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Tag: anti-corruption

Greens/EFA MEPs call on Council of Europe to monitor Romanian government

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In response to recent attempts on the part of the Romanian government to decriminalise corruption and weaken the country’s conflicts of interest rules, a group of Greens/EFA MEPs has written to the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).

The letter [available on the Green/EFA website] calls on GRECO to take concrete steps to examine the situation on the ground in Romania, and to ensure that the most recent developments are taken into account during the current compliance report assessment. The MEPs have also requested a meeting with GRECO to discuss the issue further.

Please see below a quote from Greens/EFA transparency spokesperson Benedek Jávor.

“The Council of Europe needs to take action where the European Commission has so far failed to do so. The Commission has already demonstrated weakness in responding to corruption by shelving the EU anti-corruption report originally due to be published last year. Until the Commission is prepared to take its responsibilities more seriously, we call on the Council of Europe to make sure that the deeply concerning recent events in Romania are properly monitored and followed up on where necessary.”

The full list of signatories is: Karima Delli, Pascal Durand, Sven Giegold, Rebecca Harms, Heidi Hautala, Benedek Jávor, Eva Joly, Ulrike Lunacek, Julia Reda, Terry Reintke, Michèle Rivasi, Bronis Ropé, Jordi Solé, Bart Staes, Indrek Tarand, Josep-Maria Terricabras, Claude Turmes, Ernest Urtasun

 

(Image source:  Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images)

Report on the protection of whistleblowers

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The European Parliament has today voted in favour of a report on the protection of whistleblowers. Please see below a quote from Greens/EFA transparency spokesperson Benedek Jávor, alongside a short update on activity currently underway on whistleblower protection at EU level.

“The European Parliament has once again called on the Commission to propose a horizontal directive to ensure the proper protection of whistleblowers across the EU. The Greens have been pushing for EU-wide legislation that would protect whistleblowers in all areas of EU competence. This way, citizens across Europe will be able to speak up about environmental crimes, human rights violations and other wrongdoing without fear of reprisal.

“We also want to see the establishment of an independent body to receive alerts about budgetary fraud affecting the EU. Whistleblowers play a crucial role in preventing and uncovering fraud and mismanagement of the EU budget and there needs to be a secure channel for them to share vital information.”

 

Background

Since the Greens/EFA group launched a proposal for a draft EU Directive in May, the Commission has faced increased calls to act to protect whistleblowers. A coalition of almost 80 NGOs and trade unions was launched in Autumn to push for whistleblower legislation in Europe. The Financial Affairs Council called on the Commission to assess the scope for further action to protect whistleblowers in October.

The Commission is due to launch a public consultation on whistleblower protection in March, and recently published an Inception Impact Assessment in which they analyse the impact that a lack of whistleblower protection has on the EU market, on human rights and on the environment. The Commission is currently working on a complete Impact Assessment, with results expected before the summer.

In addition to the report from the Budgetary Control Committee voted today, the European Parliament is working on another initiative report in the Legal Affairs Committee, which will go beyond the scope of EU financial affairs. Following some disagreement between the JURI Committee and Conference of Presidents on who should be the rapporteur for the file, a final decision on the matter is still pending.

European Parliamentary committee writes open letter to VP Frans Timmermans on hindered corruption report

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The European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans has written to the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties and Justice committee, saying he has shelved plans to publish a report on corruption in the EU this year.

You can find a copy of the letter here (or will attach if no link)

Please see below a short quote from Greens/EFA transparency spokesperson Benedek Jávor.

Timmermans seems to think that the European Commission is already doing more than enough to fight corruption in Europe. Apparently he sees no need for measures like the long awaited 2016 anticorruption report. With 200,000 protesting corruption in Romania last night, and corruption one of the issues identified as a major problem of public concern in Europe, he is painfully out of touch with what the public expects. 

 The EU is absolutely not doing enough. The 2016 report must be published, including a chapter on the EU institutions, something that was missing from the previous effort. This would be a positive first step to restore the trust of citizens in the EU institutions.

Here is the link to the letter

 

(Image source: politico.eu)

ITCO, UNODC and GRECO say to European Commission: Open Up !

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Strasbourg, 14 December 2016

Today, representatives from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe and the transparency intergroup of the European Parliament (ITCO) appeal on the European Commission to finally start reporting about its anti-corruption policies.

Co-chair of the ITCO-intergroup, Dennis de Jong: ́ We were told by the European Commission that early this year, the European Parliament would receive its second anti-corruption report. In the meantime, all we received was a disappointing letter from Vice-President Timmermans that the report would be submitted in due course and that it would not contain a section on the internal anti-corruption policies of the European institutions themselves. I therefore welcome the idea of asking GRECO to submit its evaluation on anti-corruption policies of the EU and its Member States, so that the Commission can finally make some pro gress in this regard ́.

The appeal also addresses the concerns of UNODC and GRECO. De Jong: ́I t is embarrassing that until now the Commission has refrained from participating in the Implementation Review Mechanism under the UN Convention against Corruption, to which the EU is a party. I praise the patience of UNODC and its offer the assist the Commission in this respect. I urge the Commission to step up its efforts and to set the right example to the international community, instead of lagging behind as it did until now. Similarly, the EP should receive as soon as possible a full legal analysis of the obstacles the Commission is facing in becoming a party to the GRECO-mechanism of the Council of Europe. Also in this regard, sw ift progress has to be made ́.

Appeal on European Commission: Open Up!

  1. We are concerned about the lack of progress made by the European Commission in respect of its reporting activities on anti-corruption policies and measures, not only of Member States, but also of the EU-institutions themselves.
  2. We are disappointed that the second anti-corruption report of the European Commission, originally due for early this year, has not come out yet and we call upon the Commission to provide the European Parliament with a comprehensive report, including measures taken by the EU-institutions themselves, without further delay.
  3. We invite the Commission to examine ways to speed up the preparations for EU-membership of GRECO, the Council of Europe ́s mechanism to monitor compliance of its members (including all EU Member States) with the organisation’s anti-corruption standards. Similarly, we call upon the Commission to speed up the preparations for its participation in the Implementation Review Mechanism of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). We understand that there may be legal obstacles to overcome, but we demand transparency in this respect and invite the Commission to publish a legal analysis of the problems and possible solutions.
  4. In the meantime, we invite the Commission to explore, together with GRECO, possibilities for developing a pilot project, in which the EU participates, on a purely voluntary basis, in GRECO ́s review process in order to become acquainted with the procedures.
  5. We note that the Commission stated as one of the reasons for not being able to report on anti-corruption policies and measures that it cannot really critically evaluate its own measures. We therefore invite GRECO to offer support in this respect by providing the Commission with a targeted evaluation.
  6. We recall that in its Resolution of 25 October 2016, the European Parliament called upon the Commission to meet its reporting obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption to which the EU has become a party, and also to do its utmost to contribute financially to the technical assistance programme of the UN in the context of the Convention.
  7. We welcome the offer made by UNODC to assist the Commission with fulfilling its reporting obligations and with participating in the Implementation Review Mechanism of the UNCAC, so that the Commission could make itself acquainted with the monitoring procedures.
  8. The Members of the European Parliament, participating in the Intergroup Integrity, Transparency, Corruption and Organised Crime stand ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the European Commission on all of these issues, together with representatives from the Council of Europe and the UNODC.

Joint appeal of the ITCO intergroup and the UNOCD.