Activities of Michela GIUFFRIDA related to 2018/2105(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Activities of the European Ombudsman in 2017 (debate) IT
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2017 PDF (446 KB) DOC (73 KB)
Amendments (35)
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the EU is still facing the worst economic, social and political crisis since its foundation; whereas the ineffectivit important to improve the approach adopted byof the EU Iinstitutions in tackling the lack of transparency in both the EU decision- making process and in lobbying activities, in addition to other significant ethical issues within the Institutions, are contributing to further undermining the image of the EU;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas given the often time- sensitive nature of requests for access to document the Ombudsman initiated a trial phase for a fast-track procedure;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the Ombudsman has a crucial role to play in ensurmaking the full transparency and impartiality of both the EU’s decision-making processes and administration in order to successfully protect citizens’ rightsEU legislative process more accountable to citizens so they can exercise their right to participate in the democratic life of the Union thereby increasing their engagement and trust;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas on 25 October 2017 a meeting took place between former Commission President Barroso and a current Commission Vice-President, and was registered as an official meeting with Goldman Sachs; whereas the Ombudsman noted that the exact nature of this meeting was not clear; whereas the Ombudsman highlighted that there are understandable concerns that the former President is using his previous status and his contacts with former colleagues to influence and obtain information; whereas this case raises systematic issues as to the Commission’s overall approach to handling such cases and the degree of independence of the Ethics Committee and thus questions the need for stronger rules at EU level to prevent and sanction any conflict of interests within the Institutions and the agencies of the EU;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas in March 2017 the Ombudsman opened a strategic inquiry into the openness and accountability of the Council; whereas the Ombudsman found maladministration in the Council’s failure to record the identities of Member States that take a position in a legislative procedure and in the lack of transparency by the Council on public access to its legislative documents; such as the practice of disproportionately marking documents as “limite”, meaning not for circulation;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)
Recital M a (new)
M a. whereas more openness on positions taken by national governments may reduce the ‘blame Brussels’ phenomenon which misrepresents the reality of how EU legislation is agreed, promoting Euro- scepticism and anti-EU sentiment”
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas the Ombudsman inquired into citizens’ complaints denouncing the Commission’s failure to reach a timely decision on infringement cases concerning the abuse of fixed-term work contracts; whereas several Member States have, over the years, experienced a significant increase in atypical and temporary employment contracts, which has undermiquestioned the integritymplementation of European employment law and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s five- year strategy ‘Towards 2019’ which aims to increase the impact and visibility of her office and build strong relationships with the EU institutions, agencies and organisations, for the greater benefit of citizens
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s introduction of the fast-track complaint procedure to deal with inquiries on access to documents
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises the importance of fullgreater transparency and fullgreater public access to the documents held by the EU institutions; highlights the Ombudsman’s structural work in bringing suspecific secretive pted maladministracticeson to light by adopting a case-by- case approach and launching an increasing number of own-initiative enquiries;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines the fact that EU legislation on access to documents is seriously outshould be updated; reiterates its call for a revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 in order to also facilitate the Ombudsman’s work in scrutinising the granting of access to documents by Parliament, the Council and the Commission; emphasises that Regulation 1049/2001 no longer reflects the current legal situation and institutional practices implemented by EU institutions, offices, bodies and agencies;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that citizens must be able to directly participate in the democratic life of the EU and follow in detail the decision- making process within the EU institutions, and have access to all the relevant information in order to fully exercise their democratic rights;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that citizens must be able to directly participate more directly in and follow in detail the decision-making process within the EU institutions, and have access to all the relevant information in order to fully exercise their democratic rights;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that the lack of information and debate aboute role of the Ombudsman in working for greater transparency and accountability in the EU legislative process in order to increases citizens’ distrust, with regard not only to the lawfulness of an isolated act, but also to the legitimacy of the decision-making process as a whole;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recognises the need for fullgreater transparency in the EU decision-making process and commends the Ombudsman’s inquiry into informal negotiations between the three main EU institutions (‘trilogues’); supports the publication of allkey trilogue documents;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recognises the need for fullincreased transparency in the EU decision-making process and commends the Ombudsman’s inquiry into informal negotiations between the three main EU institutions (‘trilogues’); supports the publication of all trilogue documents in accordance with the rulings of the Court;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Strongly believes that the Ombudsman’s recommendasuggestions on the EIB’s Transparency Policy must be implementedshould be acted on without further delay; calls on the EIB to immediately start to remove the presumption of non-disclosure relating to the information and documents collected during audits, inspections and investigations, including after thoese launched both during and after fraud and corruption cahave been closesd;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses that the positions of the Member States in the EU legislative process must be recorded and made a matter of public knowledge in a timely and accessible manner, as in any system rooted in the principle of democratic legitimacy, co-legislators must be held accountable to the public for their actions; strongly criticises the fact that the Council’s legislative documents are not, to any significant extent, directly and proactively accessible to the public while the legislative process is ongoingbelieves that increased accountability in the Council on positions taken by national governments on EU legislation could reduce the ‘blame Brussels’ culture for decisions ultimately taken by national governments themselves; calls on the Council to revise its confidentiality policy in order to ensure the highest level of transparency in its work;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to ensure fullgreater transparency and access to documents and information with regard to the EU Pilot procedures in relation to petitions received, and to the EU Pilot and infringement procedures that have already ended;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Urges the Ombudsman to continue to monitor the implementation of the Commission’s reform of the expert groups’ system in order to ensure full compliance with legally binding rules and fullgreater transparency in the performance of all expert groups’ activities, and to investigate and report any possible conflict of interests; believes that a careful assessment of all expert groups is needed in order to arrive at an overall understanding of their independence and added value within EU policymakingll members of expert groups must be on the Transparency Register;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Reiterates its call for a central transparency hub for all EU institutions and agencies.
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Supports the Ombudsman’s commitment to improving the transparency of EU lobbying; stresses the importance of making the EU transparency register fully mandatory and legally-binding in order to ensure full transparency of lobbyfor interest representatives and third parties and legally-binding foron all EU institutions, and agencies and third parties, in order to ensure greater transparency;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses the importance of greatly improving the accuracy of data in the EU transparency register, including the obliginformation foron law firms that lobby to declare all their clients; underlines the need to make available all information on the influence of lobbyists free of charge, fully comprehensible and easily accessible to the public; believes that full transparency of the funding of all interest representatives must be ensured; calls for any organisation that breaks the revolving doors rules to be suspended from the Transparency register;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Strongly regrets the decision of the ECB President not to suspend his membership of the G30 in spite of the Ombudsman’s recommendation to do so; stresses that the ECB President’s continued membership of the G30 increases citizens’ mistrust as to the integrity of the ECB and its independence from private financial interests; urges the ECB to amend the relevant rules in order to fully comply with the Ombudsman’s recommendations and to ensure that the highest ethical and accountability standards are concretely implementedStresses that the members of the Executive Board of the ECB should in principle abstain from being simultaneous members of forums or other organisations which include executives from banks supervised by the ECB, unless such membership is in line with established practice at global level and the ECB participates alongside other central banks such as the United States Federal Reserve or the Bank of Japan. Takes notes of the recommendations of the European ombudsman of 16January 2018, regarding the involvement of the President of the European Central Bank and the members of its decision-making bodies in the ‘Group of Thirty’;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Ombudsman to continue her work on strengthening ethics rules within the EU institutions in order to solve revolving door issues and to ensure the swift publication of the names of all those EU officials involvcases assessed , and to guarantee full transparency on all related informthe implementation of this obligation; looks forward to the Ombudsman’s analysis into how the Commission is implementing her guidelines and suggestions on how to improve the handling of revolving doors situations;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Ombudsman to continue her work on strengthening ethics rules within the EU institutions in order to solve revolving door issues and to ensure the swift publication of the names of all those EU officials involved, and to guarantee full transparency on all related information; looks forward to the Ombudsman’s analysis into how the Commission is implementing her guidelines and suggestions on how to improve the handling of revolving doors situations including the possibility to adopt legislative rules for preventing and sanctioning such situations and possible abuses;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Strongly believes that stricter moral and ethical rules and standards need to be applied throughout the EU institutions with a view to securing respect for the duty of integrity and discretion, as well as full independence fromno conflict of interest with the private sector;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Strongly believes that stricter moral and ethical rules and standards need to be applied throughout the EU institutions with a view to securing respect for the duty of integrity and discretion, as well as full independence from the private sector; considers that these rules and standards could be based on a legislative act;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Reiterates its call on the Commission to guarantee proactive publication and full transparency with regard to the post-term-of-office occupations of former Commissioners; calls on the Commission to ensure that the Ethics Committee is fully independentaccountable and encourages the Ombudsman to continue to assess and report on any possible conflict of interest of the Ethics Committee’s members;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Highlights the need to adopt major improvements on conflict of interest rules for special advisers; calls on the Commission to fully implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations, by adopting fulla more transparencyt and a proactive approach to its assessment of any potential conflict of interests before and after their appointment, and ensuring that citizens have complete access to all the relevant information on special advisers;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Urges the Ombudsman to monitor the implementation of the recommendations for EU public officials on their interactions with interest representatives, and to continue to raise awareness of these recommendations among EU staff members throughout all the EU institutions, through educational training, seminars and related support measures;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Deeply regrets the delays accumulated by the Commission in connection with infringement procedures on the abuse of fixed-term contracts, which has served to perpetuateallowed for the abuse and violation of workers’ rights in the Member States; calls on the Ombudsman to step up her efforts onmonitor this issue in order to safeguard citizens’ rights effectively;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Supports the Ombudsman’s role in shaping a proactive and transparent policy in all EU agencies; urges the Ombudsman to continue monitoring all EU agencies in order to ensure that they meet the highest standards of transparency and provide full public access to documents and information, with a particular focus on procedures and activities relating to the protection of human health;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s annual conference with the European Network of Ombudsmen which took place in June 2017 dedicated to the fallout for citizens’ rights from Brexit and from increased ‘populism’ in Europe.
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27b. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s Award for Good administration that recognises efforts among the EU civil service in finding innovative ways of implementing citizen-friendly policies.