An investment strategy must focus on improving social infrastructure, increasing people’s standard of living and promoting fair, sustainable and cohesive growth and ecological transition.
Companies, especially SMEs and microenterprises, need more access to financing. Investor accountability is essential, especially when private investment receives public support.
6. We want an economy that is sustainable. Europe’s new economic model must combine social progress, economic development and environmental stability, based on the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. The financial sector must contribute to the transition to low-carbon and resource-efiient economy with more transparency and better financial products. But this is not enough. We need new public issuances of green financial instruments at EU level to cater this transition.
7. We want an economy that leaves no-one behind. Member States’ social and economic reforms have to be more coordinated to ensure greater internal upward convergence in terms of investment, productivity, jobs creation, wages, taxation and social benefits. This is not about harmonising policies for the sake of harmonising policies; it is about avoiding a Europe working at different speeds with growing inequalities. It is about preventing social and fiscal dumping and profit shifting. It is therefore important to set the right common objectives and ensure joint action. Sustainable growth and social cohesion must drive this effort. The countries of the euro area have specific opportunities and challenges in this regard, but to date the euro area lacks the appropriate instruments to achieve this. Therefore, we call for a deep and ambitious reform of the Eurozone to achieve those goals. A budget for the Eurozone must be used to support upward convergence. It is the right way forward to ensure that there is no drop in investment levels, notably social investment, and to support national unemployment benefit systems. We aim to bring down the cost of public debts, with new solidarity instruments, in a sustainable and fair way to restore financial stability and protect our social models. We must seize this momentum to complete the Economic and Monetary Union and optimise the Eurozone.
8. We want an economy that is fair. We want to take further steps to ensure fair tax systems that promote social justice and the necessary means to sustain our social model. Tax avoidance by companies, multinationals, banks, legal entities and wealthy individuals harms our societies, distorts the single market and prevent member states from collecting the resources necessary to sustain those in need and conduct robust innovation and industrial policy. Tax avoiders are still allowed to shop for the country that allows them to accumulate the most profit. This is not just immoral, it also provokes a destructive corporate tax rate competition between countries, with a direct negative impact on taxpayers and public finances. Therefore, we want a common consolidated corporate tax base in Europe.
