Activities of Maria GRAPINI related to 2023/2045(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Protection of the European Union’s financial interests - combating fraud - annual report 2022 (A9-0434/2023 - Maria Grapini) (vote)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests – combating fraud – annual report 2022
Amendments (6)
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that involvement of civil society and the private sector in the efforts to combatin tackling fraud would enhance prevention and detection, and that this implies support to confidential channels and/orinvestigative journalism which can be effective insofar as it is given access to information on projects, beneficiaries and payments; stresses in particular the importance played by the media and investigative journalists in the fight against corruption; reiterates that enhanced and consistent level of protection for journalists and whistle- blowers and investigative jocross the Union helps to counter the spread of a subculture of impunity, silence and conspiracy; Notes that, having regard to media plurnalists,m and that the latter can be effective insofar as access is given to information onmedia freedom, that the latest results of the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM 2022) reveal that the indicator relating to the journalist protection has registered a slight deterioration and that news media concentration retains a very high risk level across the continent; takes the view that safeguarding media from political pressure and influence as well as guaranteeing right of access to information held by public authorities are essential to projtects, beneficiaries and payment independence and the role of watchdog of democracy and sound management of resources;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Points out that the 2022 Eurobarometers on corruption show that corruption remains a serious concern for EU citizens and businesses in the EU, with large part of European citizens believing that in their country corruption is widespread (68%) and that the level of corruption has increased (41%); appreciates that almost all Member States currently have in place anti-corruption strategies, regularly evaluated and revised, and reminds that not only robust legal framework but also effective implementation are needed to eradicate corruptive practices and that preventing such practices requires also transparent and accountable governance and integrity frameworks; welcomes, in this line, the anti-corruption proposals presented by the Commission, which follows the calls from the European Parliament to step up the fight against corruption; notes that the Commission intends integrating the prevention of corruption into the design of EU policies and programmes, and actively supporting Member States’ efforts to put in place strong anti-corruption policies and legislation; praises the will to tackle the cross-border dimension of corruption, by criminalising corruption offences and harmonising penalties across the EU in coordination with the High Representative’s proposal to establish a dedicated Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) sanctions regime to target serious acts of corruption worldwide;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Emphasises that corruption and money laundering are intrinsically linked, and that money laundering is one of the most important enablers of the organised crime’s illegal activities by which criminals transfer in the legal economy their proceeds of crime, and is aware that fraud against the EU budget may also be a predicate offense precursor to money laundering; stresses that the transnational dimension of these crimes makes it difficult to prevent, detect and counter it because of the heterogeneous legal systems; welcomes the progress on the establishment of the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), following the proposal from the Commission in July 2021, the political agreement achieved in Council on 29 June 2022 and the mandate to enter trilogues granted by Parliament Plenary on 17 April 2023; regrets that such Authority won’t be fully operational until 2026;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Is also aware that the overall occurrence of cases of conflicts of interest is higher than reported in the IMS, as indicated by the additional information received by the Commission’s Directorates-General for Regional and Urban Policy and for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion about conflict of interest cases and related recoveries in public procurement in the European Social Fund, Cohesion Fund and European Regional Development Fund, reported directly from the Member States via the EU’s fund management system (known as the SFC, which in 2014-2020 presenteds 31 additional cases related to 16 programmes in 11 Member States with an impact of EUR 3.4 million);
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Notes that the digitalisation of the fight against fraud is also one of the focuses of the revision of the action plan launched in 2022 and adopted in July 2023, accompanying the Commission Anti-Fraud Strategy (CAFS), adopted in 2019 and which needs to beof 2019 and adjusted to the rapidly shifting economic and social scenarios and to the new challenges; is aware that the Commission successfully implemented 60 out of the total ofoverall 63 actions of the previous plan and that some of thesem are continuous in nature and on- going; invites the Commission to present to Parliament the underlying standards and criteria that the revised action plan willhas endorsed;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 a (new)
Paragraph 49 a (new)
49a. Recalls its previous resolutions underlining that fraud against the EU budget can only be effective if approached holistically, covering all the stages of the anti-fraud cycle and drawing on a multitude of stakeholders, processes and actions; points out that the four stages of this cycle (prevention; detection; investigation and prosecution; recovery and sanction) require risk analyses, reporting processes and cooperation to be pursued by harmonised interventions at legislative, administrative, organisational and operational levels; recalls the observation by the European Court of Auditors in its Special Report on the EU’s financial landscape1a, to point out that the complexity of the galaxy of funds and instruments complementing the EU budget brings an increasing risk of serious gap in the system of audit and control and a lack of accountability; believes that such complexity requires an equally comprehensive and focused approach for the protection of the involved financial interests, to tackle irregularities and frauds which could occur by taking advantage of the overall opacity of the financial landscape; reminds that the current fragmentation of accessible data calls for standardised measures to collect, compare and aggregate information and figures, in particular on final recipients and beneficiaries of Union funding, for purposes of audit and control, including investigations; _________________ 1a Special report 5/2023 “The EU’s financial landscape - A patchwork construction requiring further simplification and accountability”.