14 Amendments of Claudia SCHMIDT related to 2018/2166(DEC)
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 14 a (new)
Subheading 14 a (new)
Czech Republic
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 c (new)
Paragraph 47 c (new)
47c. Is deeply worried that an EU legal document, dated 19 November 2018, pointed out that the situation of Czech Prime Minister qualifies as a conflict of interest, because he could influence decisions on the use of Union funds of which companies linked to him had benefited;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 d (new)
Paragraph 47 d (new)
47d. Notes that the Agrofert Holding is the single biggest group in Czech agriculture and food industry, second largest in chemistry and plays a significant role also in forestry; furthermore recalls that Agrofert is also an owner of the MAFRA Publishing Company a.s., one of the largest media groups publishing some of the most popular printed and online media, such as MF DNES, Lidové noviny, iDnes; calls on the Commission to investigate also the situation of the Czech PM as media owner to draw clean conclusions from this case;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 e (new)
Paragraph 47 e (new)
47e. Notes with deep regret that, despite multiple alerts raised by the European Parliament, the Commission has reacted to the issue of the Czech PM only after Transparency International Czech Republic filed a complaint against the conflict of interest of Mr Babiš in June 2018;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 f (new)
Paragraph 47 f (new)
47f. Recalls that the Commission services have asked the national authority responsible for the coordination of EU Funds (Ministry of Regional Development) to provide the following information with respect to funding to enterprises being part of the his company holding: (a) list of all projects financed by the ERDF, Cohesion Fund, ESF, EAFRD which relate to the AGROFERT group since 2012 when the current Prime Minister entered as Minister of Finance the government, and whether the projects are still ongoing or have been completed; (b) the amounts granted, already paid and still to be paid (as well as the Fund concerned) to these companies or to other companies of the AGROFERT group to allow us i) to confirm the amounts mentioned in the complaint and ii) possibly identify other funding, if any; (c) periods when such amounts were granted and paid; (d) whether the projects were subject to verifications (administrative and/or on- the-spot) with respect to such funding and the outcome of such verifications;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 g (new)
Paragraph 47 g (new)
47g. Welcomes that the Czech Ministry of Regional Development has collected the requested information from the different managing authorities concerned and has forwarded it to the Commission;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 h (new)
Paragraph 47 h (new)
47h. Asks the Commission what action it intends to take in light of the recent legal appreciation of the situation;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 i (new)
Paragraph 47 i (new)
47i. Recalls that the European Parliament asked last year the Commission to speed up the conformity clearance procedure opened on 8 January 2016 to get detailed and precise information on the risk of conflicts of interest concerning the State’s Agricultural Intervention Fund in the Czech Republic;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 14 d (new)
Subheading 14 d (new)
Slovakia
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 l (new)
Paragraph 47 l (new)
47l. Notes that there are currently 6 conformity enquiries ongoing in relation to Slovakia; for Rural Development, DG AGRI audits have found a number of deficiencies in the management and control of investment and forestry measures; as regards the management of the area-based direct payments, a DG AGRI audit performed in 2017 indicated that there are certain weaknesses in the administration and control system and an OLAF investigation is currently ongoing on allegations of fraud;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 m (new)
Paragraph 47 m (new)
47m. Asks the Commission to speed up the conformity procedures and keep the EP informed about the follow-up; is of the opinion that measures could be taken on the basis of the financial regulation pending the outcome of the enquiries, as for instance the interruption or suspension of the funds; calls on the Commission to examine the possibility to withdraw of the accreditation of the paying agency;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 n (new)
Paragraph 47 n (new)
47n. Is seriously concerned by the outcomes of the mission of the Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament (CONT) to Slovakia that has revealed a serious threat to the Rule of Law in the country, great risk of fraud in the area of Union financing of agriculture and forestry, significant shortcomings in the public procurement procedure, shortcomings in the land management, high risk of conflict of interest within the public administration, this all taking place in a context of a murder of Ján Kuciak, a journalist investigating the aforementioned issues; calls on the Commission and OLAF to take the conclusions and recommendations of the CONT Committee outlined in the report very seriously and take immediate appropriate measures to quickly resolve the dramatic situation in Slovakia;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 n (new)
Paragraph 47 n (new)
47n. Asks the Commission to report to the European Parliament every three months on the follow up in Slovakia concerning the monitoring of the management and control system for direct payments;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 132 a (new)
Paragraph 132 a (new)
132a. Notes with deep regret that the leaked letter from the Commissioner Oettinger to the Czech PM Mr Babiš offers to the latter one a leeway in his conflict of interest situation, instead of putting the protection of the financial interests of the European Union on the first place, by proposing him to abstain from participation on decisions that concern his personal interest; considers this to be an absolutely insufficient course of action and demands that the Commission takes appropriate measures in this matter that will not only protect the financial interests of the Union but that will set a precedent for similar future cases based on applicable legal framework;