European Central Bank – annual report 2023

Wording as published by the EP, in English.

1. Amendment 1Adopted

   Paragraph 24 a (new)

   Tabled by Sven Simon · PPE

   Added: 24a. Expresses grave concern at recent media reports of political bias within the ECB regarding the so-called greening of policies; recalls that an undeterred focus on the ECB’s mandate of price stability is of paramount importance for the integrity and public support of the institution; notes the importance of pluralism for the institutional culture of the ECB; calls on the ECB to investigate and swiftly address any suspicions of ideological bias;

2. Amendment 6Rejected

   Paragraph 5 a (new)

   Tabled by Manon Aubry · The Left

   Added: 5a. Calls on the ECB to convert its government debt holdings into zero-rate perpetual debt;

3. Amendment 7Rejected

   Paragraph 22 a (new)

   Tabled by Bas Eickhout · Verts/ALE

   Added: 22a. Notes that a successful green transition can help alleviate future inflationary pressures by reducing physical risk and the dependence on fossil fuels; is concerned, in this regard, that high interest rates disproportionately affect green investments owing to higher up front capital costs; notes that national central banks in the Eurosystem have, in the past, implemented differentiated interest rates, for example, to benefit export credits; encourages the ECB to consider the introduction of differentiated interest rates; notes recent endorsements of that approach from civil society, academia and the French President;

4. Amendment 11Adopted

   Recital B b (new)

   Tabled by Sandra Pereira, João Pimenta Lopes · The Left

   Added: Bb. whereas the 10 consecutive increases in reference interest rates are having particularly damaging effects on the solvency of households and microenterprises and SMEs in countries which predominantly use variable interest rate models;

5. Amendment 13Rejected

   Recital C b (new)

   Tabled by João Pimenta Lopes, Sandra Pereira · The Left

   Added: Cb. whereas the increase in reference interest rates is leading to greater financial margins in the banking sector, depending on levels of concentration in it;

6. Amendment 14Rejected

   Paragraph -1 (new)

   Tabled by João Pimenta Lopes, Sandra Pereira · The Left

   Added: 1. Considers it imperative for the European Central Bank to reverse its increases to reference interest rates;

7. Amendment 15Rejected

   Paragraph -1 a (new)

   Tabled by João Pimenta Lopes, Sandra Pereira · The Left

   Added: 1a. Takes the view that, in the immediate future, it should be the banking sector’s profits that absorb the rise in reference interest rates on mortgages;

8. Amendment 16Rejected

   Paragraph -1 b (new)

   Tabled by João Pimenta Lopes, Sandra Pereira · The Left

   Added: 1b. Takes the view that combating inflation should not entail squeezing demand or family incomes, but rather increasing salaries and pensions; regulating the prices of essential goods and services; fighting speculation; taxing the profits of large economic groups and using the proceeds to promote development and social progress; boosting national output of both consumer goods and production assets, including in the energy sector, making the most of renewable energies to guarantee greater energy sovereignty and stability in supply chains; promoting peace, political solutions of conflicts and the sovereign development of states;

9. Amendment 17Rejected

   Paragraph -1 c (new)

   Tabled by João Pimenta Lopes, Sandra Pereira · The Left

   Added: 1c. Takes the view that the current socio-economic situation, an inevitable corollary of the ECB’s deciding to make 10 consecutive interest rate rises, shows that the euro deprives states of the monetary, financial, exchange-rate and, to a large extent, budgetary policy instruments with which to promote a form of development that takes account of their specific national realities and the necessary policy responses to the social and economic problems that have arisen;