15 Amendments of Pierre KARLESKIND related to 2021/2162(INI)
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the Commission acknowledged1a the need to reflect on amendments to the Financial Regulation that prevent selecting bidders that can be in a situation of conflict of interests and to improve implementation guidelines (Vademecum on public procurement) on the application of the notion of conflicting professional interests; _________________ 1a Case 853/2020/KR
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas respect for the rule of law is an essential precondition for compliance with the principles of sound financial management;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that the revision should seek to modernise the rules applicable to the EU budget in line with its latest evolutions and in line with the budgetary principles, and to strengthen public procurement rules avoiding any potential conflict of interests, including professional conflict of interests, whether immediately apparent or not and to increase parliamentary oversight, democratic accountability and the ability to respond to citizens’ needs;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is of the opinion that, while a global overhaul of the rules applicable to the budget is not needed at this time, the Financial Regulation must be subject to targeted improvements and simplifications, in particular where they increase rule of law, transparency and democratic scrutiny;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that the number and scope of off-budget instruments have grown significantly in the past decade, and that NGEU has taken this practice to the next level, by greatly, if temporarily,Welcomes that NGEU has greatly increasinged the magnitude of the EU budget allowing the form of external assigned revenue, andUnion to face one of its greatest challenges of its existence; notes that it has creatinged liabilities until 2058 through borrowing for lending and borrowing for direct EU expenditure; warns that these developments put at risk central budgetary principles such as unity and budgetary accuracy, equilibrium and universality;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is concerned that these mechanisms pose a serious challenge toNotes that the number and scope of off-budget instruments have grown significantly in the past decade; Believes that off-budget instruments funded by external assigned revenues limit the ability of the Parliament to fulfil its decision-making, scrutiny and discharge functions; strongly believes that EU financial rules must be updated as regards the role of the budgetary authority in relation to these mechanisms, in order to bring them closer to the principles and responsibilities set out in the Treaties;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Reiterates that ensuring the respect of all the values enshrined in article 2 of the TEU is a form of ensuring the protection of the EU budget and of the EU’s financial interests; highlights that Regulation 2021/1060 (CPR) equipped the Commission with strong ex-ante control mechanisms to ensure that managing authorities are in full compliance with the respect of EU values, in particular the non-discrimination principle; believes, however, that there is still a strong risk that final beneficiaries of EU funds use them in a way that is not compliant with EU values throughout their execution; calls therefore on the Commission to include in the Financial Regulation provisions setting out ex-post control mechanisms and procedures ensuring that every euro of the EU budget is used for projects or organisations that respect EU values, in addition to existing mechanisms; believes that a mandatory single, inter-operable and transparent database of direct and ultimate beneficiaries of EU funds would facilitate the detection of such breaches of EU values;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Underlines the limited capacity of the Union to sanction breaches of the rule of law by EU Member States; considers that the Union should further strengthen its tools for the protection of the rule of law; believes government entities breaching rule of law principles pose a serious threat to public funds (national and European) as those authorities cannot be fully trusted for their management; calls therefore on the Commission to include in its proposal for a revision of the Financial Regulation new provisions allowing the Commission to suspend or reduce EU funds for EU Member States that do no respect the rule of law, including when no EU funds are directly put at risk, when it implements the Union budget under shared, direct or indirect management;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Highlights that the role of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is to investigate and prosecute fraud against the budget of the European Union and other crimes against the EU's financial interests; underlines the importance of cooperation between the EU institutions, the Member States, and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) with the EPPO; calls on the remaining Member States to ensure that their European and Delegated Prosecutors are appointed in a timely and impartial manner; recalls the need to provide the EPPO with adequate resources in order to ensure its proper functioning;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to ensure greater interoperability of IT systems, of existing European and national databases and data-mining tools for the purposes of risk analysis and detection of fraud;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes that the Commission’s Vademecum on public procurement was last updated in January 2020; notes that the current definition of ‘professional conflict of interest’ is limited to a conflicting interest that affects the capacity of an economic operator to perform a contract; calls on the Commission to provide for a more explicit definition and to ensure that its implementation rules on public procurement do not permit the awarding of policy-related service contracts to undertakings that are under the economic control of a parent company or a group that owns shares related to activities that are not in line with the EU’s environmental, social and Green Deal objectives; believes that such a revised definition should take into account the risk of conflict of interests of a performer that is developing sectoral guidelines it will have to comply with, with particular scrutiny when it comes to policy-related projects and studies;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes that the Commission’s Vademecum on public procurement was last updated in January 2020; notes that the current definition of ‘professional conflict of interest’ is limited to a conflicting inter but has not been made public nor shared with the European Parliament for opinion; requests that affects the capacity of an economic operatorthe Parliament should be able to perform a contract; calls on the Commission to provide for a more explicit definition and to ensure that its implementation rules on public procurement do not permit the awarding of policy-related service contracts to undertakings that are under the economic control of a parent company or a group that owns shares related to activities that are not in line with the EU’s environmental, social and Green Deal objectiveulate an opinion on future revision of the Commission’s Vademecum on public procurement; calls on the Commission to share regular updates with the Parliament’s relevant committees on the revision of its Vademecum before it is finalised either through the discharge procedure of the European Commission or during dedicated hearings;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Asks the Commission to amend Article 167 – c) of the Financial Regulation to include professional conflict of interests, that is based on a revised definition, to the list of criteria for awarding policy-related service contracts;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17 b. Stresses that the General Conditions of the Commission’s public procurement contracts for services contain standard provisions on professional conflicting interests with requirements from contractors to proactively notify situations that could constitute a conflict of interests; asks the Commission to perform additional checks and thorough verifications before the signature of the contract, in order to avoid relying on voluntary notifications only from the applicants and to better assess possible professional conflict of interests; calls on the Commission to develop adequate sanctions, such as a temporary ban from public tender procedures, for economic operators that would be found in a situation of professional conflict of interests;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Considers that all EU institutions conducting public procurement should publish clear rules on their websites regarding acquisition, expenditure and monitoring, as well as all contracts awarded with the fullest possible transparency; Notes the guidance provided by the Commission on using the public procurement framework in the emergency situation related to the COVID-19 crisis; encourages the Commission to gather and evaluate the experience of contracting authorities with the public procurement framework in this regard and to reflect the lessons learned in the Financial Regulation, by identifying criteria for defining exceptional/unusual circumstances in which temporary/framed/necessary flexibility in the implementation of public procurement rules can be applied;