Activities of Miroslav POCHE related to 2015/2041(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions
Amendments (17)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission's announcement of its intention to present, in 2016, a proposal for an inter-institutional agreement revising the Transparency Register for representatives of interest groups and calls for switching from a voluntary to a mandatory Register for all lobbying activities for any of the EU institutions; insists that the consultations preceding the proposal take account, in a balanced way, of the different points of view expressed;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on all EU institutions to enhance their procedures and practices aimed at safeguarding the financial interests of the Union and to actively contribute to a results-oriented discharge process;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines the need to enhance integrity and improve the ethical framework through clear and reinforcedbetter implementation of codes of conduct and ethical principles, so as to allow the development ofreinforce a common and effective culture of integrity for all EU institutions and agencies;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers it regrettable that the Council has still not adopted a code of conduct; is of the opinion that all the EU institutions should agree on codes of conduct, which are indispensable to the transparency, accountability and integrity of those institutions; calls on EU institutions and bodies which still do not have a code of conduct to develop such a document as soon as possible;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the disseminationEU institutions to better raise awareness of the conflict-of-interests policyrinciple among their officials alongside ongoing awareness-raising activitiesnd to take adequate measure against conscious infringements of this principle and of other rules which negatively affect the EU interests; recalls that the issues of conflict of interests and the situation whereby civil servants move from the public to the private sector (the ‘revolving door’) are phenomena which could seriously undermine the integrity of EU institutions; is of the opinion that all EU institutions should further strengthen their policies in this respect while taking into account the recommendations put forward in recent years by the European Ombudsman, the European Court of Auditors or the European Parliament itself;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the Commission’s agreementdecision to increase transparency by improving its system of expert groups, particularly as regards the procedure for selecting experts, through the development of a new conflict- of-interest policy for experts appointed in a personal capacity; takes note of the requirement for experts to be registered in the transparency register where relevant;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that the level of transparency could be raised through the creation of a legislative footprint for EU lobbying, with the objective of switching from a voluntary to a mandatory EU register for all lobbying activities for any of the EU institutions;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls for switching from a voluntary to a mandatory EU register for all lobbying activities for all the EU institutions; calls on the Council to join the EU transparency register;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers, in this context, that a mandatory EU register should include clear provisions on the type of information to be recorded, i.e. accurate and regularly updated information on the nature of lobbying/legal activities, together with detailed records of contacts and input into EU law and policymaking; believes that a system of sanctions in the event of abuse should be envisaged under the supervision of Parliament;calls the Commission to bring forward to the Parliament a study with a possible system of sanctions in the event of abuse.
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Asks the CommissionEU institutions and bodies to apply strictly the measures pertaining to discretion and exclusion in respect of public procurement, with proper background checks being carried out in every instance, and to apply the exclusion criteria in order to debar companies in the event of any conflict of interest, this being essential to protect the credibility of the institutionEU financial interests;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Believes that the discharge procedure is an importantHighlights the key importance of the discharge as an instrument of democratic accountability and transparency of the EU institutions to the citizens of the Union; recalls the difficulties repeatedly encountered in the discharge procedures to date, owing to a lack of cooperation on the part of the Council; insists that an effective budgetary control exercise and the democratic accountability of the institution requires the cooperation of Parliament and the Councilgarding the sound financial management of the EU budget; considers as crucial that the EU institutions and bodies present reliable and comprehensive data which is relevant to scrutinise the level of respect of the sound financial management principles and protection of EU financial interests;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Recalls the difficulties repeatedly encountered in the discharge procedures to date, owing to a lack of cooperation on the part of the Council; insists that the Council must be accountable and transparent as the other institutions and that democratic accountability of the Council requires cooperation with the European Parliament;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Invites the Commission to assess the impact of existing measures and to define accordingly a coherent policy based on measures aimed at effectively addressing corruption mechanisms and practices; believes, furthermore,Reiterates its request[1] that the Commission report to Parliament and the Council on the implementation by the EU institutions of their internal anti- corruption policies and expects that the Commission’s secondfuture anti-corruption report shoulds will also cover all the EU institutions; [1] P8_TA-PROV(2015)0062 on PIF 2013 Annual Report
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Believes that in order to increase the accountability and integrity of the EU institutions is of paramount importance to establish a European Public Prosecutor office. Urges in this sense the Council to adopt the regulation on the proposal on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and follow the recommendations of the Parliament’s resolution on this proposal (P8_TA(2015)0173 Wednesday, 29 April 2015 Resolution on the European Public Prosecutor’s Office);
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Believes that Parliament should also cooperate in a more targeted manner with the ECJ, the Court of Auditors, the European Ombudsman and the Commission’s Anti-Fraud Office in order to closely monitorso that they can report to one another in detail on the evolution of CCP within the framework of their respective powers and responsibilities.