17. Notes that the first agreement of May 2010 could not contain provisions for a restructuring of the Greek debt, despite it being first proposed by the IMF, which, in line with its usual practice, would have preferred an early debt restructuring; recalls the ECB's reluctance to consider any form of debt restructuring in 2010 and 2011 on the grounds that it would have led to the crisis having a contagion effect on other Member States, as well as its refusal to participate in the restructuring agreed in February 2012; notes that the Central Bank of Greece contributed in November 2010 to intensifying market turmoil by publicly warning i ...[+++]nvestors that ECB liquidity operations could no longer be taken for granted in the case of Greek sovereign debt; further notes that there was a commitment by Member States that their banks would retain their exposure to the Greek bond markets, which they were unable to maintain;

AB. whereas good and effective information and consultation in relation to restructuring means that the relevant measures should be taken several months prior to the proposed restructuring, that they should also cover dependent companies and that they should include the prompt provision of retraining courses in order to help make undertakings and the Union more competitive, thereby sending out a message of certainty and transparency to Union citizens and investors at a time of crisis;

AB. whereas good and effective information and consultation in relation to restructuring means that the relevant measures should be taken several months prior to the proposed restructuring, that they should also cover dependent companies and that they should include the prompt provision of retraining courses in order to help make undertakings and the Union more competitive, thereby sending out a message of certainty and transparency to European citizens and investors at a time of crisis;

The restructuring provisions contained in this bill will mean nothing unless we also fix the very basic problems of our border controls.

Action should therefore be taken to make the restructuring scheme more attractive and in order to avert a linear decline in national and regional quotas at the end of restructuring (2009/2010), as provided by Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC) 318/2006, without any provision being made for compensation from the restructuring fund.

- The role of the social partners must be enhanced to make them better able to anticipate restructuring, as well as to avoid it when possible: this involves reforming the directive on European Works Committees, complying with the existing provisions, and consolidating various provisions on informing and consulting workers.