22 Amendments of Gunnar BECK related to 2021/2103(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with deep concern the overall shrinking of space for civil society in the EU, whichRecalls that civil society is thriving in Europe; notes that around 1.2 billion euros of the annual EU budget are allocated to NGOs in humanitarian aid and development cooperation1b; notes that the EU funds a great number of NGOs from small grants of 30.000 euros for civil participation to over 3.000.000 euros for humanitarian aid activities; repgresents a serious threat to democracy and fundamental rights and has worsened during the COVID-19 crisis; ts that this might be an underestimation, since it is difficult to have a clear cut figure as the EU budget is not organised according to categories of beneficiaries; underlines that in France, civil society represents 10% of GDP2b; _________________ 1b EuropeAid. 2b https://civilsocietyeurope.eu/wp- content/uploads/2020/01/CSE-Fact-Sheet- on-NGO-funding-by-the-EU.pdf .
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes that Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognises civil society's role in the EU's good governance, and Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union stresses the need for the EU to have an open, transparent and regular dialogue with civil society organisations, e.g. when preparing proposals for EU laws; concludes that the EU has the most fertile legislative environment for non-profit actors to thrive;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Recalls that the survey conducted by Civil Society Europe reporting the alleged shrinking civic space in Europe, relies solely on self-assessments and perceptions of the civil society sector itself, which may make the report prone to self-report bias;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines that the main responsibility for this regression lies with Member States and the European Union;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Condemns all attempts by Member States to controldiscriminate between civil society actors and discriminate between them on a political basis, including by over-regulating the sectoron a political basis;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Condemns all attemptthe decisions by Member States to control civil society actors and discriminate between them on a political basis, including by over-regulating the sectorrestrict citizens’ freedoms disproportionately in connection with the health crisis;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Strongly condemns, in particular, the adoption by Hungarian and Polish authorities of acts that restrict the access of non-governmental organisations to funding and that target LGBTIQ+ persons and activists; Regrets the political decision of the allegedly impartial Court of Justice of the European Union, which has recently ruled that Hungary´s attempt to bring non-profit organisations under the scope of its national Anti-Money Laundering rules violated the free movement of capital1a; recalls that Recommendation 8 of the FATF, Europol, Eurojust, Moneyval and various reports of the European Court of Auditors2a and national competent authorities3a warn about the use of NGOs as fronts for terrorist financing or money-laundering vehicles. _________________ 1a Judgment of the Court of Justice of 18 June 2020, European Commission v Hungary, C-78/18. 2a European Court of Auditors’ Special Report No 35/2018 of 18 December 2018 entitled ‘Transparency of EU funds implemented by NGOs: more effort needed’. 3a 2017 Annual Report of the Maltese Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Strongly cCondemns, in particular, the adoption by Hungarian anwidespread Prolish authorities of acts that restrict the access of non-governmental organisations to funding and that target LGBTIQ+ persons and activistl-out of the health pass;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Deplores the insufficient efforts of Member States to facilitate and guarantee access to stable long-term funding for civil society actorsBelieves that the lavish funding at EU level for civil society actors might dissuade Member States from providing funding of their own; underlines that most civil society actors are exempt from anti-money laundering and transparency requirements, both at EU and national level; whereas this lack of transparency might discourage Member States from providing long-term funding;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Condemns the severexcessive restrictions imposed by Member States on the right to protest, the disproportionate use of violence by public authorities, and the arbitrary arrests of protesters;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Condemns the increasing criminalisation and judicial harassment of civil society actors; iIs concerned about the growing use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) by powerful public and private actors, and strongly recommends the adoption of an anti-SLAPPs directivebut underlines that any legislative initiative curbing the use of SLAPPs should not exempt civil society actors from protsecuting all parties legitimately engaging in public participationon, or lead to de facto legal immunity;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Condemns the increasing criminalisation and judicial harassment of certain civil society actors; is concerned about the growing use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) by powerful public and private actors, and strongly recommends the adoption of an anti- SLAPPs directive protecting all parties legitimately engaging in public participation;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 116 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Supports the Commission in launching infringement procedures against Member States that undulyUnderlines that disproportionate restrictions of the freedoms of assembly and association by Member States can lead to launching infringement procedures;
Amendment 126 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 127 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 134 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Denounces the extreme inequality inlack of access to information and decision- makers between industry representatives on the one hand,to the financing of civil society actors; calls therefore on the Commission to terminate the exemptions of civil society organisations and civil society actors onfrom the other, including within the EU institutionsAnti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) and the Directive on Exchange of Information on tax information (DAC);
Amendment 139 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Denounces the extreme inequality in access to information and decision- makers between industry representatives on the one hand, and civil society actorbetween lobbies defending powerful private interests on the one hand, and citizens and their representatives on the other, including within the EU institutions;
Amendment 154 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Deplores the growing concentration of media ownership at the expense of plurality, independence and fair public representation of the ideas and actions of civil society organisations.politically undesirable ideas, such as anthropogenic climate change scepticism, mass immigration scepticism, and mass surveillance scepticism;
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Deplores the growing concentration of media ownership at the expense of plurality, independence and fair public representation of the ideas and actionsinterests of citizens and of civil society organisations.