27 Amendments of Barbara SPINELLI related to 2015/2110(INI)
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recommends that the EU become a Urges the Commission to submit to the Parliament as soon as possible a progress report on the preparations for the EU-membership of GRECO and to provide in this report a survey of the legal challenges and possible solutions in this respect;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls upon the Commission to support the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in its efforts to monitor the implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, by meeting the EU's own reporting obligations as well as by co-funding UNODC's projects for technical assistance, whenever relevant;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for Member States to invest more heavily in fostering a culture of legality; onsidering that the legislative proposals for strengthening the rights of suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings as foreseen in the Stockholm Programme have almost all been dealt with, invites the Commission to come up with additional legislative initiatives, inter alia, with respect to pre-trial detention, in order to ensure the right to fair trial, as recognised in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter on Fundamental Rights;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Takes the view that the current round of EU proposals concerning the fight against organised crime should place thespecial emphasis on combating crimes of association (i.e. the fact of belonging tothe aspect of membership of a criminal organiszation), rather than simply combating so-called target crimes (i.e. crimes which such organisations are set up to commit) as aggravating circumstance or as separate criminal offence; reiterates that this round of proposals should also include the combating of money laundering among its priorities;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Refers to the emerging trend of raids of shops by organised groups of criminals who work cross-border in the European Union and calls for special attention of both Member States and Europol for this particular form of organised crime;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Regrets that the European Commission has not yet published its second Anti-Corruption Report, which is due to be issued in 2016, and re-iterates its point of view that this report should not be confined to the situation in the Member States but should also include a section on the measures against corruption taken by the European institutions themselves;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – introductory part
Paragraph 10 – introductory part
10. Calls for a basic set of rules to be drawn up concerning the definition of criminal offences and penalties in the field of organised crime and corruption, in order to improve cross-border judicial cooperation; calls, in particular, forupon the Commission to submit the following proposals:
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – point a a (new)
Paragraph 10 – point a a (new)
(aa) a common definition of complicity in Mafia or Mafia-type association, as one where those belonging to the association exploit the power of intimidation which their membership gives them, and the compliance and omertà - Code of silence- which membership entails and which lead to the committing of crimes, to obtain directly or indirectly the management or control of financial activities, concessions, permissions, enterprises and public services for the purpose of deriving profit or wrongful advantages for themselves or others;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – point c
Paragraph 10 – point c
(c) a common legislation to protect whistle- blowers, witnesses and persons who cooperate with the judicial process that includes the establishment of a specific fund aimed at giving protection to the person lodging the complaint, in order to support legal fees, medical bills, psycho-social counselling as a resettlement programme. Whistleblowing and filling of complaints generally cause the loss of job or deeply worsen the working conditions;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – point d a (new)
Paragraph 10 – point d a (new)
(da) Calls for the implementation of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on the protection of the environment through criminal law. Invites the Member States to fully implement this directive, punishing with effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties any kind of unlawful behaviour having negative impacts on human health or the environment included: discharge, emission or introduction into air, soil or water of dangerous materials; burning of waste; illegal trade, collection and transport of hazardous waste. Invites Member States to consider waste combustion as a criminal offense punishable with criminal penalties, in the same way as those included in Directive 2008/99/EC.
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – point d b (new)
Paragraph 10 – point d b (new)
(db) Invites, the EU Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), to inform periodically the European Parliament about the actions of Member States in the implementation of Directive 2008/99/EC.
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – point d c (new)
Paragraph 10 – point d c (new)
(dc) Whereas, according to environmental protection associations and NGOs wildlife and forest crime as well as the traffic and export of radioactive materials and hazardous waste to third countries plays a serious role financing organized crime, calls for a specific legislation to fight the export of radioactive materials, hazardous waste and the illegal trade in fauna and flora
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls once again for the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor's Office who shall be independent from national governments and the EU institutions, and protected from political influence and pressure; regrets the current state of affairs regarding the ongoing negotiations in the Council which are emptying the project of a European Prosecutor; urges, therefore, to turn back to the initial proposal of the Commission as a basis on which a new body can be built, with the full involvement of the European Parliament in the decision-making process; reiterates the need that the EPPO regulation include clear provisions regarding the respect for the rights of suspects or defendants, as enshrined in Article 6 TEU, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the ECHR, in those legislative measures already adopted at Union level on the procedural rights of suspects and persons accused in criminal proceedings and in the relevant international instruments for the protection of fundamental rights, as well as the protection of personal data;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on Member States to implement public procurement monitoring instruments and to bar any undertaking which has proven links with organised crime from entering into an economic relationship with a public authority; calls on the Member States, accordingly, to introduce anti-organised crime certification for companies and calls for the relevant information to be exchanged at EU levelprovide the Commission with all necessary information to draw up a blacklist of companies which will be temporarily barred from European public procurement procedures as a consequence of their engagement in corruptive practices;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the Commission to take legislative action with the aim of simplifying bureaucratic administrative procedures and thus improving transparency and reducfighting corruption;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Regards it as essential to strengthen legislative provisions designed to guarantee greater transparency and traceability of financial flows, in particular as far as EU funds are concerned, including by means of a final audit to check that the funds have been properly used; calls upon the Commission a. to correct payments in the case of irregularities by Member States in using EU funds; b. to temporarily debar institutions and companies who have been found guilty of abuse of EU funds; And calls upon Member States to submit national declarations on their control systems;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Condemns the increasingly widespread counterfeiting of goods, medicines and agri-food products in the EU; points out that this criminal activity, which involves distribution networks managed by transnational organised crime, has insinuated its way into the markets of the Member States; suggests that a holistic approach be taken inurges Member States to step up their co-operation in order to combating criminal organisations of this kind;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls, therefore, on the Commission to give food fraud, and counterfeiting of goods, medicines and agri-food products, the full attention it warrants and to take all necessary steps to make the prevention and combating of food fraud an integral part of EU policy;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Underlines the need to gain further insight into the scale and incidence of food fraud, and counterfeiting of goods, medicines and agri-food products in the EU; calls on the Commission and the Member States to collect data systematically on fraud and counterfeiting cases and to exchange best practices for identifying and combating these phenomenon;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Invites the Commission and Member States to consider other methods which aim to prevent and discourage food fraud, such as naming and shaming through a European register of convicted fraudulent food and medicines business operators;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls for the entire food chain in Europe, including all stages of production, processing, sales and distribution to be transparent and fully open to scrutiny by inspectors in order to ensure that fraudulent food, medicines and agri-food products can be quickly identified;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Recommends that Member States strive to ensure efficient transparency, monitoring and accountability mechanisms in their use of EU funds; whereas the positive impact of the EU funds rely on processes at national and EU level to ensure transparency, effective monitoring and accountability, consideration should be given as to how to make monitoring and evaluation ongoing processes and not only ex-post processes. Believes the role of the Court of Auditors should be strengthened in that regard;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)
Paragraph 25 b (new)
25b. Believes qualitative and quantitative indicators should be established and be comparable in order to measure the impact of EU funds and help to assess whether those funds achieved their objectives. Quantified data should be systematically collected and published;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 c (new)
Paragraph 25 c (new)
25c. Emphasises the urgent need to address the severe labour exploitation of migrant workers in the Union; recognises that the lack of regular migration channels and barriers to access justice are among the root causes of human trafficking; and notes that the Employers' Sanctions Directive includes important provisions to address labour exploitation of irregularly residing third country nationals but that such provisions are reliant on the existence of fair, effective, and accessible complaint mechanisms at national level and that such implementation remains minimal;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 d (new)
Paragraph 25 d (new)
25d. Recognises that the discrepancies between Member States regarding protection from labour exploitation under criminal law reflect a lack of clear standards; reiterates the recommendations of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency regarding the need to strengthen the current legal framework to protect workers from exploitation, and for an EU-level consensus which states that labour exploitation is unacceptable and that all workers are entitled to effective protection.