22 Amendments of Sabrina PIGNEDOLI related to 2020/2221(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that organised crime has demonstrated a high degree of infiltration into the social, economicpolitical, economic, financial, entrepreneurial and administrative structure of Member States, as well as an ability to launder in the legal economy the huge proceeds of crimes including those committed against the EU’s financial interests, thus representing a serious threat to EU citizens’ liberties, as well as to democracy and the rule of law, and necessitating a common, coordinated response from the EU and its Member States; welcomes, in this regard, the 2021- 2025 EU strategy to tackle organised crime, presented by the Commission on 14 April 2021;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas financial and economic crime includesmakes use of corruption, fraud, coercion, violence, collusion, obstruction, money laundering and and intimidation for unlawful gain, concealing the money of illegal origin through money laundering, with the option of using it for further unlawful purposes, including the financing of terrorism;
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas a rising number of organised crime groups are active in the EU, often with cross-border reach; whereas the phenomenon is increasingly complex with new criminal markets and new ways of operating that are emerging due to globalisation and new technologies; whereas Mafia-style organisations are particularly active in their attempts to intercept EU funds in various Member States;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas technology brings new detection and monitoring capabilities, reducmaking the burdeaction onf investigators more effective and enabling the design of smarter enforcement measures;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights that organised criminal groups take advantage of the different laws in individual Member States, and that the development of a harmonised anti-fraud approach at EU level is complicated by differing definitions of organised crime; reiterates therefore its previous calls for the revision of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008, and the need to establish a common definition of organised crime, which should also take into account the use of violence, corruption or intimidation by criminal groups to obtain control of economic activities or public procurement, or to influence democratic processe, as well as the specific features of Mafia-style organisations, which make use of forced affiliations and create a climate of submission to directly or indirectly take over the management or control of economic activities, concessions, licences, public procurement and services, or to access European funds;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that value-added tax (VAT) fraud is another major component of revenue fraud; points out that one of the sectors most at risk is the fuel sector, where criminal networks abuse VAT exemption rules and price differences among different types of fuel, resulting in huge losses of tax revenue; is concerned by the fact that criminal groups have been proven to exchange knowledge, information and intelligence in the area of VAT fraud;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Expresses its regret that subsidies are an area affected by fraud on the expenditure side of the Union budget; notes that subsidy fraud happens in many areas of EU spending, such as agriculture policy, cohesion policy, research and development and environmental policy; points out that many such fraudulent activities are carried out by organised crime gangs, including Mafia-style gangs;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Takes note of the special impact of organised crime in the misuse of common agricultural policy (CAP) funds; reiterates its concern that the current structure of CAP subsidies incentivises land grabbing by criminal and oligarchical structures; stresses that limited transparency in combination with corruption enables criminal organisations to keep their actions out of sight and prevent EU funding from reaching its intended beneficiaries; reiterates that the development of proper Union-level legal instruments against land grabbing and the enabling effective information sharing are crucial in this regard; points to the need for greater scrutiny by the Commission or the relevant agencies, including with regard to livestock, with particular reference to the funds granted per head of cattle, whose actual existence must be properly verified;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the start of operations of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on 1 June 2021; reiterates the need to ensure that the EPPO has all the necessary resources to carry out its functions, in order to protect the EU’s financial interests; calls for the Commission to step up its oversight of the use of funds by the Member States that have not joined the EPPO, in order to prevent fraud and protect the EU's financial interests; calls, furthermore, for sufficient funds for the other EU agencies and bodies involved in the fight against economic and financial crime, such as Europol and Eurojust;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with concern that the Commission and OLAF have identified fraud in public tenders and procurement as a major trend among fraudsters; points out thatregrets that in many Member States there is no specific legislation against organised crime in the face of fraud schemes which often take place on a transnational level and can span several (EU and non-EU) countries, making them difficult to identify and dissolve;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that the COVID-19 pandemic creates new opportunities for fraudsters and organised crime; notes with concern that Europol observed a rise in coronavirus-related criminal activities in the form of cybercrime, fraud and counterfeiting, including that of medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE); recalls the scams and fake offers of vaccines detected by EU countries, as one of many harmful examples, where fraudsters tried to sell more than 1.1 billion vaccine doses for a total price of over EUR 15.4 billion;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that strong safeguards should be put in place to prevent abuse at national and European level, with solid due diligence procedures and transparency on beneficiaries of EU funds, as well as the effective exchange of banking information between Member States, in order to stop criminals illegally benefiting from EU funds;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that fraud prevention and the fight against fraud by organised crime should be a priority focus of managing, certifying and audit authorities, as well as being the subject of specialised financial investigations; believes that the fight against organised criminal groups also requires enhanced rules and measures regarding the freezing and confiscation of assets;, including the preventive seizure of property of equivalent value to the criminal proceeds; stresses that it is absolutely essential that every effort is made to recover EU funds that are obtained through fraudulent means.
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Stresses that organised crime, in particular Mafia-style crime, has already, in the past, geared its business to renewable energy; warns that, since they are already active in this sector, criminal organisations can easily intercept funds earmarked for the ecological transition, which account for a significant percentage of Next Generation EU funds;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Takes note with concern of the facilitators of organised crime, such as money laundering, cybercrime, document fraud, corruption, fake registration and the use of shell companies; stresses that these actions impact on the authorities’ ability to effectively monitor whether EU money is spent as intended;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Stresses with concern that corruption is an integral part of nearly all the activities of criminal organisations and that it poses a serious threat to the financial interests of the European Union, with an estimated GDP loss ranging between EUR 170 and 990 billion and a cost to the EU of more than EUR 5 billion per year for the public procurement part of the budget alone1 a; _________________ 1a 'The Cost of Non-Europe in the area of Organised Crime and Corruption: Annex II: Corruption' RAND Europe, 2016
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), with its mandate to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes against the EU budget, as an important asset in the fight against fraud and organised crime in the EU; calls for effective funding for the EPPO; regrets that five Member States have not yet joined the EPPO and for those countries calls for greater oversight on the part of the Commission; regrets the lack of nominations of European delegated prosecutors, in particular by Slovenia, and considerable delays in many other Member States; highlights that this may represent a substantial hindrance in the EPPO’s effective fight against cross-border crime;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes that although the Commission has encouraged Member States to develop national anti-fraud strategies (NAFS), only 13 Member States have done so and none of them used the template provided by the Commission; notes with concern that these differences across Member States pose obstacles for efficient cooperation; calls, therefore, on the Commission to take more resolute action with a view to making it mandatory for the Member States to lay down rules to prevent fraud against the EU;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Is of the view that, given the transnational dimension of the fraudulent activities of criminal organisations, it is of vital importance to take action through measures to prevent and combat crime, including Mafia-style crime, and through the approximation of criminal laws in the Member States;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Highlights that an important step in fighting organised crime is making it less profitable; recalls in this regard the work of OLAF, whose investigations are a crucial tool in the fight against fraud; regrets that the indictment rate following recommendations by OLAF to Member States is low and follows a downward trend, as it decreased from 53 % in the 2007-2014 period to 37 % in the 2016- 2020 period; further notes that the extent to which financial amounts recommended for recovery are actually recovered has not been assessed in recent years, and that the most recent assessment covering the years 2002 to 2016 indicates a recovery rate of 30 %; calls on OLAF and the Commission to investigate the underlying reasons and on the Member States to cooperate closely with the Union bodies, to ensure that funds misused by organised crime are effectively recovered; takes the view that decisive action to recover funds, including through preventive or value-based seizures, can deter criminal organisations from committing fraud against the European Union, thereby protecting its financial interests;