What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Removed:15. Considers the potential of Article 122 TFEU as a tool for swift EU action strictly in crisis situations, but stresses that its use requires strong oversight, not only by the CJEU but also by Parliament; calls for a treaty amendment to establish clear procedures and timelines for activating the emergency clause;

Added:15. Stresses the urgent need to improve the EU’s institutional and financial framework to ensure it remains functional, democratic and competitive, and that it is able to absorb new members and promote their successful integration, in view of future enlargements; reaffirms, therefore, that enlargement must go hand in hand with the strengthening of EU governance; encourages dialogue between the EU and the governments, parliaments and civil society of candidate countries on any proposals for changes of the EU’s institutional set-up that are envisaged; acknowledges the importance of initiatives such as the European Political Community (EPC), which enable political cooperation and contribute to regional dialogues, and which could facilitate the gradual integration of candidate countries into the Union and its policies, without being alternatives to EU membership; highlights that Parliament should be regularly informed and consulted on developments in the EPC, in order to ensure democratic accountability and coherence with the EU’s institutional framework;

Removed:Completing the European single market

Added:Efficient EU governance in key policy areas

Change 27

Changed:16. Calls for the European single market to be completedcompleted, as enshrined in Articles 26 and the114 remainingTFEU barriersand Article 3(3) TEU, in order to accessunleash its full potential and to beovercome overcome,the remaining barriers, including unfair international competition, with a view to countering high energy prices, skills and labour shortages, difficulties in accessing capital, fragmented implementation of EU rules, insufficient support for digital and green transitions and high administrative burdens for citizens and enterprises, and for economic growth, social, economic and territorial cohesion, and cultural exchange to be promoted within the EU; calls for the development of a European integrated capital market, as envisaged by Articles 26 and 63 TFEU, through a newly established SIU, building on the incomplete CMU; calls for a strengthened European Securities and Markets Authority, under the legal basis of Article 114 TFEU, to enhance supervisory convergence and cross-border coordination within the framework of the SIU; notes also that the Letta report recognised the importance of the single market’s economic power to the EU’s global and trade ambitions, including in economic relations with strategic partners;

Change 28

Changed:17. Supports the addition of a ‘fifth freedom’ to the existing four, as suggested by the Letta report, to enhance research, innovation, knowledge and education for researchers, innovators and workers in the single market, by introducing dynamic transnational and cross-sectoral public-private partnerships, shared high-level research infrastructures and the pooling of data in an open science approach;market;

Change 29

Removed:18. Calls for the development of a European integrated capital market through a newly established SIU, building on the incomplete CMU, in order to effectively connect savings with investment needs in a framework of strong consumer protection, broaden EU citizens’ access to capital markets and provide better financing opportunities for European companies while fostering the EU’s economic growth and competitiveness, particularly in the fair, green and digital transitions; calls for a strengthened European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to transition into a single common regulator for all EU securities markets within the framework of the SIU;

Added:18. Calls on the Commission to ensure that future initiatives to strengthen EU competitiveness and deepen the single market are anchored in measures that enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion as enshrined in the treaties; stresses that institutional mechanisms for equal opportunities, solidarity and the reduction of inequalities must be fully embedded in the EU’s governance system; reiterates its call for the implementation and monitoring of the European Pillar of Social Rights to be strengthened through EU governance structures, thereby embedding social progress as a core element of EU decision-making;

Removed:Strengthening social Europe

Added:19. Reaffirms that the objectives of the single market should align not only with the right to free movement, but also with the ‘freedom to stay’, as outlined in the Letta report; calls on the Commission, therefore, to assign responsibility for the ‘freedom to stay’ to one of the Commissioners, with a portfolio including cohesion policy and services of general interest, and, with the aim of ensuring that policies on the ‘freedom to stay’ are carefully tailored to a region’s specific characteristics and of honouring the socio-economic and cultural diversity of the regions in the EU, to establish a structured and continuous dialogue between the Commissioner and the regional authorities of the Member States; recognises that fostering infrastructure development, community building, job creation, access to public services and a suitable environment for industries and investments is essential to upholding the right of people to stay in their regions and contributes to the EU’s economic development and competitiveness; stresses the importance of keeping cohesion policy a strong part of the EU budget, ensuring it responds more effectively to the specific needs of regions and cities, including by providing more direct access to EU funds; highlights the need for cohesion policy projects to be deployed more efficiently and visibly on the ground, delivering tangible results that strengthen citizens’ sense of belonging and support for EU integration;

Removed:19. Calls on the Commission to ensure that all future initiatives aimed at boosting EU competitiveness and completing the single market are accompanied by an analysis of their social implications, through measures enhancing social, economic and territorial cohesion, reducing inequality, and ensuring the fair distribution of the benefits of economic growth;

Added:20. Emphasises that the EU should act more effectively in strategic areas, complementing national efforts and supported by a mix of EU own resources and coordinated contributions, and that such action would strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, innovation, economic resilience, social and territorial cohesion, environmental and energy sustainability, and collective security; stresses, in the light of the findings of the Draghi report, the need to maintain an open and forward-looking debate taking into account the lessons learned from the experience of NextGenerationEU; highlights, the importance of creating EU-level investment instruments and tools to finance strategic joint investments in European public goods and services, and the importance of adjusting funding programmes in order to take into account the changing dynamics of trade and innovation; stresses that genuine new EU own resources are key to enabling Parliament and the Council to adopt flexible budgets to empower the EU to act more autonomously and reduce its dependence on national budget contributions; highlights for example that the carbon border adjustment mechanism is a candidate for a new EU own resource which enjoys a high level of support among Member States; recalls Parliament’s position in its proposal on the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework on the need to go beyond the self-imposed rule according to which the size of the EU long-term budget must not exceed 1 % of the aggregated gross national product of the Member States;

Removed:20. Reaffirms the importance of the ‘freedom to stay’, as outlined in the Letta report, and that the objectives of the single market should align with the right to free movement and residence for EU citizens; calls on the Commission to appoint a Vice-President responsible for the ‘freedom to stay’, with a portfolio that includes cohesion policy, services of general interest, and support for SMEs;

Added:21. Stresses that, with a view to maintaining and enhancing the EU’s global competitiveness, the EU budget should be simplified to cut unnecessary administrative burdens, to ease access to funds for beneficiaries and to better serve the objective of enhancing economic, social and territorial cohesion by ensuring that funding reaches those who need it most, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, local communities and social economy actors, including in rural, peripheral or economically disadvantaged areas; recalls, however, that simplification efforts must not bring any prejudice to the fundamental principles underpinning the multiannual financial framework and its programmes, nor weaken democratic scrutiny over their implementation; stresses that simplification must be accompanied by strong guarantees for equal access, non-discrimination and effective accountability, with Parliament ensuring democratic oversight throughout the funding cycle;

Removed:21. Reiterates its call for the addition of a social progress protocol to the treaties, to strengthen the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and contribute to the achievement of its targets for 2030, by embedding social progress as a core element of EU governance;

Added:22. Underlines that achieving the EU’s competitiveness goals requires embedding climate neutrality and sustainability objectives within the EU’s institutional and governance framework; stresses that reforms must respect treaty provisions, including Article 194 TFEU, and be subject to strong democratic legitimacy through the involvement of Parliament in their design, financing and oversight; emphasises the importance of strengthening interinstitutional coordination and ensuring that decisions in this area are subject to effective parliamentary scrutiny, thereby reinforcing the Union’s democratic foundations;

Removed:Building a permanent European fiscal capacity

Added:23. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in view of existing geopolitical challenges, to set up a genuine European defence union and to boost European defence industrial investment, in particular by resorting to truly European instruments, with new financing, coupled with a complete programme for defence, including against hybrid attacks, ensuring that planning, development, procurement, and management of capabilities is done together, in groupings of significant numbers of Member States; calls on the Commission to improve the consistency between existing and future instruments, including at the level of governance, in order to ensure effective democratic control of the new defence union; calls for the EU to overcome market fragmentation, in line with the recommendations of the Draghi, Letta and Niinistö reports, by creating a single market for defence where binding common rules apply; notes that such common rules would guarantee fair competition and ease the cross-certification of defence products while ensuring full interoperability and interchangeability, bring economies of scale, and enhance capabilities and resources; calls on the Commission and the Member States to embed defence investments in a broader security concept that also includes common European initiatives, in particular European Defence Projects of Common Interest, strengthening critical infrastructure and the advancement of research and development projects and thereby creating and retaining quality jobs; calls on the European Council to agree on the activation of Article 42(2) TEU with a view to establishing a common Union defence policy; underscores that the new defence union must complement and not replace NATO; takes note of the fact that Member States have embarked on the progressive framing of the European defence policy, while establishing the European Defence Agency (EDA) and starting Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO); calls on the Member States to continue working on the progressive framing towards establishing a European defence union with a common defence; recalls that the establishment of the start-up fund, the EDA and PESCO, as well as the use of the EU budget, are governed by QMV; recalls that a group of Member States may, pursuant to Article 44 TEU, also decide to use QMV;

Removed:22. Stresses the urgent need to establish a full and permanent fiscal capacity for the EU, building on the features of NextGenerationEU; highlights, in this regard, the importance of creating common European instruments, such as eurobonds, to finance strategic joint investments in European public goods and services; emphasises that such fiscal capacity should empower the Union to act more autonomously, independent of national budgetary contributions, thereby strengthening Europe’s competitiveness, innovation, social and territorial cohesion, environmental and energy sustainability, and collective security; insists that the institutionalisation and governance of this fiscal capacity must ensure the central role of Parliament, guaranteeing full codecision rights, democratic accountability and scrutiny, and budgetary authority;

Added:24. Stresses that the strengthening of AI governance must be based on transparency, the protection of fundamental rights and the safeguarding of the public interest, in line with the EU’s rules-based approach; calls on the Commission to enhance the role of the existing European AI Office; welcomes the AI continent action plan for the development of an EU ‘AI model’, based on cooperation between public and private actors;

Removed:Shaping a European energy union

Added:25. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the European Council and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

Removed:23. Underlines that, to achieve an integrated European energy union, the EU must place decarbonisation at the heart of its institutional and economic framework; calls, therefore, for a permanent European green sovereign fund, directly financed through EU own resources, a reformed European Investment Bank (EIB), evolving into a European climate investment agency, a dedicated climate pillar within the multiannual financial framework and a green transition authority within the Commission, tasked with identifying and steering pan-European green projects in close coordination with the reformed EIB; stresses the need to ensure the democratic legitimacy of these reforms, through Parliament’s involvement in design, financing and oversight;

Removed:Creating a European defence union

Removed:24. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in order to achieve the goal of a European defence union, to overcome the fragmentation of the European defence industry and to improve the consistency between existing and future instruments, including at the level of governance, in order to ensure effective democratic control of the new defence union, improved standardisation and interoperability of equipment, and the sharing of intelligence, as highlighted in the Draghi and Niinistö reports; stresses the importance, in this context, of enhancing capabilities and resources, overcoming market fragmentation, and embedding defence investments in a broader security concept that also includes strengthening critical infrastructure, creating and retaining quality jobs, and building the resilience of social welfare systems;

Removed:Deepening a ‘European AI’ model and completing the digital single market

Removed:25. Welcomes the AI continent action plan for the development of an EU ‘AI model’, based on cooperation between public and private actors; calls for a significant increase in investment in the training and algorithmic development of AI models in high performance computing (HPC) centres, in particular by funding the expansion of EuroHPC with additional capacity to support AI training across the EU; emphasises that this expansion is crucial in order to support AI training across Europe, enabling more widespread AI infrastructure and fostering innovation and technological sovereignty; calls on the Commission to enhance the role of the existing European AI Office by transforming it into a central authority with a supranational mandate for the coordination, supervision and implementation of the EU’s AI policies, endowed with adequate resources and autonomous and binding powers in strategic areas, under Parliament’s oversight; stresses that the strengthening of AI governance must be based on transparency, the protection of fundamental rights and the safeguarding of the public interest, in line with the EU’s rules-based approach;

Removed:26. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to complete the digital single market, by removing existing barriers to cross-border digital services, harmonising regulatory frameworks and investing in common European digital infrastructures as outlined by the EuroStack project, strengthening digital sovereignty by reducing dependence on non-EU providers, developing secure and interoperable data and cloud systems, and supporting strategic digital value chains;

Removed:27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.