Activities of Ingeborg GRÄSSLE related to 2013/2132(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Annual Report 2012 on the protection of the EU's financial interests - Fight against fraud (debate)
Annual Report 2012 on the protection of the EU's financial interests - Fight against fraud (debate)
Amendments (18)
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2 a (new)
Subheading 2 a (new)
Excise Movement Control System (EMCS)
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. understands that increased controls might also have the additional benefit of removing those businesses, or front companies, that were only created by criminals to facilitate their fraud; notes that up to date dispatch and receipt of excise goods is confirmed in EMCS by business subjects themselves; requests the Commission to take initiative for a tightening of the EMCS access rights, to include a comprehensive history of compliance before trading so that it is possible to grant business subjects the status of "empowered economic operator" ("trusted business subject") so that only these subjects could operate EMCS directly by themselves.;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. demands that verification checks conducted by Member States on people and companies applying to the register need to be more robust and comprehensive; understands that goods can easily be miss-declared to evade excise duties; demands therefore a higher degree of cooperation with tax authorities;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11d. considers that time limits allowed for the excise movements to go between authorised warehouses are unrealistically long; understands that this allows multiple movements on the same declaration and diversion before the delivery date is entered in the system; demands that competent institution of the Member State of the declared destination and the new destination must be informed about changes immediately by the consignor; demands furthermore that the maximum allowed time for submission of the report on the receipt of the excise goods shall be one working day and furthermore that journey time should be calculated and set up for each transportation in accordance with the type of the means of transport used and distance between places of dispatch and destination;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 e (new)
Paragraph 11 e (new)
11e. finds that the guarantees required to establish bonded warehouses are too low in comparison to the value of the excise goods; considers that there should be a variable depending on the type of goods and the amount of trade actually occurring;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 f (new)
Paragraph 11 f (new)
11f. Is concerned since Member States have implemented their own EMCS systems according to broadly defined requirements by the European Commission; requests therefore the Commission to take initiative for a more uniform system across the EU;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. notes that it takes on average 2 years and 7 months between the start of a fraudulent practice and the moment it is detected; notes furthermore that another 7 or 8 months elapse before the irregularity is reported to the Commission; is concerned since guidelines on the moments when Member States report fraudulent irregularities and/or other irregularities to OLAF, if such guideline exist in a Member State at all, differ not only across the individual Member States, but also across policy areas; expects the Commission to draw up European wide guidelines for the reporting of fraudulent irregularities and/or other irregularities to OLAF;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. requests the Court of Auditors to follow-up its previous special reports on the performance of OLAF in order to determine the effects of the reorganization;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Expresses satisfaction that the reform of the rules governing the functioning of OLAF has finally been adopted, and welcomes the communication aimed at ‘Improving OLAF’s governance and reinforcing procedural safeguards in investigations: a step-by-step approach to accompany the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office’ (COM(2013)0533); notes the first positive effects of the reorganisation and restructuring of OLAF’s investigative procedures, shortening the average length of time for processing investigations, particularly at the stage of case selectionat on 1 February 2012 a total of 421 cases have been opened at once and closed again during 2012 most of them without recommendation; noticed furthermore that in addition, many cases older than 24 months have been closed in 2012 in which recommendations may not have been made at the time of closing; notes furthermore that this one-time effect is responsible for shorter a duration of investigations on average;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 – point ii
Paragraph 24 – point ii
(ii) recognises that the increase in the number of information coming in from the public sector may be a positive sign of improved cooperation with Member States; notes that OLAF changed way in which it counts incoming information; notes that due to the lifecycle of the programming period more fraudulent irregularities have been reported in 2012 by public authorities since programmes were closed;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 – point iii
Paragraph 24 – point iii
(iii) reiterates its request for exhaustive information on the nature of follow-up to OLAF recommendations; inter alia the question for how many OLAF cases it was not possible for national courts to follow up on account of (a) insufficient evidence, (b) low priority, (c) lack of legal basis, (d) absence of a public interest, (e) limitation of actions (f) procedural errors, (g) other reasons;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 – point iii a (new)
Paragraph 24 – point iii a (new)
(iiia) reiterates its request to receive more information on the number of on-the-spot checks were carried out in each of the Member States;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 – point iii b (new)
Paragraph 24 – point iii b (new)
(iiib) requests again to receive information on the number of investigations by each investigation area (agriculture, cigarettes, customs, internal EU policies, external aid, internal investigations, structural funds, VAT) for each Member State
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 – point iii c (new)
Paragraph 24 – point iii c (new)
(iiic) requests again detailed information in the Annual Reports on the duration of investigations broken down by external, internal, coordination and criminal assistance cases grouped by on-going cases and cases closed at year end;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 – point iii d (new)
Paragraph 24 – point iii d (new)
(iiid) requests again information on the number of on-going and closed investigations in each European institution;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. recalls that according to Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1848/2006 of 14 December 2006, Member States shall provide information on the initiation or abandonment of any procedures for imposing administrative or criminal sanctions related to the notified irregularities as well as of the main results of such procedures; recalls further that this information shall also indicate the character of the sanctions applied and/or whether the sanctions in question relate to the application of Community and/or national legislation, including a reference to the Community and/or national rules in which the sanctions are laid down; requests to be informed in detail with a comprehensive analysis on the reports received under Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1848/2006;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Supports the Commission and OLAF on the introduction of an action plan to combat cigarette smuggling; demands a better cooperation between OLAF and EUROPOL in that regard;