M.whereas the Union needs a new legal act on economic policy, including the adoption of Convergence Guidelines, as well as some crucial structural reforms in the areas of competitiveness, growth and social cohesion;

N.whereas the European Semester process should be simplified, and rendered more focused and democratic, by enhancing Parliament’s scrutiny role over it and by investing it with a more substantial role in the various cycles of negotiations;

O.whereas the use of the Union budget should be more streamlined, its revenue should originate from genuine own resources and not predominantly from Gross National Income (GNI) contributions, and the procedure for adoption of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the legislation relevant to own resources should be switched to the ordinary legislative procedure;

P.whereas the Union should be endowed with increased investment capacity by ensuring better use of the existing structural funds and by fully implementing the existing six-pack and two-pack legal framework;

Q.whereas part of the EU budget should be used to establish a fiscal capacity within the eurozone in order to assist Member States in the implementation of agreed structural reforms based on certain conditions; whereas this additional fiscal capacity should be placed outside the ceilings of the MFF and should be financed by genuine own resources;

R.whereas the growth potential of the Single Market should be further exploited in the areas of services, the Digital Single Market, the Energy Union, the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union;

S.whereas the rights of workers should be guaranteed and sustained in the process of reforming the Union in order to exploit fully the potential of the Lisbon Treaty;

T.whereas the Union needs to increase the effectiveness, coherence and accountability of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which can be done by using the existing Treaty provisions to switch from unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) for more and more areas of external policies, as well as by implementing the provisions for flexibility and enhanced cooperation when needed;

U.whereas recent security challenges, some in the immediate vicinity of the EU’s borders, have revealed the need to move progressively towards the establishment of a common defence policy, and eventually, a common defence; whereas the Treaty already contains clear provisions as to how this could be done, notably in Articles 41, 42, 44 and 46TEU;

V.whereas the refugee crisis has exposed the need for a common asylum and immigration policy, which should provide as well for a fair distribution of asylum seekers across the European Union;

1.Notes that the European Union and its Member States are facing unprecedented challenges, such as the refugee crisis, the foreign policy challenges in the immediate neighbourhood and the fight against terrorism, as well as globalisation, climate change, the consequences of the financial and debt crisis, the lack of competitiveness and the social consequences in several Member States, and the need to reinforce the EU internal market, which have so far been inadequately addressed;

2.Underlines that these challenges cannot be tackled individually by the Member States, but need a collective response from the Union;

3.Stresses that the Union needs to restore the lost confidence and trust of its citizens by enhancing the transparency of its institutions and decision-making, and improving its capacity to act;

4.Points out that the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty have not yet been exploited to their full potential even though they contain some necessary tools that could have been applied to prevent some of the crises with which the Union is confronted, or could be used to cope with the current challenges without having to initiate a Treaty revision in the short term;

5.Stresses that the Community method is superior to the intergovernmental method as it is the only one that allows for transparency, QMV in the Council, and the equal right of co-legislation by the European Parliament and Council, as well as preventing a fragmentation of institutional responsibilities and the development of competing institutions;

6.Is of the opinion that intergovernmental solutions should not exist, not even in areas where not all the Member States fulfil the conditions for participation, and that the Fiscal Compact and the European Stability Mechanism, as intended by the Treaties should therefore be incorporated into Union law and no new institutions should be introduced;

7.Underlines that the directly elected European Parliament plays an essential role in ensuring the legitimacy of the Union, as well as in making the Union’s decision-making system accountable to citizens by ensuring proper parliamentary scrutiny over the executive at the Union level and by the legislative co-decision procedure;

8.Recalls that the European Parliament is the parliament of the whole Union; considers that its working methods should be reformed so as to strengthen its control over the Commission in the implementation of the acquis, and to ensure proper democratic accountability even in the areas in which not all Member States participate;

9.Considers that political dialogue between national parliaments and the European Parliament should be intensified and made more meaningful and substantial, without overstepping the limits of their respective constitutional competences; points out, in this regard, that national parliaments are best placed to mandate and scrutinise at national level the action of their respective governments in European affairs, while the European Parliament should ensure the democratic accountability and legitimacy of the European executive;