Activities of Benedek JÁVOR related to 2015/2041(INI)
Shadow opinions (2)
OPINION on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions
OPINION on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions
Amendments (75)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas there is a need to reduce accountability gaps within the EU and to move towards more collaborative modes of scrutiny which combine democratic oversight, control and auditing activities while also providing more transparency;
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Is concerned at, given its role in protecting the integrity of public decision-making, by the misleading registration practices of economic interests in expert groups, which distort the number of such interests represented in both absolute and relative terms, as well as the imbalance vis-à-vis non-economic interests;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls for an overall improvement in the prevention of, and the fight against, corruption in the public sector through a holistic approach, commencing with better public access to documents and more stringent rules on conflicts of interest and transparency registers, with a view to developing a coherent global approach to these issu, support for investigative journalism and for anti-corruption watchdogs, the introduction or strengthening of transparency registers, the provision of sufficient resources for law enforcement measures and through improved co- operation among Member States as well as with relevant third countries;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Urges the Commission to make sure consultations contain open questions leading to substantial policy discussion instead of merely seeking to confirm already chosen policy directions or options;
Amendment 4 #
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; insists that the consultations preceding the proposal take account, in a balanced way, of the different points of view expressed; believes that the level of transparency must be raised through the creation of a legislative footprint for EU lobbying, and by establishing a mandatory EU register for all lobbying activities for all of the EU institutions; points in this regard to the need for introducing annexes to Commission proposals and reports of the EP, clearly indicating which lobbyists had a substantial effect on the text of these proposals and reports, and for creating the possibility for Members of Parliament, who wish to do so, of publishing on their official webpage of the Parliament, which lobbyists they have met;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls for an overall improvement in the prevention of, and the fight against, corruption in the public sector and especially within the EU institutions through better public access to documents and more stringent rules on conflicts of interest and transparency registers, with a view to developing a coherent global approach to these issues;
Amendment 5 #
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; insists that the consultations preceding the proposal take account, in a balanced way, of the different points of view expressedcalls upon the Commission to submit its proposals for a mandatory register without further delay; points in this regard to the need for introducing annexes to Commission proposals and reports of the EP, clearly indicating which lobbyists had a substantial effect on the text of these proposals and reports, and for creating the possibility for Members of Parliament, who wish to do so, of publishing on their official webpage of the Parliament, which lobbyists they have met;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Welcomes the Commission's intention to publish every two years a report on the state of play with regard to corruption in the EU; calls upon the Commission to submit without any further delay an addendum to its first anti-corruption report describing in detail the situation within the EU-institutions in this regard;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to continue with discussions on the EU's accession to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)Regrets that, despite many calls from the Parliament, the EU has not acceded yet to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and calls on the Commission to come forward with a timeline for the EU's accession to GRECO in order to ensure that the institutions uphold the anti-corruption standards of the Council of Europe;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Calls upon those European institutions who have introduced codes of conduct, including the Parliament, to step up their monitoring and implementation measures, such as the checks of declarations of financial interests; notes, in this regard, that monitoring and sanctioning bodies must be politically independent;
Amendment 11 #
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 a common codes of conduct, which areis indispensable to the transparency, accountability and integrity of those institutions;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls upon those European institutions who have introduced codes of conduct, including the Parliament, to step up their implementation measures, such as the checks of declarations of financial interests;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas, in view of the greaterowing distance between the EU and its citizens, EU institutions must strive for the highest possible standards of transparency, accountability and integrity;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the membership of expert groups and similar entities providing it with advice is accurately and consistently balanced and categorised as to the nature of the interests represented by members, in line with the European Ombudsman’s recommendations in the context of own-initiative inquiry OI/6/2014/NF; calls on the Commission in particular to ensure that comprehensive declarations of interests for current and new members of expert groups are published, particularly for experts appointed in their personal capacity;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Requests that all EU institutions implement article 16 of the EU Staff Regulations by annually publishing information about senior officials who left the EU administration, as well as a list of conflicts of interests; requests that the aforementioned structure assess the compatibility of post- EU employment or the situation whereby civil servants move from the public to the private sector (the ‘revolving door’ issue) and the possibility of a conflict of interest, and define clear cooling-off periods during which officials are required to behave with integrity and discretion or to comply with certain conditions when taking up new duties, which will cover at least the time of transitional allowances;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Requests that the aforementioned structure assess the compatibility of post- EU employment or the situation whereby civil servants and former Members of the European Parliament move from the public to the private sector (the ‘revolving door’ issue) and the possibility of a conflict of interest, and define clear cooling-off periods during which officials and MEPs are required to behave with integrity and discretion or to comply with certain conditions when taking up new duties;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to ensure thatact legally binding measures and sanctions ensuring theat membership of expert groups and similar entities providing it with advice is accurately and consistently balanced and categorised as to the nature of the interests represented by members, in line with the European Ombudsman’s recommendations in the context of own- initiative inquiry OI/6/2014/NF;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Regrets the deadlock in the Council onConsiders it unacceptable that the revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on access to documents; calls for an ambitious reform, which would be an undoubted step forwardis still stalled in the Council and urges the Council to adopt a constructive position, taking into account the Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 15 December 2011;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission in particular to review its 2002 "communication on general principles and standards for consultation of interested parties";
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Emphasises the need for an independent structure within the EU institutions to supervise closely the implementation of the code of conduct and the conflict-of-interest policies; is of the opinion that the European Ombudsman and the European Data Protection Supervisor jointly should play a role in carrying out this task;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas non-transparent, one-sided lobbying poses a significant threat to policy-making and to the public interest and to the trust of civilians in EU institutions;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on the Commission to ensure balanced participation in consultations by reflecting the diversity of stakeholders and providing better conditions including financial support when adequate for small stakeholders to participate;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the dissemination of the conflict-of-interest policy among officials alongside ongoing awareness-raising activities; and the inclusion of integrity and transparency as an obligatory item to be discussed during recruitment procedures and performance chats;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls the need to improve the transparency of legislative negotiations, including trialogues.including trialogues; rejects the position taken by the Council in its letter to the Ombudsman in regard of the own- initiative inquiry that the organisation of trilogues is a political responsibility and falls outside the Ombudsman's mandate;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the dissemination of the conflict-of-interest policy among officials alongside ongoing awareness-raising activities in the EU institutions and bodies;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Call on the European Institutions and Agencies to refrain from inviting unregistered lobbyists to its hearings and other official events;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Praises the European Parliament's Research Service for the high quality of their work; highlights the need for more resources for it and to further guarantee its administrative independence at the service of the public interest;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Considers the Commission's first biennial anti-corruption report was a promising attempt to oversee corruption in Member States; calls on the Commission to include an analysis of corruption risks in the EU institutions in the forthcoming 2016 report, along with an overview of the greatest corruption problems in Member States, policy recommendations to tackle them and follow up measures to be taken by the Commission, taking specifically into account the detrimental impact of corrupt activities in the functioning of the Internal Market;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Calls on the institutions involved to ensure in future that negotiations will be transparent and, to that end, to allow meetings to be held in public and webstreamed and to arrange for agendas, minutes, and the main documents relating to issues discussed to be published;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the Commission’s agreement to incNotes with concern the findings of the rease transparency by improving its system of expert groups, particularly as regards the procedure for selecting experts, through the development of a new conflict-of-intearchers in the study ‘Composition of the Commission’s expert groups and the status of the register of expert groups’1 a; urges the Commission to take the recommendations of this study into account, when drafting amendments to the curresnt policy for experts appointed in a personal capacity; takes note of the requirement for experts to be registered in the transparency register where relevant;horizontal rules governing expert groups; requests the Commission to engage in a dialogue with the Parliament, before these rules are being formally adopted, especially in relation to the up-coming CONT/JURI report on this matter; __________________ 1aDirectorate General for Internal Policies, 10/09/2015. PE 552.301
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to issue and disseminate timely public calls for applications for the selection of all expert group membership, to be contingent on registration in the Transparency Register, and to ensure compliance with the OECD Guidelines on Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service and due diligence in the screening thereof on a yearly basis;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the European institutions to set up a publicly accessible internet repository for all position papers submitted by stakeholders; calls on the European institutions to include an obligation for all registered lobbyists to simultaneously submit a copy of all position papers they communicate to members or staff of the institutions to this repository;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that the level of transparency couldmust be raised through the creation of a legislative footprint for EU lobbying, with the objective of switching from a voluntary toand by establishing a mandatory EU register for all lobbying activities for any of the EU institutions; points in this regard to the need for introducing annexes to Commission proposals and reports of the EP, clearly indicating which lobbyists had a substantial effect on the text of these proposals and reports, and for creating the possibility for Members of Parliament, who wish to do so, of publishing on their official webpage of the Parliament, which lobbyists they have met;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the Commission, Parliament and the Council should be obliged to record and disclose all input received from lobbyists/interest representatives on draft policies, laws and amendments as a ‘legislative footprint’; suggests that this legislative footprint should consist of a form annexed to reports, detailing all the lobbyists with whom those in charge of a particular file have met in the process of drawing up each report, clearly indicating which lobbyists had a substantial effect on that file and a second document listing all written input received;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that the level of transparency cshould 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 anyll of the EU institutions;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Highlights that the EU's research policy general objective of establishing public-private partnerships between companies and academia conflicts with the need of regulators in the EU for independent research on industry products; calls on the Commission to explore systemic safeguards to avoid conflicts of interests on industry products regulation and policy enforcement;
Amendment 39 #
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 upon the Commission to submit its proposals for a mandatory register without further delay;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recognises the best practise of a significant number of legislative footprints already published by rapporteurs in this and former legislatures in the European Parliament;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Demands that all those EU institutions that have not yet done so adopt internal rules on whistleblowing and assess the possibility of agreeing on a common approach to their obligations, focusing on the protection of whistleblowers; asks special attention for the protection of whistleblowers in the context of the Directive on the Protection of Trade Secrets;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Commission to address the current structural conflict of interests in the public risk assessment of regulated products, namely that these products' assessment is largely or solely based on studies performed by applicants or third parties paid by them, while independent research is all too often disregarded or dismissed; insists that producers should still provide studies, with cost-sharing between large companies and SMEs based on relative market share to ensure fairness, but that all assessors are obliged to fully take into account peer-reviewed independent science in their assessment;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges all the relevant EU institutions to implement Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in accordance with the recommendations contained in the guidelines thereto; urges the Commission to publish the assessment on the PMI agreement and agreements with other tobacco companies and an impact assessment on the implementation of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Demands that all those EU institutions that have not yet done so adopt internal rules on whistleblowing and assess the possibility of agreeing on a common approach to their obligations, focusingCalls on the Commission to promote legislation on the minimum protection of whistle-blower in the Union; Calls on the Institutions to amend the Staff Regulations to ensure that Staff Regulations not only formally oblige officials to report irregularities of all kinds but also lay down adequate protect whistle-blowers’; calls on the Institutions to implement §22(c) onf the protection of whistleblowersStaff Regulations without delay;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Is convinced that the PMI agreement should not be negotiated before a public and transparent debate is held following the publication of the assessment of the PMI agreement; calls on the Commission to explore existing alternatives;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. States that the annual reports of the European institutions could play an important role in the compliance regarding transparency, accountability and integrity; calls upon the European institutions to have a standard chapter in the annual reports on these components;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Highlights the need for Agencies to base their decisions on the best available evidence; reminds that scientific rigour is ensured by transparency and reproducibility of the results;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Considers the Commission’s first biennial anti-corruption report to be a promising attempt to better understand corruption in all its dimensions, to develop effective responses with a view to tackling it, and to pave the way for enhanced accountability of the public sphere to EU citizens; reaffirms, in this context, the importance of the EU’ zero-tolerance policy on fraud, corruption and collusion; regrets, however, that this report did not include anti-corruption policies of the EU institutions themselves;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Demands that at the latest in its second anti- corruption report the Commission carry out further analysis at the level of both the EU institutions and the Member States of the environment in which policies are implemented, in order to identify inherent critical factors, vulnerable areas and risk factors conducive to corruption;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Insists that all the data used by any Agency to reach any given scientific conclusion is made publicly available in a machine readable format so as to enable scientific scrutiny and constant progress; insists that while individual privacy must be respected, commercial confidentiality clauses and trade secrets legislation must not be allowed to impair the disclosure of data; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the proper implementation of data disclosure;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Requests the Commission in this regard to pay particular attention to the prevention of conflicts of interest, as well as corruptive practises in the case of decentralised agencies who are particularly vulnerable, considering the fact that they are relatively unknown to the public and are also located throughout the EU;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. IWelcomes the Commissions commitment to publish an EU Anti- Corruption report biannually and is looking forward to read the next report in early 2016; asks the Commission to add a chapter on the performance of the EU institutions in fighting corruption; 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, that the Commission’s second anti-corruption report should also cover all the EU institutions and bodies;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to explore options encompassing legislative acts, institutional and administrative arrangements and to take concrete actions to create a framework to improve governance and explicitly represent the future generations to better integrate their rights into decision and policy making at European level;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls for the EU to apply for membership of the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) as soon as possible;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls upon the Commission to fulfil without delay its reporting obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Encourages enhanced cooperation among Member States with a view to exchanging know-how and good practices, reinforcing international agreements on judicial and police cooperation, and bringing together the EU, the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Council of Europe to formulate a coordinated response toaction to fight corruption.
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes that the first evaluations of data published about lobby meetings of Commissioners and Commission staff lobby meetings reveal a significant imbalance between business and non- business representatives; calls on the Commission to report annually on this balance; encourages the Commission to develop measures to achieve a better balance; calls on the Commission to empower less well weakly represented interests, rather than limiting meetings with those currently overrepresented;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls in EU institutions to ensure that Agencies are provided with the means of their mission; recalls that currently experts from a number of agencies are not paid for their work despite the strategic importance of their contributions towards public and environmental health;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls upon the European Parliament’s Bureau for creating the possibility for Members of Parliament, who wish to do so, of publishing on their official webpage of the Parliament, which lobbyists they have met;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that, when interpreting ‘inappropriate behaviour’ within the meaning of point (b) of the Code of Conduct, this expression should be taken to include turning down formal invitations to hearings or committees without sufficient reason for registered entities in the Transparency Register, this expression should be taken to include: (a) performance, or any active promotion, of activities in the field of communication with the EU institutions and their Members or staff which are liable to impair the functionality of the EU institutions’ communication systems, particularly in cases where such activities are performed anonymously; (b) failing to declare the interests or clients being represented when contacting a Member of the European Parliament or officials or other staff of the European Parliament with regard to the legislative process; (c) employing ‘front groups’, i.e. organisations which hide the interests and parties they serve, the latter not being registered in the Transparency Register; and (d) employing the official representatives of third countries when engaged in direct and indirect lobbying activities, (e) offer or grant support, whether financial or in terms of staff or material to Members of the European Parliament or their assistants, staff of Commission or the Council; calls on Commission to add all those instances of inappropriate behaviour to point (b) in the Code of Conduct for registered entities in the Transparency Register when revising the interinstitutional agreement;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Insists that registered law firms and consultancies should declare in the lobby register all clients on whose behalf they perform coveredlobbying activities;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that representations of national, regional and local governments of Member States as well as third country representations should not fall under the EU lobby register if they have their own mandatory lobby register and do not offer workspace for private or corporate actors within their representations;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Believes that the members of the Advisory Committee chosen from among Members of the European Parliament should be complemented by a majority of externally chosen members who must be qualified independent experts in the field of ethics regulation and should be drawn from an open call and include members of civil society;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Believes that the Advisory Committee should check the compliance of MEPs with the Code of Conduct, including all the declarations of financial interests and assessing the post term-of office activities of MEPs;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Believes that the mandate of the Advisory Committee should be extended by including in the annual report recommendations for improving the compliance of Members of Parliament with the Code of Conduct, inter alia, by clarifying its contents, whenever necessary;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Believes that Article 3 of the Code of Conduct for Members should be rephrased to include a clear ban on Members holding side jobs or other paid work that could lead to a conflict of interest;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Believes Members should be obliged to report in their declaration of financial interests their complete property and debt or liabilities at the beginning of each mandate and to update the declaration annually;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Believes that the Commission should pro-actively disclose documents regarding the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Ethical Committee on post-term-of-office jobs of former Commissioners, redacting the commercial or personal information in accordance with Regulation 1049/2001;
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
Amendment 317 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Considers that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 should be updated as a matter of urgency, as required by the Treaty of Lisbon, by (a) widening its scope to encompass all EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies currently not covered, such as the European Council, the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, the European Court of Justice, Europol and Eurojust; (b) updating, on the basis of recent ECJ case- law, the rules which deal in particular with the treatment of internal documents, information and data, to ensure wider access to Legal Service opinions drafted within the framework of the decision- making process, documents and information relating to the work of Member State representatives when acting as members of the Council - including the acts, proposals and amendments tabled, transcripts of meetings, their positions and votes cast in the Council, including in its working groups and expert groups - documents relating to international agreements, the protection of personal data and commercial interests, the content of the institutions’ registers, etc.; (c) granting access to the information available in the EU institutions which makes it possible to evaluate objectively the implementation of EU rules, acts, measures and programmes in the Member States; ensuring greater financial transparency by providing detailed information concerning the EU budget, its implementation and the beneficiaries of EU funds and grants; (d) establishing, by means of a transparent procedure and in full compliance with democratic principles and the rule of law, the general principles and restrictions on grounds of public or private interest limiting access to documents which are exceptionally to be classified as ‘Très secret/Top Secret’, ‘Secret’ or ‘Confidentiel’ in order to protect the EU’s essential interests (Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001); (e) defining the principles which could be developed by means of interinstitutional agreements under Article 295 TFEU with a view to implementing in a coordinated way the new regulation on better law-making; (f) giving everybody requesting information the right to receive it in the most machine- readable open digital format available to the institution asked for it; while recognising reasons such as public security, defence and military matters, international relations, the financial, and the monetary or economic policy of the Community or a Member State and protection of personal data and privacy as possible legitimate exceptions for the basic principle of openness of government and administration also recognises that commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property, court proceedings and legal advice, and the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits, and internal deliberations should also be taken into account when exercising the right to access to documents; considers the protection of human rights, protection against corruption and protection against crimes against humanity as representing stronger public interests than other priorities that could hinder the publication of information (such as public security, defence and military matters, international relations, the financial, and the monetary or economic policy of the Community or a Member State and protection of personal data and privacy); the named public interests should also be subject to public interest tests such as commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property, court proceedings and legal advice, and the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits, and internal deliberations;
Amendment 319 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Recalls in this regard, the position adopted by the Parliament on 12 June 2013 concerning the revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Believes those who wilfully act to undermine the right to information, including through the unauthorised destruction of information, should be sanctioned; encourages the Council to agree with an amendment to EU Regulation 1049/2001 to foresee such sanctions;
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Rejects the position taken by the Council in its letter to the Ombudsman in regard to the own-initiative inquiry that the organisation of trialogues is a political responsibility and falls outside the Ombudsman’s mandate;
Amendment 405 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41 a. Transparency and accountability in the domain of public spending Believes that the data on budget and spending within the EU should be transparent and accountable through publication, including at the level of Member States in regard to shared management;
Amendment 431 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
Amendment 447 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46 a. Calls upon the Commission to examine in detail why cases of suspected fraud which OLAF brought to the attention of Member States, did not lead to convictions by national authorities and how the quality of OLAF can be strengthened in order to effectively combat offences against the Union's financial interests;