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European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity, transparency, corruption and organised crime is disappointed with the EIB’s new transparency policy

The European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity, transparency, corruption and organised crime (ITCO) is disappointed with the new transparency policy of the European Investment Bank, which is weaker than its original policy. This is particularly worrisome as it happens on the eve of the implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), in which the EIB plays a crucial role.

The intergroup acknowledges that improvements have been made since the first draft of the new transparency policy was published in July. De Jong: ”Contrary to the original proposal, the EIB now admits that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on access to documents applies to documents relating to its administrative tasks. Any other solution would have been a clear violation of Art.15 TEU. However, a lot of problematic issues still remain unsolved.”

A serious flaw in the new transparency policy is the vagueness that surrounds the publication of information on EIB projects. Still not all projects have to be published on the website. De Jong: ”It is in the interest of the EIB itself to inform citizens about its projects, since they often have a direct impact on society. Mere summaries do not suffice. Moreover, whenever there are indications that projects do not deliver value for money, or worse, that there have been irregularities, such as fraud, corruption or abuse of the projects for tax evasion, citizens want to have full access to the documents concerned. Cases of maladministration and corruption should not be covered-up, more secrecy is not what people want.”

Elly Schlein, co-president of the Intergroup on ITCO adds: ”it is important that more people have access to information. With the EFSI about to start, the EIB cannot choose for a less transparent policy. People have a right of information concerning all activities of the EIB, including the support to companies operating in the developing countries”.

 The intergroup is committed to address the problems raised by this new policy. De Jong: ”we will certainly address this issue in the context of EFSI, but also as part of the budget discharge of the EIB in the Budgetary Control Committee. Moreover, we shall write a letter to the board of directors of the EIB explaining in detail which articles of the new transparency policy of the EIB have to be amended. We trust that the EIB will not ignore our requests.”

12.03.2015

The bureau of the intergroup on integrity, transparency, corruption and organised crime
Dennis de Jong (co-president)
Elly Schlein (co-president)
Ana Gomes
Monica Macovei
Benedek Jávor
Marian Harkin
Ignazio Corrao
Timothy Kirkhope

Transparency and anti-corruption

EU rules on whistleblower protection must be prioritised

The European Parliament today adopted a report on the fight against fraud. The report included a clear call on the European Commission to bring forward a legislative proposal on the protection of whistleblowers. After the vote, Green transparency spokesperson Benedek Javor said:

DPP_0268“It is high time that whistleblowers were guaranteed protection across Europe. MEPs today delivered a clear message to the EU Commission that it must propose legislation to this end and stop stalling. Whistleblowers play a hugely important role in a democracy, ensuring vital information in the public interest is brought to light, and they deserve protection for fulfilling this role. The LuxLeaks case is just the latest example of this. The precariousness of whistleblowing must end.

“The report also set out a number of other important recommendations to tackle fraud and corruption in the EU, including VAT fraud. It includes a call to finally establish a European public prosecutor’s office to ensure the EU has the resources to properly investigate and clamp down on fraud and corruption, notably of EU funds. Tackling fraud with regard to EU funds is crucial for the credibility of the EU funds and member states and the Commission must redouble their efforts to this end.”

Paks secret: Dialogue for Hungary turns to the Commission as President Áder signs the law

The legal concerns of the data protection authority and law experts were not sufficient for President János Áder to revisit his opinion on the expansion of the power plants: the President of Hungary did not hesitate to sign the law which classifies all information in connection with the investment for 30 years. Dialogue for Hungary turns to the ombudsman to request a revision from the Constitutional Court and we also submit our complaint to the Commission as the law violates European legislation as well.

János Áder’s new image of an environmentalist politician was destroyed before it even evolved after he signed the secret law for the Paks investment. Even though the legislative concerns in connection with the law were already known – among others, due to the declared opinion of the data protection authority –, the loyal servility of Áder towards the Orbán government once again manifested as he signed, without hesitation, the law which harshly violates the right to access public information and environment-related information (that is the constitution and European law as well).

Although European laws allow for the refusal of requests for the release of certain environment-related information, they do also state that “such grounds for refusal must be interpreted restrictively, taking into account in each particular case of the public interest served by disclosure.” General secrecy does not comply with this rules system.

According to Dialogue for Hungary, not even the President of Hungary has rights to pawn the future and leave the dirty laundry of Paks to the upcoming generations; it is sad that we have to remind him of this at the fourth anniversary of the Fukushima tragedy. Dialogue for Hungary turns to the ombudsman and the European Commission for the violation of law: we know that nothing is too costly for Fidesz when it comes to spending public money of 4000 billion Forints; however, even the government has to respect the constitution and international directives.

 

March 11, 2015
Budapest

 

Benedek Jávor, Member of the European Parliament, Dialgoue for Hungary

A call upon the government to release to the public the letter of the Euratom Supply Agency

Benedek Jávor, Member of the European Parliament, calls upon the Hungarian government to forthwith release to the public the letter of the Euratom Supply Agency. In his opinion Hungarian citizens have a right to know the contents of the Paks agreements just as much as the European institutions.

According to information from the Commission the Euratom Supply Agency has sent its written opinion on the transportation agreement in connection with the fuel elements of the new Paks power plant and which was signed between the Hungarian government and the Russian partner on December 8th, 2014. According to these news, in its opinion the Agency gave voice to some serious criticism. To our knowledge, if we consider the original agreement, the transportation of the fuel elements to Paks would be carried out by the Russian consortium responsible for the construction, although there were news about the possibility of the American Westinghouse’s involvement in the transportation procedure. What we know for certain is that the government has classified all the contracts; therefore, the details of the transportation agreement remain unknown.

On the basis of the Euratom directive, of which Hungary is also a member since its accession to the European Union, the government is not allowed to sign such contracts without the countersignature of the Euratom Supply Agency. This is because the duty of supervising nuclear energy security and supply as well as supervising the adaptation of the EURATOM directive belongs to the Euratom Supply Agency, and as such, it must approve every transportation contract signed with a third party in order for the contract to be valid. This approval is what can now become questionable. As a result, the possible role of Westinghouse in the transportation deals might also be seen in a new light.

March 5th, 2015
Brussels-Budapest

SOER workshop opening speech

Dear participants,

First of all, let me express my warm welcome to all of you who decided to take part in the SOER2015 launch event at the European Parliament.

A special welcome to Mr Falkenberg and other representatives of the COM, Mr Bruyninckx and his colleagues from the European Environment Agency including Ms Fay, Mr Scoullos, to our knowledgeable expert speakers, the co-hosts and all MEP colleagues. Unfortunately, Mr Leinen could not join us but we very much welcome Ms Miriam Dalli as our co-host from the SnD Group, together with Mr Jose Inacio Faria representing the ALDE group. I am Benedek Jávor, Green MEP and first vice-chair of the ENVI Committee.

I feel honoured to co-host the event as the State and Outlook report is highly relevant for the work of the members of the European Parliament and other stakeholders as its serves as a key source of feedback for environmental policies in place in terms of their achievements and impacts. This is an essential element we crucially need for policy adjustment and improvement.

The flagship report of the Agency analyses the state of Europe’s environment every 5 years. It is not a simple study with standalone figures. Importantly, the 2015 report provides a state and outlook placed in the context of the 7th Environment Action Programme and its 2050 vision. The report clearly demonstrates that despite some positive short-term trends Europe is not on track to achieve long-term sustainability. Just to name a few areas where long term prospects are alarming: land use and soil functions, climate change and the associated health risks, energy consumption as well as transport demand. Biodiversity and habitat loss, land-take and overexploitation of resources continue despite existing policy targets at different levels. As the report itself stresses, in some cases the level of ambition of our existing policies seems inadequate. Current efforts will not be sufficient to achieve the 2050 vision set in the 7EAP.

As our speakers will also highlight, we urgently need to create more integrated, coherent and truly ambitious policies and actions. We need to further strengthen implementation and improve governance as well as our institutions. I believe that institutions should better reflect long term sustainability efforts and the needs of future generations. New approaches in governance could help us exploit synergies among policies and policy approaches. And above all, we need to bring about profound changes in practices and behaviour – taking into account possible lock-in effects and trade-offs as well. These aspects are all reflected in the SOER report. The report goes beyond the long-term vision and offers credible and feasible transition pathways.

Another asset of the SOER2015 report is that it is based on objective, reliable and comparable environmental information, and draws upon the evidence and knowledge base available to the Agency and the European environment information and observation network in 39 European countries. We need to further improve the knowledge base, to rethink some of our indicators and in more general terms, how we measure progress. I was also happy to find reference to the importance of giving full value to natural capital.

The report states that implementation of existing environment and climate policies resulted in improvement on the state of the environment and reduced health risks yet it also stresses that further implementation efforts by countries can reinforce these trends. I am convinced that governments and other actors need to be assisted, inter alia by providing room and level playing field for citizens` based initiatives, by ensuring that citizens are well-informed and have effective access to justice in line with the Aarhus Convention and by strengthening environmental inspections e.g. through extending the inspection requirements. These are of utmost importance when it comes to the effectiveness of our policies. As for better regulation and governance, I feel a bit concerned about some recent developments in this respect – e.g. in the 2015 work programme of the Commission there are a huge number of withdrawals or modification of pending proposals including crucial pieces of environmental and health legislation such as the circular economy package. I believe that the EU must prioritise legislation that serves the citizens’ needs and lead to the fulfilment of the 2050 vision of 7EAP ’living well, within the limits of our planet’.

To sum up, I would like to underline one of the key messages of the SOER2015 report, namely the need to recalibrate existing policy approaches. I truly believe that policy coherence, long-term thinking and sustainability should become the guiding principles for the revision and continuous improvement of European policy processes. I envisage a policy improvement process based on three distinct elements:

  1. proper signals on the state of the environment quality of life, well-being, progress and social cohesion, transition to a green economy as well as information on potential synergies and trade-offs of our policies..
  2. systematic evaluation of existing polices to assess the tangible effects, the actual added value as well as to point out the shortcomings.
  3. political willingness and stakeholder engagement, outreach to the general public to help them understand the various effects EU policies can have on their daily life

I believe that the reason the SOER reports are extremely valuable is because they contribute substantially to all three elements I just mentioned. I truly hope that the report will experience a broadening uptake reaching out to an ever-wider audience, including the Members of the European Parliament and all policy and decision makers at all levels. This could lay the foundations for reshaping European policies with holistic and long term approaches.

As for the format of the event, first the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, Prof. Bruninckx will deliver his keynote speech on the main outcomes and policy-relevant messages of the SOER2015 report. Then our well-known and very knowledgeable experts speakers, namely Mr Luc Bas, Director of IUCN, Mr Ernst von Weizsäcker,Co-President of the Club of Rome, Ms Laura Burke,Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland and Mr Janez Potocnik, co-chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel will respond from perspectives of the priority objectives of the 7th Environment Action Programme (natural capital, resource efficiency, human health and well-being, implementation) In the Q/A session we will open the floor for all participants to raise questions, give comments. This will be followed by reflections from Mr Falkenberg, Director General of DG ENVI. After the closing remarks by Mr Jose Inacio Faria we will have a short, technical break and a cocktail reception here in the room.

I wish ourselves a fruitful workshop and a lively exchange of views.

Benedek Javor, MEP

Infringement procedure: The end of the Hungarian Energy Association’s golden age

After a series of violations to the EU’s energy regulation, the Hungarian government is now faced with an infringement procedure. With this, the Orbán-cabinet will finally have an official document proving that what the government does in the energy market is not only beyond rationality and against consumer interest but also against EU requirements. Although not heard on the news, the procedure can end the absorption of money by the privileged and Fidesz-friendly MET (Hungarian Energy Association).

Fidesz immediately started its mantra about how Brussels is attacking the government’s efforts in the reduction of utility costs; therefore, it is important to clarify some points.

  1. The procedure was put into effect because of a failure to adapt the third energy package in 2011, when the reduction of utility costs was yet unheard of.
  2. In countries where the energy package was consistently adapted (e.g. in the Czech Republic), energy costs became more favorable than in Hungary, and also on a market basis.
  3. One of the conflicting points between the EU and Hungary is the construction of the tariff-system: energy costs are most heavily taxed in Hungary, which evidently raises the prices, while weakening the position of vital investments in the energy sector.
  4. The main source of conflict is whether service-providers have equal access to the supplies of the cross-border gas pipeline connecting the Austrian Baumgarten with Hungary. As of now, gas is cheaper on the free market than in Hungary; however, only two stakeholders, MVM and E.ON, have access to it, which, according to the European Commission, goes against competition rules. All we can add is that the situation created by the government is even more corrupt than what it seems. E.ON’s gas business was since purchased by the government, and within the framework of an anti-corruption procedure, MVM signed off their own capacities to an oligarch company with an offshore background, namely, MET, which, as a result of vague business dealings, gave a 50-billion-forint-share to its mysterious owners, among them István Garancsi.

It is not the first time that the “war of independence against Brussels” turns out to be a complete hoax: again it is the EU who has to protect Hungarian people – this time from Orbán-friendly oligarchs doing pirate business on the energy market with governmental help. Dialogue for Hungary demands the Orbán-government to draw the consequences and to avoid making the Hungarian tax-payers pay for the sanctions laid out for going shares in the energy-market.

Environmental alarm bell must be heard by Juncker Commission

The European Environment Agency today released its five-yearly assessment of the state and outlook of the environment in Europe (1). Commenting on the outlook, Green environment policy spokesperson Benedek Javor said:

“The EEA has today sounded a clear alarm bell about the state of the environment in Europe. Across the broad spectrum of areas assessed – from biodiversity, to air and water quality, to climate change and beyond – it is clear that Europe is facing major challenges and will not meet the goals it has set for itself without a shift in policy.

“The European Commission and its president Jean-Claude Juncker must hear this alarm and shift tack. The worrying signals coming out from the new Commission, notably from its vice-president Frans Timmermans in presenting the Commission’s work programme, are that environmental policy will take a back seat and suffer from a regulatory roll-back. This outlook should force a fundamental rethink.

“If Europe is to have a chance of long-term sustainability, the ambition of our existing policies will have to be strengthened, as economic or technology driven efficiency gains alone will be insufficient. It is also clear that there are major economic benefits to be gained by prioritising sustainability. Instead of scaling-back key regulatory proposals, such as on the circular economy and air quality, the Commission should be giving ambitious policies top priority.”

(1) The EEA outlook can be found here.