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Tag: ITCO

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.

ITCO Press Statement – Trade Secrets Directive hampers prevention of corruption

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Today, the Trade Secrets Directive was adopted during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The highly contested directive harms the protection of whistleblowers and hinders the work of investigative journalists and trade unionists. The ITCO intergroup regrets that the European Commission does not attribute a more prominent role to whistleblowers and investigative journalists in the struggle against corruption.

 

The public consultation held by the European Commission, clearly indicated that the Trade Secrets Directive lacks public support: citizens trade unions, civil society organizations and SME’s reacted negatively. Although several improvements have been made in comparison to the original proposal, the final proposal still burdens the journalist, the whistleblower or the trade unionist with the obligation to prove that he or she acted in the realm of the (restricted) freedom of expression, for the purpose of the general public interest, or as part of helping workers’ representatives in their legitimate exercise of their representative functions. These strict conditions, combined with a very broad definition of ‘trade secrets’, restrict the possibilities of whistleblowers to be acknowledged and for journalists and unionists to do their work properly.

 

Consequentially, disclosing information on practices that may not be illegal but are yet undesirable, such as tax avoidance, will become more easily punishable. Dennis de Jong, co-chair of the ITCO intergroup comments: ”One would think that after Luxleaks, the Panama papers and Dieselgate, in which whistleblowers or investigative journalists have played a crucial role in revealing crucial information, the Commission would do anything to stimulate the important role of whistleblowers and investigative journalists. Instead, the Commission subordinates the struggle against corruption to the interests of multinationals. Antoine Deltour, who revealed the Luxleaks scandal, is already facing criminal charges against him, and the directive will undermine his position.

 

Benedek Javor, ITCO bureau member adds:

“We as Greens wanted to reject the proposal or at least delay the vote until the directive can be packaged with a Whistleblower Protection Directive. Adopting a text that creates a situation where secrecy is the legal norm for companies’ internal information and transparency is the exception is clear proof of the European Commission preference of corporate interest over the public interest, as also shown most recently by the glyphosate authorization.”

 

(Image source: itcointergroup.eu)

ITCO Press Release

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EP-Intergroup on Transparency, Integrity, corruption and organised crime: European Institutions need to take immediate action to implement the recommendations of Transparency International in its report on lobbying in Europe.

The newly established Intergroup of the European Parliament on Transparency (ITCO) welcomes the report issued today by Transparency International on ´lobbying in Europe`. Co-chair Dennis de Jong (GUE/NGL): The report of TI shows that at the moment it is not possible for the public to know which lobbyists have contributed to EU-legislation. So far, the European institutions refused to introduce a ´legislative footprint´, i.e. a survey of lobby contacts that have been influential during the drafting of legislative proposals. I urge both the European Commission and the European Parliament to take steps immediately, so that the citizens are fully informed with respect to the influence of lobbyists on legislative proposals by the Commission and on legislative reports of the EP.´

ITCO-Bureau Member Benedek Javor (Greens) adds: ´I fully agree with TI that only a mandatory transparency register will work. At the moment, we only have a voluntary register without proper oversight mechanisms. The idea of the Commission to conclude a new inter-institutional agreement with regard to the transparency register may sound positive, but TI rightly points out that we need formal legislation in order to set up a mandatory register. An inter-institutional agreement does not suffice in this respect´.

Co-Chair Elly Schlein (S&D) emphasises: ´Whereas the situation in the EU-institutions needs to be improved, the situation in Member States is often even worse. Only a few Member States have a better score than the European institutions. European co-operation with regard to transparency, integrity and equality of access needs to be stepped up, so that everywhere in the European Union democracy is strengthened´.

ITCO-Bureau Member Monica Macovei (EPP): ´Corruption and lack of transparency go hand in hand. Conflicts of interest are a source of corruption and undermine people’s trust. Measures should be taken to prevent conflicts of interests and to address them, whenever they may occur. That holds not only for the EU-institutions themselves, but also for Member States. And definitely, the transparency register should be mandatory´.

Transparency International’s report can be found here.

15 April 2015

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

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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