulard (MoDem, France) said:

"If this package as amended by the European Parliament is adopted, the economic governance of the euro area would be improved. By linking the Stability Pact to the European Semester and introducing an economic dialogue between the EU Institutions and the Member States we have laid down the foundations for effective economic policy coordination in the EU.

Furthermore to foster the role of the Euro as a reserve currency we have obtained from the Commission the commitment to work towards the common issuance of bonds."

Carl Haglund, (Svenska Folkpartiet, Finland), Parliament's rapporteur on the enforcement measures for macroeconomic imbalances in the economic governance package said:

"The new macroeconomic surveillance is a significant achievement where the Parliament succeeded in strengthening the framework during the negotiations. Initially it was foreseen that a Member State would be allowed to fail twice before corrective action is taken. Thanks to the agreement reached yesterday an interest-bearing deposit will be imposed after a first failure by a Member State to deliver promised corrective action. This will increase the pressure on Member States to actually deal with macroeconomic imbalances instead of sweeping them under the carpet".

8.6.2011

ALDE: EU needs an honest debate on the post 2013 budget

During today's debate in plenary in Strasbourg on the future multiannual budgetary framework for the European Union from 2014-2020, ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt, crticised the position of those Member States like the UK who oppose the conclusions of Parliament's temporary committee on future budgetary needs and in particular the need for increasing expenditure to meet the new policy challenges.

"The European budget represents 1% of GNI of the EU and barely 2.5% of public expenditure of the 27 Member States," said Verhofstadt.

"In the coming years, the Council has approved measures that will necessarily increase the demands on the EU budget such as economic growth strategy in the context of Europe2020. It is hypocritical and absurd to increase expenditure without increasing revenue. Moreover there will inevitably be fresh calls on the EU budget to respond to demands around the world, such as the Arab Spring or peace-building measures in the Middle East or responding to domestic crises such as the e-coli outbreak and its consequences for European farmers."

"I fully understand the need for budgetary rigour which can be addressed in a number of ways, not least by making use of the economies of scale offered by the EU in certain areas from banking supervision to diplomatic missions abroad. National capitals should recognise that pooling efforts at EU level can result in savings back home. For example our monetary policy is supported by 44,000 officials from national central banks in addition to those based in Frankfurt at the European Central Bank."

Carl Haglund (Svenska folkpartiet) ALDE coordinator for the SURE Committee added:
"We need to plan for budgetary needs beyond the current economic crisis.  EU institutions should actively examine where savings can be made if we are to be credible in requesting additional resources. One liberal proposal, approved today was to agree on a single seat for the Parliament which would save €180m a year. However the EU will need to respond adequately to the major policy challenges of the years ahead, which in turn may require additional resources."

"We support provisions in the report to increase the use of own resources rather than national contributions as a means of getting away from the focus on net balances and from rebates and budgetary corrections. Greater synergies at EU level should also result in a net reduction in national fiscal transfers each year, thus making the European budget both more legitimate and accountable."

 

25.1.2011

ALDE: CFP needs major reform if we still want fish on our menus

"Sustainable fishing is not a feature of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy. Comprehensive and ambitious reforms are urgently needed if we still want to see fish on our menus in 10 years time," said Chris Davies, co-organiser of today's seminar in the European Parliament. Representatives from the European Commission, WWF, Carrefour and EDEKA all committed themselves to finding a solution for sustainable fishing into the future.

Chris Davies, MEP said "Europe has too many boats chasing too few fish. If there is to be hope for the future the fish must be given a chance to breed before they are caught."

Carl Haglund, vice chair of the Fisheries Committee and co-host of the seminar said:

"88 % of Community stocks are today being unsustainably fished, which has contributed to making the Common Fisheries Policy one of the EU's most discredited policies. Also, the widespread practice of discarding - throwing millions of tonnes of dead fish back into the sea - makes it very difficult to be a proponent of the current Fisheries Policy. ALDE favours a strong reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, with an ecosystems-based approach for fisheries management. I personally envisage a strong framework, where there is sufficient space for regionalization and a separate policy for small-scale, coastal fisheries."

 

24.1.2011

Economic governance: discipline and incentives

Today's debate in the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on the economic governance package, strengthening compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact, reinforces the common will to push for a long -term, coherent and extensive reform of the way we prevent and monitor macro-economic imbalances in Member States.

Sylvie Goulard (Modem, France), ALDE committee coordinator and rapporteur on the effective enforcement of budgetary surveillance in the euro area, made it clear stating: "The experience of the first ten years of the Euro, as with the crisis, points to the need for a more comprehensive approach that combines discipline and fight against macro-economic imbalances in the euro area. While sanctions remain a necessary instrument against Member States breaching the rules, incentives should be the other side of the coin. We need to equip our system with virtuous instruments that combine discipline and incentives, like Eurobonds. The creation of a global liquid Eurobond market would strengthen Europe´s global role."

"We also need more transparency and accountability in the decision making process during all stages of the mutual surveillance procedure between European institutions. Even more importantly, we must increase cooperation with national parliaments, required to sign off their countries´ policies." she concluded.

Carl Haglund (Svenska folkpartiet, Finland), ALDE rapporteur on the enforcement measures to correct excessive macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area said: "The macroeconomic surveillance framework is the real novelty in the economic governance package. Member States have been able to ignore macroeconomic imbalances for too long and the consequences of this have become painfully evident. If we do not seize this opportunity to really improve the economic governance framework, chances are that we go back to business as usual once out of the crisis. But the fact is that we cannot afford to let Member States continue to ignore and postpone necessary reforms."

"The lack of confidence in the eurozone will not be solved alone by dealing with the challenges on the bond markets. A credible economic governance framework is an absolute prerequisite for finding our way back to sustainable public finances and for showing that prudent fiscal policy is a part of the European economic model." he concluded.

 

2011 Budget: ALDE is concerned about Council's inflexibility

Statement 20.10.2010

The disregard of the Council hitherto to the demands of the European Parliament on the 2011 Budget is worrying. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe understands the budgetary difficulties which member states are struggling with, but considers that its vision for the 2011 budget is reasonable and justified which will be born out in negotiations seeking to reconcile to the two positions.

This will also be an opportunity to reiterate three points that connect this annual budget process and the forthcoming negotiation on the post-2013 multiannual financial framework, namely the adequacy of financing of our policy goals but also the new policies deriving from the Lisbon Treaty which could impact heavily in 2012 and 2013, the necessary legal and financial guarantees for the proper functioning of the European Financial Stability Mechanism, of which €60 billion are guaranteed by the EU and Council's commitment to equip the EU with a stable and sufficient own resource in the future.

Carl HAGLUND (Svenska folkpartiet, Finland), shadow rapporteur for the Parliament Budget, added: "The economic situation is difficult and the liberals and democrats would have preferred that the Parliament set the example. Even if our operational expenses are marginal, it would have been symbolic that we be able to reduce our internal budget. Beyond the administrative budget appropriations, there are real common policies and I have a hard time understanding why for example the Council is reducing its research expenditures. "