Activities of Katalin CSEH related to 2021/2025(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Commission’s 2020 Rule of Law Report
Amendments (14)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Reiterates its warning that the Union is facing an unprecedented and escalating crisis of its founding values, which threatens its long-term survival as a democratic peace project; is gravely concerned by the rise and entrenchment of autocratic and illiberal tendencies, further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession, as well as corruption, disinformation and state capture, in several Member States; underlines the dangers of this trend for the cohesion of the Union’s legal order, the protection of the fundamental rights of all its citizens, the functioning of its single market, the effectiveness of its common policies and its international credibility;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Recalls that the Union remains structurally ill-equipped to tackle democratic, fundamental rights and rule of law violations and backsliding in the Member States; regrets the inability of the Council to make meaningful progress in enforcing Union values in ongoing Article 7 TEU procedures; notes that the Council’s failure to apply Article 7 TEU effectively is in fact enabling continued divergence from the values provided for in Article 2 TEU; notes with concern the disjointed nature of the Union’s toolkit in that field and calls for it to be streamlined and properly enforced;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that the rule of law is an essential precondition for compliance with the principle of sound financial management and for the protection of the Union’s financial interests, which can only be ensured if public authorities act in accordance with the law, if cases of fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest or other breaches of the law are pursued effectively by investigative and prosecution services, if national courts are independent, and if the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union are respected; Stresses however, that the above institutions in the Member States have to be functional not only legally but also in practice;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines the importance of the Commission’s first Rule of Law Report as a basis on which to build the new cycle of the rule of law mechanism; welcomes the inclusion among its pillars of the justice system, the anti-corruption framework and other institutional checks and balances, as these are particularly relevant for monitoring the protection of the EU budget; Is of the opinion that the annual report is lacking conclusions on the state of the Rule of Law in the Member States and in the EU in general; considers that these are essential preconditions to identify follow-up actions; encourages the Commission to propose remedial measures and tools and allocate adequate timelines to them;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines the importance of the Commission’s first Rule of Law Report as a basis on which to build the new cycle of the rule of law mechanism; welcomes the inclusion among its pillars of the justice system, the anti-corruption framework and other institutional checks and balances, as these are particularly relevant for monitoring the protection of the EU budget; calls on the Commission to assess any possible overlaps between the Rule of Law Mechanism and the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Bulgaria and Romania and ensure a streamlined evaluation process;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses that the analysis and the conclusions of the annual reports should be directly contributing to the Conditionality Mechanism; calls on the Commission to clarify in the methodology the clear link between the two mechanisms;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Is of the opinion that the Commission should be making publicly available all its correspondence regarding the annual Rule of Law report with all stakeholders, including the Member States and NGOs in order to prove its impartiality;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Member States to proactively participate in the procedure and engage themselves into meaningful dialogue and cooperation with the Commission in order to improve the state of the Rule of Law in each Member State and overall in the EU;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to assess the effectiveness of the national anti- corruption strategies and to use that knowledge to update and enhance the Union’s anti-corruption framework; calls on the Commission to use the information and assessments of GRECO in this process;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that transparency, access to public information, the protection of whistleblowers and an overall culture of integrity in public life are key factors that enable corruption to be identified and prevented; underlines the importance of harmonising definitions and methodologies to obtain comparative data across the EU; underlines that there are ongoing challenges to collect information on the persons benefiting directly or indirectly most from the CAP and cohesion funds;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that transparency, access to public information, the protection of whistleblowersmedia freedom and pluralism, investigative journalism the protection of whistleblowers, the protection of journalists against SLAPP and an overall culture of integrity in public life are key factors that enable corruption to be identified and prevented; underlines the importance of harmonising definitions and methodologies to obtain comparative data across the EU;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Highlights the importance of supporting and strengthening cooperation between the EU institutions, the Member States and, in particular, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in the fight against corruptionin the fight against corruption; is of the opinion that fighting corruption requires not only a strong mandate but a further increased budget to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO); Is of the opinion that OLAF should be focusing more on those Member States in its activity, which did not join to EPPO; recalls that Member States receiving grants from the EU budget should be required to join the EPPO, or, for those Member States availing of the JHA opt-out in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty, to have a relevant, independent national equivalent, working in close cooperation with the EPPO;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Highlights the importance of supporting and strengthening cooperation between the EU institutions, the Member States and, in particular, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in the fight against corruption; calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide the EPPO with all necessary support in order to ensure its successful launch of activities;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reiterates that Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 has been in force since 1 January 2021 and is not subject to the adoption of any guidelines or judicial interpretation; reiterates its call on the Commission to fulfil its obligations under this Regulation and provide Parliament with information as mentioned above by 1 June 2021, otherwise Parliament will have to consider that the Commission failed to act and subsequently shall take action under Article 265 of the TFEU.