Activities of Benedek JÁVOR related to 2016/2097(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Annual report 2015 on the protection of EU's financial interests - Fight against fraud (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Annual Report 2015 on the protection of the EU’s financial interests – Fight against fraud PDF (594 KB) DOC (85 KB)
Amendments (29)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas de jure the Member States and the Commission have shared responsibility for implementing approximately 80 % of the Union’'s budget, de facto however, Member States spending those resources and the Commission is responsible for having overview of those projects vis-à-vis providing a certain level of control ; whereas Member States are primarily responsible for the collection of own resources, inter alia in the form of VAT and customs duties;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the diversity of legal and administrative systems in the Member States presents a challenging environment in which to overcome irregularities and combat fraud; and whereas the Commission should therefore step up its efforts to ensure that the fight against fraud is implemented effectively and produces more tangible and more satisfactory results;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas corruption affects all Member States, particularly in form of organised crime and burdens not only the EU economy, but undermines democracy and rule of law all across Europe; however the exact figures are unknown as Commission has decided not to publish data in the report on the EU's anti- corruption policy;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas fraud is an example of purposeful wrongdoing and is a criminal offence, and that an irregularity is a failure to comply with a rule;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses that the situation of Member States not transmitting data in a timely manner or providing inaccurate data has been recurring for many years; emphasizes that it is impossible to make comparisons and an objective assessment of the scale of fraud in the Member States of the European Union;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Takes good note of the fact that 75% of all cases reported as fraudulent concern goods as tobacco, electrical machinery, footwear, textiles, iron and steel and that China, the UAE, the US, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are most frequently reported as countries of origin of such goods; asks the Commission to raise these problems during trade negotiations with these countries;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Points out that the Commission does not have access to the information exchanged between Member States with a view to preventing and combating Missing Trader Intra-Community fraud, commonly called carousel fraud;; calls on all the Member States to participate in all of Eurofisc’s fields of activity so as to facilitate the exchange of information with the aim of helping to combat fraud; calls on the Member States and the Council to grant the European Commission access to these data in order to foster cooperation, strengthen reliability of data and fight against cross border crimes;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. WelcomNotes the Commission action plan on ‘’''VAT-Towards a single EU VAT area’’'' published on 7 April 2016; deeply regrets that the publication of the “"Measures to improve cooperation between tax administrations and with customs and law enforcement bodies and to strengthen tax administrations' capacity”" foreseen in the action plan for 2016 will be delayed by one year; emphasizes that the problems related to cross border VAT fraud need strong, coordinated and speedy measures, urges therefore the Commission to speed up its procedures and come up with solutions in order to avoid the loss of tax revenue in the EU and in the Member States;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Regrets that more than two-thirds of the estimated level of errors in 2015 EDF expenditure were caused by the absence of supporting documents to justify the expenditure and non-compliance with public procurement rules; calls on the Commission and Member States to address these shortcomings; calls on the Commission to monitor and evaluate the transposition of the 2014/24/EC and 2014/25/EC Directives on public procurement into national rules as soon as possible;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Reiterates its call on the Commission to submit urgently a legislative proposal on the protection of whistle-blowers in order to effectively prevent and combat fraud affecting the financial interests of the European Union;
Amendment 146 #
36. Deeploresy saddened by the fact that the Commission didoes not kfeep its word tol the need to further publish anthe EU Anti- Ccorruption reports biannually, as there has been no report published in 2016, is of the opinion, that whatever the Commission's intentions on fighting corruption, this last minute cancellation sends out the wrong signal not only to the Member States but also to the citizens;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Reiterates its opinion that corruption is an enormous challenge for the EU and the Member States; and without effective anti-corruption measures it undermines the economic performance, the rule of law and the credibility of democratic institutions within the EU;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. is alarmed by the results of research which show that the risk of fraud and corruption is higher when Member States spending European resources, particularly when the share of European funding is significantly over 50% of the total costs, therefore is of the opinion that Member States do not comply completely with Article 325 (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which requires Member States to take the same measures to counter fraud affecting the financial interests of the Union as they take to counter fraud affecting their own financial interests; therefore calls on the Member States to fully apply the principle of Article 325 (2) and the Commission to make sure that Member indeed do so;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Is of the opinion that the supporting schemes of the Cohesion Funds need to be revised before the adoption of the new MFF in order to develop and more effective performance based funding system;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Reiterates its call on the Commission to develop a system of strict indicators and easily applicable, uniform criteria, based on the requirements set out in the Stockholm Programme, to measure the level of corruption in the Member States and evaluate the Member States' anti-corruption policies; invites the Commission to develop a corruption index in order to categorise the Member States; is of the opinion that Corruption index could provide a sound basis on which the Commission could establish its country specific control mechanism when controlling the spending EU resources;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 8 a (new)
Subheading 8 a (new)
Investigative Journalism
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 e (new)
Paragraph 36 e (new)
36e. Is of the opinion that investigative journalism plays a key role to foster the necessary level of transparency in the EU and the Member States, is of the opinion that investigative journalism should be encouraged and supported both by legal means in the Member States and in the EU and supports the preparatory action, which establish grant scheme for trans- border investigative journalism, which is to be distributed by an intermediary organisation, namely the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom in Leipzig;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Recalls Parliament’'s resolution on EPPO adopted on 5th of October 2016; strongly believes that an efficient EPPO will strengthen the fight against fraud in the EU provided that it is given the necessary legal provisions and is able to work efficiently with other existing EU bodies and Member State authorities; is of the opinion that EPPO can be effective if its scope covers all Member States of the EU; calls on the Member States to revise their position and do their utmost to reach a consensus in the Council;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)
Paragraph 38 a (new)
38a. Points out the decision of the European Commission not to renew the PMI agreement which expired on July 9th 2016; reminds that on March 9th 2016 the EP asked the Commission not to renew, extend or renegotiate it beyond its date of expiry; believes that the 3 other agreements (BAT, JTI, ITL) should not be renewed;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 9 a (new)
Subheading 9 a (new)
Tobacco
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)
Paragraph 38 a (new)
38a. Points out that the decision of the European Commission not to renew the PMI agreement which expired on July 9th 2016; reminds that on March 9th 2016 the EP asked the Commission not to renew, extend or renegotiate it beyond its date of expiry; believes that the 3 other agreements (BAT, JTI, ITL) should not be renewed;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 c (new)
Paragraph 38 c (new)
38c. Urges the Commission to put in place, at EU level, all the necessary measures to track and trace PMI tobacco products, and to bring legal action for any illegal seizures of this manufacturer's products until all provisions of the Tobacco Products Directive are fully enforceable, so that there is no regulatory gap between the expiry of the PMI agreement and the entry into force of the TPD and FCTC;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 d (new)
Paragraph 38 d (new)
38d. Reminds that to date 25 parties have ratified it of which only 7 EU member states and the EU as a whole; urges the EU members states to ratify the protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 10 a (new)
Subheading 10 a (new)
Calls on the Commission to revise Regulation (EU, Euratom) No. 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and submit a proposal on strengthening the investigative powers of OLAF;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)
Paragraph 39 a (new)
39a. Welcomes the analysis of OLAF on the follow up of its recommendations, request further and more detailed and country specific information; is of the opinion that OLAF should add a chapter to its yearly report on the follow up of these recommendations; request OLAF in cooperation with the Commission to provide detailed analysis, including figures on the recovery of EU funds as well;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)
Paragraph 39 a (new)
39a. Calls on OLAF to compare in its Annual Activities Reports OLAFs recommendations for financial recoveries with the amounts, which were factually recovered;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 b (new)
Paragraph 39 b (new)
39b. Is of the opinion that the proportion of OLAF recommendations submitted to the national authorities, which lead to indictments (around 50%) is not sufficient; calls on the Member States authorities to improve their level of cooperation with OLAF, calls on Member States, Commission and OLAF to lay down conditions which ensure the admissibility of the evidences provided by OLAF; encourages Member State authorities and OLAF in order to reach the optimal result to carry out joint investigations; calls on the Member States and the Commission to cooperate on the approximation of criminal and criminal procedural laws;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41a. Stresses that the mandate of the OLAF Director-General ends in February 2018; calls on the Commission to start the procedure as soon as possible in order to give the time to the candidates to apply properly and to let to 3 institutions the time to appoint someone fit for the post and willing to cooperate with the OLAF supervisory committee amongst other priorities and to establish the conditions of a smooth transition;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 b (new)
Paragraph 41 b (new)
41b. Deplores the fact that judicial authorities of some of Member States consider OLAF's recommendations related to the misspending of EU money as a low priority; recalls that according to Art. 325 (2) TFEU Member States shall take the same measures to counter fraud affecting the financial interests of the Union as they take to counter fraud affecting their own financial interests;