04 September 2015

ECON: Opinion for the Committee on Budgets on the general budget of the EU for 2016

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Notes how the pace of economic recovery and long-term growth prospects in the EU are being affected by the slowdown in investment, reflecting the budgetary and economic situation in the Member States; [...]

2. Considers that in order to solidify the economic recovery in the European Union, the 2016 budget should be higher in real terms vis-à-vis the 2015 budget;

3. Highlights the crucial role to be played by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in closing gaps not covered by the market and mobilising private investments and new sources of finance for investment, boosting competitiveness and economic recovery, as well as increasing market confidence; [...]

4. Calls for the 2016 budget to reflect European Semester’s priorities including boosting investment, supporting job creation, pursuing structural reforms and fiscal consolidation that lead to real, sustainable growth;

5. Draws attention to the present and future crucial role of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) in relation to Union-level financial supervision and the banking union; emphasises that the 2016 draft budget must provide sufficient budgetary resources for the ESAs corresponding to the newly allocated roles of the agencies, as well as external factors such as exchange rate fluctuations and general increases in levels of pay;

6. Recalls that the European Parliament strongly supported the creation of the ESAs and believes that the Union needs to further improve the quality of supervision across the Union; believes that the ESAs play an important part in the functioning of financial markets in the Union;

7. Highlights, in this regard, the need for the ESAs to be not only properly financed but also adequately staffed, both numerically and in terms of levels of qualification, to be able to perform the growing tasks assigned to them in a high quality manner; to that end, calls on the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities to submit a report on the authorities’ future staffing needs and financing requirements;

8. Notes that the ESAs are currently financed from compulsory contributions by the national member authorities, money from the EU budget and charges payable by the institutions they supervise; considers that this financial arrangement is nationally oriented, inflexible, burdensome and a potential threat to the independence of the ESAs; renews its call to the Commission, therefore, to submit by 2017 at the latest a proposal for a financing concept that is financed by fees replacing completely the current contributions from member states; sees this system as a means of securing both the European authorities’ independence from their national member authorities and the full integrity of the ESAs vis-à-vis financial market participants;

9. Emphasises the increasing importance of greater transparency in relation to corporate taxation and tax rulings and of a coordinated effort to fight tax evasion and avoidance; [...]

10. Calls on the Commission, when implementing the planned restructuring measures with regard to adequate staffing, to focus on its main priorities; emphasises, in that regard, the role of the department responsible for state aid, so as to ensure that taxation practices in relation to tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect which are questionable under state aid rules can, in future, be more properly investigated, thus helping to make corporate taxation in the European Union fairer and the distribution of tax revenue between private individuals and enterprises more balanced;

[...]

13. Calls for the implementation of the recommendations of the Maystadt report referring to the task and responsibilities of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), thereby also strengthening the European Union`s influence in international accounting standard-setting;

14. Claims that the representatives on the IASB board should be democratically nominated and accountable. The European Parliament should play its role in selecting European representatives and hold them accountable;

15. Asks ESMA to ensure that the European Parliament including the responsible Members and their staff have effective access to documents at the same time as the board of supervisors. 

Full opinion

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